Legal decision
ICJ judgment on Bakassi sovereignty, 2002
The International Court of Justice ruled that Bakassi sovereignty belonged to Cameroon, resolving the interstate dispute.
What happened
On 10 October 2002, the ICJ ruled that sovereignty over Bakassi rested with Cameroon, based on a 1913 Anglo-German boundary treaty.[1]
Sources for this page
Each number marks a specific claim. Notes give the source, its locator and how it relates to the claim.
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1.
Claim: On 10 October 2002, the International Court of Justice ruled that sovereignty over the Bakassi Peninsula rested with Cameroon, based principally on a 1913 boundary treaty between Britain and Germany, the colonial powers then administering Nigeria and Cameroon respectively. Following this ruling, Nigeria and Cameroon signed the UN-brokered Green Tree Agreement on 12 June 2006, guaranteed by Britain, France, Germany and the United States, under which Nigeria agreed to hand over the peninsula, completing its military, civil-administration and police withdrawal from Bakassi by August 2008. This bundle treats this interstate territorial resolution as distinct from local Bakassi self-determination claims.
- Land and Maritime Boundary between Cameroon and Nigeria (Cameroon v. Nigeria: Equatorial Guinea intervening) (International Court of Justice) link, Judgment section. Source record
- Implications of the Bakassi conflict resolution for Cameroon (African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD)) link, Green Tree Agreement and withdrawal sections. Source record