Cameroun’s Inaction on Bilateral Agreement Causing Humanitarian Crisis
President Buhari recently received President Paul Biya of Cameroun on a state visit to Nigeria. The meeting appeared to be very amicable and was crowned by an affirmation of the cordial relationship between the two neighbours. President Buhari reiterated that Nigeria is an “internationally respectful and law-abiding nation.” He was referring to Nigeria’s commitment to abide to the judgement of the International Court of Justice in 2002, which ceded the Bakassi Peninsula to our neighbours in Cameron. While this meeting sounds nice and inspires warm feelings of friendship, the reality faced by the Bakassi people is full of despair, neglect and suffering.
Brokered in 2006, the Green Tree Agreement is the formal treaty that settled the longstanding conflict between both nations as to the ownership of the Bakassi Peninsula, ceding the territory to Cameroon. It also provided guidelines for how the Bakassi people and their lands should be treated under the administration of Cameroun. As a result, while the Agreement gives rights to Cameroun, it also creates obligations for Cameroun towards the Bakassi people.
Article 3 of the Agreement holds that Cameroun will not force the Bakassi people to change their nationality, culture, language and beliefs. It affirms they have a right to continue fishing and agriculture on the Peninsula and that their properties and customary land rights are to be protected. It also stipulates that Cameroun should not levy taxes in a discriminatory manner from the inhabitants of the zone, and that the Camerounian government is responsible for protecting the lives of the Bakassi people from harm and harassment.
In reality, Article 3 has been breached in all aspects because the inhabitants of the Peninsula have not only faced harassment, discriminatory taxes, loss of the right to fish, loss of life and property, the imposition of nationality, name, and language changes, among many other things. Evidence of this breach is the forced migration of the Bakassi people away from their ancestral lands, and back to Nigeria since 2009. Thousands of Bakassi people have become displaced people as a result of Cameroun’s failure to abide to the obligations created by the Agreement. In the years following the ceding of the territory to Cameroun, there have been numerous reports of how the Bakassi people have been harassed, killed, and pushed out of their land by the Camerounian gendarmes.
Over 4,000 displaced persons left the Peninsula in 2008 and another 6000 left in 2009. At the time, there was a lot of buzz on their plight. Support was given to them on arrival by the State government, NEMA, SEMA and NGOs and they were relocated to Ikang. Today, however, they still lack access to proper infrastructure, water, food, healthcare, education, security and most importantly, a means of livelihood. Another 5,300 people fled the Peninsula in 2013 to Akpabuyo, Cross River State. They have been housed in classrooms for over 2 years and their population has dwindled from 5,300 in 2013 to 3,700 this year. This level of loss of life has impacted their community greatly. As the rainy season begins, the classrooms are falling apart with leaking roofs.
The voices and stories from both camps are full of sorrow and bitterness. Many children have not been able to go to school, parents have no sustainable means of livelihood and the youth lack skills to thrive economically. There is insecurity and the death of several people due to stress, poverty and hunger. In the Ikang settlement and the camp in Akpabuyo, there is a real and tangible fear that if a solution is not implemented now, the future might be marred by insecurity because people have been pushed to the wall by Cameroun and ignored in Nigeria. This is a silent humanitarian crisis that can turn into a security crisis in the future.
When we read the news, we only hear about the IDPs in the Northeast because that is the focal point of our discourse on displacement in Nigeria at the moment- a hot topic. The strategy and policy towards the Bakassi people is still unclear, there is debate on where and how Bakassi people should resettle as a community but we are not even talking about their existing rights on the Peninsula. The IDPs in the Northeast have land to return to when security is restored in their villages but the Bakassi people cannot return to theirs.
Under international law, the principle of pacta sunt servanda holds that a treaty, based on the consent of the parties to it, is binding, and must be executed in good faith. Additionally, the interpretation of a treaty must be in accordance with the ordinary meanings of its terms, considering the object, purpose, and context of the treaty. The purpose of Article 3 of the Greentree Agreement was to safeguard the lives of the Bakassi people because though the Peninsula was ceded to Cameroun, the territory still remains their ancestral land and home, which gives them certain unalienable rights. The Agreement is not a unilateral agreement where only one party makes an offer or a promise. It is a bilateral agreement that involves two parties, each promising to do something. Mutuality is a necessity in bilateral agreements since both parties must fulfil their promise for the contract to be fulfilled. Cameroon has not kept their side of the bargain.
At this juncture, it is unwise to ignore the lack of mutualism in the enforcement of the Agreement. A follow-up committee, composed of representatives from Cameroun, Nigeria, the UN, Germany, the USA, France and the UK, was created to monitor the implementation of the Agreement but till today, nothing decisive has been done about the treatment of Bakassi people by Cameroun. Now is the time for diplomatic negotiations concerning the enforcement of the Greentree Agreement, or else, we will be faced with greater problems in the future. It is in Nigeria and Cameroun’s interest for the Bakassi people to be productive and safe in their ancestral land. It is Nigeria’s responsibility to negotiate and speak on behalf of the Bakassi people.
The meeting between Nigeria and Cameroon earlier the month presented an opportunity for Nigeria to hold Cameroun to the commitments and responsibilities of the Greentree Agreement. Conditions on the Peninsula must become conducive enough for all Bakassi people to return, if they want to. Nigeria gave up the Peninsula in order to maintain peace and amicability with Cameroun and the international community, it is Camerouns turn to act in the interest of peace. For peace to reign until today, the Bakassi people have sacrificed their livelihoods, properties, comfort and homes. The Bakassi people are industrious people and they need support from all stakeholders to re-establish their lives and communities.
Nigeria has a dangerous habit of waiting until an issue becomes a problem of international magnitude before taking action. Now is the time to take decisive steps to safeguard the welfare and protection of the Bakassi people, let us not wait until it is too late.
Olakpe is a doctoral researcher, International Law School of Oriental and African Studies, London