CALABAR, Nigeria, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- 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.
