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NIGERIA 14 August 2008 Objecting Nigeria due to hand over Bakassi Peninsula. War on horizon?
Nigeria is due to hand over the disputed oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon in line with a World Court ruling and withdraw from the territory on Aug 14, but the deal is under fire. Former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo signed the so-called Green Tree Agreement with Cameroon President Paul Biya, but the Nigerian parliament hasn't ratified it. There are predictions the dispute will lead to war.
As reported in the Nigerian publication Leadership, the Chief of Defence Staff for Nigeria, General Owoye Azazi, complained that Obasanjo did not consult the military before making the deal, and he predicted a war over the peninsula. The military chief also said ceding Bakassi to Cameroon was not in the interest of Nigeria's security as the area would take over the deep marine routes, leaving Nigeria with shallow waters which cannot be navigated.
There is an ongoing insurgency in the adjoining Niger Delta that threatens to spread to the Bakassi Peninsula -- with or without a Cameroon takeover. Ethnic minorities of the region are said to be unhappy that the ethnic majorities in the Nigerian and Cameroon governments are deciding their fate in a way that is not in the region's interests. The Bakassi inhabitants are also said to fear forced relocation if the deal is realized.
France could be drawn into the war, should it break out, as it has a defence treaty with Cameroon. Jul/08
RELATED READING:
Nigeria: War imminent over Bakassi (Leadership/AllAfrica 17 Jul 2008)http://allafrica.com/stories/200807170436.html
Nigeria gunmen attack Cameroon patrol on border (Reuters 22 Jul 2008)http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL22834120.html
Tension over Bakassi Penninsula (ISN 21 Jul 2008)http://by102w.bay102.mail.live.com/mail/mail.aspx?&n=1484376789
Bakassi Peninsula handover
Nigeria is due to hand over the disputed oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon in line with a World Court ruling and withdraw from the territory on Aug 14, but the deal is under fire. Former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo signed the so-called Green Tree Agreement with Cameroon President Paul Biya, but the Nigerian parliament hasn't ratified it. There are predictions the dispute will lead to war.
Bakassi Peninsula handover
Bakassi Peninsula handover, Bakassi Peninsula transfer, Nigeria, Cameroon, World Court ruling, Green Tree Agreement, President Paul Biya, Olusegun Obasanjo , Cameroon President Paul Biya, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo , Nigeria news, Africa news, African news, Cameroon news
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Friday, August 15, 2008
Cameroon set for Bakassi peninsula handover from Nigeria
Cameroon set for Bakassi peninsula handover from Nigeria
AFPPublished: Wednesday, August 13, 2008
AKWA, Cameroon - Nigeria was set to complete the handover of the Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon on Thursday, ending a 15-year dispute over a territory believed to contain considerable oil and gas reserves.
A flag-exchanging ceremony will complete the transfer of Bakassi, which juts into the oil-rich Gulf of Guinea.
The transfer which has been described by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as "a model for negotiated settlements of border disputes" will be "painful" for the regional powerhouse Nigeria, according to a presidential spokesman.
The handover, staggered over two years, has been dogged by political disagreements, a last-minute lawsuit and the odd gun battle.
A Cameroon government official said Thursday's finalization of the transfer marks "the end of a crisis" that began in December 1993 when the Nigerian army occupied a number of villages on the peninsula.
Cameroon first took its case to the International Court of Justice in the Hague (ICJ) in March 1994.
After a drawn-out legal battle, the ICJ ruled in October 2002 that the Bakassi peninsula should be given to Cameroon. It based its decision largely on a 1913 treaty between former colonial powers Britain and Germany.
Cameroon and Nigeria then signed an accord, known as the Green Tree agreement, in New York in June 2006 during US-facilitated mediation talks and in the presence of then UN secretary general Kofi Annan, paving the way for Nigeria's withdrawal from Bakassi.
But the handover has been threatened by last-minute legal challenges and a number of deadly attacks.
Last month, a federal court in Nigeria's capital Abuja granted an injunction preventing the government from handing over Bakassi to Cameroon by its agreed deadline.
Despite the move, President Umaru Yar'Adua insisted Nigeria would not abandon its international obligations.
"This handing over process, as painful as it is for everyone including the President, is a commitment we have made to the international community and we have a responsibility to keep it," Yar'Adua's spokesman Olusegun Adeniyi, told reporters Tuesday.
The handover ceremony, hailed by the UN office for West Africa (UNOWA) as a "landmark" in Nigeria-Cameroon ties, will take place in the nearby Nigerian city of Calabar.
But Nigerian newspapers on Wednesday said Nigeria had beefed up security on the swampy peninsula suggesting the handover will take place there.
Nigerian officials were not immediately able to clarify the venue.
Bakassi, which is believed to contain oil and gas reserves as well as rich fishing grounds, has in recent months been the scene of clashes between Cameroonian soldiers and local armed groups opposed to the transfer.
Some 50 people have been killed in the clashes.
© AFP 2008
AFPPublished: Wednesday, August 13, 2008
AKWA, Cameroon - Nigeria was set to complete the handover of the Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon on Thursday, ending a 15-year dispute over a territory believed to contain considerable oil and gas reserves.
A flag-exchanging ceremony will complete the transfer of Bakassi, which juts into the oil-rich Gulf of Guinea.
The transfer which has been described by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as "a model for negotiated settlements of border disputes" will be "painful" for the regional powerhouse Nigeria, according to a presidential spokesman.
The handover, staggered over two years, has been dogged by political disagreements, a last-minute lawsuit and the odd gun battle.
A Cameroon government official said Thursday's finalization of the transfer marks "the end of a crisis" that began in December 1993 when the Nigerian army occupied a number of villages on the peninsula.
Cameroon first took its case to the International Court of Justice in the Hague (ICJ) in March 1994.
After a drawn-out legal battle, the ICJ ruled in October 2002 that the Bakassi peninsula should be given to Cameroon. It based its decision largely on a 1913 treaty between former colonial powers Britain and Germany.
Cameroon and Nigeria then signed an accord, known as the Green Tree agreement, in New York in June 2006 during US-facilitated mediation talks and in the presence of then UN secretary general Kofi Annan, paving the way for Nigeria's withdrawal from Bakassi.
But the handover has been threatened by last-minute legal challenges and a number of deadly attacks.
Last month, a federal court in Nigeria's capital Abuja granted an injunction preventing the government from handing over Bakassi to Cameroon by its agreed deadline.
Despite the move, President Umaru Yar'Adua insisted Nigeria would not abandon its international obligations.
"This handing over process, as painful as it is for everyone including the President, is a commitment we have made to the international community and we have a responsibility to keep it," Yar'Adua's spokesman Olusegun Adeniyi, told reporters Tuesday.
The handover ceremony, hailed by the UN office for West Africa (UNOWA) as a "landmark" in Nigeria-Cameroon ties, will take place in the nearby Nigerian city of Calabar.
But Nigerian newspapers on Wednesday said Nigeria had beefed up security on the swampy peninsula suggesting the handover will take place there.
Nigerian officials were not immediately able to clarify the venue.
Bakassi, which is believed to contain oil and gas reserves as well as rich fishing grounds, has in recent months been the scene of clashes between Cameroonian soldiers and local armed groups opposed to the transfer.
Some 50 people have been killed in the clashes.
© AFP 2008
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