The dispute over the Bakassi Peninsula, a mangrove and coastal zone projecting into the Gulf of Guinea, entwines colonial cartography, strategic maritime interests, and the lived realities of coastal communities. What began as competing interpretations of treaty maps evolved into one of the most prominent boundary disputes in post-colonial West Africa.
The core of the dispute lay in colonial-era agreements and maps. Britain and Germany, the colonial powers controlling neighbouring territories, produced a series of conventions and cartographic notes in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that later became key reference points. After Germany’s defeat in 1918, the League of Nations mandates and later United Nations arrangements altered administrative responsibility in the territory that had been German Kamerun. These administrative changes and historic treaties became the foundation for later legal arguments. Both Cameroon and Nigeria built their claims around interpretations of these colonial records and acts of state.
The 1961 plebiscite organised under United Nations supervision resolved to integrate Northern Cameroons with Nigeria and Southern Cameroons with Cameroon. Although this plebiscite clarified sovereignty for large areas, it did not eliminate ambiguities over coastal enclaves or maritime limits. Local customary ties and cross-border fishing communities further complicated the application of strict treaty lines.
Escalation and the 1990s Clashes
By the 1990s, the dispute shifted from documentary debate to direct confrontation. Incidents of occupation, armed clashes, and casualties occurred intermittently through the decade, fuelled by rising interest in offshore oil exploration in the Gulf of Guinea and shifting maritime dynamics.
In 1994, Cameroon filed a case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), seeking legal resolution of both the land and maritime boundaries. The Court’s consideration required extensive examination of treaties, maps, and evidence of administrative control and effective governance.
ICJ Adjudication, 10 October 2002
After a lengthy evidentiary process, the ICJ delivered its judgment on 10 October 2002. The Court concluded that, based on the balance of treaties, maps, and subsequent conduct, sovereignty over the Bakassi Peninsula rested with Cameroon. The decision also clarified related maritime boundaries.
The judgment reaffirmed a fundamental rule in boundary law: colonial documentary instruments, where relevant, remain binding unless superseded by later agreements or consistent contrary state practice. While the ICJ established legal entitlement, it did not prescribe how transfer of control should occur, leaving that task to political negotiation.
From Judgment to Greentree Implementation
The political implementation required careful diplomacy. On 12 June 2006, the presidents of Cameroon and Nigeria signed the Greentree Agreement in Manhasset, New York. This accord outlined a phased timetable for withdrawal of Nigerian military forces, a limited transitional presence of Nigerian civil and police authorities, and the safeguarding of local inhabitants’ rights, including nationality options and property protection.
Witnessed by the United Nations and other guarantors, the Greentree Agreement became the framework for formal transfer of authority. Under its provisions, and with UN facilitation, the process unfolded in stages. Nigeria completed military and administrative withdrawal between 2006 and 2008, and Cameroon assumed full control. The United Nations recorded the formal transfer on 14 August 2008.
This event ended the sovereignty dispute but opened a new phase of local adjustment and adaptation.
Hydrocarbons, Fishing, and Contested Expectations
Public commentary often described Bakassi as “oil-rich”, but the factual record is more complex. Offshore waters near the peninsula attracted exploration interest from the 1980s onward, and several reports noted potential hydrocarbon deposits. However, large, commercially proven onshore oil fields were never clearly established within Bakassi itself, unlike major producing zones elsewhere in the Gulf of Guinea.
More immediate and demonstrable were the region’s fisheries and the daily livelihoods of fishing communities dependent on those waters. Implementation of the Greentree Agreement therefore had to consider not just legal sovereignty but also economic survival for thousands of residents.
Consequences, Contested Legacies, and Lessons
The Bakassi settlement is often cited as a model of rule-based dispute resolution, where a judicial decision was followed by negotiated implementation under international oversight. Yet the process revealed critical limits.
Some residents reported inadequate consultation, property losses, and disrupted livelihoods. Others faced complex nationality questions or displacement. Security incidents and militant activity occasionally flared after the handover, reflecting persistent social and economic grievances.
The case illustrates that while international law can settle borders, true peace depends on protecting affected communities and creating mechanisms for redress and inclusion.
Author’s Note (Summary)
The Bakassi dispute shows the enduring power of colonial-era documents in shaping modern international law, and the ability of legal adjudication to define sovereignty. Yet it also reveals the human complexity of translating legal decisions into fair and humane realities.
The ICJ judgment of 10 October 2002 and the Greentree Agreement of 12 June 2006 created the legal and diplomatic framework for settlement. The formal handover of 14 August 2008 marked closure in law but not in lived experience. Questions of identity, livelihood, and belonging continue to shape the story of Bakassi.
References
International Court of Justice, Land and Maritime Boundary between Cameroon and Nigeria (Judgment, 10 Oct 2002).
Agreement between the Republic of Cameroon and the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Greentree), Manhasset (12 June 2006).
United Nations Press Release, Agreement transferring authority over Bakassi Peninsula (14 Aug 2008).
Human Rights Watch, Nigerians displaced from Bakassi, 2006–2010.
Amnesty International, Human rights implications of Bakassi transfer, 2008.
Offshore Magazine, Exploration updates in the Gulf of Guinea, 2003–2008.
Akin Oyebode and Carlson Anyangwe, Legal analyses on the Bakassi dispute and its implementation, 2003–2008.
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