Frontier Dispute (Burkina Faso/Mali) - Chamber of Court to hear Burkina Faso and Mali on possible indication of provisional measures

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INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE

f Peace Palace, 2517 KJ The Hague. Tel. 92 44 41. Cables: Intercourt. The Haque

sa 0 Telex 32323
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Communiqub

1 3 unofficial
6.-,1-.~6 ,O /' for irnmediate releaso

Last communiqué in 1985 No. 8611
series was No. 85/21 6 January 1986

Chamber of Court to hear Burkina Faso and Mali on

possible indication of provisional measures

The following information is made available to the press by the
Registry of the International Court of Justice:

On Thursday 9 January 1986, at 10 a.m., a public sitting is to be
held at the Peace Palace, The Hague, for the purpose of hearing
representatives of Burkina Faso and Mali. The Governments of those

countries are parties to the Frontier Dispute case whirh at thtir recueit
was referred to a Chamber of the Court by a Special Agreement j ~irit'?
filed on 14 October 1983. It is accordingly the Chamber, nut thc Cuürt,

which will be sittirig on Thursday.

The subject-matter of the hearing will be the possible q;~?!ic~:'. 11,

following the grave incidents of last month, of Article 41 :if tQe
Statute of the Court:, which provides as follows:

"1. The Court shall have the yower to indicattd, If ~t c.oa:.- il?,
that circumstarices so requirc, an? provisional ceelsure.: ,rpt':' ' fl
to be taken to preserve the respective rights of C-ithei 2.z~~-Y.

2. Pending the final decision, notice of the rne3siir+>s
suggested shall. forthwi th be given ro the par ti;.s .ind ti, cbrt.

Security Council."

On 2 January Riirkina F<!so f iled in the Registry of the CO:J- t ~i :IJ:<R;'

request for the appl-ication of this Article. .'.it-quest of :hi1 , k12 (1 '1's
to be treated as a niatter of priority ander the Kiiles cff Cc17:~r +, * 1. ilc-,
reqiiire a date to be fixed for a helring. lit the 5ame time '1-2 i-;t,;i.1

recrived froni Mali ;i communicaticin çuggesting; that , if i' 2 1::13~11iy
to contemplate indicating provisio~ial mr,~~:i~res, i couic! !oc><, c7Trpb '1- . 1
do su, iri the circunistances, in4epeïideiitly of nriv f-rir,,li rr~,:~,> t *

possihility is also recognized bv th? Rules, Article 41 of the Statute has been quite frequently invokedin cases

unilaterallyreferred to the InternationalCourt of Justice. This is
however the firstoccasion on which its application has been contemplated
in a case brought jointly by both Parties. A decision on a request for
provisional measuresis normallygiven by the reading ofan Order in open
Court .

The Chamber dealing withthe Frontier Dispute caseis composedas
follows :

Judge Mohammed Bedjaoui, President of the Chamber,
JiidgesManfred Lachs
José-MariaRuda,
Judges ad hoc François Luchaire
Georges Abi-Saab.

In the main proceedings,the Parties filed Memorials on 3 October 1985
and are to file Counter-Memorialsby 2 April 1986. These pleadings are
not availableto the public.

NOTE FOR THE PRESS

1. The public sitting will be held in the Great Hall of Justice of
the Peace Palace. Members ofthe presswill be entitled to attend it
after presentation of a press identificationcard or an admission card,
which may be obtai~edupon application. The tables reserved for them
are situated on the iar left of the public entrunce to the courtroom.

2. Photographsmay be taken before the opening and diiringthe tirst
few minutes of the sitting. F~lming for cinema or televlsionpurpciseis

tioweversubject ot special authorization.

3. In the Press Iicom, locnted on the ground flcor i)fthe Peace Palace
(Room 5), the oral proceedingswill be relayed through a loudspeaker.

4. Members of tliepress ma! use onî? the publis.telephonesin the
Post Office in the basement of the Palace.

5. Flr. (:.I'oiii:Fir.;t Secr.etnry of tlieCourt (t:lale!.!hcex1 erisioi2i33),
wili he t~vail.-.b le de,iiwitii ,311sri.clue,;tf(.:ri,:'::rmatio:i;y;rieri,ber.s
of the press.