Nepal

joint border commission continues to work on contested

sections of boundary with India, including the 400 square kilometer

dispute over the source of the Kalapani River; India has instituted

a stricter border regime to restrict transit of Maoist insurgents

and illegal cross-border activities; approximately 106,000 Bhutanese

Lhotshampas (Hindus) have been confined in refugee camps in

southeastern Nepal since 1990

Netherlands

none

Netherlands Antilles

none

New Caledonia

Matthew and Hunter Islands east of New Caledonia

claimed by France and Vanuatu

New Zealand

asserts a territorial claim in Antarctica (Ross

Dependency)

Nicaragua

memorials and countermemorials were filed by the parties

in Nicaragua's 1999 and 2001 proceedings against Honduras and

Colombia at the ICJ over the maritime boundary and territorial

claims in the western Caribbean Sea, final public hearings are

scheduled for 2007; the 1992 ICJ ruling for El Salvador and Honduras

advised a tripartite resolution to establish a maritime boundary in

the Gulf of Fonseca, which considers Honduran access to the Pacific;

legal dispute over navigational rights of San Juan River on border

with Costa Rica

Niger

Libya claims about 25,000 sq km in a currently dormant dispute

in the Tommo region; much of Benin-Niger boundary, including

tripoint with Nigeria, remains undemarcated; only Nigeria and

Cameroon have heeded the Lake Chad Commission's admonition to ratify

the delimitation treaty which also includes the Chad-Niger and

Niger-Nigeria boundaries

Nigeria

Joint Border Commission with Cameroon reviewed 2002 ICJ

ruling on the entire boundary and bilaterally resolved differences,

including June 2006 Greentree Agreement that immediately cedes

sovereignty of the Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon with a phase-out of

Nigerian control within two years while resolving patriation issues;

the ICJ ruled on an equidistance settlement of Cameroon-Equatorial

Guinea-Nigeria maritime boundary in the Gulf of Guinea, but

imprecisely defined coordinates in the ICJ decision and a

sovereignty dispute between Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon over an

island at the mouth of the Ntem River all contribute to the delay in

implementation; only Nigeria and Cameroon have heeded the Lake Chad

Commission's admonition to ratify the delimitation treaty which also

includes the Chad-Niger and Niger-Nigeria boundaries

Niue

none

Norfolk Island

none

Northern Mariana Islands

none

Norway

Norway asserts a territorial claim in Antarctica (Queen Maud

Land and its continental shelf); despite dialogue, Russia and Norway

continue to dispute their maritime limits in the Barents Sea and

Russia's fishing rights beyond Svalbard's territorial limits within

the Svalbard Treaty zone

Oman

boundary agreement reportedly signed and ratified with UAE in

2003 for entire border, including Oman's Musandam Peninsula and Al

Madhah exclave, but details of the alignment have not been made

public

Pacific Ocean

some maritime disputes (see littoral states)

Pakistan

various talks and confidence-building measures cautiously

have begun to defuse tensions over Kashmir, particularly since the

October 2005 earthquake in the region; Kashmir nevertheless remains

the site of the world's largest and most militarized territorial

dispute with portions under the de facto administration of China

(Aksai Chin), India (Jammu and Kashmir), and Pakistan (Azad Kashmir

and Northern Areas); UN Military Observer Group in India and

Pakistan (UNMOGIP) has maintained a small group of peacekeepers

since 1949; India does not recognize Pakistan's ceding historic

Kashmir lands to China in 1964; India and Pakistan have maintained

their 2004 cease fire in Kashmir and initiated discussions on

defusing the armed stand-off in the Siachen glacier region; Pakistan

protests India's fencing the highly militarized Line of Control and

construction of the Baglihar Dam on the Chenab River in Jammu and

Kashmir, which is part of the larger dispute on water sharing of the

Indus River and its tributaries; to defuse tensions and prepare for

discussions on a maritime boundary, India and Pakistan seek

technical resolution of the disputed boundary in Sir Creek estuary

at the mouth of the Rann of Kutch in the Arabian Sea; Pakistani maps

continue to show the Junagadh claim in India's Gujarat State; by

2005, Pakistan, with UN assistance, repatriated 2.3 million Afghan

refugees leaving slightly more than a million, many of whom remain

at their own choosing; Pakistan has proposed and Afghanistan

protests construction of a fence and laying of mines along portions

of their porous border; Pakistan has sent troops into remote tribal

areas to monitor and control the border with Afghanistan and to stem

terrorist or other illegal activities

Palau

maritime delineation negotiations continue with Philippines,

Indonesia

Panama

organized illegal narcotics operations in Colombia operate

within the remote border region with Panama

Papua New Guinea

relies on assistance from Australia to keep out

illegal cross-border activities from primarily Indonesia, including

goods smuggling, illegal narcotics trafficking, and squatters and

secessionists

Paracel Islands

occupied by China, also claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam

