Bermudanone
Bhutanapproximately 105,000 Bhutanese have lived decades asrefugees in Nepal, 90% of whom reside in seven UN Office of the HighCommissioner for Refugees camps; Bhutan cooperates with India toexpel Indian separatists
BoliviaChile rebuffs Bolivia's reactivated claim to restore theAtacama corridor, ceded to Chile in 1884, offering insteadunrestricted but not sovereign maritime access through Chile forBolivian natural gas and other commodities
Bosnia and HerzegovinaBosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia andMontenegro have delimited most of their boundary, but sections alongthe Drina River remain in dispute; discussions continue with Croatiaon several small disputed sections of the boundary related tomaritime access that hinder ratification of the 1999 border agreement
Botswanacommission established with Namibia has yet to resolvesmall residual disputes along the Caprivi Strip, including theSitungu marshlands along the Linyanti River; downstream Botswanaresidents protest Namibia's planned construction of the Okavangohydroelectric dam at Popavalle (Popa Falls); Botswana has builtelectric fences to stem the thousands of Zimbabweans who flee tofind work and escape political persecution; Namibia has longsupported and in 2004 Zimbabwe dropped objections to plans betweenBotswana and Zambia to build a bridge over the Zambezi River,thereby de facto recognizing their short, but not clearly delimitedBotswana-Zambia boundary
Bouvet Islandnone
Brazilunruly region at convergence of Argentina-Brazil-Paraguayborders is locus of money laundering, smuggling, arms and illegalnarcotics trafficking, and fundraising for extremist organizations;uncontested dispute with Uruguay over certain islands in theQuarai/Cuareim and Invernada boundary streams and the resultingtripoint with Argentina; in 2004 Brazil submitted its claims to theUnited Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to extendits maritime continental margin
British Indian Ocean TerritoryMauritius and Seychelles claim theChagos Archipelago including Diego Garcia; in 2001 the formerinhabitants of the Chagos Archipelago, evicted in 1965 and nowresiding chiefly in Mauritius, were granted UK citizenship and theright to repatriation; the UK resists the Chagossians' demand for animmediate return to the islands; repatriation is complicated by theexclusive US military lease of Diego Garcia that restricts access tothe largest island in the chain;
British Virgin Islandsnone
Bruneiin 2003 Brunei and Malaysia ceased gas and oil exploration intheir disputed offshore and deepwater seabeds and negotiations havestalemated prompting consideration of international legaladjudication; Malaysia's land boundary with Brunei around Limbang isin dispute; Brunei established an exclusive economic fishing zoneencompassing Louisa Reef in southern Spratly Islands in 1984 butmakes no public territorial claim to the offshore reefs; the 2002"Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea" haseased tensions in the Spratly Islands but falls short of a legallybinding "code of conduct" desired by several of the disputants
Bulgarianone
Burkina Fasotwo villages are in dispute along the border withBenin; Benin accuses Burkina Faso of moving boundary pillars;Burkina Faso border regions remain a staging area for Liberia andCote d'Ivoire rebels and an asylum for refugees caught in localfighting; the Ivoirian Government accuses Burkina Faso of shelteringIvoirian rebels
Burmaover half of Burma's population consists of diverse ethnicgroups with substantial numbers of kin beyond its borders; despitecontinuing border committee talks, significant differences remainwith Thailand over boundary alignment and the handling of ethnicrebels, refugees, and illegal cross-border activities; ethnic Karensflee into Thailand to escape fighting between Karen rebels andBurmese troops; in 2005 Thailand sheltered about 121,000 Burmeserefugees; Karens also protest Thai support for a Burmesehydroelectric dam on the Salween River near the border;environmentalists in Burma and Thailand continue to voice concernover China's construction of hydroelectric dams upstream on theNujiang/Salween River in Yunnan Province; India seeks cooperationfrom Burma to keep Indian Nagaland separatists from hiding in remoteBurmese uplands
BurundiTutsi, Hutu, other conflicting ethnic groups, associatedpolitical rebels, armed gangs, and various government forcescontinue fighting in the Great Lakes region, transcending theboundaries of Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, andUganda in an effort to gain control over populated and naturalresource areas; government heads pledge to end conflict, butlocalized violence continues despite the presence of about 6,000peacekeepers from the UN Operation in Burundi (ONUB) since 2004;although some 150,000 Burundian refugees have been repatriated, asof February 2005, Burundian refugees still reside in camps inwestern Tanzania as well as the Democratic Republic of the Congo
CambodiaSoutheast Asian states have enhanced border surveillance tocheck the spread of avian flu; Cambodia and Thailand disputesections of boundary with missing boundary markers and Thaiencroachments into Cambodian territory; maritime boundary withVietnam is hampered by unresolved dispute over offshore islands;Cambodia accuses Thailand of obstructing access to Preah Viheartemple ruins awarded to Cambodia by ICJ decision in 1962; in 2004,Cambodian-Laotian and Laotian-Vietnamese boundary commissionsre-erected missing markers completing most of their demarcations
CameroonICJ ruled in 2002 on the entire Cameroon-Nigeria land andmaritime boundary but the parties formed a Joint Border Commission,which continues to meet regularly to resolve differences bilaterallyand have commenced with demarcation in less-contested sections ofthe boundary, starting in Lake Chad in the north; implementation ofthe ICJ ruling on the Cameroon-Equatorial Guinea-Nigeria maritimeboundary in the Gulf of Guinea is impeded by imprecisely definedcoordinates and a sovereignty dispute between Equatorial Guinea andCameroon over an island at the mouth of the Ntem River; Nigeriainitially rejected cession of the Bakassi Peninsula, then agreed,but much of the indigenous population opposes cession; only Nigeriaand Cameroon have heeded the Lake Chad Commission's admonition toratify the delimitation treaty which also includes the Chad-Nigerand Niger-Nigeria boundaries
Canadamanaged maritime boundary disputes with the US at DixonEntrance, Beaufort Sea, Strait of Juan de Fuca, and around thedisputed Machias Seal Island and North Rock; working toward greatercooperation with US in monitoring people and commodities crossingthe border; uncontested sovereignty dispute with Denmark over HansIsland in the Kennedy Channel between Ellesmere Island and Greenland
Cape Verdenone
Cayman Islandsnone
Central African Republicabout 30,000 refugees fleeing the 2002civil conflict in the CAR still reside in southern Chad; periodicskirmishes over water and grazing rights among related pastoralpopulations along the border with southern Sudan persist
