Handover: Cameroonian troops in Bakassi
Nigeria takes its leave at Bakassi
Nigeria relinquished control of the oil-rich Bakassi peninsula to its neighbour Cameroon today despite fears the handover will provoke attacks from local armed groups opposed to the change.
"We are saddled with the painful, but important task of completing the implementation of the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) judgment by handing the Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon," said Nigeria's Justice Minister Michael Aondoakaa at the formal signing ceremony.
Heightened security concerns in Bakassi forced organisers to cancel a formal flag-exchanging ceremony at the peninsula's main town Abana, relocating it instead to a safer venue in Calabar city, 192 kilometres away.
Analysts said Cameroon will have to confront the deteriorating security situation before it can begin to exploit the region's offshore oil reserves.
The two African countries, which nearly went to war over Bakassi on several occasions, have agreed to work together to explore for oil in the region, which could help boost Cameroon's declining production of around 90,000 barrels per day.
"The Nigerian-Cameroon relationship will develop very well because of the handing over," Kieran Prendergast, a member of the United Nations delegation at the event, told Reuters.
The Nigerian government agreed to transfer Bakassi two years ago in line with a 2002 ICJ order but violence, political disputes and legal skirmishes had delayed it. About 50 people have been killed in border fighting in the last year alone.
Around 90% of the population in the Bakassi peninsula, estimated at 200,000 to 300,000, are Nigerian fishermen and their families. Bakassi leaders and Nigerian lawmakers say they do not want to become Cameroonians. Nigeria has offered to resettle them.
"I don't think Cameroon will be in a hurry to exploit Bakassi's oil reserves since the security situation remains a great concern," said Nnamdi Obasi, senior analyst for Crisis Group.
The Niger Delta Defence & Security Council, a little-known armed group responsible for two attacks on Cameroon soldiers last month, promised more violence.
"Our struggle will continue until our demands are met -- whether it be from the Nigerian government or Cameroon," Commander Ebi Dari, the group's spokesman, told the news agency. He declined to elaborate on what the group's demands were.
Analysts said there are several unrelated armed groups in the area, fighting for independence, money, housing and other causes.
Nigeria and Cameroon fought over Bakassi in 1994 when Cameroon first took its case to the World Court, and again in 1996. The ICJ gave Bakassi to Cameroon in a 2002 ruling, based largely on a 1913 treaty between former colonial powers Britain and Germany.