Nigeria president to revisit Cameroon Bakassi dispute
By REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde
Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan
on Thursday ordered a review of an international ruling that handed the
oil-rich Bakassi
peninsula to its neighbour Cameroon
a decade ago.
His decision came a week after Nigeria's
Senate called on him to appeal the 2002 ruling made by the International Court of
Justice that Bakassi belonged to Cameroon. The appeal period
expires in a few days, the statement from the presidency said.
"The president has set up a committee to look at the
option of reviewing the ruling," the statement said, adding that this had
been concluded after talks with Vice President Namidi Sambo and Senate President David Mark.
Nigeria has dozens of committees, which
often to do not lead to significant action.
Senators had argued that the judgment was unfairly based on
an agreement between the British and local chiefs in 1881, and it should
therefore be subjected to a referendum monitored by the United Nations.
The two African countries, which nearly went to war over
Bakassi on several occasions, seemed to have put the issue behind them of late,
and had even agreed to work together to explore for oil in the region.
Around 90 percent of the population of the peninsula,
estimated at 200,000 to 300,000, regard themselves as Nigerian fishermen and
their families who do not want to be Cameroonians.
A movement called the Bakassi Self-Determination Front in
August declared independence from Cameroon, hoisting a flag and
setting up an FM radio station. It is not clear how big the movement is or what
it is capable of.
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