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27 8 Cameroon Report 17/1/1982: Cameroon Nigeria Reconciliation Introduction: The news this week was undoubtedly President Ahmadou Ahidjo’s four-day visit to Nigeria at the invitation of President Alhadji Shehu Shagari. For some time now, annual rotating visits have become customary for the leaders of Cameroon and Nigeria, serving as a framework for the appraisal of the state of bilateral relations and for prospecting further avenues of cooperation between the two neighbouring countries which share a lot in common, geographically and historically. George Ngwa reviews CameroonNigeria relations against the background of a potentially explosive border incident. President AHIDJO’s latest trip to Nigeria was a visit with a difference – coming as it was in the wake of a potentially explosive border incident in Cameroon’s territorial waters in which five Nigerian soldiers lost their lives. That the two countries did not engage in a shooting war must be attributed to the foresightedness of their leaders and to the realisation that they stand more to lose than gain from giving jingoism a free reign. All indications are that the unfortunate incident is a matter for history books; in fact, Presidents AHIDJO and SHAGARI made it clear in speeches at a banquet in honour of the visiting Cameroonian leader and in the communiqué marking the end of the visit. In their review of bilateral relations, the two leaders expressed regret at the border clash between the two countries last May and resolved not to allow 28 the incident to affect cooperation between Nigeria and Cameroon. The two Heads of State noted with satisfaction the frequent contacts existing between political and administrative authorities of the neighbouring regions of their two countries and urged the development of such friendly meetings. President AHIDJO’s visit, the communique went on, constituted an occasion for the two Heads of State to restore the atmosphere of confidence, peace and natural understanding between the two countries. Such statements as contained in the final communique can only be born of the belief that the greater dangers to peace lurk in insidious encroachments by men of zeal without any understanding and that, all and all, violence and war with their mingling of horror and heroism have the essential qualities of tragedy. The decision by Presidents AHIDJO and SHAGARI to work towards burying the hatchet is testimony of the triumph of the olive branch over the sabre. Sabres we have, Sabres Nigerians have, but Cameroonians and Nigerians are not dogs whose first greeting to one another is a fight to determine who is stronger. Human beings are expected to work their hardest for peaceful coexistence because dogs do not need one another, but we do. We see no more need for us to brandish our muscle than for a viper to advertise its fangs. Presidents AHIDJO and SHAGARI have shown that it takes maturity and magnanimity of spirit to react as they have in the face of all odds. George Ngwa ...

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