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Bakassi: Obasanjo, Biya okay Sept 15 for troops pull-out
President Olusegun Obasanjo and his Camerounian counterpart, Mr. Paul Biya, agreed on Thursday that all Nigerian troops should pull out of the long-disputed Bakassi Peninsula by September 15.
In a joint statement ending a 24-hour trip by Obasanjo to Cameroun, the two leaders told a bilateral joint commission implementing a World Court ruling on ownership of the fish-rich territory and other contested border areas to work fast.
"They instructed this commission to do all in its power to implement the working programme according to the timetable agreed and approved by the two heads of state," the statement read in part.
Obasanjo and Biya who met on Wednesday evening also congratulated the commission on its "spirit of cooperation and the desire to succeed that characterises the conduct of the work..."
The Gulf of Guinea Peninsula, over which the armies of the two countries have fought skirmishes, is today believed to be rich in untapped oil supplies.
In October 2002, the International Court of Justice in the Hague ruled that it was Cameroun�s territory.
Under an agreement reached in the joint commission last April, Nigeria was due to have all its troops and police out of the marshland territory by September 15. Thursday's accord was intended to confirm that this deadline would be kept.
In July, the two countries exchanged two border villages in line with the World Court ruling.
Obasanjo and Biya also on Thursday voiced concern over the crisis in the Sudanese region of Darfur, calling for state-sponsored Arab militias said to terrorising the people there to be disarmed.
"The two heads of state are particularly preoccupied by the prevailing situation in Darfur," the statement said.
"They called on the parties concerned, particularly the government of Sudan, to take the necessary measures to disarm the militias," it added.
Obasanjo is the current President of the African Union which has said that a "full-fledged peacekeeping mission" could be sent to Darfur to force the government-backed Janjaweed militia to lay down its arms in line with a ceasefire signed in April.
Khartoum is accused of sponsoring the Janjaweed after two rebel movements rose up maintaining the mainly black African Darfur region had been ignored by the Arab government.
More than one million people have fled their homes since the conflict erupted in February 2003, and the United Nations estimates up to 50,000 people have died.
Obasanjo and Biya also called for urgent international help for the people of Darfur.
Besides, they voiced concerns about the instability in Cote d�Ivoire and Liberia as well as "raising issues of common interest on peace and security, economic development and regional and international integration."
Meanwhile, the African Union (AU) has delayed deployment of a protection force in Darfur from end of July, as earlier planned, to early August, due to logistic problems, the AU conflict management centre's deputy El Ghassim Wane said on Thursday.
"The protection force that was to be deployed in Darfur by end of July, will now not be in place until the first week of August, 2004," Wane said.
"The contributing countries, Nigeria and Rwanda, are still sorting out the volume and size of their forces to be dispatched to Darfur by the AU," Wane added.
The AU had planned to send some 300 troops to Darfur by the end of July to protect its team of observers and monitors overseeing the implementation of a shaky ceasefire deal between the government-backed Janjaweed militia and two rebel groups -- Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM).
The pan-African body said on Wednesday that it might deploy a "full-fledged peacekeeping mission" in Darfur to force the Janjaweed militia to lay down its arms in line with a ceasefire deal reached on April 8.
The two rebel groups rose up against Khartoum in February 2003, claiming that the mainly black African region had been ignored by the Arab government.
The uprising prompted a bloody crackdown by Sudanese troops and Janjaweed militias, which have carried out what aid and rights groups have called a massive campaign of ethnic cleansing.
The death toll could be as high as 50,000 and about 1.2 million people have been displaced in the region in 17 months of conflict, according to UN officials.
The Punch, Friday July 30, 2004
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