Since Nigerian independence it is now that Bakassi Peninsula belongs to cameroon??? This is the best time for the Niger delta militants to act with the highest oppositions available, aids will come!!!. Cameroonian government is a mouse backed up by a hungry elephant(modern slave trader) as we can see the actions of Cameroonian government on the south western part of Cameroon. It is a clear truth that Bakassi Peninsula belongs to Nigeria.

If all Africans talk like you people then it will be hard for me to be a leader in my country Nigeria or any African nations for that matter. Are you all fools? the bakassi is a spec on teh african map, Nigeria doesnt need it and neither does Camerron, the're land i just good enough i mean LOOK AT JAPAn. Its an island for crying out loud and look at it. Look at iceland a snow-filled spec on the geopolitical map and its doing just fine economically. These two foolish countries should stop fighting over something so trivial and start to modernize their economies and not depend on oil and crops SHEESH.

Secession is not an option because to keep Nigeria one is task that must be done if you remember the drift. How could the Ibibios after fighting bravely to crush Biafra now want to break away from Nigeria? Something is wrong here could it be that Biafra was right then or that the Ibibios just woke up late?

But whatever it is too late to break up Nigeria we are all in it together. We gave up Bakassi to defeat Biafra and the Ibibios played a major role it would be against the rule of international law to renege on the Green Tree treaty. We can kiss Bakassi good bye and forget about it for good. What goes around comes around and today it is your turn.

KOFI ANAN, IS NO LONGER IN THE UN.

BAN KI MOON REPLACED HIM LONG TIME AGO, WHY KEEP SENDING LETTER TO HIM? AFRICANS ARE FUCKED UP

MAAN IF YOU WERE FROM BAKASSI, YOU WILL KNOW IT.

BAKASSI IS RIGHT TO BACAME INDEPENDENT STATE, IF NIGERIA DOESNT WANT THEM. FRENCH CAMEROUIN IS NOT THEIR COUNTRY, THEN THEY AR LEFT WITH ONLY ONE OPTION, TO BE THEMSELVES, SOO THEY ARE RIGHT

NIGERIAN LEADERSHIPS ARE FUCKED UP, FULL OF TRIBALISM, CORRUPTION AND EGO.

NIGERIA HAD MISSED THE OPPORTUNITY TO BECAME A GREAT COUNTRY, WHEN OIL PRICES ARE $130 PER BARREL. NIGERIA LEADERS CAN EVEN BUILD A STEEL PLANT , OR POWERPLANTS AND MECHANIZED AGRICULTURE AND , LARGE SCALE CEMENT AND CONCTRETE PRODUCT TO MAKE POVERTY FOR ALL ILLEGAL. BUT ARE BENT ON RIVALRY, EGO MANIAC AND STEALING THE FROM THE STATE COFFRS.

i totally agree with you......actually biafra cause was 100% right and if we had our own country i am sure we would be the messiahs for the african continent as a whole because we were fighting injustice coming from within and from outside.....well it is a done deal and i advice all biafran men and women to leave the ibibios to take responsibilities for their choice. even after the devastating effects of the 30 months civil war the igbos still remain the most successful tribe in nigeria even though there is almost zero support from the so called federal govt of nigeria.......my fellow igbos keep building a brighter future for your sons and daughters and leaves these sabotuers to keep killing themselves over oil control

Yet another disaster. I know that if I am not among those originally inhabitants of Bakassi, i will not fully understand their predicament. It is pitifull indeed. It is such an injustice and so unfair.

However, I think that the war that is at stake here is beyond Bakassi inhabitants and the Niger Delta rebels. It is a difficult choice that they have to make. Sacrifice the price of their motherland or die fighting. My opinion is that no matter their weponery, they are less likely to win the war. Like I commented in another article on this topic, Those of us who experience the Biafran war, know that war is one thing to be avoided as much as possible. Again the ethic of war holds that if you know that you are not strong enough to face your openent, you should quit with honour. We have had enough deaths in Nigeria over insignificant things. This case, significant as it may be, goes to show how unfair life can sometimes treat people.

A higher body has decided on the issue, both nations have agreed to handle the situation as determined by the Hague. Let us rather talk about how to, as fairly as possible resetle our Nigerian brothers and sisters in a reasonably fair manner. Both the Nigerian and the Cameroonian government should make necessary efforts to see to the welfare of the original inhabitants of Bakassi. It is sad enough that they are caught up in all these; that they would need to be welled cattered for, given most of their demands for self sustainance, so long as that will bring peaceful co-existence between the two nations.

You can people rebel when they are fighting over what rightfully belongs to them. The residence of Bakassi Pennisula can be force out of their neither be pressurize to be citizen of another country overnight. Bakassi pennisula belong to the people of Bakassi, the ICJ should know that, what they did is a breach of human right because it is like forcing a small country like Benin Republic to citizen of Nigeria against their wise. Bakassi pennisular is the ancestral home of the people of Bakassi people. Their land should not be giving to cameroonian government due to illegal agreement signed by the British government and their German counterpart doing the colonial era. The people of Bakassi have the right to be an independent state if they want to because an agreement signed before independent remain valued doing that time, after the independent the agreement become invalid as the disputed land no longer under a colonial rules. Therefore Bakassi pennisular should be declear a free state as it is not specified that the land belong to the cameroonian government. The green tree agreement is not valid and it is a breach of human right cameroonian government should be held responsible if there is any lost of life at that pennisula.

