The Bakassi Question A Frozen Conflict between Cameroon and Nigeria

This volume has attempted an informed and succinct analysis of the Bakassi Question as a frozen conflict between Nigeria and Cameroon. In 2002 the International Court of Justice ruled in favor of Cameroon over the Bakassi Conflict based on “solid historical evidence” and following the mediation efforts of Kofi Annan who applied soft pressure on both parties to accept and implement the ICJ verdict coupled with the good faith of the protagonists the Green-Tree Agreement and its subsequent instruments were birthed. Consequently Nigeria withdrew her military-police forces and administration architecture from the Bakassi Peninsula in 2008. Nevertheless Nigerian lawmakers and politicians remain convinced that the Peninsula “rightfully belongs” to Nigeria. Thus they continue to nudge the Nigerian leadership to usurp the Peninsula from Cameroon. The Bakassi Question is therefore encumbered with conflict dynamics and should be depicted as a frozen conflict and a potential flash point between Cameroon and Nigeria especially with the discovery of even more oil deposits and other hydrocarbons within the Peninsula.