Friction over the course of the border between Cameroon and Nigeria, in the Far North region. Cameroonian residents reported to the authorities what appeared to them to be modifications and displacements of markers on this border, resulting from the global agreement for the retrocession of the Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon, 21 years ago. Officials from both countries went there to see the boundaries.
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With our correspondent in Yaoundé,Polycarp Essomba
According to the weekly The Eye of the Sahel, which reports the information, it was the inhabitants of the localities of Mogode and Tourou, in Mayo-Tsanaga, a region in the far north of Cameroon who gave the alert to the authorities. According to them, boundary markers on the border between Cameroon and Nigeria have been moved in the area, several hundred meters inside Cameroonian territory.
Some plantations, public buildings, residential houses, tourist sites and even villages that were supposed to be in Cameroonian territory are now in Nigerian territory, they argue.
Faced with these reports, Cameroonian and Nigerian officials, accompanied by a United Nations official, went to the region on July 4 and 5, as confirmed to RFI by the UN representation in Yaoundé. This in order not only to assess the situation on the ground, but also to ensure the proper implementation of the resolutions of the International Court of Justice. These related to the Bakassi border dispute and the course of the border between Cameroon and Nigeria – from Lake Chad to the sea.
This tripartite commission met the traditional chiefs of the villages concerned and had working sessions with the authorities of the department. The ultimate goal is to curb the phenomenon of border violations, on both sides between the two countries.