VZCZCXRO5825
RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMA RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHRN RUEHTRO
DE RUEHYD #0882/01 2941121
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 211121Z OCT 09
FM AMEMBASSY YAOUNDE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0372
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0251
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHDC
RHMFISS/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 YAOUNDE 000882 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/C 
DEPT FOR USAID/HQ AND USAID/WA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PINR NI CM PBTS PGOV ECON
SUBJECT: CAMEROON: BAKASSI'S ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY 
 
REF: A. 08 YAOUNDE 1047 
     ¶B. 08 YAOUNDE 1041 
     ¶C. 08 YAOUNDE 817 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY:  One year after the August 2008 handover of 
the Bakassi Peninsula, the Government of Cameroon(GRC) has 
succeeded in dramatically improving the security of the 
region and has done some work to improve infrastructure. 
However, Bakassi remains poor and isolated, and the 
inter-agency development approach has underperformed. 
Cameroon believes its relationship with Nigeria is on a 
positive trajectory. END SUMMARY. 
 
Background 
---------- 
 
¶2. (SBU)  The Greentree Agreement was signed in 2006 by 
Cameroonian President Paul Biya, former Nigerian President 
Olusegun Obasanjo, ex-Secretary General of the United Nations 
Kofi Anan, and by representatives of the United States, 
Germany, Great Britain, and France.  The agreement 
implemented a 2002 International Court of Justice (ICJ) 
decision conferring Cameroonian sovereignty over the 
potentially oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula.  The ICJ ruling and 
Greentree Agreement peacefully resolved a decades-old 
territorial dispute between Nigeria and Cameroon which had 
sparked several conflicts in 1981 and the early 1990s. 
Greentree allowed for a five-year transition period (from 
2008 to 2013), after which time Bakassi will be fully part of 
Cameroon. 
 
Development Getting Off the Ground 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Soon after the Bakassi handover from Nigeria to 
Cameroon on August 14, 2008, the GRC formed an inter-agency 
development committee for the region.  The committee, headed 
by the Office of the Prime Minister, developed a guide to 
development in the Bakassi region, and all ministries have 
been instructed to use this guide in prioritizing projects in 
the region (ref A).  Jacob Ketuma Lukunze, the 
ministerial-level point person for Bakassi at the Prime 
Minister's office, told Poloff recently that development is 
advancing in the region and that the Bakassi is "totally 
calm." According to Lukunze, the major impediments to 
development in Bakassi are: the lack of potable water (wells 
dug are often contaminated by oil underground), inadequate 
electricity supplies (due to the difficulty of transporting 
gas in the region, generators are also not viable 
alternatives), security, and the difficulty of moving goods 
around the Bakassi area.  In spite of these hurdles, PAMOL, a 
palm oil plantation, has recently announced that it will 
expand into the Bakassi Region and hopes to create 150 new 
jobs. 
 
¶4. (SBU) The head of a leading non-governmental organization 
(NGO) working in the Bakassi region, Bakassi Youth Forum for 
Peace and Sustainable Development, recently told Pol 
Specialist that although infrastructure projects such as 
roads, schools, and government buildings have advanced on the 
peninsula, there has been little development of projects in 
the areas of vocational training, income generation and 
capacity building.  The Director told post that he is 
concerned about this lack of training, as unemployed, 
disillusioned youth are a prime target for recruitment by the 
Bakassi Freedom Fighters (BFF), a local militant group linked 
to Nigeria's Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta 
(MEND). 
 
Extensive Press Coverage 
------------------------ 
 
¶5. (U) Media coverage of the one-year anniversary has been 
extensive.  State-owned press covered the occasion by 
praising the government for its infrastructure and 
development work, while privately-owned  press highlighted 
the many development challenges faced by the region.  The 
press has acknowledged the advances that have been made, but 
many feel that more needs to be done.  There has been some 
Nigerian and Internet coverage of the resettlement village 
(New Bakassi) reportedly built in Nigeria for the 35,000 
Nigerians who chose to return to Nigeria.  As of August 2009, 
none had arrived to live in this village, according to press 
reports.  Except for the one-year anniversary, Bakassi does 
not usually feature prominently in Cameroonian dailies. 
 
 
YAOUNDE 00000882  002 OF 002 
 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Cameroon,s elite Rapid Intervention Batalion (BIR), 
with USG support, has been effective at dramatically 
improving security in the Bakassi area.  Before the BIR took 
over this mission, Bakassi was the scene of a number of 
violent attacks against security personnel.  Security has 
improved due to the BIR's presence and the recent laying down 
of arms by several key leaders in the Bakassi Freedom 
Fighters organization.  Because of security concerns and the 
difficulty of transportation in the area, Embassy personnel 
have not traveled to Bakassi, making it difficult to assess 
progress over the past year. 
 
¶7.  (SBU)  Cameroonian sources tell us that relations with 
Nigeria have continued to improve following the 2008 handover 
and subsequent positive Joint Commission meeting, with 
ever-growing but still limited economic and security ties.  A 
recent meeting in Yaounde of the Mixed Commission to 
delineate the Cameroon-Nigerian border reported good 
progress, with the first border pillar expected to be laid in 
the next few months.  However, the Nigerian Head of the 
Delegation to the Mixed Commission, S.M. Diggi, publicly 
noted two problems:  first, he said oil and gas companies 
needed to be involved in determining the maritime boundary; 
and second, he said the GRC was dragging its feet on 
approving a World Bank plan for the Trans-African highway. 
Cameroonians still give the U.S. major credit for helping 
facilitate the Greentree Agreement, and the Bakassi handover 
is still viewed here as one of President Biya's most 
significant accomplishments. 
PETERSON