Bakassi Territorial Dispute (1993 - 2006)

This conflict relates to the disputed Bakassi Peninsula territory in the Gulf of Guinea. After colonialisation, borders between Nigeria and Cameroon were arbitrarily drawn and Bakassi was granted to Cameroon even though many of the inhabitants feel an affinity to Nigeria. Nigeria claims the territory historically belongs to Nigerian tribes which inhabited the area pre-colonialisation and administered the peninsula from independence in 1960. Cameroon disputed this on the basis of maps dating back to colonial times. Troops either side of the border have occasionally escalated the dispute with incursions into respective territories and the subsequent retaliations have resulted in a number of military deaths. This came to a head in the early 1990s where troop blockades were built up on either side and relations were tense. In order to resolve this and avoid a war, Cameroon appealed to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to rule on the border dispute. Sporadic clashes continued into the mid 1990s. In 2002, the ICJ ruled that Nigeria pull out its troops, officials and police confirming Cameroon sovereignty. Nigeria was slow to accept the ruling but eventually submitted to a Mixed Commission made up of representatives of both nations to consider the implications of the ICJ ruling. Transitional arrangements for Bakassi were to be completed by 2008 and in 2013, Cameroon took over full sovereignty.