Chadsince the expulsions of residents from Darfur in 2003 byJanjawid armed militia and Sudanese military, about 200,000 refugeesremain in eastern Chad; Chad remains an important mediator in theSudanese civil conflict, reducing tensions with Sudan arising fromcross-border banditry; Chadian Aozou rebels reside in southernLibya; only Nigeria and Cameroon have heeded the Lake ChadCommission's admonition to ratify the delimitation treaty, whichalso includes the Chad-Niger and Niger-Nigeria boundaries
ChileChile rebuffs Bolivia's reactivated claim to restore theAtacama corridor, ceded to Chile in 1884, offering insteadunrestricted but not sovereign maritime access through Chile toBolivian gas and other commodities; Peru proposes changing itslatitudinal maritime boundary with Chile to an equidistance linewith a southwestern axis; territorial claim in Antarctica (ChileanAntarctic Territory) partially overlaps Argentine and Britishclaims; action by the joint boundary commission, established byChile and Argentina in 2001, for mapping and demarcating thedisputed boundary in the Andean Southern Ice Field (Campo de HieloSur) remains pending
Chinain 2005, China and India began drafting principles to resolveall aspects of their extensive boundary and territorial disputestogether with a security and foreign policy dialogue to consolidatediscussions related to the boundary, regional nuclear proliferation,and other matters; recent talks and confidence-building measureshave begun to defuse tensions over Kashmir, site of the world'slargest and most militarized territorial dispute with portions underthe de facto administration of China (Aksai Chin), India (Jammu andKashmir), and Pakistan (Azad Kashmir and Northern Areas); India doesnot recognize Pakistan's ceding historic Kashmir lands to China in1964; about 90,000 ethnic Tibetan exiles reside primarily in Indiaas well as Nepal and Bhutan; China asserts sovereignty over theSpratly Islands together with Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan,Vietnam, and possibly Brunei; the 2002 "Declaration on the Conductof Parties in the South China Sea" has eased tensions in theSpratlys but is not the legally binding "code of conduct" sought bysome parties; Vietnam and China continue to expand construction offacilities in the Spratlys and in March 2005, the national oilcompanies of China, the Philippines, and Vietnam signed a jointaccord on marine seismic activities in the Spratly Islands; Chinaoccupies some of the Paracel Islands also claimed by Vietnam andTaiwan; China and Taiwan have become more vocal in rejecting bothJapan's claims to the uninhabited islands of Senkaku-shoto (DiaoyuTai) and Japan's unilaterally declared equidistance line in the EastChina Sea, the site of intensive hydrocarbon prospecting; certainislands in the Yalu and Tumen rivers are in an uncontested disputewith North Korea and a section of boundary around Mount Paektu isconsidered indefinite; China seeks to stem illegal migration of tensof thousands of North Koreans; China and Russia prepare to demarcatethe boundary agreed to in October 2004 between the long-disputedislands at the Amur and Ussuri; demarcation of the China-Vietnamboundary proceeds slowly and although the maritime boundarydelimitation and fisheries agreements were ratified in June 2004,implementation has been delayed; environmentalists in Burma andThailand remain concerned about China's construction ofhydroelectric dams upstream on the Nujiang/Salween River in YunnanProvince
Christmas Islandnone
Clipperton Islandnone
Cocos (Keeling) Islandsnone
ColombiaNicaragua filed a claim against Honduras in 1999 andagainst Colombia in 2001 at the ICJ over disputed maritime boundaryinvolving 50,000 sq km in the Caribbean Sea, including theArchipelago de San Andres y Providencia and Quita Sueno Bank;dispute with Venezuela over maritime boundary and Los Monjes Islandsnear the Gulf of Venezuela; Colombian-organized illegal narcotics,guerrilla, and paramilitary activities penetrate all of itsneighbors' borders and have created a serious refugee crisis withover 300,000 persons having fled the country, mostly intoneighboring states
Comorosclaims French-administered Mayotte
Congo, Democratic Republic of the heads of the Great Lakes states and UN pledge to end conflict but unchecked tribal, rebel, and militia fighting continues unabated in the northeastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, drawing in the neighboring states of Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda; the UN Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) has maintained over 14,000 peacekeepers in the region since 1999; thousands of Ituri refugees from the Congo continue to flee the fighting primarily into Uganda; 90,000 Angolan refugees were repatriated by 2004 with the remainder in the DRC expected to return in 2005; in 2005, DRC and Rwanda established a border verification mechanism to address accusations of Rwandan military supporting Congolese rebels and the DRC providing rebel Rwandan "Interhamwe" forces the means and bases to attack Rwandan forces; the location of the boundary in the broad Congo River with the Republic of the Congo is indefinite except in the Pool Malebo/Stanley Pool area
Congo, Republic of theabout 7,000 Congolese refugees fleeinginternal civil conflicts since the mid-1990s still reside in theDemocratic Republic of the Congo; the location of the boundary inthe broad Congo River with the Democratic Republic of the Congo isindefinite except in the Pool Malebo/Stanley Pool area
Cook Islandsnone
Coral Sea Islandsnone
Costa Ricain September 2005, Costa Rica took its case before theICJ to advocate the navigation, security, and commercial rights ofCosta Rican vessels using the Rio San Juan over which Nicaraguaretains sovereignty
Cote d'Ivoirerebel and ethnic fighting against the centralgovernment in 2002 has spilled into neighboring states, driven outforeign cocoa workers from nearby countries, and, in 2004, resultedin 6,000 peacekeepers deployed as part of UN Operation in Coted'Ivoire (UNOCI) assisting 4,000 French troops already in-country;the Ivorian Government accuses Burkina Faso and Liberia ofsupporting Ivorian rebels
Croatiadiscussions continue with Bosnia and Herzegovina overseveral small disputed sections of the boundary related to maritimeaccess that hinders ratification of the 1999 border agreement; theCroatia-Slovenia land and maritime boundary agreement, which wouldhave ceded most of Pirin Bay and maritime access to Slovenia andseveral villages to Croatia, remains un-ratified and in dispute; asa European Union peripheral state, neighboring Slovenia must conformto the strict Schengen border rules to curb illegal migration andcommerce through southeastern Europe while encouraging closecross-border ties with Croatia
CubaUS Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay is leased to US and only mutualagreement or US abandonment of the area can terminate the lease
Cyprushostilities in 1974 divided the island into two de factoautonomous entities, the internationally recognized CypriotGovernment and a Turkish-Cypriot community (north Cyprus); the1,000-strong UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) has served inCyprus since 1964 and maintains the buffer zone between north andsouth; March 2003 reunification talks failed, but Turkish-Cypriotslater opened their borders to temporary visits by Greek Cypriots; on24 April 2004, the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communitiesvoted in simultaneous and parallel referenda on whether to approvethe UN-brokered Annan Plan that would have ended the 30-yeardivision of the island by establishing a new "United CyprusRepublic," a majority of Greek Cypriots voted "no"; on 1 May 2004,Cyprus entered the European Union still divided, with the EU's bodyof legislation and standards (acquis communitaire) suspended in thenorth
