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The
boundary dispute between Cameroon and Nigeria
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Relations
between Cameroon and Nigeria became strained at the beginning
of the 1990s as a result of problems along their land and maritime
boundaries, particularly human activities and the prospects for
off-shore oil exploitation. In order to maintain their livelihoods,
residents of the Lake Chad area followed the shoreline as it receded,
in part because of climate change, contributing to the blurring of the
demarcation line. On both sides of the boundary, estimated today to
be 1,950 kilometres
long, the drying rivers and increased pressure to secure access to
resources led the States to disagree on the exact location of the line,
often arbitrarily defined in treaties signed by the colonial powers. In
1993, following several boundary incidents, Nigerian troops occupied a
substantial part of the 1,000 km2 of the Bakassi peninsula
located in the Gulf of Guinea.
In
1994, Cameroon brought the boundary dispute to the International
Court of Justice (ICJ). On 10 October 2002, the Court delivered an
irrevocable substantive judgment on the disputed areas, i.e. the Lake
Chad region, the land and maritime boundaries and the Bakassi
peninsula. That decision confirmed in particular the sovereignty of
Cameroon over the peninsula.
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Good offices of the UN
Secretary-General
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Several
weeks before the pronouncement of the ICJ judgment, the United
Nations Secretary-General invited Presidents Paul Biya of Cameroon and
Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria to meet with him in Paris on 5 September
2002. Both Presidents agreed to respect and implement the verdict of
the Court, regardless of its conclusions.
Following
the judgment of the ICJ, the Secretary-General facilitated a
new meeting between the two Presidents in Geneva on 15 November 2002.
In a
Joint Communiqué, the two Leaders recommended to the
Secretary-General to set up a Mixed Commission composed of
representatives of Cameroon, Nigeria, and the United Nations, to
“consider ways of following up on the judgment of the ICJ.”
The
Secretary-General also continued to hold regular meetings with
Cameroon and Nigeria, to assess the progress made in the implementation
of the ICJ judgment.
Five Tripartite Summits were held between 5 September 2002
and 12 June 2006, when the
Greentree Agreement on the modalities for the
withdrawal and transfer of authority of the Bakassi peninsula was
signed.
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The Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission
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Chaired
by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Mr.
Said Djinnit, the Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission is composed of the
Cameroonian delegation led by Mr. Amadou Ali, Deputy Prime Minister and
Minister of State for Justice, and the Nigerian delegation, led by
Prince Bola Ajibola, former Minister of Justice and Attorney General.
The
objectives of the Mixed Commission are:
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demarcation of the land boundary;
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withdrawal of the civilian administration, the armed forces and police,
and transfer of authority in the zones concerned, situated along the
boundary and in the Bakassi peninsula;
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demilitarisation of the Bakassi peninsula;
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protection of the rights of the affected populations;
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formulation of projects aimed at promoting joint economic enterprises
and cross-border cooperation;
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reactivation of the Lake Chad Basin Commission.
To
facilitate the activities of the Mixed Commission, the United
Nations set up a support team in Dakar, at the headquarters of the
United Nations Office for West Africa.
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Achievements of the Mixed Commission
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Since
its creation, the Mixed Commission has achieved several goals:
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The
Mixed Commission has met 24 times in ordinary sessions
between December 2002 and June 2008, in Yaoundé and Abuja
alternatively.
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In 2003, the Mixed Commission visited the
Lake Chad region, sites along the land boundary and the Bakassi
peninsula.
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Since 2003, several withdrawals of civil
administration and military and/or police forces as well as transfers
of authority have taken place in the Lake Chad area, along the land
boundary and in Bakassi.
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United Nations Observation Personnel were
actively involved in monitoring the agreements, thereby contributing to
strengthening the confidence of the affected populations.
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October 2005: effective commencement of the
field assessment of the land boundary, an essential technical work
undertaken by the surveyors of both Parties, to reach agreement on the
location of the boundary pillars in the presence of representatives of
the United Nations. The technical agreements reached between Cameroon
and Nigeria to date will permit the demarcation of the first 830
kilometers already assessed.
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12 June 2006: Cameroon and Nigeria reached a
consensus at Greentree (near New York City) on an agreement on the
modalities for the withdrawal and transfer of authority in the Bakassi
peninsula. Nigeria withdrew its troops from the Peninsula on 14 August
2006; Nigeria was granted the right to maintain civil administration
and a police force in an area immediately bordering its territory for a
maximum period of two years.
