Honduran and Nicaraguan Presidents Manuel Zelaya and Daniel Ortega met on Monday to welcome a ruling by the International Court of Justice in The Hague over the two countries' shared border.
"The Hague ruling makes Central America, Honduras and Nicaragua winners," Ortega said at the meeting held in Ocotal, a town 226 km from Nicaragua's capital Managua and 215 km southeast of Honduras's capital Tegucigalpa.
"There are neither winners or losers," said Honduran President Zelaya.
The court ruled against Honduras, which had called for the 15th parallel to be the two nations' sea border, giving Nicaragua more sea territory but awarding Honduras some islands claimed by Nicaragua.
Defining the border was complicated as it had to start at the constantly shifting mouth of the Coco River, which forms the land border.
Judges at the court started the new border at a point off the coast and told both countries to agree on a line linking that point with a boundary marker on land set in the 1960s.
Manuel Martinez, the court's president, said the ruling was a victory for both because it strengthens regional integration and rules out new conflicts.
Sympathizers with Nicaragua's ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front took to the streets, celebrating what they described a national victory over Honduras.
The court still has to consider a Nicaraguan case against Colombia, over whether the 82nd meridian should form the two nations' sea border.
Source: Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article