Czech Republicin February 2005, the ICJ refused to rule on therestitution of Liechtenstein's land and property assets in the CzechRepublic confiscated in 1945 as German property; individual SudetenGermans seek restitution for property confiscated in connection withtheir expulsion from Czechoslovakia after World War II; Austriananti-nuclear activists have revived blockades of the Czech-Austrianborder to protest operation of the Temelin nuclear power plant inthe Czech Republic
DenmarkIceland disputes the Faroe Islands' fisheries median line;Iceland, the UK, and Ireland dispute Denmark's claim that the FaroeIslands' continental shelf extends beyond 200 nm; Faroese continueto study proposals for full independence; uncontested sovereigntydispute with Canada over Hans Island in the Kennedy Channel betweenEllesmere Island and Greenland
DjiboutiDjibouti maintains economic ties and border accords with"Somaliland" leadership while maintaining some political ties tovarious factions in Somalia; thousands of Somali refugees awaitrepatriation in UNHCR camps in Djibouti
DominicaDominica is the only Caribbean state to challengeVenezuela's sovereignty claim over Aves Island and joins the otherisland nations in challenging whether the feature sustains humanhabitation, a criterion under the UN Convention on the Law of theSea (UNCLOS), which permits Venezuela to extend its ExclusiveEconomic Zone (EEZ) and continental shelf claims over a largeportion of the Caribbean Sea
Dominican Republicincreasing numbers of illegal migrants from theDominican Republic cross the Mona Passage each year to Puerto Ricoto find work
East TimorUN Mission of Support in East Timor (UNMISET) hasmaintained about 1,000 peacekeepers in East Timor since 2002; EastTimor-Indonesia Boundary Committee continues to meet, survey, anddelimit the land boundary, but several sections of the boundaryespecially around the Oekussi enclave remain unresolved; Indonesiaand East Timor contest the sovereignty of the uninhabited coralisland of Pulau Batek/Fatu Sinai, which prevents delimitation of thenorthern maritime boundaries; many refugees who left East Timor in2003 still reside in Indonesia and refuse repatriation; Australiaand East Timor agreed in 2005 to defer the disputed portion of theboundary for 50 years and to split hydrocarbon revenues evenlyoutside the Joint Petroleum Development Area covered by the 2002Timor Sea Treaty; dispute with Australia has hampered creation of asouthern maritime boundary with Indonesia
Ecuadororganized illegal narcotics operations in Colombia penetrateacross Ecuador's shared border and caused over 20,000 refugees toflee into Ecuador in 2004
EgyptEgypt and Sudan retain claims to administer the two triangularareas that extend north and south of the 1899 Treaty boundary alongthe 22nd Parallel, but have withdrawn their military presence; Egyptis developing the Hala'ib Triangle north of the Treaty line; sincethe attack on Taba and other Egyptian resort towns on the Red Sea inOctober 2004, Egypt vigilantly monitors the Sinai and borders withIsrael and the Gaza Strip; Egypt does not extend domestic asylum tosome 70,000 persons who identify themselves as Palestinians but wholargely lack UNRWA assistance and, until recently, UNHCR recognitionas refugees
El Salvadorin 1992, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruledon the delimitation of "bolsones" (disputed areas) along the ElSalvador-Honduras boundary, but despite Organization of AmericanStates (OAS) intervention and a further ICJ ruling in 2003, fulldemarcation of the border remains stalled; the 1992 ICJ rulingadvised a tripartite resolution to a maritime boundary in the Gulfof Fonseca advocating Honduran access to the Pacific; El Salvadorcontinues to claim tiny Conejo Island, not identified in the ICJdecision, off Honduras in the Gulf of Fonseca
Equatorial Guineain 2002, ICJ ruled on an equidistance settlementof Cameroon-Equatorial Guinea-Nigeria maritime boundary in the Gulfof Guinea, but a dispute between Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon overan island at the mouth of the Ntem River, imprecisely definedmaritime coordinates in the ICJ decision, and the unresolved Bakasiallocation contribute to the delay in implementation; UN has beenpressing Equatorial Guinea and Gabon to pledge to resolve thesovereignty dispute over Gabon-occupied Mbane Island and create amaritime boundary in the hydrocarbon-rich Corisco Bay
EritreaEritrea and Ethiopia agreed to abide by 2002Ethiopia-Eritrea Boundary Commission's (EEBC) delimitation decision,but despite international intervention, mutual animosities,accusations, and armed posturing have prevented demarcation;Ethiopia refuses to withdraw to the delimited boundary until claimedtechnical errors made by the EEBC that ignored "human geography" areaddressed, including the award of Badme, the focus of the 1998-2000war; Eritrea insists that the EEBC decision be implementedimmediately without modifications; in 2005 Eritrea began severelyrestricting the operations of the UN Peacekeeping Mission toEthiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) monitoring the 25km-wide TemporarySecurity Zone in Eritrea since 2000; Sudan sustains over 110,000Eritrean refugees and accuses Eritrea of supporting Sudanese rebelgroups
Estoniain 2005, Russia refuses to sign the 1996 technical borderagreement with Estonia when Estonia prepares a unilateraldeclaration referencing Soviet occupation and territorial losses;Russia demands better accommodation of Russian-speaking populationin Estonia; Estonian citizen groups continue to press forrealignment of the boundary based on the 1920 Tartu Peace Treatythat would bring the now divided ethnic Setu people and parts of theNarva region within Estonia; as a member state that forms part ofthe EU's external border, Estonia must implement the strict Schengenborder rules
EthiopiaEritrea and Ethiopia agreed to abide by the 2002Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission's (EEBC) delimitation decision,but mutual animosities, accusations, and armed posturing prevail,preventing demarcation despite international intervention; Ethiopiarefuses to withdraw to the delimited boundary until technical errorsmade by the EEBC that ignored "human geography" are addressed,including the award of Badme, the focus of the 1998-2000 war;Eritrea insists that the EEBC decision be implemented immediatelywithout modifications; Ethiopia has only an administrative line andno international border with the Oromo region of southern Somaliawhere it maintains alliances with local clans in opposition to theunrecognized Somali Interim Government in Mogadishu; "Somaliland"secessionists provide port facilities and trade ties to landlockedEthiopia; efforts to demarcate the porous boundary with Sudan havebeen delayed by civil war
Europa Islandclaimed by Madagascar
