/ 4 July 1999

THIRD COUNTRY IN BOUNDARY DISPUTE

Guinea has filed an application at the International Court of Justice for permission to intervene in the land and maritime boundary dispute between Nigeria and Cameroon, presently before that court. A statement by the court on Wednesday said Equitorial Guinea stated that the purpose of the application to intervene “is to protect [its] legal rights in the Gulf of Guinea by all means.” Its purpose, the country explained, was not to intervene in aspects of the case that relate to land boundary between Nigeria and Cameroon. Equatorial Guinea shares maritime boundary in the Gulf of Guinea with Nigeria and Cameroon. The application pointed out that one of the claims by Cameroon “ignores the legal rights of Equatorial Guinea in the most flagrant way” because it disregards the meridian line that divides the two states.