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, 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 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 reject any "shared sovereignty" arrangement; the
government of Gibraltar insists on equal 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; both countries claim Isla Perejil (Leila
Island); 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
(including Taiwan) and Vietnam; parts of them are claimed by Brunei,
Malaysia and the Philippines; despite no public territorial claim to
Louisa Reef, Brunei implicitly lays claim by including it within the
natural prolongation of its continental shelf and basis for a seabed
median with Vietnam; 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