GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC—The government said Tuesday that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) will issue an order setting appropriate timelines for Guyana and Venezuela to submit their respective second round of pleadings in their ongoing border dispute.
The dispute over the Essequibo region, an approximately 160,000 square km stretch of densely forested land that constitutes two-thirds of Guyana’s territory and is home to roughly 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens, stretches back to the 19th century when Guyana was under colonial rule.
Venezuela had claimed the Essequibo region since 1841, when it was argued that the British Empire had encroached on Venezuelan territory by acquiring 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.
A statement from the Attorney General and Ministry of Legal Affairs office said that the President of the ICJ, Justice Nawaf Salam, Tuesday convened a meeting with the agents of the two countries regarding the Arbitral Award of 3 October 1899.
“The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the subsequent procedures in the case, under Article 31 of the Rules of the Court, and to determine whether a second round of written pleadings was necessary following Venezuela’s submission of its Counter-Memorial on April 8, 2024, and, if deemed necessary, to establish the timelines required for the preparation of these pleadings,” the statement said.
Both sides agreed that a second round of written pleadings was necessary.
Guyana has proposed six months from the date of Venezuela’s Counter-Memorial submission for its reply, implying a deadline of October 8, 2024, However, Venezuela has requested 12 months from Guyana’s October Reply to adequately prepare its Rejoinder, citing the complexity of the case, despite the ICJ’s procedural rules which generally favor shorter time limits.
The statement said that Guyana noted that Venezuela’s request for 12 months was “excessive given that the case has been pending for six years and that the subsequent pleadings are not intended to recite facts and legal issues already raised.
“The Court will now issue an order setting appropriate timelines for both parties to submit their respective second-round of pleadings, taking into account the representative representations made,” the statement said.
A delegation headed by Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall represented Guyana at the meeting, while Venezuela’s delegation included Samuel Reinaldo Moncada Acosta, the Agent for the South American country to the ICJ.
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