Nigeria said on Wednesday it will do everything possible to avoid a war with Cameroon over their border dispute, but warned it will take action if it is ”pushed to the wall.”
”As far as Nigeria is concerned, we will do everything possible to avoid war because we know the implication of war..,” Information Minister Jerry Gana said on Wednesday after a cabinet meeting.
But he warned that ”as a sovereign state, if we are pushed to the wall, we want to make it abundantly clear that Nigeria will not shirk its responsibility.
”We are now talking about strategies of avoiding war,” he added. He said a meeting in Paris between Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and his counterpart from Cameroon, Paul Biya, was ”very forthcoming and very good.
”We want to salute the wisdom of the UN secretary general in knowing that a court declaration does not resolve conflict of this nature. If both sides stick to the frank discussions they held in Paris, we should be able to avoid war,” said the minister.
The two west African neighbors struck a deal in Paris last week to avert an armed conflict ahead of an international court decision on the ownership of the oil-rich Bakassi peninsula.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague is expected to rule in the next few weeks on the ownership of the 1 000 square kilometre strip of coastal swamp, which juts out into the Gulf of Guinea.
A representative for UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, who attended the talks, said the two leaders had agreed to respect the decision of the ICJ, whatever the outcome.
”The two presidents also agreed on the need for confidence building measures, including the eventual demilitarisation of the peninsula, with the possibility of international observers to monitor the withdrawal of all troops,” said a statement.
Biya is also to pay an early visit to his Nigerian counterpart to cement ties, it said.
Tensions have been high since Cameroon referred the issue to the ICJ in 1994. Yaounde was joined in 1999 by Equatorial Guinea, which is seeking to defend its own rights in the area.
Hearings were held in The Hague earlier this year and the court is expected to return its judgment shortly.
”We are hoping and praying that God will give the (ICJ) judges Solomonic wisdom in giving the kind of judgement that will not lead to war,” the Nigerian information minister said.
”Our hope is that the court ruling will be fair and that both sides will find something in it,” he added. – Sapa-AFP