Introduction

In Africa, one of the commonest issues that most of the former colonies had to face before or
during or after the independence is the issue of Frontier disputes. This is because of the
disinterest shown by the European Powers which after conquering and splitting the continent,
has not done much to save the territorial, religious and ethnic identities of the areas they
conquered.
The period of colonization gets to its top in mid 12th century. During the time when most of
the European Empires needed a piece of the ‘magnificent African cake’1 as declared once by
the King Leopold of Belgium, and thus they agreed arbitrarily that which of the territory had
to be belonged to whom.
The Berlin Conference (1884-1885) lead the way for the future developments and growth of
the European Powers in Africa, and in France was one of the important supporter. Through
possessions all over the Western and Equatorial Africa, the French were dominating a very
big part of the African continent. After taking apart the ancient traditions and reigns, the
French came to establish one of their most successful colonies that is French West Africa
i.e. a group of eight colonial territories that are:
1. French Sudan (Mali)
2. Mauritania
3. Ivory coast
4. Senegal
5. Dahomey (Benin)
6. French Guinea (Guinea)
7. Upper Volta (Burkina Faso)
8. Niger
The federation was settled in the capital Dakar, and from 1895 to 1960 the federation existed
and also the independence was gained by the colonies. The executive form of the French
colonial property in West Africa was marked by huge uncertainty.
The case discussed in this project addressing the border conflict between Burkina Faso and
Niger, is the perfect example for the theory already discussed. Though in 1960, the two
former French colonies became independent states, they were unable to reach a definitive

1
Thomas Pakenham, The Scramble for Africa: White Man's Conquest of the Dark Continent from 1876 to
1912, New York: Avon Books, 1992, p. 22.
agreement on their frontier course and needed to rely on the few colonial documents that the
French issued.
After almost 50 years of failed efforts to solve the feud independently, both parties demanded
the involvement of the International Court of Justice as an independent body, whose experts
and judges examined the Parties’ claims and reports, while taking into account the only
evidence made available by the French colonial government: a 1927 Arrêté and its Erratum
from the Governor General of French West Africa, and a 1960 map from the Institut
Geographique National de France.
The final judgment was published in April 2013 and was accepted by the Parties as impartial
and fair.

Facts of the Case

The landlocked country Burkina Faso is roughly 274,200 sq. km of total surface area. It is
bordered by Mali to the north and the west, Niger to the east and Benin, Togo, Ghana and
Ivory Coast to the south. Burkina Faso has three main water basins: Volta, Comoe and Niger.
Three watercourses cross the country: The Mouhoum, which once was the Black Volta, the
Nakambé, and the Nazinon (Red Volta). The Mouhoum is the only river that flows
continuously to Ghana. In 2009, Burkina Faso's population was estimated at around 16
million. The territory of the nation has 13 regions, 350 districts, 359 autonomous communes,
and about 8,000 villages. The jurisdiction of that nation comprises 45 provinces. From the
year 1947 to 1958 this Western African country was established again as an overseas
territory. Later, on 4th August 1984, it was named Burkino Faso which means the country of
honest men.

On the other hand, The Niger Republic is a landlocked Sahel nation with a landlocked region
of 1267,000 sq. km situated in West Africa. The country is bounded by Chad from east, by
Burkina Faso and Mali from west, by Nigeria and Benin from south and by Algeria and
Libya from north. The nation is essentially drained over 550 kilometers by the Niger River
and has a few seasonal affluent to the west. In the south-central part there are Magia and
Goulbin Maradi, in the river Komadougou Yobé, and Lake Chad to the far east. In 2010 it
was estimated that the population of Niger was over 15 million people.2 It is dived in the
eight regions of the Republic of Niger and 36 departments today. The region is divided into
266 municipalities in about 10,000 villages and tribes.3 It was, amongst other things, a
military territory, and then a colony in 1922 and an outermost territory from 1946 to 1958. As
a Community member created by the French Constitution of 1958, Niger became a Republic
in 1958 and gained its independence on 3 August 1960.

The two countries Burkina Faso and Niger together submitted a border feud between to the
court on 20th July 2010,4 in accordance with a Special Agreement signed on 24th February
2009 in Niamey, together with a copy of the Protocol of Exchange of the Instruments of
Ratification of the Special Agreement, signed in Ouagadougou on 20 November 2009.5
The two Parties, on the basis of the agreement on the delimited parts of their shared frontier,
dated 29 October and 2 November 2009, have also sent to the Court a certified copy of the
exchange of notes.

Under the Article 2 of the Special Agreement, regarding the matter of the dispute, the two
parties requested the Court to:
1. Ascertain the channel of the frontier between the two countries from Tong Tong to
the starting of the Botou bend.
2. Report the agreement of the Parties on the outcome of the work of the Joint Technical
Commission on Burkina Faso-Niger Demarcation on the following fields:
i) The sector from N'Gouma to Tong-Tong's marker;
ii) The sector bends towards the Mekrou River from the start of the Botou.6

2
Projection by the Niger National Statistical Office from the first quarter of 2010.

3
National Atlas of Niger, December 2002 edition.
4
Joint notification of the Special Agreement, letter dated 12 May 2010, MN, Anns., Series A, No. 20.
5
Protocol of Exchange of the Instruments of Ratification of the Special Agreement, 20 November
2009; MN, Anns., Series A, No. 18.
6
Certified copy of the Special Agreement, signed on 24 February 2009; MN, Anns., Series A, No. 13.
From the same document, the Article 3 provides that the two parties request the Court to
permit the following steps for the written pleadings:
“(a) a Memorial filed by each Party not later than nine (9) months after the seizing of the
Court; [. . .]”7
The Court set the date for each of the Parties to send a memorial, by order of 14 September
2010, for 20 April 2011.

7
Ibid.