- Cameroon and Nigeria are moving to the next stage of their extensive border settlement, which comes as a result of a ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The two neighbours are now set to transfer authority over two contested areas, but the transfer of the oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon is still not agreed upon.
The transfer of two contested areas at the inland border between Cameroon and Nigeria is part of the continuing process to settle their border dispute, the UN's Office for West Africa (UNOWA) said yesterday. The UN agency celebrates this event as a new and important stage of fulfilling the bitter border settlement between the two neighbours.
In a ceremony tomorrow, the villages of Bourha-Wango and Ndabakura and their surroundings will be turned over to Nigeria, while Cameroon will assume control of Narki. Observers of the so-called Mixed Commission, set up by the UN in late 2002 to help settle the dispute, are to be "deployed in the area to reinforce the process," the UN reports.
Last December, the two countries carried out the first transfer of authority in the Lake Chad area. The transfers are thus slowly moving southwards the long Nigerian-Cameroonian border.
- As was the case in the Lake Chad area, UNOWA said, "the populations of the cities and localities concerned speak the same languages and have constantly repeated their rejection of war." They had reportedly expressed their support for the decision taken by Presidents Paul Biya of Cameroon and Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria to implement the ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) governing the settlement.
In the next few weeks, talks on the withdrawal from the Bakassi Peninsula will carry on, to be followed by further discussions on the delimitation of the maritime border between the two countries, the UNOWA statement said.
The Bakassi Peninsula, an oil-rich area mostly covered by mangroves, has been the most bitter point of dispute between Cameroon and Nigeria. The majority of the peninsula's population considers itself Nigerian and holds Nigerian passports. The ICJ nevertheless found that hundred-year-old treaties between the ex-colonial powers - Britain and Germany - had defined the peninsula as part of German Kamerun.
The peninsula was nevertheless annexed by Nigeria, which still has police forces here. Oil explorations on the promising peninsula and its offshore regions have been impossible due to Bakassi's disputed status. The ruling in favour of Cameroon also has a large importance for the maritime border between the two countries, which crosses oil-rich offshore areas.
After the ICJ ruling, the Nigerian government loudly protested a possible transfer of the Bakassi Peninsula. President Obasanjo said he could not respect the illegitimate and accidental drawing of colonial borders and that Nigeria was obliged to protect its nationals on Bakassi.
Since that, however, Nigerian rhetoric has softened. As the Mixed Commission wisely started its transfers of lands at the northern end of the border, the Bakassi question has gained little attention during many months. Debate may however resurface as the neighbours now are to start discussing the transfer of the peninsula.
The UN however feels it has reasons to remain positive and optimistic. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative for West Africa, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, yesterday noted that the two countries' governments now seem "determined to pursue a peaceful approach to settle their border dispute."
- It is the right decision at the right time and for the right reasons, Mr Ould-Abdallah said. "The Nigerian Presidency of African Union and the upcoming elections in Cameroon encourage even more a speedy settlement of this old dispute," he added, indicated that good timing was the bottom line of the UN's efforts in Cameroon and Nigeria.
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