Maritime Delimitation and Territorial Questions between Qatar and Bahrain (Qatar v. Bahrain) - Proceedings on the merits

INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE

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Communiqué

unofficial
for immediate release

No. 95/11
1 May 1995

Maritime Delimitation and Territorial Questions
between Qatar and Bahrain (Qatar v. Bahrain)

Proceedings on the merits

The following information is communicated ta the Press by the Registry of

the International Court of Justice:

In the above case the President of the Court, having consulted the
Parties, decided by an Order of 11 October 1991 (see Press Communiqué
No. 91/29), that the written pleadings should first be addressed ta the

questions of the jurisdiction of the Court ta entertain the dispute and of
the admissibility of the Application.

In its Judgment of 1 July 1994 (see Press Communiqué No. 94/16), the
Court found that the Exchanges of Letters of December 1987 between the King

of Saudi Arabia and the Amirs of Qatar and Bahrain, and the Minutes signed at
Doha on 25 December 1990, were international agreements creating rights and
obligations for the Parties, and that, by the terms of those agreements, the
Parties had undertaken to submit ta it the whole of the dispute between them,
as circumscribed by the "Bahraini formula"; decided ta afford the Parties

the opportunity to submit to it the whole of the dispute; fixed
30 November 1994 as the time-limit within which the Parties were jointly or
separately ta take action to that end; and reserved any ether matters for
subsequent decision.

In its Judgment of 15 February 1995 (see Press Communiqué No. 95/6), the
Court found that it had jurisdiction ta adjudicate upon the dispute between
Qatar and Bahrain which had been submitted ta it; that it was seised of the
whole of the dispute; and that the Application of Qatar as formulated on
30 November 1994 was admissible.

Following that Judgment, time-limits for the written proceedings on the
merits had ta be fixed. After affording the Parties an opportunity ta state
their views, the Court, by an Order of 28 April 1995, fixed 29 February 1996
as the time-limit for the filing by each of the Parties of a Memorial on the

merits.

The subsequent procedure is reserved for further decision.

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