Venezuela 'rejects' ICJ decision on Guyana border dispute

The United Nations' highest court ruled Friday that it will intervene to settle a decades-old border dispute between South American neighbors Guyana and Venezuela.

The decision by the International Court of Justice means it will now move to judge the merits of the case, which will likely take months or years.

Venezuela had argued that the world court did not have jurisdiction and refused to participate in legal arguments on the issue held earlier this year.

The territorial dispute dates back to 1899 and an arbitration award by an international tribunal that drew the border between the two South American nations largely to the favor of Guyana, which was then a British colony.

The Tunisia-sized swath of jungle west of the Essequibo River in the dispute is rich in gold, diamonds, timber and other natural resources.

The United Nations referred the dispute to the ICJ in 2018 after a mediation effort failed.

On Friday Venezuela rejected the court's intervention as it has in the past, arguing instead that a 1966 agreement to resolve the controversy effectively nullified the original arbitration.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said his country "rejects the infamous decision of the International Court of Justice which is contrary to the spirit of the Geneva Agreement of 1966."