The United Nations Security Council has expressed “concern about the possible escalation of tensions” between Guyana and Venezuela as the two countries continue to claim ownership of the Essequibo region.
The UN Security Council met in private last Tuesday to discuss the recent developments regarding the territorial dispute at the request of Guyana’s President, President Irfaan Ali in an April 5 letter he had submitted to the Council.
The dispute over the Essequibo region is home to roughly 125,000 of Guyana’s 800,000 citizens, stretches back to the 19th century, when Guyana was under colonial rule.
Venezuela has laid claim to the Essequibo region since 1841, when it argued that the British Empire had encroached on Venezuelan territory in its acquisition of the territory of then-British Guiana from the Netherlands. It has also challenged the validity of the 1899 Paris Arbitral Award through which the border between Venezuela and British Guiana was decided.
