Slaughter on the border

More gruesome killings raise doubts about the August handover of the oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula

Troops from Nigeria and Cameroon were put on high alert in the Bakassi Peninsula, following the unexplained slaughter of five Cameroonian soldiers and a local government official on 9 June. The oil-rich Peninsula is a danger zone, controlled by Nigeria, the remainder of which is due to be handed over to Cameroon on 14 August as the result of a ruling by the International Court of Justice four years ago. Both countries claimed the territory and their troops were involved in long, deadly skirmishes along the swampy border for many years before Cameroon took the case to the ICJ in 1994 for international arbitration.

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