Nigeria & Cameroon 
Cameroon, Nigeria to withdraw from Bakassi

afrol News, 24 September - The family feud over the oil-rich Bakassi peninsula between Nigeria and Cameroon is coming to an end even before the awaited border ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague. Governments agreed to withdraw troops from Bakassi.

Earlier this month, a spokesman for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced the successful meeting of President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and President Paul Biya of Cameroon. At the 5 September meeting in Paris, brokered by Mr Annan, Cameroon and Nigeria agreed they would obey the ICJ ruling on Bakassi.

Today, the Lagos-based daily 'Vanguard' has revealed further details of the reconciliation between Presidents Obasanjo and Biya. Both countries were currently "working on the possibility of dispatching international observers to monitor the troops pull-out," 'Vanguard' journalist George Onah reported from Calabar. 

Cameroon's consul in Nigeria's Cross River State, J.B.C. Foe-Atangana yesterday had issued a seven-point communiqué, summing up the Paris agreement between the two Heads of State. Apart from the agreement to respect the ICT's verdict, new details of the deal here were known.

The implementation of the future status of Bakassi Peninsula has already been outlined in great detail to avoid further military confrontations and to facilitate the rapid exploitations of the territory's oil and gas reserves.

An implementation mechanism "with the tacit support of the United Nations" was to be created, the communiqué says. One agreed on "eventually demilitarising the Peninsula with the possibility of dispatching international observers to monitor troops pull-out."

The solution of the Bakassi dispute, which has soured Cameroonian-Nigerian relations for decades, was also to be followed up by a closer cooperation between the two neighbours. A high level joint commission meeting was already to resume its work in Abuja by the end of this month.

The "determination to restore fraternal relations and good neighbourliness that existed between Nigeria and Cameroun until late" was underlined in the communiqué. A planned visit of President Biya to Nigeria within short is to consolidate the newly established friendship between the two Heads of State.

The oil-rich Peninsula of 50 square kilometres is basically a mangrove swamp inhabited by small societies of fishermen that have been plagued by the double jurisdiction for decades. Both states have used force to collect taxes and relocate inhabitants to zones controlled by them. There are reports of abductions, looting and torture carried out by Cameroonian gendarmes and the Nigerian army.

In early 1994, the government of Nigeria's dictator General Sani Abacha sent troops to Bakassi to respond to increased Cameroonian gendarme pressure against local resident, most of which is claiming to be Nigerian citizens. 

The 1994 Nigerian troops' deployment was answered by Cameroon's complaint to the ICT and a demand to withdraw troop - under heavy Nigerian protest. At the same occasion, Cameroon also asked the court to give it large maritime concessions along the oil-rich and disputed limitation between Nigerian and Cameroonian waters.

Cameroon dates its claims over the Bakassi Peninsula to the 1913 border treaty between the German and British colonial powers. Nigeria claims another interpretation of British protection contracts of 1884 with the villages of Bakassi and is backed by the local population, mostly claiming to be Nigerian. 

During the 8-year court process, other countries have also entered the stage, fearing their maritime interests would be influenced by Cameroon's large claims. Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Sao Tomé and Principe are all involved in oil production in the Gulf of Guinea, and much is at stake as the first maritime borders are to be defined. While Cameroon's oil reserves are running out, neighbour countries are only starting their oil booms.

While both Nigeria and Cameroon already are sourcing crude oil from the disputed Peninsula and its offshore areas, large-scale developments will only start after the ICT has announced its ruling and investors observe a peaceful implementation of the deal.  

Sources: Based on press reports, UN sources and afrol archives

 

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