The
Mixed Commission discussed the first phase of the withdrawal process from
the Lake Chad area, which is planned to take place by the end December
2003. A working group on the withdrawal of civil administration and
military and police forces, and the transfer of authority in the Lake Chad
area was established during a special meeting of the Mixed Commission on
28 October.
At
the end of the meeting, Mr. Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, Chairman of the Mixed
Commission, noted with satisfaction the spirit of collaboration between
the parties that prevailed during the meeting.
The
Mixed Commission also examined the question of the affected population and
took up the report of its sub-commission, which visited the Lake Chad area
last September for the first time. In his opening speech, Mr.
Ould-Abdallah, said that three main findings had been made there:
[quote]
-
“The affected populations overwhelmingly want peace;
-
The affected populations fully support their respective
presidents’ decision to resolve peacefully any differences that might
arise between Cameroon and Nigeria in the implementation of the judgement
of the International Court of Justice;
-
The affected population are in dire need of development, social services
and basic infrastructure.”
[End
of quote]
The
sub-commission has also identified the places and dates of its next field
visit, this time to the land boundary area. The first phase is now
scheduled to take place by the end of November 2003.
Also
on the agenda was the report of the Sub-commission on Demarcation, which
adopted the specifications for all contracts for the demarcation for the
boundary.
In
his speech Mr. Ould-Abdallah also raised the issue of funding. He noted
that although a number of positive answers had been received from donors,
the responses still fell far too short of what was needed to support this
peaceful initiative by Cameroon and Nigeria to settle their border
dispute. He said: “The
irony is that if they had chosen the other way and waged war, the
international community would more readily spend hundreds of millions of
dollars on humanitarian relief and other operations in Cameroon and
Nigeria than spend today a considerably lesser amount for demarcating
their border.”
The
Mixed Commission next meeting is expected to be held in December in
Yaounde, Cameroon.
The
Mixed Commission was established at the request of President Olusegun
Obasanjo of Nigeria and President Paul Biya of Cameroon by the
Secretary-General of the United Nations within the framework of the
implementation of the decision of the International Court of Justice of 10
October 2002. It is chaired by the Special Representative of the
Secretary-general of the United Nations, Mr. Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, and is
composed of the Delegation of Cameroon, led by Mr. Amadou Ali, Ministre
d’Etat in charge of Justice, and the Delegation of Nigeria, led by
Prince Bola Ajibola, former Minister of Justice.
