Nigeria agrees to exit Bakassi Print E-mail
Monday, 12 June 2006

Nigeria agrees to exit disputed territory in deal with Cameroon

by Gerard Aziakou
1 hour, 2 minutes ago
 


PhotoNigeria agreed to withdraw its troops from the oil-rich Bakassi peninsula within 60 days in a UN-brokered deal signed with Cameroon to settle their long-simmering dispute, UN chief Kofi Annan announced.

The landmark deal for Abuja pulling out its estimated 2,000 troops from the strategic territory was reached at a UN-mediated summit between Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and his Cameroonian counterpart Paul Biya in this New York suburb.

"The Nigerian troops will withdraw in 60 days," Annan, who hosted the summit, told reporters after the two presidents signed the agreement in a secluded estate made available to the United Nations in this New York suburb.

The UN secretary general said he had been authorized by the parties to allow an extension of no more than an additional 30 days to complete the troop withdrawal.

The territorial disagreement between the two West African neighbors centers on sovereignty over Bakassi, a potentially oil-rich 1,000 square kilometre (400 square mile) patch of Atlantic coastal swamp with access to coveted fishing grounds.

The dispute led to military clashes between the two neighbors in the early 1990s.

Under a 2002 ruling by the International Court of Justice in The Hague, sovereignty over the peninsula as well as over disputed islands on Lake Chad was awarded to Cameroon.

That same year, Obasanjo and Biya agreed at a Geneva summit to establish a UN-backed Cameroon-Nigeria commission to demarcate the 1,690 kilometer (1,056 mile) border.

They also agreed on confidence-building measures, including the eventual demilitarization of the Bakassi peninsula, with the possibility of deploying international observers to monitor the withdrawal.

Annan said Monday that Nigeria would have to end its administration of the territory within two years and the sizable Nigerian population on Bakassi would be given the option of staying under Cameroonian rule or be repatriated back to Nigeria.

Several thousand Nigerians live on the Bakassi peninsula and many are opposed to the handover of the territory to Cameroon.

"Our agreement today is a great achievement in conflict prevention, which practically reflects its cost effectiveness when compared to the alternative of conflict resolution," Obasanjo said. "It should represent a model for the resolution of similar conflicts in Africa and ... in the world at large."

Biya said implementation of the deal, which demarcates the border from Lake Chad to the Ocean Atlantic, "will open a new era of trust, peace and cooperation between the two neighbors.

"With today's agreement on the Bakassi peninsula, a comprehensive resolution of the dispute is within our grasp," Annan said.

He called on the international community to fully support the accord, which was witnessed and endorsed by representatives of the United States, Britain, France and Germany.

The agreement provides for creation of a follow-up committee composed of 10 representatives -- two each from Nigeria, Cameroon and the United Nations plus one from the four witness countries to monitor implementation.

Annan highlighted the cost-effectiveness of the Nigeria-Cameroon settlement compared with efforts to resolve the festering border dispute between Eritrea and Ethiopia, which fought a two-year war over it that ended in a 2000 peace deal.

He noted that the UN peacekeeping mission monitoring the disputed border between Eritrea and Ethiopia costs an average of 200 million dollars a year compared with the five million dollars which the UN spends annually on the Nigeria-Cameroon mixed commission.

Monday's gathering was the fifth summit between Obasanjo and Biya on the border issue.

The two countries are to report on how the agreement has been carried out at the next meeting of the mixed commission in Abuja, Nigeria on July 5.

A joint communique issued here said that within one one month of the signing of the accord, Annan is to present a progress report to the parties and to the witness states. Subsequent reports will be issued at monthly intervals as appropriate.

Monday's summit was held on the 1.8 square kilometer (438 acre) Greentree estate owned by the family of the late John Hay Whitney, a US multi-millionaire diplomat, financier and philanthropist.

The Whitney foundation makes it available to the United Nations for retreats, including by the Security Council




RobotRobot is offline 
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 # 1

Nigeria agrees to exit disputed territory in deal with Cameroon by Gerard Aziakou1 h...Read the full article.

