Nigeria, Benin re-draw border
23/07/2004 07:45 - (SA)
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Abuja - Nigeria and its neighbour Benin on Thursday
amicably resolved a dispute over their land and
maritime boundary during a meeting in the Nigerian
capital Abuja, officials said.
The dispute was resolved by a joint technical
committee of the two countries after a four-day
meeting.
"Generally speaking, the entire boundary between
Nigeria and Benin has been amicably decided," the head
of the Nigerian team on the committee, Dahiru Bobbo,
said after the meeting.
The committee confirmed that there are seven Beninois
villages being administered by Nigeria and three
Nigerian villages presently under the sovereignty of
Benin, Bobbo said.
All the markers for the 870km-long border had been
recovered with the exception of those in three
villages which were expected to be found within the
next two months, he said.
The Nigerian Boundary Commission had earlier said the
re-drawing of the boundary was necessary because most
of the boundary markers used in 1912 and 1914, when
Benin and Nigeria were still under colonial rule, were
missing.
Benin was a French colony while Nigeria was ruled by
Britain until 1960.
The meeting decided that Nigeria and Benin should
begin the process of withdrawing from each other's
territory, the official continued.
He said that the dispute over the maritime boundary
was resolved by applying the UN Convention on the Law
of the Sea which provides for equal distance between
the parties in dispute.
The decisions of the committee are subject to the
ratification by an inter-ministerial meeting of the
two countries which was postponed from Wednesday to
Thursday, and has now been moved forward to a date yet
to be decided in August.
The Thursday session was postponed due to the absence
of the Beninois ministerial delegation, Bobbo said.
Edited by Anthea Jonathan
--- aletheiak <
aletheiak@...> wrote:
> just following the original newsbreak here at bp on
> 23 july
> i recall the int boundaries list also broke a
> summary or fragment
> of this info via a different source
> part of which brendan then also brought here
> asking for more info
>
> so i trust our info better
> even tho
> as i say
> i can no longer access it without crashing
>
> --- In BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com, Michael
> Kaufman
> <mikekaufman79@y...> wrote:
> > Yes - message 14748 which is this link:
> >
>
http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News/0,,2-11-1447_156
> 1979,00.html
> > In this news24.com story, it says 7 of Benin's
> > villages are being controlled by Nigeria, while 3
> of
> > Nigeria's villages are under Benin's control.
> This is
> > the opposite of Reuter's reporting, which says
> Nigeria
> > is controlling 3 of Benin's villages and Benin 7
> of
> > Nigeria's.
> > I wonder which one is correct.
> >
> > --- Brendan Whyte <bwhyte@u...> wrote:
> >
> > > Anyone know any more about this?
> > > Brendan
> > >
> > > >According to a Reuters' report from Lagos of 23
> > > July 2004, Benin and
> > > >Nigeria will modify their land boundary and
> > > "redraw" their maritime
> > > >boundary. Portions of the Reuters article are
> > > reproduced below.
> > > >
> > > >"Nigeria and its western neighbour Benin, have
> > > agreed to redraw their
> > > >870-km (520-mile) boundary to avert a potential
> > > border row, a Nigerian
> > > >official said.
> > > >
> > > >"Under the plan, Nigeria which is in the final
> > > phase of redrawing its
> > > >eastern boundary with Cameroon after a
> protracted
> > > dispute, would transfer
> > > >three villages to Benin in exchange for seven
> > > villages controlled by the
> > > >former French colony, the News Agency on
> Nigeria
> > > reported on Friday.
> > > >
> > > >"'Both countries have agreed to begin
> withdrawal
> > > processes from those
> > > >villages to return their possessions to the
> > > rightful owners,' Dahiru
> > > >Bobbo, director general of the National
> Boundary
> > > Commission told reporters
> > > >after bilateral talks in the capital Abuja on
> > > Thursday.
> > > >
> > > >"He said though there was 'no serious boundary
> > > problem' between the two
> > > >neighbours, the move was aimed at averting a
> future
> > > border dispute. The
> > > >West African neighbours also agreed to redraw
> their
> > > maritime boundary. "
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > __________________________________
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