Disputed territory is handed to Cameroon

LAGOS, Nigeria - After 15 years of political debate and periodic violence, the Nigerian government officially handed over the potentially oil-rich Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon yesterday in a ceremony overseen by senior politicians, United Nations officials, and a heavy military presence.

The 1,200-square-mile stretch of marshland between the two countries, the waters of which are a fishing hub and may hold vast unexplored oil deposits, has been argued over for decades. Nigeria and Cameroon nearly went to war over the peninsula and its riches on several occasions, and UN officials at yesterday's ceremony were quoted as saying that the handover would help improve relations between the two countries.

Bakassi has been in diplomatic limbo since Cameroon filed suit over the area with the International Court of Justice in 1994. The court awarded the land to Cameroon in 2002, but the handover was delayed by arguments within Nigeria's government and several clashes led by militants saying the land belongs to Nigeria.

In July, a little-known rebel group calling itself The Niger Delta Defense and Security Council killed two Cameroonian soldiers and vowed to carry out further attacks. In the last year, at least 50 people have been killed in violence surrounding the area.

"This handing-over process, as painful as it is for everyone including the president, is a commitment we have made to the international community and we have a responsibility to keep it," Olusegun Adeniyi, spokesman for the Nigerian president, said this week.

Due to concerns that the handover would provoke attacks by armed groups unhappy with the deal, the official flag-exchange ceremony was moved from a village in the region to the more secure city of Calabar, 120 miles away.

"Even though there's pain in out hearts and minds, we have fielded the trauma and we are thankful for a peaceful handover," said Savior Nyong, chairman of the Bakassi local government. "We frowned on the judgment" of the international court, he said, "because we were not given the opportunity to choose where we actually wanted to go to, but we must accept the rule of law."

The waters off of the peninsula are thought to hold significant oil deposits, though no oil has been extracted. Nigeria and Cameroon have pledged to work together to explore the deposits.

The region is home to an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 people, the vast majority of whom are Nigerian fishermen.