Posted by Robot| 12.06.2006 19:08

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Mark LarMark Lar is offline 
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 # 2

There is your typical Dopemu Akikiola Obasanjo and his caliphate handlers. Why could he not have handed over the northwest zone of Nigeria to Cameroun; at least the north west of NG has common factors as the wasters and plunderers of Cameroun. I just wonder how the south-south chaps feel about Obj's strategy of isolating the Niger Delta problem.

Posted by Mark Lar| 12.06.2006 19:54

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Mark LarMark Lar is offline 
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Sorry chaps, meant the northeast Nigeria with its similar profiles of Buzus, Fulanis, Born-to-Rule, Ahmadu Ahijos and almajiris to northern Cameroun.

Posted by Mark Lar| 12.06.2006 20:03

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EdnutEdnut is offline 
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Sorry chaps, meant the northeast Nigeria with its similar profiles of Buzus, Fulanis, Born-to-Rule, Ahmadu Ahijos and almajiris to northern Cameroun ..Mark Lar



He did as the below shows.

Under a 2002 ruling by the International Court of Justice in The Hague, sovereignty over the peninsula as well as over disputed islands on Lake Chad was awarded to Cameroon.


Posted by Ednut| 12.06.2006 21:20

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"Our agreement today is a great achievement in conflict prevention, which practically reflects its cost effectiveness when compared to the alternative of conflict resolution," Obasanjo said. "It should represent a model for the resolution of similar conflicts in Africa and ... in the world at large."



Really? And guess who were their to witness it all, yes OBJs masters that he wants Desperately their love. He is going to give away Eastern Nigeria region so as his lame duck days drags on slowly, too slow if you ask me.

Posted by Ednut| 12.06.2006 21:29

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Tsohon SojaTsohon Soja is offline 
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Mark Lar (Allah forgive me if its just a pen-name),

Am sorry I have to start by being very rude and undiplomatic to you. It shames me because I am one of those who has vowed to make the NVS space a polite and decent forum.

Anyway!

You comment is very typical of a confused christian middle-belter, filled with undue and unfounded hatred of the muslim Hausa-fulani in whatever guise. This is the inferiority complex that has foisted a thief in Dariye on your Plateau State and you are covering him up in the name of love of your-own. If you are Tarok and not Angas ( from your name Lar), I am sure, your dad (as I strongly suspect) is Solomon Daushep Lar and your mother, Prof Mary Lar, the Ambassador to Netherland (its interesting she wrote her PhD thesis on nomadic education - a Hausa-fulani phenomenon, by which she made fame and reputation she enjoys now). Wonder why she didnt research on why Taroks have brown teeth by birth.

Also, your sister was recently relieved by Obasanjo as his Special Adviser on women affairs. Her replacement is Josephine Anenih (Edo-Anambra) and not a Hausa-fulani. however, I understand your problem since Daushep has fallen out of favor in Aso Rock now. It is certainly not only Gbenga that is a brat.

However, its my prayer that you are not of that family. So, I will be all wrong.

Anyway getting back to the issue at hand - Your ignorance based insinuations in this forum to the effect that Obasanjo and his cohorts of the 'caliphate' is as unfortunate, founded on ignorance, as it is dangerous. It could fuel a lot of hate and deaths back home, especially in the 'lowlands' of Plateau that has not been seeing peace, since your 'Tarok' bandits decided that primitivity and canibalism is the best way to live, with your long neigbours of Wase, Yelwa, Shendam and environs. You 'youths' recently operated in Namu, remember?

You should be informed that Nigeria has conceeded 30 villages only last week to Cameroon. The villages are mostly Hausa-fulani/Kanuri/Shuwa bonafide settlements, along the eastern borders of Nigeria with Cameroon. These are additional to several others handed over the last 4-years. If you know history, do you know about the plebicite in which the people of 'Adamawa' (north-east) chose to be Nigerians and the place was renamed 'Sardauna province' because of the effort of the Sardauna in ensuring that the yearning of those people was achieved? Part of that area has now been conceeded back to the Cameroonians.

