UNITED NATIONS, CMC -The United Nations Security Council took no immediate action during a closed emergency meeting late Friday. Guyana requested the meeting after Venezuela recently held a referendum claiming the vast oil- and mineral-rich Essequibo region that makes up a large part of Guyana.
However, following the meeting, diplomats said the widespread view of the 15 council members was that the international law must be respected, including the UN Charter’s requirement that all member nations respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of every other country and for the parties to respect the International Court of Justice’s orders and its role as a judge.
At the start of Friday’s meeting, the diplomats said, UN political chief Rosemary DiCarlo briefed the council on the dispute.
In a letter to the Security Council president requesting the emergency meeting, Guyana Foreign Minister Hugh Hilton Todd accused Venezuela of violating the UN Charter by attempting to take its territory.
The letter recounted the arbitration between then-British Guiana and Venezuela in 1899 and the formal demarcation of their border in a 1905 agreement.
Venezuela accepted the boundary for over 60 years, but in 1962, it challenged the 1899 arbitration that set the border.
The diplomatic fight over the Essequibo region has flared since then, but it intensified in 2015 after ExxonMobil announced it had found vast amounts of oil off its coast.
The dispute escalated as Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro held a referendum Sunday in which Venezuelans approved his claim of sovereignty over Essequibo.
Venezuelan voters were asked whether they support establishing a state in the disputed territory, Essequibo, granting citizenship to current and future area residents, and rejecting the jurisdiction of the United Nations’ top court in settling the disagreement between the South American countries.
Maduro has since ordered Venezuela’s state-owned companies to begin exploration in the disputed region immediately.
The 61,600-square-mile area accounts for two-thirds of Guyana.
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