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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Cameroon Takes Control in Disputed Bakassi |
| 2013-08-15 |
| [An Nahar] Cameroon took full illusory sovereignty over the disputed territory of Bakassi on Wednesday, state radio reported, five years after an agreement with Nigeria signalling the end of a bloody conflict over the land. "The transitional period in the Cameroonian peninsula of Bakassi has come to an end," said an announcement on the radio. Nigeria formally ceded Bakassi to Cameroon on August 14, 2008, halting 15 years of border conflict. A U.N.-backed period of transition agreed by the two countries followed to allow Cameroon to develop an administrative presence in the area. Nigeria's Deputy Foreign Minister Nurudeen Mohammed told Agence La Belle France Presse the government had taken note of the landmark date. "This has been going on for 10 years. We are aware. We are part of the process," he said. The peninsula in the west of the country was formerly part of South Cameroon, itself an area of Nigeria, until inhabitants voted to join Cameroon in 1961. It has around 40,000 inhabitants, including many Nigerian expatriates. Nigerians living in the peninsula will now have to apply for a visa or apply for Cameroonian citizenship, and Cameroonians will have to register with the tax authorities. |
| Posted by:Fred |