Paraguay

unruly region at convergence of Argentina-Brazil-Paraguay

borders is locus of money laundering, smuggling, arms and illegal

narcotics trafficking, and fundraising for extremist organizations

Peru

Chile and Ecuador rejected Peru's November 2005 unilateral

legislation to shift the axis of their joint treaty-defined maritime

boundaries along the parallels of latitude to equidistance lines

which favor Peru; organized illegal narcotics operations in Colombia

have penetrated Peru's shared border; Peru rejects Bolivia's claim

to restore maritime access through a sovereign corridor through

Chile along the Peruvian border

Philippines

Philippines claims sovereignty over certain of the

Spratly Islands, known locally as the Kalayaan (Freedom) Islands,

also claimed by China, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Vietnam; the 2002

"Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea," has

eased tensions in the Spratly Islands but falls short of a legally

binding "code of conduct" desired by several of the disputants; in

March 2005, the national oil companies of China, the Philippines,

and Vietnam signed a joint accord to conduct marine seismic

activities in the Spratly Islands; Philippines retains a dormant

claim to Malaysia's Sabah State in northern Borneo based on the

Sultanate of Sulu's granting the Philippines Government power of

attorney to pursue a sovereignty claim on his behalf; maritime

delimitation negotiations continue with Palau

Pitcairn Islands

none

Poland

as a member state that forms part of the EU's external

border, Poland has implemented the strict Schengen border rules to

restrict illegal immigration and trade along its eastern borders

with Belarus and Ukraine

Portugal

Portugal does not recognize Spanish sovereignty over the

territory of Olivenza based on a difference of interpretation of the

1815 Congress of Vienna and the 1801 Treaty of Badajoz

Puerto Rico

increasing numbers of illegal migrants from the

Dominican Republic cross the Mona Passage to Puerto Rico each year

looking for work

Qatar

none

Romania

the ICJ gave Ukraine until December 2006 to reply, and

Romania until June 2007 to issue a rejoinder, in their dispute

submitted in 2004 over Ukrainian-administered Zmiyinyy/Serpilor

(Snake) Island and Black Sea maritime boundary delimitation; Romania

also opposes Ukraine's reopening of a navigation canal from the

Danube border through Ukraine to the Black Sea

Russia

China and Russia have demarcated the once disputed islands at

the Amur and Ussuri confluence and in the Argun River in accordance

with the 2004 Agreement, ending their centuries-long border

disputes; the sovereignty dispute over the islands of Etorofu,

Kunashiri, Shikotan, and the Habomai group, known in Japan as the

"Northern Territories" and in Russia as the "Southern Kurils,"

occupied by the Soviet Union in 1945, now administered by Russia,

and claimed by Japan, remains the primary sticking point to signing

a peace treaty formally ending World War II hostilities; Russia and

Georgia agree on delimiting all but small, strategic segments of the

land boundary and the maritime boundary; OSCE observers monitor

volatile areas such as the Pankisi Gorge in the Akhmeti region and

the Kodori Gorge in Abkhazia; Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Russia

signed equidistance boundaries in the Caspian seabed but the

littoral states have no consensus on dividing the water column;

