Nigeria stalls on Bakassi

Nigeria says that 90% of people in Bakassi are Nigerian fishers

Nigeria has said it will not hand over the oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon for least three years.

The border region was awarded to neighbouring Cameroon by the International Court of Justice last year.

Nigeria refused to accept the ruling on the Bakassi Peninsula, and the two sides have been holding a series of bilateral meetings to resolve the issue.

Speaking after a meeting in Cameroon, the head of the Nigerian delegation Prince Bola Ajibola told the BBC's Network Africa programme that the countries had agreed to deal with their border dispute sector by sector.

'Leave now'

He said Nigerian troops would leave the Lake Chad area, at the northern end of their 1,800 kilometre border, in December.

But the head of the Cameroonian delegation, Amadou Ali, who is also the minister of state for justice, on Tuesday asked for the immediate withdrawal of Nigerian troops from the oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula.

Nigeria says that 90% of its residents are poor Nigerian fishermen.

The Bakassi Peninsula is in itself a swampy strip of land with little value, but its ownership has implications for fishing and oil rights offshore.

Large numbers of Nigerian and Cameroonian troops are reported to be in the area and tensions there have been high for years.

Since the dispute started in 1993, there have been several clashes between the two countries' armed forces around the peninsula.