Cameroon-Nigeria Fresh Visit To Disputed Border

Commission To Make Fresh Visit To Disputed Land Border

The Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission, set up by the United Nations to peacefully resolve their border dispute, has decided to make extra field visits to the contested land boundary between the countries.

The Commission's decision, reached during its latest summit in Abuja, Nigeria, means it will have to delay its scheduled field visit to the oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula.

In a communiqué issued after the summit, Cameroon and Nigeria agreed that additional field visits to the land boundary by two Commission sub-committees and then the Commission itself was necessary. These visits will take place later this month and in March.

This week's meeting also agreed to set up an observer group in the Lake Chad area for a one-year period to monitor the region following the withdrawal of troops and transfer of authority.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan set up the Commission in 2002, at the request of Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and Paul Biya of Cameroon, to try to resolve the countries' long-running border dispute and implement an International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling on the case.

Cameroon and Nigeria dispute sovereignty over their land boundary, stretching from Lake Chad to the sea, their maritime boundary, and the Bakassi Peninsula in the Gulf of Guinea.

The Mixed Commission's next meeting will be from 6 to 7 April in Yaoundé, Cameroon.

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