Russia and Norway dispute their maritime limits in the Barents Sea

and Russia's fishing rights beyond Svalbard's territorial limits

within the Svalbard Treaty zone; various groups in Finland advocate

restoration of Karelia (Kareliya) and other areas ceded to the

Soviet Union following the Second World War but the Finnish

Government asserts no territorial demands; in May 2005, Russia

recalled its signatures to the 1996 border agreements with Estonia

(1996) and Latvia (1997), when the two Baltic states announced

issuance of unilateral declarations referencing Soviet occupation

and ensuing territorial losses; Russia demands better treatment of

ethnic Russians in Estonia and Latvia; Estonian citizen groups

continue to press for realignment of the boundary based on the 1920

Tartu Peace Treaty that would bring the now divided ethnic Setu

people and parts of the Narva region within Estonia; Lithuania and

Russia committed to demarcating their boundary in 2006 in accordance

with the land and maritime treaty ratified by Russia in May 2003 and

by Lithuania in 1999; Lithuania operates a simplified transit regime

for Russian nationals traveling from the Kaliningrad coastal exclave

into Russia, while still conforming, as an EU member state with an

EU external border, where strict Schengen border rules apply;

preparations for the demarcation delimitation of land boundary with

Ukraine have commenced; the dispute over the boundary between Russia

and Ukraine through the Kerch Strait and Sea of Azov remains

unresolved despite a December 2003 framework agreement and on-going

expert-level discussions; Kazakhstan and Russia boundary

delimitation was ratified on November 2005 and field demarcation

should commence in 2007; Russian Duma has not yet ratified 1990

Bering Sea Maritime Boundary Agreement with the US

Rwanda

fighting among ethnic groups - loosely associated political

rebels, armed gangs, and various government forces in Great Lakes

region transcending the boundaries of Burundi, Democratic Republic

of the Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda - abated substantially from a

decade ago due largely to UN peacekeeping, international mediation,

and efforts by local governments to create civil societies;

nonetheless, 57,000 Rwandan refugees still reside in 21 African

states, including Zambia, Gabon, and 20,000 who fled to Burundi in

2005 and 2006 to escape drought and recriminations from traditional

courts investigating the 1994 massacres; the 2005 DROC and Rwanda

border verification mechanism to stem rebel actions on both sides of

the border remains in place

Saint Helena

none

Saint Kitts and Nevis

joins other Caribbean states to counter

Venezuela's claim that Aves Island sustains human habitation, a

criterion under UNCLOS, which permits Venezuela to extend its

EEZ/continental shelf over a large portion of the eastern Caribbean

Sea

Saint Lucia

joins other Caribbean states to counter Venezuela's

claim that Aves Island sustains human habitation, a criterion under

UNCLOS, which permits Venezuela to extend its EEZ/continental shelf

over a large portion of the eastern Caribbean Sea

Saint Pierre and Miquelon

none

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

joins other Caribbean states to

counter Venezuela's claim that Aves Island sustains human

habitation, a criterion under UNCLOS, which permits Venezuela to

extend its EEZ/continental shelf over a large portion of the eastern

Caribbean Sea

Samoa

none

San Marino

none

Sao Tome and Principe

none

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia has reinforced its concrete-filled

security barrier along sections of the now fully demarcated border

with Yemen to stem illegal cross-border activities; Kuwait and Saudi

Arabia continue discussions on a maritime boundary with Iran

Senegal

The Gambia and Guinea-Bissau attempt to stem separatist

violence, cross border raids, and arms smuggling into their

countries from Senegal's Casamance region, and in 2006, respectively

accepted 6,000 and 10,000 Casamance residents fleeing the conflict;

2,500 Guinea-Bissau residents fled into Senegal in 2006 to escape

armed confrontations along the border

Serbia

Serbia with several other states protest the U.S. and other

states' recognition of Kosovo's declaring itself as a sovereign and

independent state in February 2008; ethnic Serbian municipalities

along Kosovo's northern border challenge final status of

Kosovo-Serbia boundary; several thousand NATO-led KFOR peacekeepers

under UNMIK authority continue to keep the peace within Kosovo

between the ethnic Albanian majority and the Serb minority in

Kosovo; Serbia delimited about half of the boundary with Bosnia and

Herzegovina, but sections along the Drina River remain in dispute

Seychelles

together with Mauritius, Seychelles claims the Chagos

Archipelago (UK-administered British Indian Ocean Territory)

Sierra Leone

as domestic fighting among disparate ethnic groups,

rebel groups, warlords, and youth gangs in Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea,

