MANHASSAT, N.Y., June 12 (UPI) -- The presidents of Nigeria and Cameroon have signed an agreement settling a decades-old, sometimes violent, border dispute over the oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula.
The accord was reached Monday following intensive mediation over the weekend by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the quiet Greentree estate in Manhassat, N.Y., outside New York City.
"The signing ceremony, which has brought us together, crowns a remarkable experiment in conflict prevention by Cameroon and Nigeria," Annan said of the agreement, which provides for the withdrawal of Nigerian troops within 60 days, with a possible 30-day extension, from Bakassi, which the International Court of Justice, the top U.N. judicial body, awarded to Cameroon in 2002.
"With today's Agreement on the Bakassi Peninsula, a comprehensive resolution of the dispute is within our grasp," the secretary-general added. "The momentum achieved must be sustained."
Under the agreement, transitional arrangements will be completed in two years on the peninsula, which was the last of four areas to be demarcated in accordance with the International Court of Justice decision.
"Our Agreement today is a great achievement in conflict prevention, which practically reflects its cost-effectiveness when compared to the alternative of conflict resolution," Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo said. "Its significance, therefore, goes much beyond Nigeria and Cameroon. It should represent a model for the resolution of similar conflicts in Africa and, I dare say, in the world at large."
Cameroon's President Paul Biya added, "Reason and wisdom have been our main guides."
He said, "By signing the present agreement, we have armed ourselves with an efficient instrument to implement the court's decision bringing a definitive conclusion to our border dispute."
