GEORGETOWN, Guyana - The United States announced joint flight drills with Guyana’s military on Dec 7, as soaring tensions over a contested oil-rich region on the Venezuelan border prompted the UN Security Council to call an urgent meeting.

A feud has been spiralling over the Essequibo region, administered by Guyana for over a century but also claimed by Venezuela – which now seeks to bring the area under its rule.

Increasingly alarmed at the threat from the authoritarian leftist Venezuelan government, the United States announced military exercises.

“In collaboration with the Guyana Defence Force, the US Southern Command will conduct flight operations within Guyana on Dec 7,” the American embassy in Georgetown said, in a statement.

It said the flights are part of “routine engagement and operations to enhance security partnership” with Guyana.

Venezuela’s government branded the exercises a “provocation.”

In New York, the UN Security Council was to meet behind closed doors on Dec 8 to discuss the tensions, according to an official schedule.

In a letter seen by AFP, Guyana’s Foreign Minister Hugh Todd asked the council’s president to “call urgently for a meeting” to discuss “a grave matter that threatens international peace and security.”

In Brazil, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva also voiced “growing concern” about the tension on his country’s northern border, telling a summit of the Mercosur regional bloc: “If there’s one thing we don’t want here in South America it’s war.”

The Brazilian army said on Dec 6 it was reinforcing its presence in the northern cities of Pacaraima and Boa Vista.

‘Direct threat’

The long-running dispute over Essequibo – which comprises some two-thirds of Guyanese territory – has intensified since ExxonMobil discovered oil there in 2015.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro upped the ante in recent days after claiming to have received overwhelming support in a referendum held on Dec 3 on Essequibo’s fate.

Essequibo is home to 125,000 of Guyana’s 800,000 mostly English-speaking citizens.

Litigation is pending before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague over where the region’s borders should lie, but Venezuela does not recognise the court’s jurisdiction in the matter.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a phone call on Dec 6 with Guyanese President Irfaan Ali reaffirmed the US’ “unwavering support for Guyana’s sovereignty” and called for a peaceful resolution.

Guyana, a former British and Dutch colony, insists the Essequibo frontiers were determined by an arbitration panel in 1899.

But Venezuela claims the Essequibo River to the region’s east forms a natural border recognised as far back as 1777.

Caracas called a referendum after Guyana started auctioning off oil blocks in Essequibo in August.

Voters were asked to respond to five questions, including whether Venezuela should reject the 1899 arbitration decision as well as the ICJ’s jurisdiction.

They were also asked whether Venezuelan citizenship should be granted to the people – currently Guyanese – of a new “Guyana Esequiba State” and “consequently incorporating said State on the map of Venezuelan territory.”

Officials in Caracas said 95 per cent of voters supported the measures.

On Dec 5, Mr Maduro proposed a Bill to create a Venezuelan province in Essequibo and ordered the state oil company to issue licences for extracting crude in the region.

Emboldened by the referendum result, the president also gave an ultimatum to oil companies working under concessions issued by Guyana to halt operations within three months.

Mr Ali called Mr Maduro’s statements a “direct threat” against his country.

Guyana’s armed forces were on “alert,” Mr Ali added in a rare address to the nation late on Dec 5, and were in contact with “partners” including the United States.

On Dec 7, the Guyanese military said a helicopter that went missing near the border on Dec 6, with seven soldiers aboard, had been found. There were “signs of life” detected at a crash site in a mountainous, dense forest area.

Venezuela on Dec 5 also confirmed it had arrested an American citizen – Savoi Jadon Wright – on accusations of “conspiring” with ExxonMobil to stop the referendum. US media said the arrest happened on Oct 24. AFP