The loss of Bakasi to the Cameroonians you must accept was all caused by General Yakubu Jack Gowon in his 'silly' ways. He brought us to all this problem we are finding ourselves. General Gowon if you know is 'Angas' and a 'Christian', from the middle-belt not a Hausa-Fulani. His real village is just a few kilometers fom Langtang

This statement of yours is also in total disrespect to great Nigerians of Hausa-fulani extraction - Generals Mohammadu Buhari and Late Mohammad Sani Abacha, who during their regimes staked all to ensure that Bakkasi was never lost to the Cameroonians. You need to know that when Buhari was GOC 3 Div, Jos, Cameroonians invaded some Nigerian villages and typical of his no-nonsence ways - even without clearance from his Cheif of Army Staff and President Shagari, he moved his men, pushed the Cameroonians out and occupied their own territory. Those villages of the plebicite, including the ones Buhari captured are among the ones handed over by this government, now.

As part of the realitieas then, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, bought the largest military hardware and the most sophisticated Nigeria has ever had till date, in order to secure and hold Bakkasi and the South Africa threat, then. While the Nigerian military was planning operations for the final and total capture of Bakkasi during the Shagari regime, the plan was foiled by Concord newspapers (Abiola's paper), who published the operational orders for the invasion, in Sunday Concord. Abiola (May Allah grant him paradise) is not Hausa-Fulani.

Please find out and you will know that Nigeria's chief negotiator is no other person than Prince Bola Ajibola (the name doesnt sound 'caliphate to me') To make you learn, please also find out yourself the name of the present Nigerian foreign minister, who is said to be a diplomatic geniues and confidant of OBJ (though he is now on suspension for poor performance). Ambassador Adedeji, if I should help you.

Lar, please ponder this - If Nigeria breaks today, where will you the 'middle-belters' go? You think that 'Emancipator' rubbish that Daushep did will work? In the NPP-UPN anti-NPN misadventure, where prominent personalities from Oyo and Anambra States where appointed commissioners in Plateau, what came out of it?

Beware now that your dad or uncle is now standing side-by-side Atiku and the rest Hausa-Fulanis in the ACD confusion, to fight Obasanjo!

Please do not waste all the Plateau funds lavished on you in the US/UK by stoking embars of deaths back at home. We want to manage our long lost image of unity and diversity that we were known for in the tranquil Plateau, until Daushep brought the 'Emancipation' inferiority complex that has brought us the likes of Dariye and the Langtang-Yelwa-Shendam-Namu axis mayham, that ultimately fed the Jos genocide.

Lastly on the histories; It was during the Hausa-fulani(?) leadership of Babangida and Abacha that emerged the 'Langtang Mafia' - General Domkat Bali, Jeremiah Hussaini, Bernard Banfa, John Shagaya etc. In OBJ's the immediate past Chief of Air Staff was your own(?). Where is Makama of the Nigerian Population Commssion from, my friend? Meanwhile, Shagaya is busy on the train to return the 'stepped-aside' prince - to lord over us

If you want to blame OBJ, you may find ammunition in the fact that his obssession is about building an international image for himself, rather that the true image of Nigeria. If you start an arguementation along this reality, then we can discuss the wisdom or not of conceeding Bakkasi.

A word is they say, enough for the wise.

God save Nigeria, from you generation.

Posted by Tsohon Soja| 12.06.2006 23:36

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OghreOghre is offline 
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 # 7

Mark Lar is right...

If any part of Nigeria deserves to be forfeited in a sham deal like this one it should be Northern Nigerian with its plethora of terrorists, oil spongers, Othman Dan Fodio's natural born killers, almajiris and talakawas who contribute nothing more than violence and mayhelm to the rest of Nigeria.

