POLITICS: Nigeria, Cameroon Agree to Settle Dispute through Negotiations

By Toye Olori Reprint | | Print |

Toye Olori

LAGOS, Sep 12 2002 (IPS) - Nigeria and Cameroon have agreed to settle their long-running dispute over the ownership of the oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula, a 1,000-square-kilometre string of islands located in the Atlantic Ocean, through negotiations.

In an unpublicised trip to Paris by President Olusegun Obasanjo last week, the Nigerian leader met with his Cameroonian counterpart, Paul Biya at a parley initiated, and attended, by Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General and French President Jacques Chirac.

The meeting came a month ahead of the Oct 19 verdict to be delivered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, The Netherlands, to which the two countries had referred the border dispute for adjudication.

Analysts say the meeting has brightened chances to a quick resolution of the conflict.

Fighting between Nigeria and Cameroon over the Bakassi Peninsula first flared in 1994, and both countries now have a large military presence on the island. The two countries have clashed several times over the peninsula since 1994, when Cameroon asked the International Court of Justice in The Hague to rule on sovereignty.

A UN statement, made available to IPS this week, says a number of strategies, including a possible withdrawal of troops from the troubled region, have been drawn up.

President Obasanjo and his Cameroonian counterpart Biya have resolved to respect the ruling of the International Court of Justice, according to the UN statement.

‘’Both leaders also agreed on the need for confidence-building measures, including the eventual demilitarisation of the Peninsula, with the possibility of international observers to monitor the withdrawal of all troops,” according to the statement.

They also agreed to ‘’an early visit to Nigeria by President Paul Biya; and the avoidance of inflammatory statements or declarations on the Bakassi issue by either side”.

A joint ministerial commission, comprising Nigerian and Cameroonian officials, will meet in Abuja, the administrative capital of Nigeria, at the end of the month (September).

“This is a good development because Nigeria and Cameroon are not just neighbours but there are thousands of Cameroonians in Nigeria, while we have as many Nigerians in Cameroon. In a situation where our common border is too porous, nobody can keep the inflow and outflow of people in check,” says Bola Akinterinwa.

Akinterinwa, a researcher at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs in Lagos, says: “The meeting between the two leaders is desirable for two reasons; first, we cannot be talking of regional integration and African unity and, at the same time, talking about division. If we are talking of regional integration, there is no need for countries to quarrel.

“Secondly, the Lake Chad Basin Commission to which Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger belong, provides for political dialogue in settling disputes among member states,” he says.

Akinterinwa is also happy that France is involved in the move to settle the conflict between Nigeria and Cameroon.

“We must praise Chirac and Annan for bringing the Obasanjo and Biya together. Their meeting in France is good because France never wanted war between the two neighbours because of her economic interests, especially in Nigeria. Nigeria plays host to more French investments than any Francophone (French speaking) country in Africa. French investments in the whole of Francophone West Africa are not up to French investments in Nigeria and for France to accept a war between Cameroon and Nigeria is also to accept the destruction of her investments in both countries,” he says, without elaboration.

Tension mounted late June when Ngole Ngole, Cameroon’s Minister of Special Duties at the Presidency, said his country had the might and the will to prosecute a war with Nigeria over the Bakassi Peninsula.

“As far as we know, we are serious. We have the might and the will and the 16 million people of Cameroon are behind the government to defend the territorial integrity of our country. Therefore, it is not a joking matter,” Ngole was quoted by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) as saying in June.

Responding to Ngole’s interview, Olu Agunloye, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Defence, warned that ‘’Nigeria will not fold its arms and watch its territorial integrity rubbish by a belligerent neighbour.”

“It will be foolhardy and thoughtless for any West African country to think it can take on Nigeria at this point in time. But we will ensure that hostilities will not lead to full-blown war, but if it does, Nigeria will be fully prepared to handle any threat scenario that will arise,” he told journalists in Abuja.

The people living on the Peninsula, he said, are Nigerians and that the government of Nigeria had been administering them since independence from Britain in 1960.

“Nigeria will therefore, not tolerate any act that will put the lives of the persons on the land in jeopardy. Anybody who dares this country, does so at his own risk,” Agunloye warned.

Nigeria and Cameroon will, however, not be bound by the Oct 19 verdict, as ICJ does not have the instrument to enforce its ruling, says Akinterinwa.

“The two countries are supposed to abide by the ruling but there is the issue of unseen circumstances. The residents of the area can say they want to belong to one side if the boundary is demarcated by the ICJ, and if the country they wish to go with does not agree with them, they can ask for self-determination and autonomy,” he says.