European Unionas a political union, the EU has no border disputeswith neighboring countries, but Estonia and Latvia have no landboundary agreements with Russia, Slovenia disputes its land andmaritime boundaries with Croatia, and Spain has territorial andmaritime disputes with Morocco; the EU has set up a Schengen area -consisting of 13 EU member states that have signed the conventionimplementing the Schengen agreements (1985 and 1990) on the freemovement of persons and the harmonization of border controls inEurope; the Schengen agreements ("acquis") became incorporated intoEU law with the implementation of the 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam on 1May 1999; member states are: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland,France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal,Spain, and Sweden; in addition, non-EU states Iceland and Norway (aspart of the Nordic Union) have been included in the Schengen areasince 1996 (full members in 2001), bringing the total currentmembership to 15; the UK (since 2000) and Ireland (since 2002) takepart in some aspects of the Schengen area, especially with respectto police and criminal matters; the 12 new member states that joinedthe EU in 2004 and 2007 eventually are expected to participate inSchengen, following a transition period to upgrade their bordercontrols and procedures
Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)Argentina, which claims theislands in its constitution and briefly occupied them by force in1982, agreed in 1995 to no longer seek settlement by force; UKcontinues to reject Argentine requests for sovereignty talks
Faroe Islandsbecause anticipated offshore hydrocarbon resourceshave not been realized, earlier Faroese proposals for fullindependence have been deferred; Iceland disputes the Faroe Islands'fisheries median line boundary; Iceland, the UK, and Ireland disputeDenmark's claim that the Faroe Islands' continental shelf extendsbeyond 200 nm
Fijinone
Finlandvarious groups in Finland advocate restoration of Kareliaand other areas ceded to the Soviet Union, but the FinnishGovernment asserts no territorial demands
FranceMadagascar claims the French territories of Bassas da India,Europa Island, Glorioso Islands, and Juan de Nova Island; Comorosclaims Mayotte; Mauritius claims Tromelin Island; territorialdispute between Suriname and the French overseas department ofFrench Guiana; France asserts a territorial claim in Antarctica(Adelie Land); France and Vanuatu claim Matthew and Hunter Islands,east of New Caledonia
French Polynesianone
French Southern and Antarctic LandsFrench claim to "Adelie Land" inAntarctica is not recognized by the US
GabonUN presses Equatorial Guinea and Gabon to resolve thesovereignty dispute over Gabon-occupied Mbane Island and toestablish a maritime boundary in hydrocarbon-rich Corisco Bay; onlya few hundred out of the 20,000 Republic of the Congo refugees whofled militia fighting in 2000 remain in Gabon
Gambia, Theattempts to stem refugees, cross-border raids, armssmuggling, and other illegal activities by separatists from southernSenegal's Casamance region, as well as from conflicts in other westAfrican states
Gaza StripWest Bank and Gaza Strip are Israeli-occupied withcurrent status subject to the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement- permanent status to be determined through further negotiation;Israel removed settlers and military personnel from the Gaza Stripin August 2005
GeorgiaRussia and Georgia agree on delimiting 80% of their commonborder, leaving certain small, strategic segments and the maritimeboundary unresolved; OSCE observers monitor volatile areas such asthe Pankisi Gorge in the Akhmeti region and the Argun Gorge inAbkhazia; UN Observer Mission in Georgia has maintained apeacekeeping force in Georgia since 1993; Meshkheti Turks scatteredthroughout the former Soviet Union seek to return to Georgia;boundary with Armenia remains undemarcated; ethnic Armenian groupsin Javakheti region of Georgia seek greater autonomy from theGeorgian government; Azerbaijan and Georgia continue to discuss thealignment of their boundary at certain crossing areas
Germanynone
GhanaGhana struggles to accommodate returning nationals who workedin the cocoa plantations and escaped fighting in Cote d'Ivoire
Gibraltarin 2002, Gibraltar residents voted overwhelmingly byreferendum to reject any "shared sovereignty" arrangement; thegovernment of Gibraltar insists on equal participation in talksbetween the UK and Spain; Spain disapproves of UK plans to grantGibraltar even greater autonomy
Glorioso Islandsclaimed by Madagascar
GreeceGreece and Turkey continue discussions to resolve theircomplex maritime, air, territorial, and boundary disputes in theAegean Sea; Cyprus question with Turkey; Greece rejects the use ofthe name Macedonia or Republic of Macedonia
Greenlandmanaged dispute between Canada and Denmark over HansIsland in the Kennedy Channel between Canada's Ellesmere Island andGreenland
Grenadanone
Guamnone
GuatemalaGuatemalan squatters continue to settle in the rainforests of Belize's border region; Organization of American States(OAS) is attempting to revive the 2002 failed Differendum thatcreated a small adjustment to land boundary, a Guatemalan maritimecorridor in Caribbean, a joint ecological park for the disputedSapodilla Cays, and a substantial US-UK financial package;Guatemalans enter Mexico illegally seeking work or transit to the US
Guernseynone
Guineaconflicts among rebel groups, warlords, and youth gangs inneighboring states have spilled over into Guinea, resulting indomestic instability; Sierra Leone has pressured Guinea to removeits forces from the town of Yenga, occupied since 1998
Guinea-Bissauattempts to stem refugees and cross-border raids, armssmuggling, and political instability from a separatist movement inSenegal's Casamance region
Guyanaall of the area west of the Essequibo (river) is claimed byVenezuela preventing any discussion of a maritime boundary; Guyanahas expressed its intention to join Barbados in asserting claimsbefore UNCLOS that Trinidad and Tobago's maritime boundary withVenezuela extends into their waters; Suriname claims a triangle ofland between the New and Kutari/Koetari rivers in a historic disputeover the headwaters of the Courantyne; Guyana seeks arbitrationunder provisions of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)to resolve the long-standing dispute with Suriname over the axis ofthe territorial sea boundary in potentially oil-rich waters
Haitisince 2004, about 8,000 peacekeepers from the UN StabilizationMission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) maintain civil order in Haiti; despiteefforts to control illegal migration, Haitians fleeing economicprivation and civil unrest continue to cross into the DominicanRepublic and sail to neighboring countries; Haiti claimsUS-administered Navassa Island
Heard Island and McDonald Islandsnone
Holy See (Vatican City)none
Hondurasin 1992, International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled on thedelimitation of "bolsones" (disputed areas) along the ElSalvador-Honduras border, but despite Organization of AmericanStates (OAS) intervention and a further ICJ ruling in 2003, fulldemarcation of the border remains stalled; the 1992 ICJ rulingadvised a tripartite resolution to a maritime boundary in the Gulfof Fonseca with consideration of Honduran access to the Pacific; ElSalvador continues to claim tiny Conejo Island, not mentioned in theICJ ruling, off Honduras in the Gulf of Fonseca; Honduras claimsSapodilla Cays off the coast of Belize, but agreed to creation of ajoint ecological park and Guatemalan corridor in the Caribbean inthe failed 2002 Belize-Guatemala Differendum, which the OAS isattempting to revive; Nicaragua filed a claim against Honduras in1999 and against Colombia in 2001 at the ICJ over a complex disputeover islands and maritime boundaries in the Caribbean Sea
