THE UN's top court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), told Venezuela on Friday to refrain from any action in its claim over Guyana's Essequibo region and warned against any aggravation of the dispute. The court issued a provisional order in the name of its president, Joan Donoghue.

Venezuela is due to hold a referendum of its citizens this Sunday, including a question on whether it should turn the Essequibo into a state within Venezuela.

The ICJ order said, "The court considers that, in light of the strong tension that currently characterises the relations between the parties, the circumstances described above present a serious risk of Venezuela acquiring and exercising control and administration of the territory in dispute in the present case."

This situation presents "a risk of irreparable prejudice" to the right claimed by Guyana, it added.

"The court further considers that Venezuela’s expressed readiness to take action with regard to the territory in dispute in these proceedings at any moment following the referendum scheduled for 3 December 2023 demonstrates that there is urgency, in the sense that there is a real and imminent risk of irreparable prejudice to Guyana’s plausible right before the court gives its final decision."

In its conclusion, the order noted Guyana administered the Essequibo and said, "The court considers that, pending the final decision in the case, Venezuela must refrain from taking any action which would modify that situation."

The order also said the court deemed it necessary to indicate an additional measure directed to both parties and aimed at "ensuring the non-aggravation of the dispute between them."

The ICJ ruled, "Unanimously, pending a final decision in the case, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela shall refrain from taking any action which would modify the situation that currently prevails in the territory in dispute, whereby the Co-operative Republic of Guyana administers and exercises control over that area;

"Unanimously, both parties shall refrain from any action which might aggravate or extend the dispute before the court or make it more difficult to resolve."

Guyana had asked the court that the five-question referendum not proceed "in its present form" but to exclude three questions posed to Venezuelans – if they reject an 1899 ruling that "dispossessed" Venezuela of the Essequibo, if they agree to not recognise the ICJ, and if they agree on the creation a Guayana Esequiba state (whose current inhabitants would get Venezuelan citizenship.)

Caricom, in a statement, viewed the court order as saying that whatever the outcome of the referendum, it would not empower Venezuela to annex the Essequibo.

Caricom said the court ordered Venezuela "not to take any action to challenge, disrupt or interfere with Guyana’s long-standing control and administration of the Essequibo Region, which constitutes more than two-thirds of Guyana’s land territory," until the ICJ's final judgement.

"Specifically, the court ordered that 'the Bolivarian Republic of Venezue