Bakassi: Southern Cameroonians seek self determination

AS Bakkasi casetroubles the FederalGovernment, the situation may get more complicated as Southern Cameroons Liberation Movement is pushing for Nigeria's lead in opening a fresh case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the status of Southern Cameroon.Specifically, the separatists were asking Nigeria to obey an Abuja court ruling, which directed the Federal Government to file a case at the ICJ, seeking ruling on the status of Southern Cameroon.A high profile official of the movement, who was said to be a senior adviser of Chief Ayamba Ette Otun, the chair of the movement, in Abuja, at the weekend, told the Nigerian Tribune that Nigeria's ongoing action on the Bakkassi peninsula should include filing a case to review the referendum of 1960, following which Southern Cameroon was ceded to French Cameroon from Nigeria.'Nigeria cannot run away forever on this issue. We Southern Cameroonians want freedom and Nigeria is under obligation to look into our matter, because we are Anglophone and we were once part of Nigeria,' the leader stated.He said on February 14, 2002, a suit was filed at the Federal igh Court in Abuja by 12 Southern Cameroo-nians against the Attorney-General of the Federation, requesting for a declaration and an order that Nigeria had a legal duty to place before the ICJ and the United Nations General Assembly the claim of Southern Cameroons to self determination.He said the court, finally on March 5, 2002, directed Nigeria to institute a case before the ICJ to determine whether the union envisaged under the Southern Cameroons Plebiscite 1961 between Cameroon and Southern Cameroons took effect as contemplated by the relevant United Nations resolutions.Checks, however, showed that Nigerian leadership had a policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries and had refused to interfere in the simmering dispute.
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