Hong Kongnone
Howland Islandnone
Hungaryin 2004, Hungary amended the status law extending specialsocial and cultural benefits - and voted down a referendum to extenddual citizenship - to ethnic Hungarians living in neighboringstates, which have objected to such measures; consultations continuebetween Slovakia and Hungary over Hungary's completion of itsportion the Gabcikovo-Nagymaros hydroelectric dam project along theDanube; as a member state that forms part of the EU's externalborder, Hungary must implement the strict Schengen border rules
IcelandIceland disputes Denmark's alignment of the Faroe Islands'fisheries median line; Iceland, the UK, and Ireland disputeDenmark's claim that the Faroe Islands' continental shelf extendsbeyond 200 nm
Iles EparsesBassas da India, Europa Island, Glorioso Islands, Juande Nova Island: claimed by MadagascarTromelin Island: claimed by Mauritius
Indiasince China and India launched a security and foreign policydialogue in 2005, consolidated discussions related to the disputeover most of their rugged, militarized boundary, regional nuclearproliferation, Indian claims that China transferred missiles toPakistan, and other matters continue; various talks andconfidence-building measures have cautiously begun to defusetensions over Kashmir, particularly since the October 2005earthquake in the region; Kashmir nevertheless remains the site ofthe world's largest and most militarized territorial dispute withportions under the de facto administration of China (Aksai Chin),India (Jammu and Kashmir), and Pakistan (Azad Kashmir and NorthernAreas); in 2004, India and Pakistan instituted a cease fire inKashmir and in 2005, restored bus service across the highlymilitarized Line of Control; Pakistan has taken its dispute on theimpact and benefits of India's building the Baglihar Dam on theChenab River in Jammu and Kashmir to the World Bank for arbitration;UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) hasmaintained a small group of peacekeepers since 1949; India does notrecognize Pakistan's ceding historic Kashmir lands to China in 1964;disputes persist with Pakistan over Indus River water sharing; todefuse tensions and prepare for discussions on a maritime boundary,in 2004, India and Pakistan resurveyed a portion of the disputedboundary in Sir Creek estuary at the mouth of the Rann of Kutch;Pakistani maps continue to show its Junagadh claim in Indian GujaratState; discussions with Bangladesh remain stalled to delimit a smallsection of river boundary, to exchange 162 miniscule enclaves inboth countries, to allocate divided villages, and to stop illegalcross-border trade, migration, violence, and transit of terroriststhrough the porous border; Bangladesh protests India's attempts tofence off high-traffic sections of the border; dispute withBangladesh over New Moore/South Talpatty/Purbasha Island in the Bayof Bengal deters maritime boundary delimitation; India seekscooperation from Bhutan and Burma to keep Indian Nagaland and Assamseparatists from hiding in remote areas along the borders; JointBorder Committee with Nepal continues to demarcate minor disputedboundary sections; India maintains a strict border regime to keepout Maoist insurgents and control illegal cross-border activitiesfrom Nepal
Indian Oceansome maritime disputes (see littoral states)
IndonesiaEast Timor-Indonesia Boundary Committee continues to meet,survey, and delimit land boundary, but several sections of theboundary remain unresolved; many East Timorese refugees who left in2003 still reside in Indonesia and refuse repatriation; Indonesiaand East Timor contest the sovereignty of the uninhabited coralisland of Pulau Batek/Fatu Sinai, which hinders a decision on anorthern maritime boundary; a 1997 treaty between Indonesia andAustralia settled some parts of their maritime boundary butoutstanding issues remain; ICJ's award of Sipadan and Ligitanislands to Malaysia in 2002 left maritime boundary in thehydrocarbon-rich Celebes Sea in dispute, culminating in hostileconfrontations in March 2005 over concessions to the Ambalat oilblock; the ICJ decision has prompted Indonesia to assert claims toand to establish a presence on its smaller outer islands; Indonesiaand Singapore pledged in 2005 to finalize their 1973 maritimeboundary agreement by defining unresolved areas north of BatamIsland; Indonesian secessionists, squatters, and illegal migrantscreate repatriation problems for Papua New Guinea; piracy remains aproblem in the Malacca Strait
IranIran protests Afghanistan's limiting flow of dammed tributariesto the Helmand River in periods of drought; Iraq's lack of amaritime boundary with Iran prompts jurisdiction disputes beyond themouth of the Shatt al Arab in the Persian Gulf; Iran and UAE disputeTunb Islands and Abu Musa Island, which are occupied by Iran; Iranstands alone among littoral states in insisting upon a division ofthe Caspian Sea into five equal sectors
Iraqcoalition forces assist Iraqis in monitoring boundary security;Iraq's lack of a maritime boundary with Iran prompts jurisdictiondisputes beyond the mouth of the Shatt al Arab in the Persian Gulf;Turkey has expressed concern over the status of Kurds in Iraq
IrelandIreland, Iceland, and the UK dispute Denmark's claim thatthe Faroe Islands' continental shelf extends beyond 200 nm
Isle of Mannone
IsraelWest Bank and Gaza Strip are Israeli-occupied with currentstatus subject to the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement -permanent status to be determined through further negotiation;Israel continues construction of a "seam line" separation barrieralong parts of the Green Line and within the West Bank; Israelwithdrew its settlers and military from the Gaza Strip and from foursettlements in the West Bank in August 2005; Golan Heights isIsraeli-occupied (Lebanon claims the Shab'a Farms area of GolanHeights); since 1948, about 350 peacekeepers from the UN TruceSupervision Organization (UNTSO) headquartered in Jerusalem monitorceasefires, supervise armistice agreements, prevent isolatedincidents from escalating, and assist other UN personnel in theregion
ItalyItaly's long coastline and developed economy entices tens ofthousands of illegal immigrants from southeastern Europe andnorthern Africa
Jamaicanone
Jan Mayennone
Japanthe sovereignty dispute over the islands of Etorofu,Kunashiri, and Shikotan, and the Habomai group, known in Japan asthe "Northern Territories" and in Russia as the "Southern KurilIslands," occupied by the Soviet Union in 1945, now administered byRussia and claimed by Japan, remains the primary sticking point tosigning a peace treaty formally ending World War II hostilities;Japan and South Korea claim Liancourt Rocks (Take-shima/Tok-do)occupied by South Korea since 1954; China and Taiwan dispute bothJapan's claims to the uninhabited islands of the Senkaku-shoto(Diaoyu Tai) and Japan's unilaterally declared exclusive economiczone in the East China Sea, the site of intensive hydrocarbonprospecting
