afrol News, 20 June - Cameroon has denied claims that its troops abducted scores of Nigerian nationals living on disputed Bakassi peninsula that it has occupied since 2006.

Reports indicate that some 300 Nigerians living in marshy Bakassi peninsula on Nigeria-Cameroon border had gone missing, while another 1,000 had been forced to flee vengeance attacks by Cameroonian forces.

Claims came in the wake of killing of six Cameroonians, including soldiers and a deputy regional governor by suspected Nigerian pirates.

The dead bodies of five Cameroonians abducted near Cameroon's border with Nigeria on Monday were found mutilated, riddled with bullets and buried in the mangroves.

Deputy Governor of Kombo Abedimo, Felix Morfan, and five soldiers were attacked and kidnapped on a boat traveling on Akwa Yafe River in Bakassi, which borders with Nigeria.

"Appropriate measures are being taken by Cameroon government to give population attention and protection it needs, contrary to wild and unfounded press allegations that Cameroon gendarmes are exacting reprisals on local populations," Cameroon's Vice Prime Minister Amadou Ali said in a strong worded response to recent media report on the region.

Nigerian press claimed that Cameroonian troops overran villages in Bakassi in protest at alleged abductions early last week of a top regional official and five soldiers in the oil-rich territory.

Nigeria officially relinquished the disputed land to Cameroon in August 2006, after a decade-long territorial clash, which involved gory skirmishes between West African neighbours in1990s. Most of the people living on the peninsula are Nigerians.

"The seriousness of these incidents cannot leave the commission indifferent," said Mr Ali, during a routine meeting of a special commission on Bakassi comprising Nigerian, Cameroonian and UN representatives.

Recent attacks on Cameroon have increased tensions and sparked fear among Nigerians along Cameroon's Bakassi peninsula. Some have started fleeing their homes in fear of possible revenge by security forces.

The attacks came at a time when government has been vocal about peace in the region for amongst others, implementation of development projects that have been supported by European Union.

Pirate attacks in the country are increasing, having killed 21 Cameroonian soldiers in Bakassi peninsula in November last year by an unidentified group of armed men.

Cameroonian Police had earlier arrested a number of people accused of being arms dealers in Bakassi area.

Meanwhile, Cameroon has finally taken over control of the disputed strip of land, making some 50, 000 Nigerians having to become refugees in their own country.

"The map of Nigeria has reportedly been altered forever, thanks to the recklessness of the Obasanjo Administration and the failure of the National Assembly to reject the illegal act," angry and helpless Nigerians ejected from the strip have cried out.

However, residents of New Bakassi (created in Cross River State for the displaced persons) are said to have fled in fear of rampaging Cameroonian authorities. Nigerian security forces are not there to protect them.

Reports show that if funds for resettling the Nigerians have been released, they should be accounted for. Nigerian government is expected to send a strong warning to Cameroon and urge it to release all Nigerians held in its illegal detention camps.

Bakassi is a 1,000-square-km strip of coastal swamp jutting out into the Atlantic and was awarded to Cameroon in October 2002 by International Court of Justice in Hague.

The area is believed to contain considerable amounts of world's oil and gas reserves and is also rich in fish.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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