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An Analysis Of Nigeria – Cameroon Relations (1990 – 2007)
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION:
BACKGROUND TO THE NIGERIA-CAMEROON CRISIS
The
boundary dispute between Nigeria and the Cameroon Republic arising from
their long, but ill-defined border (1680 kilometres or 1050 miles) is
of colonial origin. However, it has remained a source of conflict in the
direct bilateral relations of the two countries since their
independence. In one form or the other, the dispute has engaged the
attention of almost all Nigerian governments since 1960. Many informed
Nigerians believe that the Balewa government in the First Republic lost
an opportunity to resolve the dispute to Nigeria’s maximum satisfaction
in 1960-1961. That opportunity, they claim, was lost because of a myopic
and fratricidal conception of national interest in Nigeria’s domestic
politics. That loss continues to haunt to date particularly with respect
to the maritime section where its acclaimed vital security and
strategic interest stand threatened, and also where Nigeria continues to
suffer the humiliation of seeing the Cameroonian authorities administer
a territory in the disputed area whose population is 90 percent
Nigerian nationals.1 Ironically, what was considered a national blunder
in the immediate independence period was almost re-enacted in 1975, this
time more consciously, when the Gowon administration signed the Maroua
agreement with president Ahidjo’s government in Cameroon, an agreement
which, effectively would have ceded the channel of the Calabar River and
a portion of the Cross River estuary to the Cameroon. As it turned out,
the Maroua agreement is null and void in law as it was never ratified
by the Nigeria, leaving open the prospect of new form of arrangement
with the Cameroonians for solving the dispute in a mutually beneficial
manner to both sides.2
The dispute between Cameroon and Nigeria over
the Bakassi Peninsula has assumed great prominence because of its
richness in oil. It is important to note, however, that the case of
Bakassi is only one element in the dispute that extends to the land
boundary between Nigeria and Cameroon from the Lake Chad region to the
Coast. This long standing dispute over the ownership of the Bakassi
Peninsula which was apparently laid to rest by the ruling of the
International Court of Justice provides an example of judicial
arbitration at the international level. The ownership of the Bakassi
Peninsula was a protracted dispute that involved several attempts by
leaders and representatives of both countries to resolve although
without success. Indeed, such has been the doggedness of both countries
to their claims that it witnessed the eruption of violence on a number
of occasions.3
In terms of geography the Bakassi Peninsula, is a
network of islands and creeks situated between latitudes 4,050 and 4,025
north. It is bounded to the North by the river Akpa Yafe. Its western
limit lies at approximately 8043 East of Greenwich. To the west lies the
estuary of the Cross River, into which flows the Akpa Yefe. To the East
of Bakassi lies the Riodel Rey estuary. To the South of Bakassi lies
the South Atlantic ocean, known in this region as the Gulf of Guinea,
consisting of the Bight of Benin and the Bight of Bonny. The Bakassi
Peninsula itself is transverse by numerous channels and creeks of
varying sizes and navigability.4 Transportation around the peninsular is
mainly by water. At its widest point the Bakassi is approximately 28
kilometres across. The total concluded by or under the authority of the
British Consul, Edward Hewett.
The European imperial powers used the
concept of “protectorate†as the legal basis for much of their activity
in Africa, acquiring protectorates on the basis of treaties of
protection between themselves and the kings and chiefs of the protected
lands. This system effectively met the European power’s needs for a
degree of control in their protectorates, which excluded that of their
rivals, while at the same time leaving in place the local authority of
the kings and chiefs within their territories. The traditional ruling
class was a recognized feature of the pre-colonial Nigerian reality. The
exact number of these pre-colonial empires, kingdoms, caliphates and
autonomous communities cannot easily be determined, and varied from
period to period. Furthermore, the size, character and form of these
traditional political units were not uniform.5 Some were as large and
populous as some African states today, while the influence and
activities of others were limited. The kings and chiefs of old Calabar
however, constituted a very powerful polity wielding considerable
influence and authority extending even to Victoria in Cameroon. During
the pre-colonial period, these traditional authorities exercised
complete sovereign power over their people and territory. In some
pre-colonial societies, political power was centralized in the office of
the traditional ruler while in others it was dispersed to a variety of
smaller units.
