Obasanjo calls for more confidence building measures

President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria has called for more measures to build mutual confidence with Cameroon as his government prepares to hand over the potentially oil-rich Bakassi peninsula in September. Obasanjo, who visited Yaounde for talks with Cameroonian President Paul Biya on Wednesday, pledged that the frontier dispute, which erupted in 1981, would never again bring the two countries to the brink of war. "Any efforts, be they by individuals or groups, to promote discord and division between our two countries will be bound to fail," Obasanjo said in a speech at an official banquet on Wednesday night. He described Biya, who is expected to seek a fresh seven-year term in presidential elections in October, as "a peace partner and a principled and spirited friend with whom I can have the full peace of mind to work with." But Obasanjo added that the two countries still needed to develop "new attitudes towards each other" to improve "mutual confidence." That would involve "creating and ensuring the existence of an atmosphere of mutual support, assistance and inter-dependency." Although Obasanjo has agreed to withdraw Nigerian security forces from the Bakassi peninsula on 15 September, in accordance with a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivered in October 2002, Nigeria and Cameroon have yet to demarcate their maritime boundary. That process will be crucial for deciding who will control the potentially oil-rich offshore waters. Three years ago, Nigeria settled a similar dispute over offshore waters with the island state of Sao Tome and Principe by reaching an agreement to exploit jointly the area in question, with Nigeria taking 60 percent of any oil revenues generated and Sao Tome 40 percent. Obasanjo and Biya held nearly three hours of talks on Wednesday, meeting for twice as long as expected, but no word filtered out about their deliberations. However, in his own banquet speech afterwards, the Cameroonian leader was equally as upbeat and conciliatory as his Nigerian guest. Although the ICJ ruled in Cameroon's favour in the Bakassi dispute and Nigeria was initially reluctant to accept its verdict, Biya said: "A good settlement is where there is neither a victor, nor a vanquished." Over the past eight months, Nigeria and Cameroon have made several minor adjustments to their 1,300 km long border in line the ICJ ruling. However, the handover of the swampy and forest-covered Bakassi peninsula is the hardest pill for Nigeria to swallow. Not only does the 1,000 square km territory hold the probable key to vast oil reserves, the fishermen who currently live there consider themselves to be Nigerian. Nigerian officials have in the past encouraged speculation that up to 300,000 people live on the Bakassi peninsula. However, United Nations officials closely involved in a UN mediation between Nigeria and Cameroon say there are no more than 15,000 inhabitants. As a sign of improving relations between the two countries, Obasanjo officially opened a new Nigerian high commission (embassy) in Yaounde on Wednesday. Besides handling relations between the two governments, this will help to look after the interests of an estimated 3.5 million Nigerian immigrants living in Cameroon. Many of them suffer harassment from the local authorities because they lack proper residence permits. During the opening of the new diplomatic mission, Obasanjo urged these immigrants to behave well in their host country. He told them to "seek the best for Cameroon while you are here. " "You should be builders, not destroyers," the Nigerian leader said. "Do not do what will bring disgrace to you, your family and your country." Obasanjo left Yaounde on Thursday for the Ghanaian capital Accra to attend a regional summit aimed at breaking the deadlock in the peace process in Cote d'Ivoire.