Jarvis Islandnone
Jerseynone
Johnston Atollnone
Jordan2004 Agreement settles border dispute with Syria pendingdemarcation
Juan de Nova Islandclaimed by Madagascar
Kazakhstanin 2005, Kazakhstan agreed with Russia, Turkmenistan, andUzbekistan to commence demarcating their boundaries; delimitationwith Kyrgyzstan is complete; creation of a seabed boundary withTurkmenistan in the Caspian Sea remains unresolved; equidistantseabed treaties have been ratified with Azerbaijan and Russia in theCaspian Sea, but no resolution has been made on dividing the watercolumn among any of the littoral states
KenyaKenya served as an important mediator in brokering Sudan'snorth-south separation in February 2005; Kenya provides shelter toapproximately a quarter of a million refugees including Ugandans whoflee across the border periodically to seek protection from Lord'sResistance Army (LRA) rebels; the Kenya-Somalia border is open topastoralists and is susceptible to cross-border clan insurgencies;Kenya's administrative limits extend beyond the treaty border intothe Sudan, creating the Ilemi Triangle
Kingman Reefnone
Kiribatinone
Korea, NorthChina seeks to stem illegal migration of tens ofthousands of North Koreans escaping famine, economic privation, andpolitical oppression; North Korea and China dispute the sovereigntyof certain islands in Yalu and Tumen rivers and a section ofboundary around Paektu-san (mountain) is indefinite; MilitaryDemarcation Line within the 4-km wide Demilitarized Zone hasseparated North from South Korea since 1953; periodic maritimedisputes with South over the Northern Limit Line; North Koreasupports South Korea in rejecting Japan's claim to Liancourt Rocks(Tok-do/Take-shima)
Korea, SouthMilitary Demarcation Line within the 4-km wideDemilitarized Zone has separated North from South Korea since 1953;periodic maritime disputes with North Korea over the Northern LimitLine; South Korea and Japan claim Liancourt Rocks(Tok-do/Take-shima), occupied by South Korea since 1954
KuwaitKuwait and Saudi Arabia continue negotiating a joint maritimeboundary with Iran; no maritime boundary exists with Iraq in thePersian Gulf
KyrgyzstanKyrgystan has yet to ratify the 2001 boundarydelimitation with Kazakhstan; disputes in Isfara Valley delaycompletion of delimitation with Tajikistan; delimitation of 130 kmof border with Uzbekistan is hampered by serious disputes aroundenclaves and other areas
LaosSoutheast Asian states have enhanced border surveillance tocheck the spread of avian flu; talks continue on completion ofdemarcation with Thailand but disputes remain over islands in theMekong River; concern among Mekong Commission members that China'sconstruction of dams on the Mekong River will affect water levels
LatviaRussia refuses to sign the 1997 boundary treaty due toLatvian insistence on a unilateral clarificatory declarationreferencing Soviet occupation of Latvia and territorial losses;Russia demands better Latvian treatment of ethnic Russians inLatvia; as of January 2007, ground demarcation of the boundary withBelarus was complete and mapped with final ratificationdocumentation in preparation; the Latvian parliament has notratified its 1998 maritime boundary treaty with Lithuania, primarilydue to concerns over oil exploration rights; as a member state thatforms part of the EU's external border, Latvia must implement thestrict Schengen border rules with Russia
LebanonLacking a treaty or other documentation describing theboundary, portions of the Lebanon-Syria boundary are unclear withseveral sections in dispute; since 2000, Lebanon has claimed Shab'aFarms area in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights ; the roughly2,000-strong UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has been in placesince 1978
Lesothonone
Liberiaalthough civil unrest continues to abate with the assistanceof 18,000 UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) peacekeepers, as of January2007, 22,000 Liberian refugees still remain in both Guinea and Coted'Ivoire, 38,500 in Sierra Leone, and 39,690 in Ghana; Liberia, inturn, shelters 12,580 refugees fleeing turmoil in Cote d'Ivoire and3,600 from Sierra Leone; despite the presence of over 9000 UN forces(UNOCI) in Cote d'Ivoire since 2004, ethnic conflict continues tospread into neighboring states who can no longer send their migrantworkers to Ivorian cocoa plantations; UN sanctions ban Liberia fromexporting diamonds and timber
LibyaLibya has claimed more than 32,000 sq km in southeasternAlgeria and about 25,000 sq km in the Tommo region of Niger in acurrently dormant dispute; various Chadian rebels from the Aozouregion reside in southern Libya
Liechtensteinnone
LithuaniaLithuania and Russia committed to demarcating theirboundary in 2006 in accordance with the land and maritime treatyratified by Russia in May 2003 and by Lithuania in 1999; Lithuaniaoperates a simplified transit regime for Russian nationals travelingfrom the Kaliningrad coastal exclave into Russia, while stillconforming, as a EU member state having an external border with anon-EU member, to strict Schengen border rules; the Latvianparliament has not ratified its 1998 maritime boundary treaty withLithuania, primarily due to concerns over potential hydrocarbons; asof January 2007, ground demarcation of the boundary with Belarus wascomplete and mapped with final ratification documents in preparation
Luxembourgnone
Macaunone
Macedoniaethnic Albanians in Kosovo object to demarcation of theboundary with Serbia in accordance with the 2000 Macedonia-Serbiaand Montenegro delimitation agreement; Greece continues to rejectthe use of the name Macedonia or Republic of Macedonia
Madagascarclaims Bassas da India, Europa Island, Glorioso Islands,and Juan de Nova Island (all administered by France)
Malawidisputes with Tanzania over the boundary in Lake Nyasa (LakeMalawi) and the meandering Songwe River remain dormant
MalaysiaMalaysia has asserted sovereignty over the Spratly Islandstogether with China, Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, and possiblyBrunei; while the 2002 "Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in theSouth China Sea" has eased tensions over the Spratly Islands, it isnot the legally binding "code of conduct" sought by some parties;Malaysia was not party to the March 2005 joint accord among thenational oil companies of China, the Philippines, and Vietnam onconducting marine seismic activities in the Spratly Islands;disputes continue over deliveries of fresh water to Singapore,Singapore's land reclamation, bridge construction, and maritimeboundaries in the Johor and Singapore Straits; in November 2007 theICJ will hold public hearings in response to the Memorials andCountermemorials filed by the parties in 2003 and 2005 oversovereignty of Pedra Branca Island/Pulau Batu Puteh, Middle Rocksand South Ledge; ICJ awarded Ligitan and Sipadan islands, alsoclaimed by Indonesia and Philippines, to Malaysia but left maritimeboundary and sovereignty of Unarang rock in the hydrocarbon-richCelebes Sea in dispute; separatist violence in Thailand'spredominantly Muslim southern provinces prompts measures to closeand monitor border with Malaysia to stem terrorist activities;Philippines retains a dormant claim to Malaysia's Sabah State innorthern Borneo; Brunei and Malaysia are still consideringinternational adjudication over their disputed offshore anddeepwater seabeds, where hydrocarbon exploration was terminated in2003; Malaysia's land boundary with Brunei around Limbang is indispute; piracy remains a problem in the Malacca Strait
