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Anglicans, Catholics warn Nigeria not to consider war with Cameroon
2002-241-1
10/18/2002
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[Episcopal News Service]
Anglican and Roman Catholic church leaders have warned Nigeria not to consider the option of war over the award of the oil-rich Bakassi peninsula to neighboring Cameroon by the world court at The Hague.
Anglican archbishop Peter Akinola, reacting to the October 10 judgment against Nigeria, advised his government to exercise restraint in handling the issue of the disputed land, after the ruling sparked some heated statements. 'I don't think Nigeria should go to war,' Akinola told ENI. 'It's obvious that manufacturers of armaments are looking for markets to sell their products. We should not listen to advice from foreign countries that want to incite us against Cameroon.'
The court's ruling in favor of Cameroon followed a bitter dispute between that country and Nigeria, sub-Saharan Africa's richest oil producer, over the peninsula in the Gulf of Guinea which had become a potential military flashpoint.
Akinola said: 'Painful as it is that Nigeria is parting with what legitimately belongs to her, there is the need for wider consultations among the various groups at the international level for a peaceful resolution of the dispute.' Before the Nigerian government acted, he advised, it should carefully study the court judgment and see if it was based on facts or politics. 'If it is [based] on facts, then we have to accept it gallantly, and if it is based on politics then we go for a political option to resolve the issue,' said Akinola.
After the ruling, Nigeria's president, Olusegun Obasanjo, said his government would study the judgment and comment afterwards. He called for people to remain calm. However, Governor Donald Duke of the state of Cross Rivers, where Bakassi Peninsula is located, said the people in his state would not give up an inch of the peninsula. 'This is an international conspiracy against Nigeria, and the general view of the Nigerian people is that we cannot let go of our territory,' said Duke. 'Bakassi is our land. It is our heritage and we will not sit by and allow our heritage to be taken away from us.'
In the court case, Cameroon argued that Bakassi was included in its territory under a 1913 treaty between the German and British colonial powers in West Africa, and the court accepted this.
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