Ernest Chinwo
22 June 2008
Lagos — Barely two months to the August 18, 2008 date for Nigeria's pull out from the remaining parts of Bakassi Peninsula, is the stage set for another showdown between Nigeria and the Republic of Cameroon following reprisals from the gendarmes after recent clashes with suspected militants in the area.
Already more than 25 Nigerians have been reportedly killed while more than 300 are reported by their compatriots to be missing since Monday when the fresh fracas started. They are yet to be found. The casualty figures keep rising as the Cameroonian gendarmes and military have sealed off the Peninsula, preventing the males from escaping.
The crisis has also thrown up more than 2,500 refugees, mostly women and children who managed to escape to Ikang Central in the New Bakassi Local Government area in Cross River State. A four-year old boy, Endurance Clement has also died at the Camp.
Cameroonian Armed Forces have also condoned off the northern axis of the Peninsula already handed over by Nigeria on August 14, 2006 and stationed military gunboats in the area less than 12 miles to Ikang. The build-up may not be unconnected with the reported abduction and killing on Monday of a Cameroonian Divisional Officer, Felix Morfan and other members of a Cameroonian patrol team by suspected Nigerian militants. It was a tale of woes at the refugees camp set up at Government Primary School, Ikang Central as the refugees recounted their ordeal in the hands of the Cameroonians.
The people said more than 300 Nigerians, mostly men, are still missing while thousands of others are trapped in Archibong, Akwa, Ineunya, Amomoto, Mission Field, Nyam-Nsung and other villages in the northern axis of the Peninsula condoned off by the Cameroonian authorities. Mr. Godwin Edet Bassey said he escaped Tuesday night from Archibong Town through a bush path to the sea because the gendarmes had blocked all exit points in the village.
He told THISDAY that he witnessed the Monday clash between the gendarmes and the militants.
Giving an insight to what may be responsible for the new wave of attacks on Nigerians, Bassey said, the Divisional Officer (D.O.), Morfan, and other officers had raided a suspected hide-out of militants in the area, but did not meet anybody in the place except empty bottles of soft drinks and left-over food. He said the DO and the patrol team however met the militants on their way back and on confronting the militants, a man he gave his name simply as "Colonel" brought out his pistol to shoot the militants.
Enraged by the action, the militants reportedly sunk the patrol boat and killed five of the officers including the DO and "Colonel" while two others escaped into the village. Bassey said the militants used an engine saw to cut the dead body of the DO to bits which they packed into a sack and sped off with.
He said following the incident, the gendarmes sealed off the area and deployed several military boats into the vicinity with their soldiers coming from all parts of the Peninsula and South-western Cameroon. Mrs. Suoyo John, 50 years old and mother of eight children, said they had to flee Nkan Ekure Fishing Camp Monday night because of fears of reprisal on the camp by the gendarmes following the clash with the militants.
She said the Camerounians did not allow the youths and the men to leave the settlement as they were seen to be part of the militants that attacked the patrol team. She told journalists that she did not know the whereabouts of her four sons who were out fishing in the high seas before the incident. Suoyo, an Ijaw, said she did not know any other place to call home as she had spent her entire adult life in the area and wondered why the Cameroonians were suddenly hostile to them. Mr. Ita Udo Inyang, who said he is about 80 years, also told THISDAY that he had to flee Ineunya Fishing Camp for fear of the gendarmes whom he said had started harassing the villagers.
Another returnee, Mr. Bassey Nyong, 32 years, said they were in dire need of help at the Camp by government and individuals. According to him, "we would still have been in Bakassi, because the time given by the United Nations for us to vacate the place has not expired, but we had to run from Bakassi because of the attitude of the gendarmes.
"At Isangsele Fishing Port in Bakassi, Camerounians gendarmes started shooting at us. Many of us could not get home before coming. We had to run from the fishing port, board a boat to Nigeria. About five Nigerians were killed from gun shot wounds." For Mr. Ebirem Brown, the condition of the returnees is pathetic. "I am originally from Rivers State, but my forefathers have been living in Bakassi. Some of them were buried there," he said.
Asked if he could locate his place in Rivers State, he said, "Yes, but only the old people in my family will recognise me. The young ones won't know me." Brown who is in his sixties said he had two wives and six children, adding that "Cameroonians have been fighting Nigerian civilians at Lemek fishing Port, Okomiti fishing Port and at Nkam Ekure in Bakassi. They were burning huts. The gendarmes came in gun boats. As we are talking, Nigerians are still escaping. Some escaped without their children".
Another returnee, Mr. Etim Ekonomen, who has been appointed Camp Coordinator, also confirmed that they had to rush out of the Peninsula because it became dangerous to remain there as a Nigerian. According to him, "ever since the Nigerian Army vacated Bakassi, the Cameroonian Gendarmes have been killing our people. They would kidnap some of our people and we won't know what happened until, perhaps, you are fishing and you find a corpse.
Charles Fred Ayasan also said that as they were fleeing the Peninsula, two of the boats in which they were traveling capsized and 15 persons died in the sea. Ayasan, who said he is a teacher in the embattled area, confirmed the horrors expressed by his compatriots, adding that most of the refugees are Ijaw. The headmaster of the School which now serves as the Refugee Camp, Pastor Evogor Ememg said he had to release his school for the camp when Senator Florence Ita-Giwa approached him for the purpose considering the enormity of the situation.
He disclosed that Ita-Giwa has been responsible for the feeding of the refugees since Monday night when they started arriving. Ememg said when he discovered there many children of school age among the returnees; he had to admit 210 of them to join other pupils in the school so that their studies would not be disrupted. He however expressed fears that with the increasing number of refugees, the school might not be able to cope with the situation and therefore called on federal agencies to quickly come to the aid of the people.
Chairman of the Bakassi Resettlement Committee, Senator Florence Ita-Giwa described the situation as pathetic and unexpected. She said she was informed that the Cameroonians had sealed of the area and would not let any males leave the peninsula and that was the reason why it's mostly women and children could escape to the refugee camp.
"So now only women and children came out. In fact, I have some children that came out without both parents. And a woman actually, right there at the beach side, went into labour and had a baby there," she said.
She said the Resettlement Committee was planning towards the August 18, 2008 pull-out date, but did not foresee a refugee situation. "We are waiting for August. Really I was not preparing for this because I did not foresee a refugee situation because I believe the relationship between the two countries has been cordial," she said.
She however said her committee would do all within its powers to ensure that the returnees were properly catered for and resettled, adding that steps were already on to build more make-shift accommodation for the returnees.
The Executive Secretary of Cross River State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Mr. Vincent Aqua described the situation as pathetic, adding that the agency was arranging immediate relief materials like food, mats, mattresses, blankets and health care facilities for the people. He however said there was need to build more makeshift accommodation in the camp to take care of the refugees who returned from 16 fishing camps mostly in the Northern axis of the Peninsula.
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