Land and Maritime Boundary between Cameroon and Nigeria (Cameroon v. Nigeria; Equatorial Guinea intervening) - The Court determines the boundary between Cameroon and Nigeria from Lake Chad to the sea.

INTERNATIONAL COURTOFJUSTICE

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Communiqué

unofficial
forimmediaterelease

No. 2002/26
10 October 2002

Land and Maritime Boundary between Cameroon and Nigeria
(Cameroon v. Nigeria: Equatorial Guinea intervening)

The Court determines the boundary between Cameroon and Nigeria from Lake Chad to the

sea. It reguests each Party to withdraw ali administration and military or police forces
present on territories falling onder the sovereignty of the other Party.

THE HAGUE, 10 October 2002. The International Court of Justice (ICJ), principal judicial

organ of the United Nations, has today given Judgment in the case conceming the Land and
Maritime Boundary between Cameroon and Nigeria (Cameroon v. Nigeria: Equatorial Guinea
intervening).

In its Judgment, which is final, without appeal and binding for the Parties, the Court

determines as follows the course of the boundary, from north to south, between Cameroon and
Nigeria:

In the Lake Chad area, the Court decides that the boundary is delimited by the
Thomson-Marchand Declaration of 1929-1930, as incorporated in the Henderson-Fleuriau

Exchange of Notes of 1931 (between Great Britain and France);it finds that the boundary
starts in the lake from the Cameroon-Nigeria-Chad tripoint (whose co-ordinates it defines) and
follows a straight line to the mouth of the River Ebeji as it was in 1931 (whose co-ordinates it
also defines) and thence runs in a straight line to the point where the river today divides into
two branches.

Between Lake Chad and the Bakassi Peninsula, the Court confirms that the boundary is
delimited by the following instruments:

i) from the point where the River Ebeji bifurcates, as far as Tamnyar Peak, by the

Thomson-Marchand Declaration of 1929-1930 (paras. 2-60), as incorporated in the
Henderson-Fleuriau Exchange ofNotes of 1931;

ii) from Tamnyar Peak to pillar 64 referred to in Article XII of the Anglo-German
Agreement of 12 April1913, by the British Order in Council of2 August 1946;

iii) from pillar 64 to the Bakassi Peninsula, by the Anglo-German Agreements 11 March
and 12 April1913. -2-

The Court examines point by point 17 sectors of the land boundary and specifies for each one
how the above-mentioned instruments are to be interpreted (paras. 91, 96, 102, 114, 119, 124,

129, 134, 139, 146, 152, 155, 160, 168, 179, 184 and 189 of the Judgment).

In Bakassi, the Court decides that the boundary is delimited by the Anglo-German Agreement

of 11March 1913 (Arts. XVIII-XX) and that sovereignty over the Bakassi Peninsula lies with
Cameroon. It decides that in this area the boundary follows the thalweg of the River
Akpakorum (Akwayafe ), dividing the Mangrove Islands near Ikang in the way shown on
map TSGS 2240, as far as a straight linejoining Bakassi Point and King Point.

As regards the maritime boundary, the Court, having established that it has jurisdiction to
address this aspect of the case- which Nigeria had disputed -, fixes the course of the

boundary between the two States' maritime areas.

In its Judgment the Court requests Nigeria expeditiously and without condition to withdraw
its administration and military or police forces from the area of Lake Chad falling within
Cameroonian sovereignty and from the Bakassi Peninsula. It also requests Cameroon

expeditiously and without condition to withdraw any administration or military or police forces
which may be present along the land boundary from Lake Chad to the Bakassi Peninsula on
territories which pursuant to the Judgment fall within the sovereignty Nigeria. The latter has the

same obligation in regard to territories in that area which fall within the sovereigntymeroon.

The Court takes note of Cameroon's undertaking, given at the hearings, to "continue to
afford protection to Nigerians livingn the [Bakassi] peninsula and in the Lake Chad area".

Finally, the Court rejects Cameroon's submissions regarding the State responsibility of
Nigeria. It likewise rejects Nigeria's counter-claims.

Composition of the Court

The Court was composed as follows: President Guillaume; Vice-President Shi;
Judges Oda, Ranjeva, Herczegh, Fleischhauer, Koroma, Higgins, Parra-Aranguren, Kooijmans,
Rezek, Al-Khasawneh, Buergenthal, Elaraby; Judges ad hoc Mbaye, Ajibola; Registrar Couvreur.

Judge Oda appends a declaration to the Judgment of the Court; Judge Ranjeva appends a
separate opinion to the Judgment of the Court; Judge Herczegh appends a declaration to the
Judgment of the Court; Judge Koroma appends a dissenting opinion to the Judgment of the Court;

Judge Parra-Aranguren appends a separate opinion to the Judgment of the Court; Judge Rezek
appends a declaration to the Judgment of the Court; Judge Al-Khasawneh and Judge ad hoc Mbaye
append separate opinions to the Judgment of the Court; Judge ad hoc Ajibola appends a dissenting

opinion to the Judgment of the Court.

A fuller summary of the Judgment is given in Press Communiqué2002/26bis, to which is
annexed a summary of the judges' declarations and opinions. The full text of the Judgment,
declarations and opinions, together with the press communiqués, is available on the Court's
Internet site (www.icj-cij.org).

Information Department:

Mr. Arthur Witteveen, First Secretary (Tel.:+31 70 302 23 36)
Mrs. Laurence Blairon and Boris Heim, Information Officers (Tel.: +31 70 302 23 37)
E-mail address: [email protected]