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Ten crew members from an oil vessel have been kidnapped by armed gunmen in speedboats. The ship was attacked off the West African state of Cameroon and the abductors have threatened to kill the hostages. According to the vessel's owners, the hostages were seven French nationals, two Cameroonians and a Tunisian.
The attack apparently occurred near the Bakassi Peninsula, recently handed over to Cameroon by Nigeria. A group named the Bakassi Freedom Fighters has taken responsibility for the attack.
The group's leader, Ebi Dari told a reporter in Cameroon that the Cameroonian government has seven days to enter into discussions. "Tell your government that we shall begin killing them one by one after every three days if they fail to contact us."
He claimed that the government had been alerted several months ago that there would be no peace in Bakassi if it did not talk with the Bakassi Freedom Fighters. "We will make Bakassi ungovernable until the Cameroon government begins to take us seriously." He went on to say that the group disputed the handing over of the oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon from Nigeria.
The Bourbon Sagitta, the ship apprehended off Cameroon, is owned by the French maritime services firm Bourbon. A spokesperson for the company said hijackers armed with weapons had boarded it from three speedboats at around midnight. Five crew members remained on board the vessel, and neither they nor those crew members who were seized had come to any harm, according to Bourbon.
The kidnapping took place in the Gulf of Guinea, where there have been several strikes during the last year on oil installations. Attacks in Nigeria's nearby Niger Delta have been particularly frequent, and sources report that the boarding of the vessel off Cameroon is similar to recent raids on oil installations in the Delta.
Militants there declare they are fighting for greater control over oil wealth in the deprived region, though opponents say they make money from criminal schemes and a profitable trade in stolen oil.
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