UN-backed Cameroon-Nigeria border commission urges swift resolution

The UN-backed Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission, set up to help Cameroon and Nigeria resolve their border disputes has called for “swift agreement” to resolve the remaining border disputes.

The Commission was set up at the request of the West African neighbours after the 2002 International Court of Justice (ICJ) decision on the ownership of the Bakassi Peninsula, in order to help implement the decision.

It has already reached agreement on more than 1,600 kilometres of the border, however it is still working on the final 350 kilometres of the land border which needs to be demarcated.

The most recent meeting of the Commission, which took place for two days in Abuja last week, had planned to reach an agreement on the remaining 350 kilometres, however it was not successful.

The Commission instruct its sub-commission on demarcation to find "effective and practical solutions" on the remaining areas, which include previous skipped areas, areas of disagreement, and inaccessible areas.

In a press release at the end of the meeting on Friday 22nd July, Cameroon and Nigeria reiterated their commitment to complete the demarcation by the end of next year.

The commission, chaired by the UN Secretary General's Special Representative for West Africa Said Djinnit also noted the progress made by the two nations regarding the confidence-building initiatives for the populations affected by the demarcation.

A draft agreement was reached at the meeting however, on other issues such as the exploitation of hydrocarbons on the border of Nigeria and Cameroon.

Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan said on Tuesday 26th July that he would form a committee to consider the draft agreement for ratification, after which the document would be signed by the leaders of both countries.

Jonathan also said it was critical for the two countries to work together to ensure security along the border.

The next session of the commission will be held in Yaoundé, Cameroon, on 8-9th December.

Sources: Punch, The Nation, UN News Centre

For more information, please see the Menas Borders website, here.

Cameroon and Nigeria agree on joint oil exploration in Bakassi region

Bakassi Peninsula (source: Stratfor)

Cameroon and Nigeria have initiated talks to jointly exploit oil overlapping borders around the Bakassi peninsula, chief mediators of both countries told Dow Jones Newswire on Friday 11th March.

The decision to begin joint oil exploration was made at a meeting of a joint commission of the two countries set up by the UN following the 2002 International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling on the Bakassi peninsula.

After years of dispute, Cameroon took Nigeria to the ICJ in 1994 over various territorial issues including that of the Bakassi region. Nigeria argued that the peninsula should be awarded to it because of its 'historical claim'. Nigeria had been administering the peninsula and most of its inhabitants were Nigerian fishermen and their families.

Despite this, the Court ruled in 2002 that the peninsula belonged to Cameroon based largely on early twentieth century Anglo-German correspondence which established that the boundary lay to the west of the peninsula.

The ruling was not easily accepted by many within Nigeria, but in 2008, they ceded the peninsula to Cameroon. A commission was established to demarcate the border between the two countries as per the ICJ ruling and it appears that good progress is being made.

Cameroon's chief negotiator, the country's Vice Premier Ali Ahmadou, said: "Work is complete on our maritime demarcation, but this is not the case with exploitation of the oil wells crossing the borders. This is an important issue which we've to pursue and reach a level of agreement for joint exploitation of the oil reserves by our two countries."

The chief Nigerian negotiator, Prince Bola Ajibola, sounded positive on the agreement reached. "This time around, there's been cooperation and good understanding between our two countries to come together and jointly exploit the hydrocarbons deposits that we've on our common borders."

"The exploited hydrocarbons will be for the mutual benefits of both of us,” said Ajibola, adding "we think such exploitation will become faster, cheaper and easier when both of us have one company to do the operations."

Canadian exploration company, Addax Petroleum, has been tipped to do the cross border oil drilling. The Dow Jones Newswire quoted an unnamed Cameroonian official familiar with the negotiations as saying, "Addax Petroleum is likely to do the crossborder oil drilling for us and our brotherly nation, Nigeria. You know, Addax operates both in Cameroon and Nigeria and knows the territory very well."

Exploration is likely to start this year.

Sources: Dow Jones Newswire, Wall Street Journal, AllAfrica

Menas Borders worked on the 2002 ICJ court case. For more information on the case, please see our website, here.