Top Venezuela, Guyana Diplomats To Discuss Border Dispute

Caracas, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Jan, 2024) The foreign ministers of Guyana and Venezuela are due to meet on Thursday in Brazil to discuss the simmering crisis on their border over a disputed oil-rich region.

With both sides holding firm, observers do not expect a major breakthrough to address the root of the disagreement: Venezuela's claim to the Essequibo region that makes up about two-thirds of Guyanese territory.

Thursday's meeting was called after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his Guyanese counterpart Irfaan Ali ruled out resorting to force at a crisis summit in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines last month.

Essequibo has been administered by Guyana for over a century and is the subject of border litigation before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague -- whose jurisdiction in the matter Venezuela rejects.

The region is home to 125,000 of Guyana's 800,000 citizens, but Caracas has long claimed the region should be under its control.

The squabble was revived in 2015 after US energy giant ExxonMobil discovered huge crude reserves in Essequibo and it reached fever pitch last year after Georgetown started auctioning off oil blocks in the region.

Maduro's government then called a controversial, non-binding referendum which overwhelmingly approved the creation of a Venezuelan province in Essequibo, sparking fears of a military conflict.