Opinion of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on Cameroon's Memorandum

HONOURABLE ATTORNEY-GENERAL

OF THE FEJ)ERATION OF NIGERIA

AND MINISTER OF JUSTICE
FEDERALMINJSTRVOF JUSTICE
FEDERAL SECRETARIAT
MAITAMA ABUJA,NIGERIA

P.M.B. No. 192
TelegrarnSolicitor Ref.No.....~.~~!.~~~~!.!.~?.?

Telephone Date...1~~h. .~.f.2~?..Y.t
Telex:

Eduardo ValenciaOspina~
Registrar otheCourt,

InternationalCourt of Justice,
Peace Palace,
2517 KJ The Hague,
Netherlands.

.CASE OF THE LAND ;\ND MARITilVIE BORDER

.(ÇA1V1EROONVS NIGERIA)

In rnycapacity as Agentof the Federal Republic of Nigeriack~1owledg~.
rec.eipt c.opieof the letters addrestodyourself bthe Agent of thRepublic
of Cameroon dated 9th April 1997 together with copies of the Memorandumand

Annexes dated April 1997.

Nigeria is considering the content of the Men1orandurnaccompanying
Annexes and will responthereto idue course, subject to what is below. In
therneantimeNigeriareservesits positiononallothepoints made inthecovering
letters, Nlernorandtunand Annexes.

Cameroon is onceagain atternptingunilaterally to intervene in the processes
of theCourt. Previousattemptsby Ca.n1erooto do this have been madby letter
and by seekingand obtaininginterviewswith thPresidentof theCourt to which
N.igeria\vas not invited.

------.________ Cameroonhas now deliveredfor considerationby thefullcourt,a thinly
veiledfurtherpleading sorne26 pageslong, accompaniedby 350pages ofcxhibits.
Once again, the tenor of the Memorandum and of the exhibits appears to be
designed to create furtherprejudiceagainst Nigeria in theeyes of theCourt.
Thcre is no provisionin the Rules of the Court for lodging Memoranda of this
kind.

One of Nigerîa's concerns about Cameroon's approach is that the
Men1orandwn contains conunents which:-

(a) relate to the Merits Phaof thecase; and

(b) arebased on arguments which are clearly
intendedto beprejudicialand assumethe
correctness of Cameroon's legal position. -

Theseare ofcoursemattersonwhichNigeriawouldinduecourserespond,
depending on the outcome of the Preliminary Objections Phase.

At thisstage,as Nigeria's Agent, I cansay only that Nigeria is and will
re1nainwilling totake whatevercourse would be of mostassistancetotheCourt.

Yours faithfully,

/!I!!J
CIDEFM. A.
HON. ATTO y ..GENERAL OF THE FEDERATION
AND MINISTER OF JUSTICE.

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