Request for Interpretation of the Judgment of 11 June 1998 in the Case concerning the Land and Maritime Boundary between Cameroon and Nigeria (Cameroon v. Nigeria), Preliminary Objections (Nigeria v. Cameroon)

On 28 October 1998, the Republic of Nigeria filed in the Registry of the Court an Application instituting proceedings against the Republic of Cameroon, whereby it requested the Court to interpret the Judgment on the preliminary objections delivered on 11 June 1998 in the case concerning the Land and Maritime Boundary between Cameroon and Nigeria. In its Request for an interpretation, Nigeria submitted that one aspect of the case concerning the Land and Maritime Boundary still before the Court was the alleged responsibility of Nigeria for certain incidents said by Cameroon to have occurred at various places in Bakassi and Lake Chad and also along the length of the frontier between those two regions. Nigeria held that, as Cameroon had not provided full information on those incidents, the Court had not been able to specify which incidents were to be considered further as part of the merits of the case. Nigeria considered that the meaning and scope of the Judgment required interpretation. The Court was asked to interpret the Judgment as suggested by the Applicant.

After the filing of written observations by Cameroon on Nigeria’s Request for interpretation, the Court did not deem it necessary to invite the Parties to furnish further written or oral explanations. On 25 March 1999, the Court delivered a Judgment, in which it concluded that, in its Judgment of June 1998, it had already dealt with certain of the submissions presented by Nigeria at the end of its Request for interpretation, and that the other submissions presented by Nigeria endeavoured to remove from the Court’s consideration elements of law and fact which the Court, in its 1998 Judgment, had already authorized Cameroon to present, or which Cameroon had not yet put forward. In any event, the Court concluded that it could not entertain Nigeria’s submissions. Accordingly, it declared Nigeria’s Request for interpretation inadmissible.