Topic: 2024-The Situation in Guyana
Country: Sierra Leone
Delegate Name: Adelaide Woltil
Topic: 2024-The Situation in Guyana
Country: Sierra Leone
Delegate Name: Adelaide Woltil
Adelaide Woltil
Sierra Leone
The Situation in Guyana
Special Political Committee
Forest Hills Central High School
Natural resources are one of the most common causes of border disputes and conflicts, the most common resource disputes being over oil extraction. This can be seen through conflicts in the Middle East. These issues worsen even more so through undefined and ambiguous borders. Borders that are not clearly established, marked and agreed upon inevitably end in conflict. These conflicts can remain docile for long periods but always pose the risk of an outbreak of violence and retaliation. Sierra Leone can assure you that after our nation’s long history of repeated violence, we would like nothing more than to resolve this dispute peacefully. However, at this point in time, we don’t see a solution that doesn’t involve officially establishing a border between the two nations and, therefore, allocating the land in accordance with an agreed-upon treaty to put the dispute to rest. The Essequibo region makes up ⅔ of Guyana’s present-day territory, and over the past century, all treaties, no matter how unwillingly, have come to the agreement that the region belongs to Guyana. The dispute has only become a wider issue since the discovery of oil, which led Venezuela to claim that the previous treaty was void and later annex the region. Guyana began extracting oil in 2020, and since the oil production of the country has risen by 425%, a staggering amount that heavily influences global trade and economy (Guyana’s Oil-driven Economy). Sierra Leone hopes to develop an agreement that de-escalates the conflict and retains stability in the global trade market for trade partners of each nation, such as ourselves, and to keep the oil market steady.
As a trade partner of both Guyana and Venezuela and a nation that has suffered from long-standing internal conflicts that have resulted in a weakened economic state, the delegation of Sierra Leone would like nothing more than to see a solution that benefits both parties (World Bank in Sierra Leone). The ideal solution involves no military involvement in the conflict and no loss of lives of citizens living in the region who are being stressed due to the growing instability and urgency of the dispute. Sierra Leone doesn’t have heavy involvement in this conflict other than the motivations for a stronger global economy and the intention to avoid conflict.
To best de-escalate the situation, Sierra Leone proposes that both countries withdraw troops from the region until a final agreed-upon treaty can be decided on and an officially marked border has been established. The ultimate goal of Sierra Leone is to avoid conflict and meaningless deaths, and supports any solution that will result in the peaceful resolution of this dispute. The establishment of Guyana as a free nation from its imperial power retained the previously agreed-upon border, and the new treaty that agreed upon this involved Venezuela, the United Kingdom, and Guyana. Now that Guyana stands alone without a strong colonial power supporting its side, Venezuela has annexed the land and put Guyana under stress. The ICJ’s involvement is critical, but due to the urgency of the situation and the imminent risk it poses to the safety of the nations, it proves that a quick and final solution is needed much quicker than the ICJ may be able to provide. The solution seen most clearly by Sierra Leone is for the Essequibo region to be reinstated under Guyana’s power and for Venezuela to be given monetary compensation for the loss of the oil revenue and stresses over the dispute (Global Americans Guyana-Venezuela Dispute). Sierra Leone will support any agreement or negotiation that involves a peaceful resolution, however, and we hope that the long-withstanding stress that the dispute has put upon both nations and their citizens can finally be resolved and laid to rest with a firmly established border and consensus of how to split oil extraction and revenue rights.
Sources:
Our World in Data https://ourworldindata.org/data-insights/guyanas-oil-driven-economy-has-had-the-largest-gdp-per-capita-growth-in-the-world-in-recent-years
Global Americans Working
https://globalamericans.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Guyana-Venezuela-VBT.pdf
World Bank in Sierra Leone
https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/sierraleone/overview
