INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE TO OPEN HEARINGS IN CASE CONCERNING 'LAND AND MARITIME BOUNDARY BETWEEN CAMEROON AND NIGERIA' ON 2 MARCH
Press Release
ICJ/551
INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE TO OPEN HEARINGS IN CASE CONCERNING 'LAND AND MARITIME BOUNDARY BETWEEN CAMEROON AND NIGERIA' ON 2 MARCH
19980224 THE HAGUE, 23 February (ICJ) -- The hearings in the case concerning Land and Maritime Boundary between Cameroon and Nigeria will open on Monday, 2 March, at 10 a.m. before the International Court of Justice, the principal organ of the United Nations.The hearings, which will last until Wednesday, 11 March, will be exclusively dedicated to the oral arguments of the parties concerning certain preliminary objections raised by Nigeria. Nigeria contends that the Court has no jurisdiction in the matter and that the claims of Cameroon are not admissible. It maintains that for at least 24 years both States have accepted a duty to settle all boundary questions through existing bilateral machinery.
Pursuant to article 70 of its rules, the Court has to decide on preliminary objections before proceeding to the merits of the case.
History of Dispute
On 29 March 1994, Cameroon filed an application instituting proceedings against Nigeria in a dispute concerning the question of sovereignty over the Bakassi Peninsula, which it claimed was, in part, militarily occupied by Nigeria, and requesting the Court to determine the course of the maritime frontier between the two States insofar as that frontier had not already been established by the Maroua Declaration signed by the Cameroonian and Nigerian heads of State in 1975.
As a basis for the jurisdiction of the Court, Cameroon referred to the declarations made by both States by which they accept that jurisdiction as compulsory.
In an additional application filed on 6 June 1994, Cameroon extended the case to a further dispute with Nigeria over "a part of the territory of Cameroon in the area of Lake Chad", which it claimed was also occupied by Nigeria. Cameroon asked the Court to specify definitely the frontier between itself and Nigeria from Lake Chad to the sea, to enjoin the withdrawal of Nigerian troops from Cameroonian territory, and to determine reparation for the material and non-material damage inflicted.
On 12 February 1996, Cameroon requested the Court to indicate provisional measures after "serious armed incidents" had taken place between
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Cameroonian and Nigerian forces in the Bakassi Peninsula. Public hearings were held between 5 and 8 March 1996, and, on 15 March 1996, the Court delivered an Order indicating that "both parties should ensure that no action of any kind, and particularly no action by their armed forces, is taken which might prejudice the rights of the other in respect of whatever judgment the Court may render in the case, or which might aggravate or extend the dispute before it". The Court also ruled that they "should observe the agreement reached between the Ministers for Foreign Affairs in Kara, Togo, on 17 February 1996, for the cessation of all hostilities in the Bakassi Peninsula".
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NOTE:The verbatim records of the hearings will be available on a daily basis on the website of the Court (http://www.icj-cij.org).