The United Nations Office in West Africa (UNOWA) has announced that a team has finished demarcating 260 km of the Nigeria and Cameroon boundary south of Lake Chad.

The action, which comes in response to a 2002 ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), was carried out by experts from Cameroon, Nigeria and the UN, who commenced this task in November, said the UNOWA in a statement made available on Wednesday.

"This first phase of the demarcation activities in the field represents an encouraging development in the process of the implementation of the ICJ judgment," it said.

During the field work, the team of experts was accompanied by observers from the Cameroon/Nigeria Mixed Commission, a UN- sponsored body established to resolve the dispute.

"The work was conducted in a cordial atmosphere," the UNOWA said. "The confidence built during this process should help the parties to resolve peacefully the remaining issues, including the Bakassi peninsula and the maritime boundary."

The 1,600-kilometer land boundary extends from the Lake Chad to the oil-rich Bakassi peninsula, which the ICJ awarded to Cameroon, and the maritime boundary into the Gulf of Guinea. Among the issues involved are rights over the oil-rich land and sea reserves and the fate of local populations.

Source: Xinhua