Nigeria agrees to Cameroon land deal

[Mekeda7]

Nigeria agrees to Cameroon land deal
Gerard Aziakou
Posted Tue, 13 Jun 2006
http://africa.iafrica.com/c2cnews/536840.htm

Nigeria agreed to withdraw its troops from the oil-rich Bakassi peninsula within 60 days in a UN-brokered deal signed here on Monday with Cameroon to settle their long-simmering dispute, UN chief Kofi Annan announced.

The landmark deal for Abuja pulling out its estimated 2000 troops from the strategic territory was reached at a UN-mediated summit between Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and his Cameroonian counterpart Paul Biya in this New York suburb.

"The Nigerian troops will withdraw in 60 days," Annan, who hosted the summit, told reporters after the two presidents signed the agreement in a secluded estate made available to the United Nations in this New York suburb.

The UN secretary general said he had been authorised by the parties to allow an extension of no more than an additional 30 days to complete the troop withdrawal.

The territorial disagreement between the two West African neighbours centres on sovereignty over Bakassi, a potentially oil-rich 1000 square kilometre (400 square mile) patch of Atlantic coastal swamp with access to coveted fishing grounds.

The dispute led to military clashes between the two neighbours in the early 1990s.

Under a 2002 ruling by the International Court of Justice in The Hague, sovereignty over the peninsula as well as over disputed islands on Lake Chad was awarded to Cameroon.

That same year, Obasanjo and Biya agreed at a Geneva summit to establish a UN-backed Cameroon-Nigeria commission to demarcate the 1690 kilometre (1056 mile) border.

They also agreed on confidence-building measures, including the eventual demilitarisation of the Bakassi peninsula, with the possibility of deploying international observers to monitor the withdrawal.

Annan said on Monday that Nigeria would have to end its administration of the territory within two years and the sizable Nigerian population on Bakassi would be given the option of staying under Cameroonian rule or be repatriated back to Nigeria.

Opposition to handover

Several thousand Nigerians live on the Bakassi peninsula and many are opposed to the handover of the territory to Cameroon.

"Our agreement today is a great achievement in conflict prevention, which practically reflects its cost effectiveness when compared to the alternative of conflict resolution," Obasanjo said. "It should represent a model for the resolution of similar conflicts in Africa and ... in the world at large."

Biya said implementation of the deal, which demarcates the border from Lake Chad to the Ocean Atlantic, "will open a new era of trust, peace and cooperation between the two neighbours.

"With today's agreement on the Bakassi peninsula, a comprehensive resolution of the dispute is within our grasp," Annan said.

He called on the international community to fully support the accord, which was witnessed and endorsed by representatives of the United States, Britain, France and Germany.

The agreement provides for creation of a follow-up committee composed of ten representatives — two each from Nigeria, Cameroon and the United Nations plus one from the four witness countries to monitor implementation.

Annan highlighted the cost-effectiveness of the Nigeria-Cameroon settlement compared with efforts to resolve the festering border dispute between Eritrea and Ethiopia, which fought a two-year war over it that ended in a 2000 peace deal.

He noted that the UN peacekeeping mission monitoring the disputed border between Eritrea and Ethiopia costs an average of $200-million a year compared with the $5-million which the UN spends annually on the Nigeria-Cameroon mixed commission.

Monday's gathering was the fifth summit between Obasanjo and Biya on the border issue.

The two countries are to report on how the agreement has been carried out at the next meeting of the mixed commission in Abuja, Nigeria on July 5.

A joint communiqué issued here said that within one month of the signing of the accord, Annan is to present a progress report to the parties and to the witness states. Subsequent reports will be issued at monthly intervals as appropriate.

Monday's summit was held on the 1.8 square kilometre (438 acre) Greentree estate owned by the family of the late John Hay Whitney, a US multi-millionaire diplomat, financier and philanthropist.

The Whitney foundation makes it available to the United Nations for retreats, including the Security Council.