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To: TobagoJack who wrote (54709)	10/22/2004 9:27:29 PM
From: Proud Deplorable	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74559

Christianity is BAD RELIGION

To: TobagoJack who wrote (54709)	10/23/2004 5:21:45 AM
From: elmatador	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74559

I'd "adopt Buddhism for moral guidance" like the Thai type. Lets be Buddhists but not be fanatics!

To: TobagoJack who wrote (54709)	10/23/2004 5:27:55 AM
From: elmatador	Respond to of 74559

Nigeria and Cameroon meet a month after the Nigerian side missed a deadline to hand over control of the potentially oil-rich territory of Bakassi peninsula to its southern neighbour. Nigeria and Cameroon meet over border row October 21 2004 at 06:36PM By Ola Awoniyi Abuja - Nigeria and Cameroon began two days of talks here on Thursday to resolve a long-running border dispute, a month after the Nigerian side missed a deadline to hand over the Bakassi peninsula to its southern neighbour. An October 2002 ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Nigeria to cede control of the potentially oil-rich territory of Bakassi to Cameroon, and under a timetable agreed by a UN-led joint border commission, the handover was due to take place last month. But Nigeria called the UN-backed process into question when it postponed its pull-out from Bakassi, citing "technical difficulties". That triggered concerns that, after a year of successful work to peacefully redefine the land boundary between the two countries, the commission had come to a dangerous sticking point. On Thursday the commission met for the opening of its 12th session, at which the United Nations and Cameroon hope to persuade Nigeria to renew its commitment to implement the ruling and agree to a new timetable for the handover. "Let there be no mistake about this meeting. Today's meeting is very special, it could accelerate or slow down our work. It faces a real test of whether African states are ready to abide by the rule of law," said Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the United Nations' senior envoy to west Africa. "The events of the last few weeks have been the most challenging since the establishment of the mixed commission," he added. "I, however, remain convinced that we will complete our assignment in due time, and sooner rather than later." Nigeria and Cameroon have a long-standing disagreement over who owns the Bakassi peninsula, a 1 000km2 strip of coastal swampland which juts out into the rich fishing waters of the Gulf of Guinea and is thought to lie over potentially lucrative oil and gas deposits. The region has a several-thousand-strong community of fishermen and farmers who trace their history back to the Calabar kingdom of southeast Nigeria and regard themselves as Nigerian citizens. Bakassi also has a large Nigerian military presence and in the 1990s there were occasional border clashes. The 2002 World Court ruling angered Nigeria, but ICJ judgements cannot be appealed. Sensing danger, the United Nations stepped in to revive the joint border commission in order to negotiate an orderly land-swap and the redefinition of the all-important maritime boundary. Initially the joint body make excellent progress. UN and foreign diplomats praised the two countries for their success in exchanging a series of disputed villages along their long land-frontier, a rare victory for peaceful co-operation in a continent wracked by bloody conflicts. But the surrender of Bakassi itself was always going to be the toughest challenge for Nigeria, and alarm bells were sounded when the planned September 15 handover date came and went without the west African giant's forces pulling back. Nevertheless, Nigeria's President Olusegin Obasanjo has never publicly withdrawn his acceptance of the court ruling, and delegates from both sides were careful to appear upbeat as the closed door talks got underway. "This present session will afford us the opportunity to take us back, to establish confidence by making good the lost ground for the implementation of the withdrawal from Bakassi," said Cameroon's Justice Minister Amadou Ali, the head of his country's delegation. For Nigeria, chief negotiator Bola Ajibola, said: "Despite the differences of views and approach on the implementation, there's no doubt that the spirit of co-operation and understanding between our two countries has ensured that these temporary technical difficulties have not stopped our work." The talks are due to continue into Friday, when a joint statement will be released. - Sapa-AFP