- The last and most controversial part of the Nigeria-Cameroon border settlement is waiting to be implemented; the handover of the oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula. High-ranking officials from the two neighbours have met this weekend and agreed that Bakassi will be left in Cameroonian hands before 15 September this year.
Nigerian and Cameroonian delegates to a UN commission have met to discuss the peaceful implementation of a October 2002 International Court of Justice's (ICJ) ruling ceding the disputed, mineral-rich Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon by 15 September, the UN Office for West Africa (UNOWA) said in a statement this evening.
Senior Minister Amadou Ali of Cameroon and Prince Bola Ajibola of Nigeria met on Sunday with UNOWA chief Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah to ensure the peaceful handover of the peninsula in accordance with the ICJ ruling. Cameroon had been requested the IC to review the two countries' border and the Court handed down a painful decision for Nigeria.
After first protesting the ICJ ruling, Nigerian authorities, after the elections, started to cooperate in the Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission to implement the handover. Observers from the Mixed Commission have been monitoring the situation, but "peace and security prevail," and the Nigerian delegate has now re-affirmed Cameroon's sovereignty over the Bakassi Peninsula, according to UNOWA.
- Cross-border projects, confidence-building measures and environmental and economic issues were scheduled to be discussed at a later date, before the deadline, the UN informed today. Large efforts had been necessary to make the Nigerian part respect the ICJ ruling.
In November 2002, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in person had to set up the Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission at the request of the two nations' Presidents. Slowly, progress was made along the two neighbours' long border. The UN, wisely, chose to start the handover process in the far north, were the ICJ ruling was less controversial and also some Cameroonian villages were to become Nigerian.
Troops were withdrawn and authority was transferred in the Lake Chad area at the north-eastern end of the border in December 2003, the first step in the handover. Slowly, the Mixed Commission has moved on southwards and now, only the Bakassi Peninsula remains.
Historically, Britain handed the peninsula to Germany during the 19th century despite a treaty of protection between Britain and the local rulers, according to the conclusions of the World Court.
The ICJ found that Cameroon, a former German colony, held the pre-existing title recognised by international law as a result of a border delimitation described in the Anglo-German agreement of 11 March 1913. Germany's West African colonies were ruled under British and French mandates after World War I and independent Nigeria earlier recognised Cameroon's sovereignty over Bakassi, it said.
On the other hand, the September 1884 Treaty of Protection between Britain and the Kings and Chiefs of Old Calabar failed to specify "the territory to which the British Crown was to extend 'gracious favour and protection'" and did not indicate "the territories over which each of the Kings and Chiefs signatory to the Treaty exercised his powers."
In practical terms, Nigeria has controlled the Bakassi Peninsula most of the time since the two countries became independent in 1960. The small population of the mangrove-covered peninsula mostly holds Nigerian passports and has expressed its desire to remain Nigerians. This, in addition to the peninsula's oil potentials, has made it a bitter loss for Nigeria.
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