Cameroonians in contact with kidnapped officials

An official in Cameroon’s disputed Bakassi region said he was in contact with a group of 11 officials taken hostage by rebels and believed they were in good health.

The officials, including the region’s sub-prefect, were taken hostage on Monday in an attack that also killed two police paramilitaries.

The hostages “number 11. They are being held by unknown persons. I chatted with the sub-prefect this morning (Tuesday),” Peter Tieh Nde, the prefect of the Dian region, told AFP by telephone.

“From everything that the sub-prefect tells me, I believe they (the hostages) are in good health,” he said.

“They have not been assaulted. They cannot be held in Cameroon because we absolutely control our territory,” he added.

Earlier reports had said about 12 people had been kidnapped in the attack, which a local security source blamed on members of the Africa Marine Commando (AMC).

The AMC is a shadowy group which claimed responsibility for an attack last November on an oil platform off the Bakassi peninsula in which six people were killed.

It has also been behind several kidnappings of foreigners, although all have been released unharmed.

The Bakassi peninsula was at the centre of a territorial dispute between Nigeria and Cameroon for 15 years. It was handed to Cameroon in August 2008 after the International Court of Justice ruled in Yaounde’s favour.

The marshy coastal region is rich in fish stocks and believed to have substantial oil reserves.