With all intent and purpose we cannot eat our cake and have it. As heinous as it may seem Nigerians should not lose sleep over Bakassi because the party was over way back when. The oil rich peninsula was a compromise between Gowon and Cameroon to deny Biafra access to the sea. Biafra's only contact with the outside world was by air to transport both food and other supplies.

While the Ibibios were busy fighting bravely to defeat Biafra part of their land was been ceded. Hey Guys if decide to go to war be sure that you are on your own. The North does not give a damn about the South hence they could even cede your wives and daughters as long as the flow of oil is not disrupted. A war with Cameroon is not in the best interest of the North because they now are fat cats and lazy and would not want any war what they want is peace to enjoy the oil money

The Ibibios should forget about dear glorious Bakassi but mark every 4th of August as a day of mourning and remembrance of their people sold into slavery by the same country they fought for and defended. Life is not always fair….JFK

With all intent and purpose we cannot eat our cake and have it. As heinous as it may seem Nigerians should not lose sleep over Bakassi because the party was over way back when. The oil rich peninsula was a compromise between Gowon and Cameroon to deny Biafra access to the sea. Biafra's only contact with the outside world was by air to transport both food and other supplies.

While the Ibibios were busy fighting bravely to defeat Biafra part of their land was been ceded. Hey Guys if decide to go to war be sure that you are on your own. The North does not give a damn about the South hence they could even cede your wives and daughters as long as the flow of oil is not disrupted. A war with Cameroon is not in the best interest of the North because they now are fat cats and lazy and would not want any war what they want is peace to enjoy the oil money

The Ibibios should forget about dear glorious Bakassi but mark every 4th of August as a day of mourning and remembrance of their people sold into slavery by the same country they fought for and defended. Life is not always fair….JFK

You cannot be people rebel when they are fighting over whatis rightfully belongs to them. The residence of Bakassi Pennisula can be force out of their neither be pressurize to be citizen of another country overnight. Bakassi pennisula belong to the people of Bakassi, the ICJ should know that, what they did is a breach of human right because it is like forcing a small country like Benin Republic to citizen of Nigeria against their wise. Bakassi pennisular is the ancestral home of the people of Bakassi people. Their land should not be giving to cameroonian government due to illegal agreement signed by the British government and their German counterpart doing the colonial era. The people of Bakassi have the right to be an independent state if they want to because an agreement signed before independent remain valued doing that time, after the independent the agreement become invalid as the disputed land no longer under a colonial rules. Therefore Bakassi pennisular should be declear a free state as it is not specified that the land belong to the cameroonian government. The green tree agreement is not valid and it is a breach of human right cameroonian government should be held responsible if there is any lost of life at that pennisula.

You cannot be people rebel when they are fighting over whatis rightfully belongs to them. The residence of Bakassi Pennisula can be force out of their neither be pressurize to be citizen of another country overnight. Bakassi pennisula belong to the people of Bakassi, the ICJ should know that, what they did is a breach of human right because it is like forcing a small country like Benin Republic to citizen of Nigeria against their wise. Bakassi pennisular is the ancestral home of the people of Bakassi people. Their land should not be giving to cameroonian government due to illegal agreement signed by the British government and their German counterpart doing the colonial era. The people of Bakassi have the right to be an independent state if they want to because an agreement signed before independent remain valued doing that time, after the independent the agreement become invalid as the disputed land no longer under a colonial rules. Therefore Bakassi pennisular should be declear a free state as it is not specified that the land belong to the cameroonian government. The green tree agreement is not valid and it is a breach of human right cameroonian government and ICJ should be held responsible if there is any lost of life at that pennisula.

let me offer a few words! First of all the level of pidgin english in your comments here makes me have a 'big head'.

On the Green Tree Agreement: whether it is green tree or blue tree agreement, i dont give a tosser! let the people fight for their land, it is theirs and has been so for over a century. a partnership with the SCNC will be a boost for greater things to come. Come on let us shake up this Biya regime...the most brutal in african history. I dont think Yaradua would lose any sleep on threat of cessation...dont be surprised he might be behind it. Stop this beer-house kind of politics; ask us who are always behind the scenes!

people,let us not get too worked up over this issue,the ibibios want to seccede,fine,after all nigeria is handing them over to the cameroonians and thus should be their headache not nigeria's.the threat of war is an example of clutching at straws as teaming up with militant nigerians to fight fellow nigerians is an idea im still to come to terms with.biafra should not be used as an excuse for unity,the truth is nigeria is a federal state characterised with bitter lines of tribalistic as well as selfish economic greed.so if a tribe wants to pack and go,let them be and dont shove unity to their face.the question of whether,bakassi should be cut off or not raises another issue entirely.

