UN charges Nigeria, Cameroon on Bakassi pact

SECRETARY-GENERAL, United Nations (UN), Ban Ki-moon, has asked Nigeria and Cameroon to respect the fundamental human rights of their peoples living on the Bakassi Peninsular and the boundary lines.

However, Nigeria has called for sustained UN help to finish work on border demarcation between both countries.

Nigeria and Cameroon opened another meeting of the UN-backed Mixed Commission set up by the UN after the 2002 signing of the Greentree Accord between them following a controversial International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling over the disputed oil-rich Bakassi area.

The meeting, which ended yesterday at the UN headquarters in New York, had delegations from both countries’ justice ministries.

At the meeting, the Secretary-General said: “As we look ahead, one main challenge will be to protect the livelihoods and human rights of the affected populations, whether they are Cameroonian or Nigerian.”

Ban added that the people should be protected by both nations “whether they live along the boundary or in the Bakassi Peninsula,” adding that “these men and women should be able to build a peaceful and prosperous future for themselves and their children.”

After the Greentree Accord, there are still reported skirmishes between the people from both sides and security agencies, although such incidents have dipped in recent times.

Speaking at the meeting, Nigeria’s Justice Minister and Attorney-General Mohammed Bello Adoke, said the UN Mixed Commission and the Follow-Up Committee, which was set up to ensure the peaceful and successful implementation of the ICJ judgment, “has indeed come a long way since their establishment and the remarkable achievements so far recorded would never have been possible without the support of the United Nations.”

While reassuring the UN of the continued commitment of the Nigerian Government to the peaceful and successful implementation of the ICJ verdict and “the determination to meet all our obligations under the judgment,” the Attorney-General recalled that Nigeria had handed over to Cameroon “over 33 villages in the Lake Chad region.”

However, he asked the UN Secretary-General for further support in the border demarcation process between both countries, saying: “a lot remains to be done in this regard, which requires the deployment of technical and financial resources.

“We also require support in the area of assistance in resettling populations displaced as a result of the implementation of the ICJ judgment and other confidence building measures.”

The UN Secretary-General hosted the two-day high-level meeting “to review the progress of the Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission and encourage the parties to complete their border-demarcation process by 2012,” according to a UN statement.

While Adoke led the Nigeria’s delegation, the Cameroonian party was led by Maurice Kamto, Deputy Minister for Justice.

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By Laolu Akande, New York

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