Qatar, Bahrain finally before the International court for Justice

Bahrain's Foreign Ministry has announced that the International Court of Justice will at the end of May, 2000 consider the question of border disputes between Bahrain and Qatar. The ministry added that the sessions will start on May 29 and will last for five weeks.

In 1991 Qatar submitted the dispute to the international court, claiming that the islands of Hawar and shoals of Dibal, which have been under Bahraini administration since the 1930s belong to Qatar.

Bahrain, for its part, retaliated to the Qatari claims by saying that al-Zabbara district on the Qatari coast is its property. The two states presented special documents and maps on this issue to the court of the Hague in May, 1998.