Liberia, and Sierra Leone gradually abate, the number of refugees in

border areas has begun to slowly dwindle; UN Mission in Sierra Leone

(UNAMSIL) has maintained over 4,000 peacekeepers in Sierra Leone

since 1999; Sierra Leone considers excessive Guinea's definition of

the flood plain limits to define the left bank boundary of the

Makona and Moa rivers and protests Guinea's continued occupation of

these lands including the hamlet of Yenga occupied since 1998

Singapore

disputes persist with Malaysia over deliveries of fresh

water to Singapore, Singapore's extensive land reclamation works,

bridge construction, and maritime boundaries in the Johor and

Singapore Straits; in November 2007, the ICJ will hold public

hearings as a consequence of the Memorials and Countermemorials

filed by the parties in 2003 and 2005 over sovereignty of Pedra

Branca Island/Pulau Batu Puteh, Middle Rocks and South Ledge;

Indonesia and Singapore continue to work on finalization of their

1973 maritime boundary agreement by defining unresolved areas north

of Indonesia's Batam Island; piracy remains a problem in the Malacca

Strait

Slovakia

bilateral government, legal, technical and economic working

group negotiations continued in 2006 between Slovakia and Hungary

over Hungary's completion of its portion of the Gabcikovo-Nagymaros

hydroelectric dam project along the Danube; as a member state that

forms part of the EU's external border, Slovakia has implemented the

strict Schengen border rules

Slovenia

the Croatia-Slovenia land and maritime boundary agreement,

which would have ceded most of Piran Bay and maritime access to

Slovenia and several villages to Croatia, remains unratified and in

dispute; Slovenia also protests Croatia's 2003 claim to an exclusive

economic zone in the Adriatic; as a member state that forms part of

the EU's external border, Slovenia has implemented the strict

Schengen border rules to curb illegal migration and commerce through

southeastern Europe while encouraging close cross-border ties with

Croatia

Solomon Islands

since 2003, the Regional Assistance Mission to the

Solomon Islands (RAMSI), consisting of police, military, and

civilian advisors drawn from 15 countries, has assisted in

reestablishing and maintaining civil and political order while

reinforcing regional stability and security

Somalia

Ethiopian forces invaded southern Somalia and routed

Islamist Courts from Mogadishu in January 2007; "Somaliland"

secessionists provide port facilities in Berbera to landlocked

Ethiopia and have established commercial ties with other regional

states; "Puntland" and "Somaliland" "governments" seek international

support in their secessionist aspirations and overlapping border

claims; the undemarcated former British administrative line has

little meaning as a political separation to rival clans within

Ethiopia's Ogaden and southern Somalia's Oromo region; Kenya works

hard to prevent the clan and militia fighting in Somalia from

spreading south across the border, which has long been open to

nomadic pastoralists

South Africa

South Africa has placed military along the border to

apprehend the thousands of Zimbabweans fleeing economic dysfunction

and political persecution; as of January 2007, South Africa also

supports large numbers of refugees and asylum seekers from the

Democratic Republic of the Congo (33,000), Somalia (20,000), Burundi

(6,500), and other states in Africa (26,000); managed dispute with

Namibia over the location of the boundary in the Orange River; in

2006, Swazi king advocates resort to ICJ to claim parts of

Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal from South Africa

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

Argentina, which claims

the islands in its constitution and briefly occupied them by force

in 1982, agreed in 1995 to no longer seek settlement by force

Southern Ocean

Antarctic Treaty defers claims (see Antarctica

entry), but Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, NZ, Norway, and UK

assert claims (some overlapping), including the continental shelf in

the Southern Ocean; several states have expressed an interest in

extending those continental shelf claims under the United Nations

Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to include undersea

ridges; the US and most other states do not recognize the land or

maritime claims of other states and have made no claims themselves

(the US and Russia have reserved the right to do so); no formal

claims exist in the waters in the sector between 90 degrees west and

150 degrees west

Spain

in 2002, Gibraltar residents voted overwhelmingly by

referendum to remain a British colony and against a "total shared

sovereignty" arrangement while demanding participation in talks

between the UK and Spain; Spain disapproves of UK plans to grant

Gibraltar greater autonomy; Morocco protests Spain's control over

the coastal enclaves of Ceuta, Melilla, and the islands of Penon de

Velez de la Gomera, Penon de Alhucemas and Islas Chafarinas, and

surrounding waters; Morocco serves as the primary launching site of

illegal migration into Spain from North Africa; Portugal does not

recognize Spanish sovereignty over the territory of Olivenza based

on a difference of interpretation of the 1815 Congress of Vienna and

the 1801 Treaty of Badajoz

Spratly Islands

all of the Spratly Islands are claimed by China,

Taiwan, and Vietnam; parts of them are claimed by Malaysia and the

Philippines; in 1984, Brunei established an exclusive fishing zone

that encompasses Louisa Reef in the southern Spratly Islands but has

not publicly claimed the reef; claimants in November 2002 signed the

"Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea,"

