Barely two months to the August 18, 2008 date for Nigeria�s pull-out from the remaining parts of Bakassi Peninsula, there are fears of a possible showdown between Nigeria and the Republic of Cameroon following reprisals from the gendarmes after recent clashes with suspected militants in the area.
Already, Nigerians in the Peninsula have declared 300 of their compatriots missing, while more than 1000 refugees, mostly women and children, have arrived Ikang Central in the New Bakassi Local Gover-nment area in Cross River State.
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.
When THISDAY visited the Refugee Camp at Government Primary School, Ikang Central, it was a tale of woes as the refugees recounted their ordeal in the hands of the Cameroo-nians.
Senator Florence Ita-Giwa was supervising distribution of relief materials to the refugees.
The refugees were cramped into a block of three classrooms, while on the school field was a mass of people as they jostled to get a place to lay their heads.
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 said he witnessed the Monday clash between the gendarmes and the militants.
According to him, the Divisional Officer (DO), 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.
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 area 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 Cameroon-ians did not allow the youths and the men to leave the settlement as they were seen to be part of the people that attacked the patrol team. She said she did not know the whereabouts of her four sons who were 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 old, also told THISDAY that he had to flee Ineunya Fisgig Camp for fear of the gendarmes whom he said had started harassing the villagers.
Chairman of the Bakassi Resettlement Committee, Ita-Giwa, described the situation as pathetic and unexpected.
She said she was informed that the Cameroonians had sealed off the area and would not let any males leave the peninsula and that was the reason why 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.
The Headmaster of the School, Pastor Evogor Ememg, said Ita-Giwa had been responsible for the feeding of the refugees since Monday night when they started arriving.
He said he had already admitted 210 refugees of school age to join other pupils of the school so that their studies would not be disrupted.
He however expressed fears that with the increasing wave of refugees, the school might not be able to cope.
The Executive Secretary of Cross River State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Mr. Vincent Aqua, said the agency was arranging immediate relief materials such as food, mats, mattresses, blankets and health care facilities.
He said there was need to build more makeshift accommodation in the camp to take care of the refugees from 16 fishing camps.
Aqua also said SEMA was assessing the situation and would inform the National Emergency management Agency (NEMA) about the situation.
Jun122008