THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) The International Court of Justice ruled Monday that a group of tiny islands in the western Caribbean belongs to Colombia, but also granted Nicaragua control of a large swath of the surrounding sea and seabed that could hold oil reserves. <\/p>\n
Based on evidence presented by lawyers for both nations, \"Colombia and not Nicaragua has sovereignty over the islands,\" the court's President Peter Tomka told delegations from both sides. <\/p>\n
But the decision not to grant Colombia full sovereignty over the waters connecting all the archipelago's islands drew a vehement objection from Colombia. <\/p>\n
President Juan Manuel Santos told Colombians in a national speech that the court had \"committed grave errors\" by ignoring the terms of the very treaty it had declared valid and that the decision would hurt the archipelago's fishermen. <\/p>\n
The decision effectively cut off four small islands from the rest of the archipelago and Santos said he could not accept the court's \"omissions, errors, excesses and inconsistencies.\" <\/p>\n
While Santos said he recognized that the court's decision is final and legally binding, he said Colombia \"emphatically rejects this aspect of the decision\" and \"we don't rule out any recourse or mechanism that international law gives us to defend our rights.\" <\/p>\n
He said he would fly to San Andres immediately. <\/p>\n
Nicaragua hailed the ruling as an historic triumph. <\/p>\n
President Daniel Ortega called it a \"day of national victory, victory for all Nicaraguans,\" and called on Santos to respect the court's ruling. <\/p>\n
Nicaragua's representative at the court, Carlos Arguello, said the ruling gives the poor Central American country \"incredible potential wealth and future exploitation of fisheries and other resources, such as minerals.\" <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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World court: Disputed islands belong to Colombia<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) The International Court of Justice ruled Monday that a group of tiny islands in the western Caribbean belongs to Colombia, but also granted Nicaragua control of a large swath of the surrounding sea and seabed that could hold oil reserves. Continue reading