The Dispute
Between
Cameroon and Nigeria
Between
Cameroon and Nigeria
The dispute between Cameroon and Nigeria over the Bakassi peninsula is
yet another of Africa's throwbacks to the colonial division of the continent.
In drawing up the boundaries between their "possessions" in Africa there was
often little precision and only the vaguest of documentation. For Nigeria and
Cameroon this has led to years of conflict and periodic outbreaks of fighting.
It is by no means certain the ICJ (International Court of Justice) ruling in
favour of Camerron will end this. The area in contention is a swampy peninsula
projecting into the Atlantic at the Gulf of Guinea. Not, it would seem, a valuable
piece of real estate worthy of diplomatic let alone military conflict. But the coastal
areas of the Gulf of Guinea have proved to be rich in commerically viable oil
deposits. Already there are US, Swiss and French oil companies jostling to get their
drills into the deposits and who keenly awaited the decision of the International
Court of Justice along with Nigeria and Cameroon. This is why the two countries
have come to blows repeatedly since 1994, when the area became a source of
dispute and was first referred to the international court. The court decision was
preceded by a UN-brokered agreement by the leaders of the two countries that
they will respect the ICJ ruling and then discuss demilitarizing the area. But even
before the announcement of the decision there were indications that the Nigerian
military was worried by the prospect of a negative ruling.