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Costa Rica has filed a case of violation of territory against neighbour Nicaragua in the international court in the Hague Gun Aficionados

The Costa Rican government has filed a complaint against Nicaragua at the International Court of Justice in The Hague over the latter's construction of a military post in its territory. Another similar dispute between the two Central American nations is ongoing in the arbitrary court since two years.

With regard to the latest case, Costa Rican Foreign Minister Manuel Gonzalez said in a statement on Monday (16 January) that they initially tried to resolve the issue diplomatically, but that yielded no results, which compelled them to file the case in the United Nations arbitrary court.

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Gonzalez said that Nicaragua had occupied a beach on Isla Calero – a virtually uninhabited area in northeastern Costa Rica – in November 2016 and "has installed a military post in a small strip of that Costa Rican territory".

"We took diplomatic steps ... so that they would remove it, which did not happen," he said, adding that the same area has been at the centre of a historic territorial dispute between the two Central American nations.

A similar case was filed by Costa Rica in 2014, urging the arbitrary court to define the maritime boundaries between the two countries in the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean. Costa Rica had also sought for compensation from Nicaragua over violation of its territory in 2010 and 2013 in the wetland area known as Isla Portillos, where the former accused Nicaragua of establishing a military base.

In a December 2015 ruling, the international court had ruled in favour of Costa Rica, instructing Nicaraguan government to pay compensation against its illegal construction of military base in Isla Portillos. Gonzalez said that the Nicaraguan government, led by President Daniel Ortega, has not yet negotiated the compensation despite pledging to abide by the ruling.

Costa Rica estimated the compensation sum to be around $6.7m (£5.5m), the foreign minister said, adding that they are now hoping to incorporate the latest complaint with the previous one.

The international court is expected to rule in the 2014 case by the beginning of 2018, Reuters reported.

Nicaraguan government has made no comments on the issue.