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The
Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission is set to adopt its plan for the
withdrawal from the Lake Chad area and to address further cooperation
between the two countries.
The
Mixed Commission is a mechanism established by the Secretary-General of
the United Nations on 15 November 2002 at the request of President
Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and President Paul Biya of Cameroon in order
to facilitate peaceful implementation of the International Court of
Justice judgment on the border dispute between Cameroon and Nigeria.
The
Mixed Commission is convening its seventh meeting from 2 to 3 December
2003 in Yaounde, Cameroon.
Last
month, a Working Group was set up to work out the details of the
withdrawal and transfer of authority in the Lake Chad area and to survey
that region in order to assess any problems the process may encounter.
They found the populations and the authorities in the area peaceful and
ready for the handover. The Working Group, composed of delegations from
both countries and the United Nations has also prepared a detailed plan of
operation starting on 8 December 2003 to be concluded by
21
December 2003. According to the draft plan, "United Nations
representatives will witness and facilitate the process, with a view to
promoting its coherence and ensuring that it is peaceful and
amicable."
In
addition to adopting the withdrawal and handover plan, the Cameroon –
Nigeria Mixed Commission will discuss the following points:
a)
the question of the delimitation of the maritime boundary;
b)
the need to address the cross-border security especially in the
framework of the Joint Bilateral Commission. This Commission is
invited to meet once per year instead of the current two years;
c)
activities to be undertaken, in the context of confidence-building
measures, in cooperation with the Secretariat of the Lake Chad Basin
Commission (LCBC) including the organization of an Extraordinary
Summit of the Heads of States.
The
Mixed Commission is seen by observers of the African political situation
as a novel approach in preventive diplomacy and a new model for peaceful
settlement of conflicts between states.
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. The Mixed Commission, which began its work in
December 2002, organizes, alternatively in Abuja and in Yaounde, regular
meetings between the two parties according to a mutually agreed agenda.
Six of those meetings already took place. |
