Burkina Faso/Niger)
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
12377 INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE CASE CONCERNING THE FRONTIER DISPUTE (BURKINA FASO/NIGER) MEMORIAL OF BURKINA FASO VOLUME I 20 APRIL 2011 [Translation by the Registry] PURL: http://www.legal-tools.org/doc/5a0a67/ TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 1 Section 1 Conclusion of the Special Agreement........................................................................... 2 1. Border incidents and maintaining the status quo ................................................................. 2 2. Preparation and adoption of the Special Agreement............................................................ 3 Section 2 The subject of the dispute ............................................................................................. 3 Section 3 Geography of the Niger-Burkina frontier...................................................................... 7 Section 4 Structure of the Memorial ........................................................................................... 13 CHAPTER I HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ........................................................................................... 14 Section 1 Fixing the colonial boundaries between Upper Volta and Niger ................................ 14 1. The French colonial conquest ............................................................................................ 15 2. The incarnations of Upper Volta and the colonial subdivisions ........................................ 18 3. The colonial boundaries of Upper Volta and Niger........................................................... 22 Section 2 Discussions on fixing the frontier ............................................................................... 27 1. The Protocol of Agreement of 23 June 1964 ..................................................................... 28 2. The Agreement and Protocol of Agreement of 28 March 1987......................................... 34 3. The decision of 15 May 1991 and its denunciation by Niger ............................................ 40 4. The conclusions of the fourth ordinary session of the Joint Technical Commission on Demarcation (2001) ..................................................................................................... 41 CHAPTER II APPLICABLE LAW ......................................................................................................... 45 Section 1 The principle of respect for colonial boundaries......................................................... 46 1. The “methodology” of uti possidetis ................................................................................. 46 2. Determination of the uti possidetis line (the relationship between title and effectivités )........................................................................................................................ 48 Section 2 Sources of applicable law............................................................................................ 50 1. The agreement of the Parties on relevant sources.............................................................. 50 2. The relevant documents ..................................................................................................... 53 A. The frontier title: the Arrêté of 1927 and its Erratum ................................................. 54 B. The course of the boundary should the Arrêté and its Erratum not suffice.................. 57 CHAPTER III THE TASK OF THE COURT IN RESPECT OF THE DEMARCATED PORTION OF THE FRONTIER ..................................................................................................................................... 59 Section 1 The Parties’ agreement................................................................................................ 59 1. The methodology behind the Parties’ agreement (reminder)............................................. 60 PURL: http://www.legal-tools.org/doc/5a0a67/ - ii - 2. From the heights of N’Gouma to the Tong-Tong astronomic marker ............................... 65 3. From the Botou bend to the River Mekrou........................................................................ 68 Section 2 The task of the Court Confirmation of the Parties’ agreement ................................... 72 1. The Court’s participation in the comprehensive settlement of the frontier dispute between the Parties ........................................................................................................... 72 2. Determination of the endpoints of the frontier................................................................... 74 CHAPTER IV THE PART OF THE FRONTIER WHOSE COURSE IS TO BE DETERMINED BY THE COURT ......................................................................................................................................... 80 Section 1 The course of the frontier from the Tong-Tong astronomic marker to the point where it reaches the River Sirba at Bossébangou .................................................................. 83 Section 1 The course of the frontier from the Tong-Tong astronomic marker to the point where it reaches the River Sirba at Bossébangou .................................................................. 83 1. The location of the frontier points designated in the 1927 Arrêté ..................................... 84 A. The Tong-Tong astronomic marker ............................................................................. 84 B. The Tao astronomic marker ......................................................................................... 84 C. The point where the boundary reaches the River Sirba at Bossébangou ..................... 85 2. The line connecting the three points designated in the Arrêté ........................................... 90 A. The 1927 Arrêté adopts an artificial boundary in this sector....................................... 90 B. The course defined in the Arrêté consists of two straight lines.................................... 92 C. The interpretation whereby the course of the frontier consists of two straight lines was officially endorsed by the two Parties......................................................... 96 D. The course of the frontier as two straight lines corresponds to the practice followed in the field of boundary delimitation......................................................... 100 Section 2 The course of the frontier from the point where it reaches the River Sirba at Bossébangou as far as the intersection of the Sirba with the Say parallel ........................... 108 1. The description of the frontier ......................................................................................... 110 A. “almost immediately turns back up towards the north-west” .................................... 110 (a) The course of the frontier between point P and the point where it “turns back up” towards the north-west ....................................................................... 110 (b) Point P1 from which the frontier begins to turn back up towards the north-west ........................................................................................................... 114 (c) “leaving to Niger, on the left bank of that river, a salient which includes the villages of Alfassi, Kouro, Tokalan, and Tankouro” .......................................... 115 (d) “then, turning back to the south, it again cuts the Sirba at the level of the Say parallel” ...................................................................................................... 115 2. The course of the frontier................................................................................................. 118 3. The line described in the Erratum and the consensual line of 1988 are identical ............ 128 Section 3 From the intersection of the Sirba with the Say parallel to the west of the village of Tchenguiliba.................................................................................................................... 129 PURL: http://www.legal-tools.org/doc/5a0a67/ - iii - SUBMISSIONS .................................................................................................................................. 133 LIST OF ANNEXES ........................................................................................................................... 136 LIST OF CARTOGRAPHIC ANNEXES ................................................................................................. 144 PURL: http://www.legal-tools.org/doc/5a0a67/ PURL: http://www.legal-tools.org/doc/5a0a67/ INTRODUCTION 0.1. By a joint letter dated 12 May 2010, filed in the Registry on 20 July 2010, Burkina Faso (hereinafter Burkina) and the Republic of Niger (hereinafter Niger) notified to the Registry of the Court a Special Agreement, which was signed in Niamey on 24 February 2009 and entered into force on 20 November 2009, with a view to the full and final settlement of the frontier dispute between them. 0.2. The Parties have thereby once again shown their confidence in the distinguished Court, to which both have previously had occasion to refer other frontier disputes with other neighbours: by an Order of 22 December 1986, a Chamber of the Court settled the Frontier Dispute between Burkina and Mali 1; and the Order of 12 July 2005 issued by another Chamber of the Court brought an end to the case concerning the Frontier Dispute between Niger and