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Cameroon – Nigeria Bakassi Conflict: BBC Tries to Reopen Wounds, Alleging Nigerians Victimized This shows how African conflicts are orchestrated by the West, often through Western media. Read the following set of commentaries footnoting pictures, found under the link http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/04/africa_bakassi_ dispute/html/1.stm Foreign residents Nigeria is preparing to start handing over control of the potentially oil-rich Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon. The two countries have long disputed the region and in 2002, the International Court of Justice awarded it to Cameroon. But most of the people living there, like Mama Ereba, feel Nigerian. She says she does not want to be a foreign resident in her own home and is worried she does not understand French, Cameroon's main official language.

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Fish and oil Tens of thousands of people live in Bakassi and most earn their living from fishing. The peninsula is made up of swamps and creeks, jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean. Tension between Cameroon and Nigeria heightened when oil was discovered off the coast. At the moment, Nigeria controls two-thirds of Bakassi but is due to finish the handover by 15 September.

This image is used to show that Bakassi hass always been all Nigerian

Chief's palace Bakassi's Paramount Chief Etyin Etim Okon Edet echoes the views of many of the residents when he says he doesn’t want this area to be given to Cameroon. He says he wants Cameroon and Nigeria "to come together as brothers", forget about the world court, and come to an "amicable solution." He says that the dispute has nothing to do with oil but with the heritage of those who live in Bakassi.

This local Nigerian traditional chief is alleged to be ready to start a war

War threat But Chief Edet, and his attendants (pictured here), say that the world court must reverse its decision. Otherwise, he says they are ready to take up arms to remain Nigerian. "We don't want war - but if they insist we shall go out on the streets and creeks," he says. No choice The two countries clashed for control of Bakassi several times before agreeing to go to arbitration. Cameroon official Inoni Ephraim says that many Cameroonians live in Nigeria without any problems. But he says that those who don't want to live in Cameroon will have no choice but to leave. Dancer The people here are "Efike" - an ethnic group found mainly in eastern Nigeria, but also in parts of Western Cameroon. Even traditional dancers have taken part in protests over the world court ruling, which was based on a 1913 colonial agreement. Scared Everyone in Bakassi's main town of Abana seems to be Nigerian - and identify with Nigeria. Some say they are scared of Cameroon's para-military gendarmes, who have a poor human rights record. But Cameroon officials suggest that those who feel Cameroonian are too scared to identify themselves.

This picture shows supposed scared Nigerian victims. Main cause of their fears? The "FRENCH" authority over Bakassi

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