CAMEROON-NIGERIA MIXED COMMISSION: FIRST FIELD VISIT TO BAKASSI PENINSULA

CAMEROON-NIGERIA MIXED COMMISSION:  FIRST FIELD VISIT TO BAKASSI PENINSULA

(Reissued as received.)

GENEVA, 10 February (UN Information Service) -- The Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission will hold its eighth meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, from 10 to 12 February.  It will take stock of the outcome of the Tripartite Summit between the President of Cameroon, the President of Nigeria, and the Secretary-General of the United Nations held last week in Geneva on the follow-up of the 10 October 2002 ruling of the International Court of Justice relating to the land and maritime boundary between the two countries.  In this context, it is interesting to point out that in Geneva the two Presidents agreed to also consider concluding a Treaty of friendship and non-aggression between the two countries.

The Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission will hear the final report on the Withdrawal and Transfer of Authority in the Lake Chad area.  As required by the Mixed Commission, a presentation on the situation on the field one month after the completion of that operation will also be made.

The Mixed Commission will discuss progress achieved by the Sub-Commission on Demarcation, which is scheduled to meet on 9 February 2004.  It will also address the following additional points:  (a) the delimitation of the maritime boundary; (b) fund-raising tripartite planned visits; and (c) issues on the protection of the rights of affected populations.

This session of the Mixed Commission will be followed by the first visit of the BakassiPeninsula by the Sub-Commission on Affected Populations from 13 to 20 February 2004.  During this tour to the BakassiPeninsula, the Sub-Commission is expected to meet with local population, their traditional chiefs, as well as local authorities.

The Mixed Commission is a mechanism established by the Secretary-General of the United Nations on 15 November 2002 at the request of President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and President Paul Biya of Cameroon in order to facilitate peaceful implementation of the International Court of Justice Judgment on the border dispute between Cameroon and Nigeria. It is increasingly seen by observers of the African political situation as a novel approach in preventive diplomacy and a new model for peaceful settlement of conflicts between States.

For more information on the Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission, please visit the web site at www.un.org/unowa; or contact: in Abuja, Sylvie Daouda, tel.: +234 9 413 18 11 extension 6402; or in Dakar, Myriam Dessables, tel.: +221 849 07 29.

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