Cameroon-Nigeria border marking resumes

UNITED NATIONS, April 5 (UPI) -- The Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission has resumed marking the neighboring nations' common border after differences halted the project.

The U.N. Office for West Africa said Tuesday the disagreement arose from Nigeria's decision to skip verification of the boundary line in a village.

The commission chairman and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special representative for West Africa, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, said after consultations with the head of the Nigerian delegation in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, the work would resume "without delay."

Boundary demarcation began March 23 with the pilot field assessment by the commission's Joint Technical Team of pillar sites and verification of the line as drawn on preliminary maps. The procedures had been mutually agreed upon and detailed in guidelines announced in February.

Last Thursday, soon after the start of the field assessment, the commission was told of Nigeria's decision to bypass verification of the boundary in the village of Koja. Observers said that might have delayed the entire demarcation process.