The Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission created to implement the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling on the boundary dispute between the two countries is bracing up to accomplish its mission by 2012 , 10 years after its creation. The Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations for West Africa, Said Djinnit chaired the deliberations at the two-day session of the Mixed Commission in Yaounde, this March 10 and 11. The Cameroonian delegation was represented by the Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Justice, Amadou Ali, while Prince Bola Ajibola led the Nigerian delegation.
“Concerning the land boundary, Cameroon and Nigeria have agreed to date on almost 1,600 km of the border estimated at 1,950 km, and 378 km have already been demarcated with pillars”, a press release from the Mixed Commission session disclosed. In order to accelerate the demarcation process, the Mixed Commission decided to strengthen the role of the Joint Technical Team by setting up a permanent tripartite structure to take charge of the award of contracts and oversee their proper execution. The experts of the team will have to actively continue the field assessment of areas of disagreement or non-assessed areas and strive to resolve most of the technical problems at their level. To facilitate demarcation work, the Mixed Commission agreed to set up a sensitisation mission within the Sub-Commission on Demarcation, comprising representatives of Cameroon, Nigeria and UN to sensitise the population along the boundary.
The final communiqué from the Yaounde meeting revealed that the Working Group on Maritime Boundary has fully accomplished its mandate of ensuring the total maritime boundary demarcation. Said Djinnit recommended that Cameroon and Nigeria seek ways of consolidating the achievements with a view to implementing their cross-border cooperation on hydrocarbons and possibilities of developing cooperation in non-biotic resources. The Mixed Commission decided to increases moves aimed at enhancing confidence between the communities through assisting to address their socio-economic and security needs.
The leader of the Nigeria delegation, Prince Bola-Ajibola, said by October and November 2012, the Mixed Commission should have hopefully completely its assignment. “We have been able to achieve so much because of the good understanding, cooperation and the affection existing between Cameroon and Nigeria.” Vice Prime Minister Amadou Ali, leader of the Cameroonian delegation, said work on the implementation of the ICJ ruling on boundary dispute between the countries has accelerated positively and serves as an example to be celebrated. The 28th session of the Mixed Commission will take place in Abuja, Nigeria from June 16 to 17, 2011.