which has eased tensions but falls short of a legally binding "code

of conduct"; in March 2005, the national oil companies of China, the

Philippines, and Vietnam signed a joint accord to conduct marine

seismic activities in the Spratly Islands

Sri Lanka

none

Sudan

the effects of Sudan's almost constant ethnic and rebel

militia fighting since the mid-20th century have penetrated all of

the neighboring states; as of 2006, Chad, Ethiopia, Kenya, Central

African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Uganda

provided shelter for over half a million Sudanese refugees, which

includes 240,000 Darfur residents driven from their homes by

Janjawid armed militia and the Sudanese military forces; Sudan, in

turn, hosted about 116,000 Eritreans, 20,000 Chadians, and smaller

numbers of Ethiopians, Ugandans, Central Africans, and Congolese as

refugees; in February 2006, Sudan and DROC signed an agreement to

repatriate 13,300 Sudanese and 6,800 Congolese; Sudan accuses

Eritrea of supporting Sudanese rebel groups; efforts to demarcate

the porous boundary with Ethiopia proceed slowly due to civil and

ethnic fighting in eastern Sudan; the boundary that separates Kenya

and Sudan's sovereignty is unclear in the "Ilemi Triangle," which

Kenya has administered since colonial times; while Sudan claims to

administer the Hala'ib Triangle north of the 1899 Treaty boundary

along the 22nd Parallel; both states withdrew their military

presence in the 1990s, and Egypt has invested in and effectively

administers the area; periodic violent skirmishes with Sudanese

residents over water and grazing rights persist among related

pastoral populations along the border with the Central African

Republic

Suriname

area claimed by French Guiana between Riviere Litani and

Riviere Marouini (both headwaters of the Lawa); Suriname claims a

triangle of land between the New and Kutari/Koetari rivers in a

historic dispute over the headwaters of the Courantyne; Guyana seeks

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) arbitration

to resolve the long-standing dispute with Suriname over the axis of

the territorial sea boundary in potentially oil-rich waters

Svalbard

despite recent discussions, Russia and Norway dispute their

maritime limits in the Barents Sea and Russia's fishing rights

beyond Svalbard's territorial limits within the Svalbard Treaty zone

Swaziland

in 2006, Swazi king advocates resort to ICJ to claim parts

of Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal from South Africa

Sweden

none

Switzerland

none

Syria

Golan Heights is Israeli-occupied with the almost 1,000-strong

UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) patrolling a buffer zone

since 1964; lacking a treaty or other documentation describing the

boundary, portions of the Lebanon-Syria boundary are unclear with

several sections in dispute; since 2000, Lebanon has claimed Shaba'a

farms in the Golan Heights; 2004 Agreement and pending demarcation

settles border dispute with Jordan; approximately two million Iraqis

have fled the conflict in Iraq with the majority taking refuge in

Syria and Jordan

Taiwan

involved in complex dispute with China, Malaysia,

Philippines, Vietnam, and possibly Brunei over the Spratly Islands;

the 2002 "Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China

Sea" has eased tensions but falls short of a legally binding "code

of conduct" desired by several of the disputants; Paracel Islands

are occupied by China, but claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam; in 2003,

China and Taiwan became more vocal in rejecting both Japan's claims

to the uninhabited islands of the Senkaku-shoto (Diaoyu Tai) and

Japan's unilaterally declared exclusive economic zone in the East

China Sea where all parties engage in hydrocarbon prospecting

Tajikistan

in 2006, China and Tajikistan pledged to commence

demarcation of the revised boundary agreed to in the delimitation of

2002; talks continue with Uzbekistan to delimit border and remove

minefields; disputes in Isfara Valley delay delimitation with

Kyrgyzstan

Tanzania

Tanzania still hosts more than a half-million refugees,

more than any other African country, mainly from Burundi and the

Democratic Republic of the Congo, despite the international

community's efforts at repatriation; disputes with Malawi over the

boundary in Lake Nyasa (Lake Malawi) and the meandering Songwe River

remain dormant