Dear friends,

I am a little disappointed but not surprised by the narrow nationalist focus of the debate so far. Only one person has really used the fundamentally correct argument - that the borders of Africa are illegitimate because they were shaped by the British, French, Belgian, Spanish, German and Portuguese imperialists at the 1884 Berlin conference. This was done by the European powers regardless of the ethnic or national histories of the African peoples they were colonising, murdering and exploiting. So the 20th century struggles for independence often took no account of the struggles for national liberation for peoples left as subordinate national minorities within the borders of neo-colonial African states. Cameroon has always had a problem, (as has Angola and Nigeria amongst many others in Africa) of national minorities being forced into a neo-colonial state against their will. Cameroon promised to be a bi-lingual federal republic but this promise was soon broken after independence hence the armed struggle there.

It is no surprise that one of the central tenets of the Organisation for African Unity - now the African Union (AU) was that Africa's 1884 borders were sacrosanct under the 'territorial integrity' and 'non-interference in internal affairs' clauses. The reason for this was the neo-colonial African leaders doing the West's bidding feared genuine self-determination (i.e. independence) for oppressed nationalities as counter to their efforts to create a black neo-colonialist ruling class. The fear fo tribalism and the possibility of rival parties based on particualr ethnic grousp ewas gvien as the main reason for one-party dictatorships across Africa. That is why Nigeria under Gowon had to crush Biafra, why Ethiopia under Mengistu fought so hard to stop Eritrea's independence. 50 years of African bourgeoisie in charge has not ended poverty - in fact it is worse.

Therefore Pan-Africanists must have a different project than to support merely uniting the African states as they currently exist in their oppressive forms. We must support a Pan-African democracy movement from below, i.e. support for the civil society and democratic movements in Zimbabwe, Kenya, Cameroon etc. against dictatorship; while supporting the Egyptian, South African and Nigerian trade unionist struggles; and crucially while also supporting minority national rights movements like the Bakassi, the MEND, and elsewhere in Africa. 20th century African nationalism was about ending direct colonial rule, but it has failed to end poverty for the masses because it was a political force for the rich. Bourgeois African nationalism inevitably leads to war over resources using ethnocentric tensions as the means to stay in power.

If Nigeria has failed it is because it has never empowered the citizens and the minority peoples against the power of the three main nationalities : Hausa-Fulani, Igbo and Yoruba. Nigeria has never been a genuine federation that respects the right of self-determination. No nation can be held together forcibly - this can only be by the informed consent and empowered self-determination of its various peoples. The 21st century African democracy movement has to be a socialist Pan-African one where peoples democracies govern democratically over the rich resources. Only that way can we end poverty and stop inter-ethnic rivalries and the oppression of national minorities.

Yours Graham Campbell - Chair African & Caribbean Network-Glasgow, Scotland ceegraham1@yahoo.co.uk

CAMPELL, YOU ARE DEATH WRONG.

BECAUSE THE BORDERS WERE SHAPED SOME 100 TEARS AGO

AN THESE COUNTRIES HAVE THEIR INDEPENDENCE TODAY DOESNT MEANT ONE COUNTRY CAN JUST WAKE UP ONE DAY AND GRAB ANOTHER ONES LAND, BECAUSE AFRICA, WAS BOUNDARYLESS BEFORE.

BAKASSI IN NOT FRENCH CAMEROUN LAND SOO, FRANCE SHOULD LOOK FOR LAND SOME WHERE IN THE OCEAN AND GIVS TO HIS AFRICANS CLIENTS TO USURP. JUST AS SOUTHERN CAMEROONS IS NOT CAMEROUN

IF THE WESTERN POWERS THAT SUPPORT THE CECESSION OF BAKASSI TO CAMEROON ARE SINCERE TO THEMSELVES,AND BELIEE IN THE DEMOCRACY WHICH THEY HAVE EXPORTED TO US,THEY SHOULD NOW EMPLOY THE SAME STANDARD EMPLOYED WHEN A PART OF NIGERIA WAS CEDED TO SOUTERN CAMROON.BAKASSI SHOULD FILE AN APPEAL TO THEINTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE DEMANDING A REFERENDUM.THIS IS HOW TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM IN A WAY THAT IS DEMOCRATIC.AFTER ALL THE PEOPLE HAVE RIGHT TO SELF DETERMNATION.

IF THE WESTERN POWERS THAT SUPPORT THE CECESSION OF BAKASSI TO CAMEROON ARE SINCERE TO THEMSELVES,AND BELIEVE IN THE DEMOCRACY WHICH THEY HAVE EXPORTED TO US,THEY SHOULD NOW EMPLOY THE SAME STANDARD EMPLOYED WHEN A PART OF NIGERIA WAS CEDED TO SOUTERN CAMROON.BAKASSI SHOULD FILE AN APPEAL TO THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE DEMANDING A REFERENDUM.THIS IS HOW TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM IN A WAY THAT IS DEMOCRATIC.AFTER ALL THE PEOPLE HAVE RIGHT TO SELF DETERMNATION.