The Green Tree commitments

History holds it that the world was brought to reason by two wise men who sacrificed their pride to avoid one of those nasty blood baths that now plague the world.

Cameroon’s President Paul Biya and his Nigerian counterpart, General Olusegun Obansanjo, by their comportment drew a moral road-map for the rest of the world to follow.

The Bakassi Peninsula which should have by now been in flames and the land watered by human blood, remains calm.

We are coming back to this event today only because it is a great lesson for mankind, especially for those who believe in violence, extremism and sectarian ideologies.

What actually underlined this Africa’s most remarkable story of maturity, which will for long remain a legacy of African diplomacy, is the determination to encourage the consolidation of confidence and peace between the two countries for the wellbeing of their peoples and for the stability of the sub region.

The outcome of this diplomacy was that the Bakassi peninsular was peacefully handed over to Cameroon in what will also continue to be remembered as the Green Tree Accord.

This was however not without relative commitments extracted from Cameroon under which sovereignty over the territory was offered.

Fundamental among these commitments was the one which compelled Cameroon to respect the Rights and Freedoms enshrined in International Human Rights law as well as in other relevant provisions of international law.

The other commitment was for Cameroon not to force Nigerian nationals living in the Bakassi peninsular, to leave the zone, or to force them to change their nationality. Cameroon was bound to protect their property, their customary land laws, avoid levying in any discriminating manner, taxes and other dues on Nigerian nationals living in the zone.

These are certainly conditions that, if respected, will justify Cameroon’s hard won claim of ownership of Bakassi.

One year of Bakassi under Cameroon last week, August 14, 2014, it seems that all is well under the terms of the Green Tree Accord.

We commend the efforts of Government in what has been achieved so far in Bakassi, but much still needs to be done in the area of infrastructural development to avoid any nostalgic longing for the past like the Biblical nostalgia that caught up with the Israelites in their long trek to the Promised Land.

Bakassi falling under the same geo-political status as the rest of the English speaking part of Cameroon, should provide the ground for a new sense of co-existence and equitable governance system that will put behind us that infamous marginalisation policy which the rest of Anglophones have been complaining about.