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In May 2007, the Parties reached an agreement
on the maritime boundary. In March 2008, they defined the last segment
of the maritime boundary and adopted its plotting chart, thereby
concluding the implementation of the ICJ judgment as far as the
maritime boundary line is concerned. The Working Group on the Maritime
Boundary, which was put in place by the Mixed Commission, is now tasked
with formulating practical and exploitable proposals on cross-border
cooperation on hydrocarbons.
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The Greentree Agreement of 12 June
2006
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After
intense negotiations between the Parties, under the auspices of
the United Nations, the Presidents of Cameroon and Nigeria, the UN
Secretary-General and representatives of the four Witness States
– France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States
– signed an agreement at
Greentree, relating to the modalities for the withdrawal and
transfer of authority in the Bakassi peninsula.
The
document stipulates that Nigeria shall continue to administer a
part of the territory defined as the “Zone” in which, for a
period not exceeding two years, it could station its police forces. It
further grants to Nigerian citizens residing in the “Zone”
the right to enjoy a special transitional status for a further
non-renewable period of five years after the withdrawal of the Nigerian
administration.
14
August 2008: in compliance with the provisions of the Greentree
Agreement, Nigeria withdraws its civilian administration and its police
force from the “Zone.” Cameroon extends its
administration to the entire peninsula.
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Demarcation
of the land boundary
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The
Mixed Commission entrusted a sub-commission with the task of
demarcating the land boundary. That sub-commission has a joint
technical team composed of surveyors and cartographers from Cameroon,
Nigeria and the United Nations, who agreed on a technical guide,
adopted by the Mixed Commission, and used as a reference in carrying
out the works in the field.
The
Parties agreed to undertake a field assessment starting from Lake
Chad, covering the land boundary and up to the shore of the Gulf of
Guinea, while respecting strictly the judgment, and the technical
guide. The task consists in reaching an agreement with precision, on
the geographical location of each boundary pillar, and precedes the
final demarcation involving the physical pillar emplacement. To date,
Cameroon and Nigeria have agreed on more than 1,190 kilometers of land
boundary, involving at least one pillar every 500 meters.
The
Mixed Commission has set for itself the objective to commence pillar
emplacement activities in September 2009.
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Confidence building measures
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The
Mixed Commission supports efforts to implement confidence building
and cross-border cooperation measures.
Following
meetings with the Heads of State of the two Parties and the
Chairman of the Mixed Commission, international partners have proposed
development projects to be implemented in the Lake Chad area, along the
land boundary, and in Bakassi.
The
United Nations mobilised resources to assist the affected
populations with the provision of food and basic equipment for schools
and health centres.
The
European Union is contributing to infrastructure, health,
education, water and sanitation programmes in the Lake Chad region and
in the Bakassi peninsula.
The
African Development Bank is funding the rehabilitation of the
Enugu-Abakiliki-Mamfe-Mutengene road, linking Cameroon and Nigeria. A
memorandum to that effect has been signed by the two countries.
The
Mixed Commission is equally promoting environmental protection
initiatives in the Lake Chad area, along the land boundary, and in the
mangrove of the Bakassi peninsula.
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Maritime boundary
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The
agreements on the maritime boundary between Cameroon and Nigeria,
signed in Yaoundé (1971) and Maroua (1975) were contested on
several occasions before the dispute was finally referred to the ICJ
for judgment.
Following
this judgment, Cameroon and Nigeria asked the Mixed
Commission to draw a map showing the maritime boundary as defined by
the Court in its 10 October 2002 judgment. The absence of any
mention of the geographical reference of the British Admiralty maritime
map, on which the Court had based its ruling, raised new queries. These
were resolved thanks to the desire for results demonstrated by the
Parties and the substantial technical work carried out on the subject
matter. The maritime map reproducing the boundary was finally adopted
by the Mixed Commission on 14 March 2008.
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Funding of the process
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The
United Nations established a Trust Fund to receive voluntary
contributions towards assisting Cameroon and Nigeria in financing the
demarcation of their land boundary.
In
2003, initial estimates of the cost of the demarcation were put at
more than 12 million US dollars. To date, Cameroon and Nigeria have
each paid 3 million US dollars into the fund, and the United Kingdom
has contributed one million pounds sterling. In line with the financing
agreement, it was also decided that the European Union contribution
shall be 4 million euros. In 2006-2007, Canada contributed 273,000
Canadian dollars to the fund.
The
Mixed Commission has also received support in kind from Austria,
Brazil, Italy, Norway, Pakistan, Sweden and Uruguay.
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