World

Venezuela and Guyana agree not to use force in Essequibo dispute

Published

5 months ago

December 14, 2023

Venezuela and Guyana agree not to use force in Essequibo dispute

Leaders hold tense talks after Venezuela organised referendum to claim oil-rich territory that makes up two-thirds of Guyana.

Venezuela and Guyana have agreed not to resort to force to settle a territorial dispute over the oil-rich Essequibo region after a tense meeting between the two countries’ leaders in the Caribbean.

Guyanese President Irfaan Ali and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro agreed to “not threaten or use force against one another in any circumstances, including those consequential to any existing controversies between the two states” and to “refrain, whether by words or deeds, from escalating any conflict,” in an 11-point declaration that was read out at a press conference after the meeting.

The two men were unable to make progress in resolving the long-running dispute over the territory, however, with a joint commission composed of the foreign ministers of both countries and other officials asked to address the issue and report within three months.

No questions were allowed at the press conference.

Essequibo amounts to more than two-thirds of the territory of Guyana and is home to 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens.

Tension has been rising in recent weeks after Venezuela held a referendum earlier this month on whether to establish a Venezuelan state there in a move Guyana feared was a pretext for a land grab.

Venezuela insists Essequibo should be under its control because it was within its borders during the Spanish colonial period while Guyana says a border drawn by international arbitrators in 1899 means it is part of Guyana.

The hours-long meeting between Ali and Maduro took place at the main international airport in the eastern Caribbean island of St Vincent following mediation efforts by the regional groupings of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

The declaration noted the impasse between the two men, who clasped hands before their talks.

Guyana argues the controversy should be resolved by the International Court of Justice in the Netherlands while Venezuela says the court does not have jurisdiction.

Earlier in the day, Guyana’s government issued a statement saying that Essequibo was “not up for discussion, negotiation or deliberation”. Ali echoed those comments during a news conference he held during a break in his talks with Maduro.

“All of this belongs to Guyana,” Ali said, pointing to a thick leather bracelet on his right wrist featuring the outline of Guyana. “No narrative propaganda [or] decree can change this. This is Guyana.”

Ali noted that while both parties were committed to keeping peace in the region, Guyana “is not the aggressor”.

“Guyana is not seeking war, but Guyana reserves the right to work with all of our partners to ensure the defence of our country,” he said.

Maduro said ahead of the meeting that “we will make the most of it so that our Latin America and the Caribbean remains a zone of peace”.

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said that the United States was monitoring the situation closely. “We don’t want to see this come to blows,” Kirby said. “There’s no reason for it to, and our diplomats are engaged in real-time.”

Maduro has ordered state-owned companies to explore and exploit the oil, gas and mines in Essequibo. Both sides have put their militaries on alert.

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World

John Stamos Shares Full House Reunion Photo With Olsen Twins in Honor of Bob Saget’s Birthday

Published

4 hours ago

May 18, 2024

Press Room

John Stamos Shares Full House Reunion Photo With Olsen Twins in Honor of Bob Saget’s Birthday

Full House Cast Reunion With Mary-Kate, Ashley Olsen — Bob Saget Tribute

World

Climate activists glue themselves to Munich airport runway, pausing traffic

Published

5 hours ago

May 18, 2024

Press Room

Climate activists glue themselves to Munich airport runway, pausing traffic

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A group of climate protesters have been arrested in Germany after breaking into an airport and gluing themselves to the runway.

Six activists broke through security fencing at Munich airport in the German state of Bavaria on Saturday, according to the news outlet dpa.

Approximately sixty flights were canceled after the half-dozen protesters glued themselves to the tarmac, forcing officials to temporarily close the airport.

CLIMATE ACTIVISTS ARRESTED FOR BLOCKING AIRSTRIP IN MASSACHUSETTS

Climate activists lie on an access road for runways at the Munich airport. German officials and local media say authorities closed down Munich airport temporarily after six climate activists broke through a security fence and glued themselves to access routes leading to runways. ( (Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/dpa via AP))

An additional fourteen flights into Munich were forced to divert to other nearby airports to avoid the disruption.

Climate protest coalition Last Generation took credit for the stunt, claiming it was intended to draw attention to the German government’s inaction on the airline industry’s environmental impact.

CLIMATE GROUP TAKES RESPONSIBILITY FOR US OPEN CHAOS, OFFERS WARNING: ‘NO TENNIS ON A DEAD PLANET’

Munich Germany Bavaria Airport Climate Activists Protest Glue Runway

Climate activists stuck to a runway access road at Franz-Josef-Strauß Airport early Saturday morning. Climate protection activists paralyzed Munich Airport after breaking into the inner area of the airport grounds. The activists from the group Last Generation were protesting flying, the most polluting form of transportation, said the German news agency dpa on Saturday. (Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/picture alliance via Getty Images)

All six protesters were arrested and charged by law enforcement.

“Trespassing in the aviation security area is no trivial offense. Over hundreds of thousands of passengers were prevented from a relaxed and punctual start to their Pentecost holiday,” German Airports Association General Manager Ralph Beisel told dpa.

Police and firefighters stand on a runway access road at Franz-Josef-Strauß Airport around climate activists who have stuck themselves there. According to their own statements, members of the so-called Last Generation had planned to enter the airport grounds in order to block at least one of the two runways. (Photo: Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/dpa (Photo by Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/picture alliance via Getty Images))

“Such criminal actions threaten air traffic and harm climate protection because they only cause lack of understanding and anger,” German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser wrote about the protests on social media platform X.

The Munich incident was just one of many similar protests around the world against air transportation. Last Generation has performed at least two similar airport disruptions in Germany since last year.

World

Russian court seizes two European banks’ assets amid Western sanctions

Published

6 hours ago

May 18, 2024

Press Room

Russian court seizes two European banks’ assets amid Western sanctions

Freezing hundreds of billions of dollars in lenders’ assets was part of dispute over gas project halted by sanctions.

A Russian court has ordered the seizure of the assets, accounts, property and shares of Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank in the country as part of a lawsuit involving the German banks, court documents showed.

The banks are among the guarantor lenders under a contract for the construction of a gas processing plant in Russia with the German company Linde. The project was terminated due to Western sanctions.

European banks have largely exited Russia after Moscow launched its offensive on Ukraine in 2022.

A court in St Petersburg ruled in favour of seizing 239 million euros ($260m) from Deutsche Bank, documents dated May 16 showed.

Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt said it had already provisioned about 260 million euros ($283m) for the case.

“We will need to see how this claim is implemented by the Russian courts and assess the immediate operational impact in Russia,” the bank added in a statement.

The court also seized the assets of Commerzbank, another German financial institution, worth 93.7 million euros ($101.85m) as well as securities and the bank’s building in central Moscow.

The bank is yet to comment on the case.

In a parallel lawsuit on Friday, the Russian court also ordered UniCredit’s assets, accounts and property, as well as shares in two subsidiaries, to be seized. The ruling covered 462.7 million euros ($503m) in assets.

UniCredit said it “has been made aware” of the decision and was “reviewing” the situation in detail. The bank was one of the most exposed European banks when Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine, with a large local subsidiary operating in Russia.

It began preliminary discussions on a sale last year, but the talks have not advanced. Chief executive Andrea Orcel said UniCredit wants to leave Russia, but added that gifting an operation worth three billion euros ($3.3bn) was not a good way to respect the spirit of Western sanctions on Moscow over the conflict.

Russia has faced heavy Western sanctions, including on its banking sector, since the start of the war in Ukraine. Dozens of US and European companies have also stopped doing business in the country.