Talks consider sharing of resources in disputed area

Talks sponsored by the United Nations to end the border dispute between Cameroon and Nigeria opened in Abuja on Tuesday.

Nigeria's Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who declared open the second meeting of the Nigeria/Cameroon Mixed Commission, said he expected its outcome to include parametres for sharing oil and other resources in the disputed Bakassi peninsula.

"I look forward to the joint development and utilisation of resources in the area, particularly in case of hydrocarbon findings," Atiku said. "I expect the joint commission to work out the modalities."

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) had ruled in October that the peninsula, which extends into the Gulf of Guinea between both countries, belonged to Cameroon. The ICJ based its decision on a 1913 pact between former colonial powers Germany and Britain.

But the ruling - which was meant to end an eight-year legal battle between the two countries - was rejected by Nigeria on the grounds that the interests of its citizens who had lived in the peninsula for centuries were not considered.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan invited presidents Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and Paul Biya of Cameroon to a meeting in Geneva in November, where they agreed to seek a peaceful resolution of the dispute.

Annan subsequently set up the mixed commission, headed by his envoy, Ahmed Ould Abdallah, to oversee negotiations to lead a settlement and withdrawal of troops by both countries from the disputed border. The inaugural meeting of the commission was held in December in the Cameroon capital, Yaounde.

Justice Minister Amadou Ali, who led Cameroon's delegation to Abuja, said his country was eager to achieve a negotiated settlement of the dispute.

"We have not only come for discussions, we have come to demonstrate the firm political will and determination of Cameroon to work towards solidifying the traditionally good relations between Cameroon and Nigeria," he said.

Bola Ajibola, his Nigerian counterpart and a former justice minister, said Nigeria's concerns were more for its citizens in the peninsula than for its resources.

"Our interest is not oil or natural resources," he said "we are more concerned with the interest of the Nigerian people who have lived there for centuries."

Troops from the two countries clashed occasionally in the peninsula from the early 1980s. But after Nigerian troops occupied most of Bakassi in late 1993, Cameroon filed a complaint at the ICJ the following year, leading to last October’s ruling.

The importance of the 1,000 sq-km strip of land has grown since the emergence of the region as one of the major oil zones in the world. International oil companies are operating on both the Nigerian and Cameroonian sides of the peninsula.