-Ben

Posted by Oghre| 13.06.2006 04:01

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ILN TOOILN TOO is offline 
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the much maligned north compares well (in fact it is even better than the rest of the country) in terms of security, civilisation, religious and ethnic tolerance (forget the occasional hotspots engineered by people whose sole aim is to destroy the north) and what you may. 'the primitive tribes of the lower Niger' (to use an expression coined by one of their own) cannot help ascribing their woeful failures (in spite of their potentials) to the north. in the confused middle-belters (or middle losers) they find worthy bed-fellows. but whenever the primitives agitated for secession, they tend to lump the middle belt with the north! common sense is, after all, not so common. the north has given a lot to that confused geographical misfortune called nigeria. Yes, the north has its own internal problems, but are they really more than those of the other areas of the country? it is high time people like Lar and his primitive empathisers recognised that the north is more than capable of sustaining itself with or without them. perhaps, it will be more profitable for them to start addressing why their respective regions are still very very backward and underdeveloped instead of wasting time concocting fatuous disquisitions bordering on ethnic and religious bigotry.

Perhaps, it is worth pondering that the people responsible for the unenviable reputation nigeria has acquired in the international community (the fraudsters, the criminals, people devoid of any sort of moral principle) do not belong to the 'caliphate'. the almajiris may be a social problem, but are they really more of a social problem than the internet scammers sending bogus emails abroad in other to rid unsuspecting and gullible foreigners of their wealth? are the almijiris responsible for the grisly and inhuman treatment meted out to travellers in the southern part of the country by armed robbers? or are they responsible for the primitive practice of human trafficking that has recently done incalculable damage to the battered image country? are they responsible for exporting prostitutes to spain and italy? the moment you mentioned the name 'nigeria' abroad, those are the things that spring to the mind of the other interlocutors and not almajiris or even sharia.

i have recently met an asylum seeker (in Europe) and he is from the eastern part of the country claiming that he was persecuted by the 'ayatollahs implementing sharia in the north'! it turned out that the person had never even been to the north! and this is just one of several cases of people telling blatant and unfounded lies just to get asylum abroad.

the way forward for nigeria must be founded on unity, trust and tolerance and not ethnic or religious bigotry. Civilised countries are civilsed today because they have been able to rise above such things.

tsohon soja, well done for an excellent rejoinder!

Posted by ILN TOO| 13.06.2006 07:59

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bastinobastino is online 

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 # 9

Soja one you are 100 percent right to say OBJ is obsess with his place in the pyche of international community ,he desire nothing than to be called the greatest stateman out of africa but here lies the bane of his failure ,he has no life conviction,he believe in no cause but the one that will satisfy his ego.He fancies himself to be another Mandela ,another Kwame Nkrumah waiting for acclaim from international community as greatest respecter of international law but at the same time he signed agreement with the usa not to handle her citizens to the international tribunal and here lies the contradiction,he can protectthe citizens of another country from internal law but not the citizens of his country.OBJ is nothing but an opportunist and i do most of the time wonder what might have happened had he got elected to the post of secretary general of UN.

Posted by bastino| 13.06.2006 08:42

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EdnutEdnut is offline 
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Perhaps, it is worth pondering that the people responsible for the unenviable reputation nigeria has acquired in the international community (the fraudsters, the criminals, people devoid of any sort of moral principle) do not belong to the 'caliphate'. the almajiris may be a social problem, but are they really more of a social problem than the internet scammers sending bogus emails abroad in other to rid unsuspecting and gullible foreigners of their wealth? are the almijiris responsible for the grisly and inhuman treatment meted out to travellers in the southern part of the country by armed robbers? or are they responsible for the primitive practice of human trafficking that has recently done incalculable damage to the battered image country? are they responsible for exporting prostitutes to spain and italy? the moment you mentioned the name 'nigeria' abroad, those are the things that spring to the mind of the other interlocutors and not almajiris or even sharia.



ILN TOO,

Actually they are. You can start with Shagari to Buhari to IBB and then to the greatest thief of them all Abacha. Yes their miss rule forced those Nigerians you mentioned to become desperate enough to do whatever. Northerners (minus Benue-Plateau indigenes) should stay away from National government for at least the next fifty years so that technocrats can correct your many administrative incompetence and barbaric ruler ship of Nigeria these past 40 years. Maybe then, those Nigerians will not see the need for "exporting prostitutes to spain and italy" or send "bogus email" anymore.

On the easterner, did you consider that he might have been a lucky guy that escaped getting lynched because he vehicle backed into some sharia book?

Posted by Ednut| 13.06.2006 09:19

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