Displacements in the Context of Social Crises in theudOil-Rich Niger-Delta of Nigeria and Oil-Rich BakassiudPeninsula in Cameroon

摘要

The Niger -Delta constitutes Niger’s ―oil belt’udthat lies along the Guinea coast of the country. The regionudsits on top of about 176 trillion cubic feet of gas and aboutud35.2 billion barrels of oil reserves. It also accommodates 20udmillion people which belong to more than 40 ethnic groups.udSimilarly, the oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula in the WesternudCameroon juts into the Gulf of Guinea. Adjacent to theudborder between Cameroon and Nigeria, the BakassiudPeninsula was the subject of a long distance diplomaticuddispute between the two countries until 2002. The swampyudPeninsula, cut by series of channels, covers an area of 50 squdkm and has large untapped reserves of petroleum. Nigeriaudand Cameroon have disputed over the possession of Bakassiudfor some years, leading to considerable tension between theudtwo countries. In 1981, the two countries were on the vergeudof war over the oil rich peninsula. This paper discusses bothudtheoretical and empirical perspectives of patterns ofuddisplacement of people as a forced/involuntary migration inudNigeria and Cameroon. This perspective is based on a forcesubject-udmigration reasoning.