Maldivesnone
Malinone
Maltanone
Marshall Islandsclaims US territory of Wake Island
MauritaniaMauritanian claims to Western Sahara remain dormant
MauritiusMauritius claims the Chagos Archipelago (UK-administeredBritish Indian Ocean Territory), and its former inhabitants, whoreside chiefly in Mauritius; claims French-administered TromelinIsland
Mayotteclaimed by Comoros
MexicoAbundant rainfall in recent years along much of the Mexico-USborder region has ameliorated periodically strained water-sharingarrangements; the US has intensified security measures to monitorand control legal and illegal personnel, transport, and commoditiesacross its border with Mexico; Mexico must deal with thousands ofimpoverished Guatemalans and other Central Americans who cross theporous border looking for work in Mexico and the United States
Micronesia, Federated States ofnone
Midway Islandsnone
MoldovaMoldova and Ukraine operate joint customs posts to monitorthe transit of people and commodities through Moldova's break-awayTransnistria region which remains under OSCE supervision
Monaconone
Mongolianone
Montenegronone
Montserratnone
Moroccoclaims and administers Western Sahara whose sovereigntyremains unresolved - UN-administered cease-fire has remained ineffect since September 1991, but attempts to hold a referendum havefailed and parties thus far have rejected all brokered proposals;Morocco protests Spain's control over the coastal enclaves of Ceuta,Melilla, and Penon de Velez de la Gomera, the islands of Penon deAlhucemas and Islas Chafarinas, and surrounding waters; discussionshave not progressed on a comprehensive maritime delimitation settinglimits on resource exploration and refugee interdiction sinceMorocco's 2002 rejection of Spain's unilateral designation of amedian line from the Canary Islands; Morocco serves as one of theprimary launching areas of illegal migration into Spain from NorthAfrica
Mozambiquenone
Namibiaconcerns from international experts and local populationsover the Okavango Delta ecology in Botswana and human displacementscuttled Namibian plans to construct a hydroelectric dam on PopaFalls along the Angola-Namibia border; managed dispute with SouthAfrica over the location of the boundary in the Orange River;Namibia has supported and in 2004 Zimbabwe dropped objections toplans between Botswana and Zambia to build a bridge over the ZambeziRiver, thereby de facto recognizing a short, but not clearlydelimited, Botswana-Zambia boundary in the river
Naurunone
Navassa Islandclaimed by Haiti, source of subsistence fishing
Nepaljoint border commission continues to work on contestedsections of boundary with India, including the 400 square kilometerdispute over the source of the Kalapani River; India has instituteda stricter border regime to restrict transit of Maoist insurgentsand illegal cross-border activities; approximately 103,000 BhutaneseLhotshampas (Hindus) have been confined in refugee camps insoutheastern Nepal since 1990
Netherlandsnone
Netherlands Antillesnone
New CaledoniaMatthew and Hunter Islands east of New Caledoniaclaimed by France and Vanuatu
New Zealandasserts a territorial claim in Antarctica (RossDependency) [see Antarctica]
NicaraguaMemorials and countermemorials were filed by the partiesin Nicaragua's 1999 and 2001 proceedings against Honduras andColombia at the ICJ over the maritime boundary and territorialclaims in the western Caribbean Sea, final public hearings arescheduled for 2007; the 1992 ICJ ruling for El Salvador and Hondurasadvised a tripartite resolution to establish a maritime boundary inthe Gulf of Fonseca, which considers Honduran access to the Pacific;legal dispute over navigational rights of San Juan River on borderwith Costa Rica
NigerLibya claims about 25,000 sq km in a currently dormant disputein the Tommo region; much of Benin-Niger boundary, includingtripoint with Nigeria, remains undemarcated; only Nigeria andCameroon have heeded the Lake Chad Commission's admonition to ratifythe delimitation treaty which also includes the Chad-Niger andNiger-Nigeria boundaries
NigeriaJoint Border Commission with Cameroon reviewed 2002 ICJruling on the entire boundary and bilaterally resolved differences,including June 2006 Greentree Agreement that immediately cedessovereignty of the Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon with a phase-out ofNigerian control within two years while resolving patriation issues;the ICJ ruled on an equidistance settlement of Cameroon-EquatorialGuinea-Nigeria maritime boundary in the Gulf of Guinea, butimprecisely defined coordinates in the ICJ decision and asovereignty dispute between Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon over anisland at the mouth of the Ntem River all contribute to the delay inimplementation; only Nigeria and Cameroon have heeded the Lake ChadCommission's admonition to ratify the delimitation treaty which alsoincludes the Chad-Niger and Niger-Nigeria boundaries
Niuenone
Norfolk Islandnone
Northern Mariana Islandsnone
NorwayNorway asserts a territorial claim in Antarctica (Queen MaudLand and its continental shelf); despite dialogue, Russia and Norwaycontinue to dispute their maritime limits in the Barents Sea andRussia's fishing rights beyond Svalbard's territorial limits withinthe Svalbard Treaty zone
Omanboundary agreement reportedly signed and ratified with UAE in2003 for entire border, including Oman's Musandam Peninsula and AlMadhah exclave, but details of the alignment have not been madepublic
Pacific Oceansome maritime disputes (see littoral states)
Pakistanvarious talks and confidence-building measures cautiouslyhave begun to defuse tensions over Kashmir, particularly since theOctober 2005 earthquake in the region; Kashmir nevertheless remainsthe site of the world's largest and most militarized territorialdispute with portions under the de facto administration of China(Aksai Chin), India (Jammu and Kashmir), and Pakistan (Azad Kashmirand Northern Areas); UN Military Observer Group in India andPakistan (UNMOGIP) has maintained a small group of peacekeeperssince 1949; India does not recognize Pakistan's ceding historicKashmir lands to China in 1964; India and Pakistan have maintainedtheir 2004 cease fire in Kashmir and initiated discussions ondefusing the armed stand-off in the Siachen glacier region; Pakistanprotests India's fencing the highly militarized Line of Control andconstruction of the Baglihar Dam on the Chenab River in Jammu andKashmir, which is part of the larger dispute on water sharing of theIndus River and its tributaries; to defuse tensions and prepare fordiscussions on a maritime boundary, India and Pakistan seektechnical resolution of the disputed boundary in Sir Creek estuaryat the mouth of the Rann of Kutch in the Arabian Sea; Pakistani mapscontinue to show the Junagadh claim in India's Gujarat State; by2005, Pakistan, with UN assistance, repatriated 2.3 million Afghanrefugees leaving slightly less than a million, many of whom remainat their own choosing; Pakistan has proposed and Afghanistanprotests construction of a fence and laying of mines along portionsof their porous border; Pakistan has sent troops into remote tribalareas to monitor and control the border with Afghanistan and stemterrorist or other illegal activities
