Equatorial Guinea wants in on Cameroon-Nigeria issue

Equatorial Guinea has applied to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for permission to intervene in the Cameroon-Nigeria border dispute in a bid to safeguard its territorial and oil interests. It said the purpose of the intervention was "to protect (its) legal rights in the Gulf of Guinea by all legal means" and "inform the Court of Equatorial Guinea's legal rights and interests so that these may remain unaffected as the Court proceeds to address the question of the maritime boundary between Cameroon and Nigeria", the ICJ said in a communique on Wednesday. In support of its application, which it submitted on 30 June, Equatorial Guinea said one of the claims Cameroon presented in a 16 March 1995 memorial "ignore(s) the legal rights of Equatorial Guinea in the most flagrant way because it disregards the median" whereas Cameroon had never indicated that it did not accept the median line as the boundary between the two countries. The median line is the line that divides maritime zones between two states in such a way that the border is always equidistant from the coasts of each of the states. All three countries have been exploiting and exploring for oil in the area. Equatorial Guinea said "any judgement extending the boundary between Cameroon and Nigeria across the median line with Equatorial Guinea (would) be relied upon by concessionaires, who would likely ignore Equatorial Guinea's protests and proceed to explore and exploit resources to the legal and economic detriment" of that country, ICJ reported. The ICJ said it had immediately communicated Equatorial Guinea's application to Cameroon and Nigeria and fixed 16 August as the limit for them to file any written observations on it. "It will be for the Court to decide whether the Application ... should be granted," the ICJ noted.