Cameroon denies Bakassi killings

Cameroon yesterday denied reports of the killing of 97 Nigerian fishermen by its gendarmes in Bakassi Peninsula and maltreating refugees in the country.

A three man delegation dispatched by Cameroonian President Paul Biya stated this in Abuja at a joint briefing after a meeting with the Foreign Affairs Minister Geoffrey Onyeama.

The leader of the delegation, Cameroonian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Joseph Ngute, said the delegation was in Nigeria to discuss issues of mutual benefits to both countries.

Ngute said there was no iota of truth in all the reports, saying Cameroon is a law abiding country and no such thing would ever happened.

On the reported killing of over 97 Nigerians, the minister said nobody was killed noting that it was a fabrication, which appeared in the media, which nobody knows why and for what purpose.

“We are here to inform the government of Nigeria that a month ago, we had reports in the media concerning massacre of people in the Bakassi area.

“We sent our administrators and we asked Nigerian Counsel in Bua to accompany them. They went there and realised that not a single person was touched and nobody was injured or killed,” he said.

He also denied report that his country maltreated Nigerian refugees saying that they had protested to UN human right commission on the issue.

Onyeama said there was no distrust between the two countries.

“On the contrary both countries are extremely close, working together very closely and I think sending this delegation by the president himself, shows the importance he attaches to that relationship,” he said.