Nigeria & Cameroon 
Nigeria will not give up Bakassi

afrol News, 25 October - The Nigerian government says the International Court of Justice (ICJ) judgment on the border conflict with Cameroon is "virtually null and void." President Olusegun Obasanjo denies UN statements claiming he had given a promise to respect whichever ICJ ruling.

According to a statement issued by the Federal government of Nigeria yesterday, the ICJ could not be taken seriously on its judgement. The court - dominated by judges from the old colonial powers - had defended an "illegal" treaty between Britain and Germany of 1913, ignoring the self-determination of the rightful, historic owners of the disputed Bakassi Peninsula, according to the Nigerian government. 

In 1884, the Kings, Chiefs and people of Old Calabar signed a treaty of protection with Britain. The protectorate included Bakassi - so far the parties agree. That treaty however "did not give the British power to alienate all or any part of the land which they were supposed to protect," the Nigerians claim. This was what they did in 1913 "when Great Britain allegedly ceded Bakassi to Germany." 

The court, "in disregard of he inalienable rights of the Kings, Chiefs and people of Old Calabar to their land and ancestral homes," had unrightfully upheld the Anglo-German Treaty of 1913, the Nigerian government says. "Britain could not have given to Germany what it did not have.. For a stronger reason, what Germany did not have could not have been transferred to Cameroon," the conclusion goes.

The population of the Bakassi Peninsula generally supports the Nigerian version and holds Nigerian passports. In this context, the Nigerian government assured "Nigerians of its constitutional commitment to protect its citizenry," meaning that "on no account will Nigeria abandon her people and their interests." 

Also President Obasanjo, who is facing re-election next year, has "denied pledging to respect a world court ruling on the disputed Bakassi peninsula," according to the BBC. He said that he would never give such a "blank cheque". This is the opposite of what he had said to the UN less than two months ago.

At a 5 September meeting in Paris, brokered by the UN's Kofi Annan, President Obasanjo had discussed the ICJ ruling with President Paul Biya of Cameroon. According to a UN press release, both Presidents there agreed to respect and implement the pending ICJ decision. In the so-called "Paris agreement", Presidents even had agreed on "eventually demilitarising the Peninsula with the possibility of dispatching international observers to monitor troops pull-out." 

The very pro-Cameroonian ICJ ruling however seems to have taken Nigerian politicians by surprise. After receiving the 150-pages verdict of The Hague-based international court, government issued a preliminary statement, saying it was "not possible or appropriate to talk in terms of 'winners' or 'losers'." The Nigerian government was to "give the judgement careful study," said Justice Minister Alhaji Abdullahi Musa Elayo. 

The "careful study" yesterday resulted in a rejection of the ICJ verdict. The Nigerian government concluded that it was "apparent that a lot of fundamental facts were not taken into consideration" by the Court. The Court's conclusions had been made for "purely political reasons". 

How could it have gone so wrong for Nigeria? The Court was headed by a French President, the Nigerian statement emphasises, and Cameroon is a dedicated member of the Francophonie. Further, there were English and German judges, which "should have disqualified themselves" given their interest in upholding the Anglo-German Treaty of 1913.

- These judges, according to the Nigerian government, "as citizens of the colonial powers whose action had come under scrutiny, have acted as judges in their own cause and thereby rendered their judgment virtually null and void." The entire judgement only was "legitimising and promoting the interests of former colonial powers at our expense."

The government - although not accepting the verdict to which there is no mechanism for appealing - emphasised on finding a "peaceful solution" to the continued "boundary issue" between Nigeria and Cameroon. It appealed to "all her citizens at home and abroad to remain calm, positive and constructive." This was especially important for the Nigerians in Bakassi.

- Nigeria will do everything possible to maintain peace in Bakassi or any other part of the boarder with Cameroon and will continue to avail itself of the good office of the Secretary-General of the United Nations and other well-meaning leaders of the International Community to achieve peace and to maintain harmony and good neighbourliness, the statement concludes.

Bad news for development
The news of the apparent continuation or even escalation of the Nigerian-Cameroonian border conflict is a setback for the resource exploitation on and offshore the oil-rich peninsula. Currently, Bakassi is an inhospitable mangrove swamp inhabited by a few impoverished fishermen. Large-scale oil exploration has been stalled by the disputed ownership to the peninsula.

For Nigeria, who for decades has been supplying social services to the Bakassi population, the entire case was however "not a matter of oil or natural resources on land or in coastal waters." It was only "a matter of the welfare and well-being of her people on their land," the government claims.

Sources: Based on Nigerian govt, ICJ and afrol archives

 

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