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Nigeria and Cameroon probe attack | |
(1 day later) | |
Cameroon and Nigeria are now working together to find out who killed 21 Cameroonian soldiers in the Bakassi peninsula near their border on Tuesday. | |
Initially Cameroonian military sources said that the attackers wore Nigerian military uniforms and ambushed a boat. | |
While Nigeria blamed local militants from the volatile Niger Delta region. | |
Nigeria handed the sensitive and oil-rich Bakassi peninsula over to Cameroon in August 2006 after a ruling by the International Court of Justice. | |
So far, no-one has claimed responsibility for the attack which according to Cameroon's secretary general at the presidency, Laurent Esso, involved a group of unidentified individuals aboard boats and who apparently were not soldiers. | |
Mr Esso also said that 10 of the assailants were killed and one of their seven boats was destroyed when the Cameroonian army returned fire. | |
'Categorically denying' | |
Nigerian army spokesman Colonel Solomon Giwa Amu emphasised he was, "categorically denying that Nigerian soldiers attacked anyone in that area [Bakassi peninsula], we don't even have troops in that area". | |
The handover was unpopular with Nigerian residents | |
Col Amu told the BBC's Network Africa programme: "We are all abiding by the decisions of the court; we withdrew our troops in compliance with that decision and ever since the relationship between the two countries have been at an all time high." | |
Replying to the allegations of whether there was a link between the Bakassi attack and an earlier attack on a nearby oil terminal run by Exxon Mobil, also on Tuesday, Col Amu said: "Such claims could not be made until they were verified." | |
Recent peace | |
There is great surprise in the region at the incident as since the peaceful handover in August 2006, the area has been quiet. | |
There were a series of bloody clashes between Nigeria and Cameroon in the 1990s. | There were a series of bloody clashes between Nigeria and Cameroon in the 1990s. |
The peninsula had been administered by Nigeria since independence from Britain in 1960. | The peninsula had been administered by Nigeria since independence from Britain in 1960. |
However, Cameroon based its claim of sovereignty over the region on maps dating back to the colonial era and was successful at the International Court of Justice after a lengthy case. | However, Cameroon based its claim of sovereignty over the region on maps dating back to the colonial era and was successful at the International Court of Justice after a lengthy case. |
Bakassi juts into the Gulf of Guinea, an area which may contain up to 10% of the world's oil and gas reserves. | Bakassi juts into the Gulf of Guinea, an area which may contain up to 10% of the world's oil and gas reserves. |
It is also rich in fish and most locals are fishermen. | It is also rich in fish and most locals are fishermen. |