The Cameroon-Nigeria border, stretching 2,100 km from Lake Chad to the Bakassi Peninsula, is on the brink of being fully demarcated after two decades of negotiations. On June 26th and 27th, 2024, Yaoundé is hosting an extraordinary session of the Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission to finalize this process.
To date, over 2,000 km of the border have been studied and agreed upon by both parties. This extraordinary session aims to review the progress of the demarcation work and discuss support for the affected populations.
At the Hilton Hotel in Yaoundé, Cameroonian Minister Michel Zoah and Nigerian Minister Abdullateef Fagbemi are leading their respective delegations. The session is chaired by Leonardo Santos Simão of Mozambique, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for West Africa and the Sahel.
The Nigeria-Cameroon Mixed Commission has been in existence since November 2001. It was established by then-UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the request of Presidents Paul Biya of Cameroon and Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria.
The commission’s role is to facilitate the peaceful implementation of the International Court of Justice’s ruling on October 10, 2002, regarding the border dispute between Cameroon and Nigeria. This dispute involves both the land and maritime boundaries as well as the Bakassi Peninsula, which Nigeria officially ceded to Cameroon in 2008.
This session in Yaoundé marks a significant milestone in the long-standing efforts to establish a clear and agreed-upon border between the two nations, promising to bring stability and clarity to the region.