Presidents of Nigeria and Cameroon signed an agreement on Monday, promising to solve their dispute over oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula diplomatically.

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo met his Cameroonian counterpart Paul Biya in Manhasset, New York at a meeting hosted by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

According to a communique released by the UN spokesman office, the summit meeting was held in a cordial and constructive atmosphere in the presence of the delegations of the two countries and of the representatives of four witness states.

Obasanjo and Biya have agreed on the modalities of the withdrawal from the Bakassi Peninsula in accordance with the judgement of the International Court of Justice, which has confirmed the sovereignty of Cameroon over the peninsula and with due regard for the well-being of the populations.

The dispute between Cameroon and Nigeria over the ownership of the peninsula in the Gulf of Guinea almost brought the two countries to war in 1981.

The International Court of Justice in The Hague in the Netherlands ruled in 2002 that Bakassi Peninsula belonged to Cameroon. Nigeria was due to hand over the peninsula in September 2004 but failed to do so, citing "technical difficulties."

Source: Xinhua