However, the dispute over the Bakassi peninsular is
product of a number of contradictions. First, there is a clash between
tradition and modernity. The pre-colonial history of the ancient kingdom
of Calabar is haunting the post-colonial reality of contemporary
Nigeria and Cameroon. Secondly, there is the tension between
cartographical fact and cultural reality: the map is in conflict with
the people. Third, there is conflict between the dictates of abstruse
international law and the existential imperatives of struggling
humanity. Fourth, there is a gap between the concept of citizens.6
In
pre-colonial time Bakassi was under the ancient kingdom of Calabar
which in 1914 became part Nigeria, under British rule. The people of the
main settlement in the Bakassi peninsula owned allegiance to the Obong
of Calabar. It was therefore, the Obong of Calabar that placed not only
the kingdom of Calabar itself, but also Efiat and Idombi (in the
peninsular) under British protectorate via a treaty of September 10,
1884. The chiefs of Efiat and Idombi were co-signatories to the treaty.
However, subsequently, through a series of bilateral treaties and other
legal instruments, the British ceded the territory first to Germany and
then placed it under the mandate of the League of Nations and the
trusteeship of the United Nations. Meanwhile, the British protectorates
in Nigeria including the Kingdom of Calabar were merged with its
colonies in the area, as one integrated British colony. Later, largely
due to the political errors and indifference of Nigerian politicians,
the Republic of Cameroon obtained the Bakassi peninsula in the process
of a plebiscite conducted by the United Nations in 1959 and 1961.7 By
the same process, Nigeria also obtained some territories which formerly
belonged to Cameroon. In particular, the critical legal instruments that
changed the status of the peninsula and its inhabitants were the
following:
1) The agreement between the United Kingdom and Germany signed in London on March 11, 1913;
2) The Anglo-German protocol signed in Obokun, on April 12, 1913;
3) The exchange of letters between the British and German government on July 6, 1914; and
4)
The endorsement in 1961, by both the United Nations General Assembly
and the International Court of Justice, of the result of the plebiscites
conducted in Northern and Southern Cameroon and February 11 and 12,
1961 and the diplomatic note accompanied by Nigeria, in 1962 accepting
the result of the plebiscite.
Cameroon was a German territory ceded
after the first World War to the League of Nations at the 1919
Versailles peace treaty that ended the first World War and later ceded
to the United Nations in 1945 and the British. The Eastern part of
Cameroon was administered by the French while the western part by the
British.8 For administrative convenience the British government placed
the western part under Nigerian colonial government before Nigerian
independence. It started soon after Nigeria’s independence in 1960, over
the exact location of the Northern borders, after the British Northern
part of Western Cameroon (parts of the present Adamawa and Taraba
States) had voted to join Nigeria and the Southern parts of the Western
Cameroon voted to join French Cameroon.9
Oil Factor: The discovery of
oil in commercial quantities in Nigeria and particularly of offshore
oil on the Nigerian side of the territorial waters in the Atlantic Ocean
area called Bakassi peninsula, which is part of the Cross River State
of Nigeria bordering Cameroon made Cameroonians envious of Nigeria’s oil
wealth. The Cameroon Republic therefore, desperately started oil
exploration along the borders, both on shore and offshore, and in so
doing the Cameroonians started trespassing into Nigerian territory.
Nigeria responded by establishing her boundaries on land and sea, and
making firm arrangements for security of these boundaries through armed
patrols. The boundary between Nigeria and Cameroon was seated between
the British and German government since 1913 during the colonial days,
even before the first World War started. Therefore the territorial
waters of both countries were clearly defined and demarcated on a
colonial map, which both Britain and Germany had endorsed. All
independent African countries recognized at the level of OAU the
inviolability of former colonial boundaries created by the European
partition of Africa at the Berlin Conference of 1885.10
In any case
the subsequent extension of territorial waters brought a new dimension
of the problem of maritime international boundaries. The
Nigeria-Cameroon border dispute was aggravated in this case by the
discovery of large deposits of oil under the sea in the Bakassi
Peninsula area. The Bakassi Peninsula has always been rich in maritime
resources and with the discovery of oil, the territory assumes a portion
of land worth dying for. Cameroon however, took advantage of Nigeria’s
pro-occupation with the civil war between 1967 and 1970 to start
drilling for offshore oil in the disputed area in the Atlantic sea along
the Nigerian border in the Bakassi peninsula. After the end of the
civil war the two countries made efforts to settle the dispute when
General Yakubu Gowon visited Cameroon in 1970 to discuss the issue with
the former president Ahidjo of Cameroon. As a minister in the Gowon
administration and an eye witness to the agreement former president
Shehu Shagari said:
The two leaders (General Yakubu Gowon and
president Ahidjo) discussed the matter of border dispute between
themselves behind closed doors, only the chief surveyors of Nigeria and
Cameroon were invited in the secret meeting between the two presidents
or heads of state. At the end of the negotiations the two leaders signed
a communiqué and initiated a MDP which showed the boundary lines agreed
by both of them with the understanding that the details were to be
worked out later, it was not until 1975 that General Gowon met with
president Ahidjo at Maroua in Cameroon when the final agreement on what
was known as the Coker/Ngoh line were finally agreed upon and initiated
by the two leaders.11
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]The major significance of this study is that it will examine and highlight Nigeria – Cameroon Relations from 1999 to 2004. It will also suggest how areas of conflict could be resolved by both countries. This project research also hopes to contribute to the academic literature on Nigeria’s foreign policy through coverage of a turbulent period in Nigeria – Cameroon history.Following the judgement by the International Court of Justice that ceded 33 Nigerian villages around Lake ... Continue reading---
