‘Our borders are sacred, we will defend them’ – President says in Republic Anniversary address

President, Dr. Irfaan Ali reaffirmed Guyana’s territorial integrity and sovereignty in his address to the nation in observance of the country’s 56th Republic Anniversary.

“Let no one be mistaken: history and international law are on our side. Our borders are sacred, and we will defend them,” President Ali declared in his address to the nation from the Public Buildings, Brickdam.

The President’s reaffirmation of the country’s territorial integrity and sovereignty comes just days after the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Geneva Agreement. This treaty established the framework for resolving the long-standing border controversy with neighbouring Venezuela.

This Agreement was created after Venezuela shifted its position in 1962—after having accepted the validity of the 1899 Arbitral Award for more than 60 years—and began claiming that the Award was invalid. Guyana’s position is that the Arbitral Award of October 3, 1899, definitively established the land boundary between what is now Guyana and Venezuela and was accepted and implemented by both parties for decades, including through boundary demarcation in 1905.

Venezuela, however, claims Guyana’s Essequibo region— an area amounting to about two-thirds of the country’s landmass. It has been criticised for several aggressions, while Guyana has taken the border controversy to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for a final, binding judgement that Essequibo is its own.

As President Ali, who is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Guyana, spoke about the country’s territorial integrity, he thanked the country’s disciplined forces for their continued service. He also thanked bilateral partners for standing with Guyana.

Guyana became a Republic on February 23, 1970, four years after it gained independence from British rule.