Nigeria on Thursday concluded its handover of the Bakassi peninsula to neighboring Cameroon, completing the implementation of the 2002 International Court of Justice (ICJ) judgment, after 15 years of dispute over the peninsula that is located on the Gulf of Guinea.
The final handover ceremony, which held in the Cross River state's capital Calabar in southeast Nigeria, was witnessed by delegates from the two neighboring countries, representatives of the United Nations and the United States envoy among others.
Nigeria's Minister of Justice, Michael Aondoakaa, who led the country's delegation, said it was an honor completing the withdrawal and transfer of the southern border region as part of the implementation of the ICJ's ruling to promote peace within theWest African region.
He said, "The administration of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua is interested in the welfare of Nigerians in Bakassi, and to fully integrate those who wish to remain in their ancestral land."
"As painful as it is, we have a responsibility to keep our commitment to the international community to advance international peace and cooperation ... and advance the cause of African brotherhood and good neighborliness," he said.
On the ceremony, the legal paperwork, in line with a ruling of an international tribunal, was signed by Nigeria's Justice Minister Michael Aondoakaa and his Cameroonian counterpart MauriceKanto.
"President Paul Biya ... looks forward to new, reliable and mutually beneficial relationship between Cameroon and Nigeria," Kanto said just before the handover in Calabar, where the peninsula had been previously located.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, in a message read out at the ceremony said: "It is a day of triumph for the rule of law, which lies at the very core of the values of the UN".
The UN Secretary General's Special Representative for West Africa Kieoan Prendergast said the handover should serve as a model in the many places in Africa where borders are under dispute.
The transfer, staggered over two years, has been dogged by political disagreements, a last-minute lawsuit and occasional gun battles.
Source: Xinhua
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