A member of the rebel group which seized 10 mostly French hostages from an oil vessel off the coast of the Bakassi region last month has said the captives are “healthy and unshackled.”
“They are fine. In good health. Nobody is tied up or anything. They can move around with people who guide them,” said a man calling himself General AG Basuo by telephone from Libreville.
Basuo says he heads security and defence for a shadowy Nigerian group dubbed the Niger Delta Defence and Security Council (NDDSC). An offshoot called the Bakassi Freedom Fighters (BFF) claimed responsibility for kidnapping the men.
Basuo refused to comment on negotiations to free the hostages, instead outlining the rebel group’s original motivation.
“We have nothing against the hostages nor the oil companies. We did it (seized the men) to draw attention to Cameroon’s government. The hostages are victims of circumstances. We do not want to harm them,” Basuo added.
The hostages, including seven French nationals, one Tunisian and two Cameroonians, were taken from a French oil vessel in the Bakassi region on October 31.
It is thought they are being held in Nigeria, close to the Cameroonian border.
The Bakassi Peninsula is a 1 000-square-kilometre strip of coastal swamp jutting out from the Cameroon-Nigeria border into the oil- and fish-rich waters of the Gulf of Guinea.
The BFF claims the region’s August handover to Cameroon from Nigeria was against the will of the people living there.