Cameroon, Nigeria agree to finish border dispute

YAOUNDE, CAMEROON — 

Nigeria and Cameroon mentioned Thursday they’d not search a court docket ruling to settle their disputed border.

Somewhat, the 2 nations mentioned, joint delegations will validate a demarcation plan on web site and put an finish to long-standing territorial disputes.

The nations share about 2,100 kilometers (1,300 miles) of border, from Lake Chad within the north of the Gulf of Guinea to the Atlantic Ocean coast.

Leonardo Santos Simao, chairperson of the Cameroon-Nigeria Combined Fee arrange by the United Nations to resolve the international locations’ territorial disputes, mentioned he’s delighted the 2 international locations determined to resolve their disputes with out lengthy and costly processes on the Worldwide Courtroom of Justice.

The settlement to peacefully resolve border disputes earlier than the tip of 2025 was made at a gathering of the Combined Fee on Wednesday and Thursday in Yaounde. Simao known as it a milestone.

The 2 international locations agreed to go to disputed territories in Rumsiki and Tourou in northern Cameroon and Koche in japanese Nigeria earlier than the tip of 2024.

Nigerian Justice Minister Lateef Olasunkanmi Fagbemi, who’s the chief of the West African state’s delegation to the Cameroon-Nigeria Combined Fee, confirmed that the international locations have agreed to finish the mission inside 12 months.

“It is a consensus between Cameroon and Nigeria. By the tip of 2025, this mission must be concluded,” he mentioned. “Now we have so admirably and maturely dealt with the scenario in such a manner that there’s hardly any dissent. We’re happy with the result of the two-day assembly, and we’re hopeful that there’s gentle on the finish of the tunnel.”

Cameroon and Nigeria say the border demarcation was slowed by Boko Haram terrorism in each international locations. They are saying that the Boko Haram group’s firepower is drastically diminished now and that the demarcation can proceed.

The 2 states say they are going to transfer previous present variations over the exact location of the border in about 30 villages.

The Cameroon-Nigeria Combined Fee was established in 2002 on the request of President Paul Biya of Cameroon and the then-Nigerian chief Olusegun Obasanjo to facilitate the implementation of an October 10, 2002, Worldwide Courtroom of Justice ruling that ceded Bakassi, an oil-rich border peninsula, to Cameroon.

Nigeria initially rejected the decision, with its senate arguing that the ruling, based mostly on a colonial period settlement, was unfair and must be appealed. However Nigerian officers mentioned the decision must be revered.