Cameroon, Nigeria agree to peacefully settle border dispute without ICJ involvement

Cameroon and Nigeria announced they have opted to peacefully settle their decades-long border disputes by 2025 and would thus no longer require the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to consider the case and issue a ruling to settle the matter.
Rather, the two nations said, joint delegations will validate a demarcation plan on site to resolve thee long-standing territorial disputes concerning their about 2,100 kilometers of shared border, from Lake Chad in the north of the Gulf of Guinea to the Atlantic Ocean coast. Leonardo Santos Simao, chairperson of the Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission set up by the United Nations to solve the countries’ territorial disputes, said he is delighted the two countries have decided to resolve their disputes without costly and protracted processes at the ICJ.
According to the agreement reached during a two-day meeting of the Mixed Commission in Yaounde, the two countries agreed to visit disputed territories in Rumsiki and Tourou in northern Cameroon and Koche in eastern Nigeria before the end of 2024. “We have so admirably and maturely handled the situation in such a way that there is hardly any dissent,” said Nigerian Justice Minister Lateef Olasunkanmi Fagbemi, who was the leader of the West African state’s delegation to the meeting. “We are satisfied with the outcome of the two-day meeting, and we are hopeful that there is light at the end of the tunnel.” The border demarcation was reportedly slowed by Boko Haram’s terrorist attacks in both countries, but with its firepower drastically reduced, the demarcation can continue.