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RésuméÀ Bakassi, bien que le différend ayant opposé les deux États, camerounais et nigérian, soit aujourd’hui juridiquement résolu, les attaques se multiplient, engendrant une fragmentation des menaces. Les violences de types mafieux et engagées impliqueraient des communautés hostiles au processus de paix dont la capacité de nuisance est significative. L’harmonie à Bakassi implique la pacification des communautés. L’article recense la démarche des différents protagonistes et les implications qui en résultent. Il observe la mutation récurrente des initiatives politico-militaires des États au cœur de ces dynamiques, où l’on passe assez souvent de la paix à la violence et de la violence à la paix.

In Bakassi, although the border dispute opposing Cameroon and Nigeria is today formally resolved, the number of attacks is increasing and these attacks often involve new and unexpected actors. This is fuelling fragmented and proliferating threats that both States are attempting to bring under control. Politically engaged and mafia-style violence is coming out of communities that are hostile to the peace process and have a substantial capacity to cause damage. Achieving sustainable peace in Bakassi implies that these communities will have to be pacified. This article examines the challenges facing the different actors as well as the resulting implications (international, public and private cooperation in the conflict zone). More particularly, it describes the ongoing transformation of both States’ politico-military initiatives central to these dynamics, in which violence and peace often alternate repeatedly.