Mixed commission to visit disputed Bakassi Peninsula

The joint commission set up to implement a World Court ruling on the border dispute between Nigeria and Cameroon will begin the most delicate part of its job this week when it visits the potentially oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula. The commission, set up by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, comprises representatives of the Nigerian and Cameroon governments. From 13 to 20 February, members of the commission will visit the swampy Bakassi Peninsula which juts out into the Gulf of Guinea. They are due to meet local people and their traditional chiefs as well as the local authorities. The 1,600 square km territory is inhabited mainly by Nigerians, but was awarded to Cameroon by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in its 10 October 2002 judgement on a much broader border dispute between the two countries. Sensing a Nigerian compromise, the inhabitants of Bakassi have threatened to seek self-determination as an independent state if Nigeria gives up the territory to Cameroon. "We have always been Nigerians and will want too remain so. If the government can't protect us we will have no choice to but to seek to protect ourselves," Josiah Archibong, of the Bakassi Indigenes Union, told IRIN. "This is the message we shall present to the Mixed Commission." The Bakassi Peninsula has always been regarded as a big prize by both countries because it lies close to some of Nigeria's most productive offshore oilfields. The peninsula, and the offshore waters it controls are widely regarded as containing new oilfields to be commercially exploited. Nigeria and Cameroon came close to war in 1981 over the border dispute. In 1994 Cameroon sought the ICJ's arbitration after Nigeria moved in troops to occupy nearly the entire peninsula. In awarding the territory to Cameroon, the ICJ relied on a 1913 treaty under which Britain, Nigeria's former colonial ruler, ceded the Bakassi Peninsula to Germany. The German colony of Cameroon was divided up between France and Britain after World War One, but was reunited after independence in 1961. However, Nigeria rejected the ICJ ruling, accusing its judges of bias. The government in Abuja argued that the peninsula and its inhabitants had always part of the old Calabar Kingdom of Nigeria. Following Annan's intervention, President Paul Biya of Cameroon and President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria agreed to reach a peaceful settlement of the dispute. The three men met in Geneva last month to review progress so far. Biya and Obasanjo agreed to exchange ambassadors once more consider a treaty of friendship and non-aggression betwween the two countries. Last December Nigeria returned 33 villages near Lake Chad to Cameroon acknowledging that its own citizens had strayed into Cameroonian territory as they followed the receding waters of the lake. One Cameroonian village was handed over to Nigeria at the same time. The joint commission began its latest meeting in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, on Tuesday with a review of the territory swap near Lake Chad. The UN Office for West Africa said the meeting would also map out plans to deal with remaining issues. These include the delimitation of the maritime borders between Nigeria and Cameroon and the protection of the rights of local residents affected by the border changes.