Palaumaritime delineation negotiations continue with Philippines,Indonesia
Palmyra Atollnone
Panamaorganized illegal narcotics operations in Colombia operatewithin the remote border region with Panama
Papua New Guinearelies on assistance from Australia to keep outillegal cross-border activities from primarily Indonesia, includinggoods smuggling, illegal narcotics trafficking, and squatters andsecessionists
Paracel Islandsoccupied by China, also claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam
Paraguayunruly region at convergence of Argentina-Brazil-Paraguayborders is locus of money laundering, smuggling, arms and illegalnarcotics trafficking, and fundraising for extremist organizations
PeruChile and Ecuador rejected Peru's November 2005 unilaterallegislation to shift the axis of their joint treaty-defined maritimeboundaries along the parallels of latitude to equidistance lineswhich favor Peru; organized illegal narcotics operations in Colombiahave penetrated Peru's shared border; Peru rejects Bolivia's claimto restore maritime access through a sovereign corridor throughChile along the Peruvian border
PhilippinesPhilippines claims sovereignty over certain of theSpratly 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," haseased tensions in the Spratly Islands but falls short of a legallybinding "code of conduct" desired by several of the disputants; inMarch 2005, the national oil companies of China, the Philippines,and Vietnam signed a joint accord to conduct marine seismicactivities in the Spratly Islands; Philippines retains a dormantclaim to Malaysia's Sabah State in northern Borneo based on theSultanate of Sulu's granting the Philippines Government power ofattorney to pursue a sovereignty claim on his behalf; maritimedelimitation negotiations continue with Palau
Pitcairn Islandsnone
Polandas a member state that forms part of the EU's externalborder, Poland must implement the strict Schengen border rules torestrict illegal immigration and trade along its eastern borderswith Belarus and Ukraine
PortugalPortugal does not recognize Spanish sovereignty over theterritory of Olivenza based on a difference of interpretation of the1815 Congress of Vienna and the 1801 Treaty of Badajoz
Puerto Ricoincreasing numbers of illegal migrants from theDominican Republic cross the Mona Passage to Puerto Rico each yearlooking for work
Qatarnone
Romaniathe ICJ gave Ukraine until December 2006 to reply andRomania until June 2007 to issue a rejoinder in their disputesubmitted in 2004 over Ukrainian-administered Zmiyinyy/Serpilor(Snake) Island and Black Sea maritime boundary delimitation; Romaniaalso opposes Ukraine's reopening of a navigation canal from theDanube border through Ukraine to the Black Sea
RussiaChina and Russia have demarcated the once disputed islands atthe Amur and Ussuri confluence and in the Argun River in accordancewith the 2004 Agreement, ending their centuries-long borderdisputes; 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 signinga peace treaty formally ending World War II hostilities; Russia andGeorgia agree on delimiting all but small, strategic segments of theland boundary and the maritime boundary; OSCE observers monitorvolatile areas such as the Pankisi Gorge in the Akhmeti region andthe Kodori Gorge in Abkhazia; Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Russiasigned equidistance boundaries in the Caspian seabed but thelittoral states have no consensus on dividing the water column;Russia and Norway dispute their maritime limits in the Barents Seaand Russia's fishing rights beyond Svalbard's territorial limitswithin the Svalbard Treaty zone; various groups in Finland advocaterestoration of Karelia (Kareliya) and other areas ceded to theSoviet Union following the Second World War but the FinnishGovernment asserts no territorial demands; in May 2005, Russiarecalled its signatures to the 1996 border agreements with Estonia(1996) and Latvia (1997), when the two Baltic states announcedissuance of unilateral declarations referencing Soviet occupationand ensuing territorial losses; Russia demands better treatment ofethnic Russians in Estonia and Latvia; Estonian citizen groupscontinue to press for realignment of the boundary based on the 1920Tartu Peace Treaty that would bring the now divided ethnic Setupeople and parts of the Narva region within Estonia; Lithuania andRussia committed to demarcating their boundary in 2006 in accordancewith the land and maritime treaty ratified by Russia in May 2003 andby Lithuania in 1999; Lithuania operates a simplified transit regimefor Russian nationals traveling from the Kaliningrad coastal exclaveinto Russia, while still conforming, as an EU member state with anEU external border, where strict Schengen border rules apply;preparations for the demarcation delimitation of land boundary withUkraine have commenced; the dispute over the boundary between Russiaand Ukraine through the Kerch Strait and Sea of Azov remainsunresolved despite a December 2003 framework agreement and on-goingexpert-level discussions; Kazakhstan and Russia boundarydelimitation was ratified on November 2005 and field demarcationshould commence in 2007; Russian Duma has not yet ratified 1990Bering Sea Maritime Boundary Agreement with the US
Rwandafighting among ethnic groups - loosely associated politicalrebels, armed gangs, and various government forces in Great Lakesregion transcending the boundaries of Burundi, Democratic Republicof the Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda - abated substantially from adecade 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 Africanstates, including Zambia, Gabon, and 20,000 who fled to Burundi in2005 and 2006 to escape drought and recriminations from traditionalcourts investigating the 1994 massacres; the 2005 DROC and Rwandaborder verification mechanism to stem rebel actions on both sides ofthe border remains in place
Saint Helenanone
Saint Kitts and Nevisjoins other Caribbean states to counterVenezuela's claim that Aves Island sustains human habitation, acriterion under UNCLOS, which permits Venezuela to extend itsEEZ/continental shelf over a large portion of the eastern CaribbeanSea
Saint Luciajoins other Caribbean states to counter Venezuela'sclaim that Aves Island sustains human habitation, a criterion underUNCLOS, which permits Venezuela to extend its EEZ/continental shelfover a large portion of the eastern Caribbean Sea
Saint Pierre and Miquelonnone
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
Samoanone
San Marinonone
Sao Tome and Principenone
Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia has reinforced its concrete-filledsecurity barrier along sections of the now fully demarcated borderwith Yemen to stem illegal cross-border activities; Kuwait and SaudiArabia continue discussions on a maritime boundary with Iran
SenegalThe Gambia and Guinea-Bissau attempt to stem separatistviolence, cross border raids, and arms smuggling into theircountries from Senegal's Casamance region, and in 2006, respectivelyaccepted 6,000 and 10,000 Casamance residents fleeing the conflict;2,500 Guinea-Bissau residents have fled into Senegal in 2006 toescape armed confrontations along the border