Nigeria gunmen attack Cameroon patrol on border

By Tansa Musa

Nigerian gunmen opposed to their country's handover of the Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon attacked a Cameroonian security patrol, a military source and a spokesman for the militant group said on Tuesday, July 22, 2008. The Cameroonian military source said Cameroonian forces patrolling the disputed peninsula on the frontier b etween the two West African nations foiled the raid on Saturday and captured two attackers.

Bakassi, known to contain offshore oil, was handed back to Cameroon by Nigeria two years ago in line with a World Court ruling to end a long-running dispute, but has been the scene of several incursions by pirates and gunmen.

"The attack took place offshore the small fishing settlement of Guidiguidi at around 10 on Saturday morning," the military source said.

"The attackers, who numbered about 15, came in four speedboats and opened fire on our men who were on patrol. Our men responded with sustained fire that lasted about five minutes and were able to capture two of them as they retreated."

The two prisoners, who are being held in Cameroon's southwestern town of Limbe, said they belong to the Niger Delta Defence and Security Council (NDDSC), the source told Reuters.

The little-known group claimed responsibility for an attack in November resulting in the death of more than 20 Cameroonian soldiers in the territory, which lies east of the Niger Delta, the source of two-thirds of Nigeria's oil.

Oil output from Nigeria, the world's eighth-biggest exporter, has been cut by a fifth in the past two years due to attacks on pipelines by Delta-based militant groups. This reduction has helped push oil prices to record highs.

Speaking to Reuters by telephone on Tuesday, a man identifying himself as Commander Ebi Dari, one of two signatories on two letters directed to the Cameroon government by the NDDSC, denied his men were captured.

He promised more attacks unless the deal that gave Bakassi to Cameroon, signed by Nigeria's former President Olusegun Obasanjo, was revised.

"We want (Cameroonian President) Paul Biya and (Nigerian President Umaru) Yar'Adua to come together and renegotiate the Bakassi settlement and correct the error made by Obasanjo," he said.

"If this is not done we will carry out many more attacks." //Reuters