[3] The 1987 Protocol established a Joint Technical Commission on Demarcation of the Frontier, which had the responsibility of determining the specifics of the border.

Where the Arrêté was insufficient, the commission would refer to a 1:200,000 scale map published by the Institut géographique national de France, 1960 edition.

Burkina Faso also requested the court to place on record the boundary agreed to in the first and third sectors, to give it res judicata.

[8] The unanimous judgement mentioned the importance of the principles of uti possidetis juris and the intangibility of borders, in affirming the authority of the 1927 Arrêté over this matter.

Niger relied on a Record of Agreement of 13 April 1935 that had been established to settle a dispute between the residents of Dori and Téra.

Niger argued that as the 1927 Arrêté was imprecise, reference should be to the 1960 map as the Parties had agreed to in article 2 of the special agreement.

Niger argued that according to the principle of uti possidetis juris, in the absence of legal title the border should be drawn according to the effectivités.

Niger relied on colonial and postcolonial effectivités to argue that the two nations had come to an implicit agreement regarding a line that closer followed the 1960 map.

Burkina Faso disputed this and the court found it had no evidence of such an agreement, concluding that the 1927 Arrêté was clear and should be followed.