Interview with the group claiming responsibility for the attack that killed 21 soldiers
“General” A. G. Basuo: “force will meet with force” if Cameroon decides an all-war to control Bakassi
“The (11/12/2007) attack was MEND… if you want the proof, just wait for the next two to three weeks for another attack.”
After the June 9th attack that killed the Cameroonian sous-prefet and several gendarmes from Bakassi’s area of Kombo à Bedimo, local newspaper Le Messager had received a letter last week from an unknown Nigerian militant group. The group claims responsibility for the November 12th, 2007 attack that killed 21 Cameroonian soldiers in Bakassi. Paul Biya’s alleged investigation he ordered on the matter was since then unable to identify the mysterious attackers. We used one of the phone numbers left by the group, which seems in desperate need to negotiate with the Cameroonian government. We talked to someone who presents himself as General A. G. Basuo, which is obviously a nickname.
The question is should the Cameroonian people take this group seriously? What if this is another Nigerian scam of the type this country has used to world to? Should we not believe the well-known MEND that denied the Nigerian federal government’s accusations about its responsibility for the 11/12/2007 deadly attack on the Cameroonian military, and instead trust this unknown group that says MEND just lied? What if this group were in the pay of the Cameroonian government that also desperately needs to show a group as the responsible for the 11/12/07 attack after the embarrassing, additional recent attack? Isn’t it weird that journalists are those who bring to a government the evidences through letters from mysterious groups claiming responsibility on a matter that is being investigated since over 7 months? In this interview, the reader will notice that the interviewee ignores the correct abbreviation of the Nigerian militant group MEND, which he confuses with MOSOP, the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, along with many other flaws.
Interview with A. G. Basuo, director of operations for the Niger Delta Defense and Security Council (NDSC)
I am Ndzana Seme, editor of The African Independent, a newspaper based in the United States. Whom am I talking to?
A. G. Basuo: General A. G. Basuo
What is Niger Delta Defense and Security Council (NDSC) fighting for? When was the group organized?
A. G. Basuo: The group has been in existence for so long in the Niger Delta. In the Niger Delta there are also many groups. We have the Salvation Army. We have the MEND, the emancipation for the survival (clears his voice)… movement of the Niger Delta people, MEND. We have MOSOP; so many groups. This is a group that is responsible for security matters and neutral defense that controls all bodies.
I am trying to know, about the letter you sent to a newspaper in Cameroon… That letter has the names of commandants Ebi Dari, général James Ofoni, général Ebikemi A., Kogbe et le commandant Daniel G. Dike. I was trying to find who those people are in Nigeria and I couldn’t. Are these new combatants?
A. G. Basuo: You can’t know them. You can’t know them. Have you ever seen any of the militants?
Yes I understand. But…
A.G. Basuo: Have you seen some of us?
Then are these only militant names?
A.G. Basuo: Yes; and these are the people appointed with the responsibility of initiating dialog.
May you either confirm or deny that NDSC is the author of the attack on the Cameroonian military on November 2007 in Bakassi, which killed 21 soldiers?
A.G. Basuo: We directed the operation. We don’t go for operations. We directed the operation.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said at that time that the Nigerian forces attacked Cameroonian troops, I quote, "because of their perceived sympathy to our cause and their blind eye to a weapons route." Is NDSC the same group as MEND or a branch of MEND?
A.G. Basuo: We all work together.
Do you say that MEND was wrong in accusing the Nigeria military for that attack?
A.G. Basuo: They were wrong. (He laughs) The attack was MEND.
What evidence can you bring to show that NDSC was the author of that attack?
A.G. Basuo: What kind of proof?
Yes
A.G. Basuo: Allo! Proof?
What kind of proof can you bring forth?
A.G. Basuo: Anyway, if you want the proof, just wait for the next two to three weeks for another attack. That’s the only way we can proof it.
Ok. I hear you. Now, is NDSC also the author of the recent, June 9th attack that killed the sous-prefet and his gendarmes?
A.G. Basuo: You see. What I am trying to tell you, we don’t move to anywhere. We only direct operations. The guys are there. They’re right inside Bakassi right now. There are ongoing movements. You would not know.
What are your claims vis-à-vis the Cameroonian government?
A.G. Basuo: I will not disclose to you our proposal. There are ongoing movements. And if something is not done quickly, very soon something serious will happen in that area. I am telling with all the truth.
But what are your claims?
A.G. Basuo: I have spoken to those boys inside of that area that we should hold, we hold their use of force; because, in everything there is room for negotiation. But all the same, if we continue to delay, anyway I don’t promise.
What are your claims?
A.G. Basuo: Because there are ongoing movements...
What are your specific claims? What do you want to stop those attacks?
A.G. Basuo: The issue is that can the Cameroonian government arrange us to seat down or to send delegates. We are going to meet in a neutral ground where we are going to negotiate. It’s not me alone now talking. Send delegates to meet us. We will tell them our demands.
So you cannot tell journalists your demands.
A.G. Basuo: No. We need to present them to the government. Are you a representative of the government?
I am just a journalist.
A.G. Basuo: So you are just a journalist.
What if the Cameroonian government treats you as a terrorist group it would not deal with and decides an all-war to control the Bakassi islands?
A.G. Basuo: That’s where force will meet with force.
But you also know well that Yar’Adua, your Nigerian president has also declared an all-war against the Niger Delta militants and terrorist groups. What are your chances?
A.G. Basuo: Let him try. That is a fight he cannot fight and succeed in Nigeria.
What else can you tell me that you want to see published in the press?
A.G. Basuo: When the article is ready, we will let you know.
Thank you Sir.
(In another call) A.G. Basuo: I will make sure nothing will happen the next week. I will talk to the guys. Communicate us with the government.
Ok. I hear you.
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By FEMI FOLARANMI, Yenagoa
Sun News Online, Thursday, June 26, 2008
Militants in the Niger Delta on Wednesday called off their unilateral ceasefire and ordered resumed hostilities.
The Joint Revolutionary Council (JRC), comprising the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, the Reformed Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force and the Martyrs Brigade, announced the ceasefire call off in a press statement signed by its spokesperson, Cynthia Whyte.
The group hinged its decision on the allegation that the military attacked some camps belonging to the militants, but Commander of the Joint Military Task Force in Bayelsa State, Lt.Col. Chris Musa, told Daily Sun in a telephone interview that the militants were merely looking for ways to call off the ceasefire without provocation.
MEND, which announced the ceasefire from midnight of Tuesday, June 24, after appeals from Niger Delta elders shortly after the attack on the Bonga offshore oil field operated by the Shell Petroleum Development Company, also issued a separate statement, frowning at the combat attitude of the military close to one of its major camps in Bayelsa.
The JRC in its statement said: “At about 20.00 hrs GMT and unto this hour, today 24th June 2008… camps belonging to revolutionary and heroic combatants of the struggle for the liberation and emancipation of the Ijaw and Niger Delta territory are being bombed by the armed forces of the Nigerian state.
“In defiance to the forces of the Nigerian state, the leader of the attacked camps has successfully advanced into the ranks of soldiers of the Nigerian state and have dealt them great casualties in a manner that has never been seen before in the history of warfare in Black Africa. There will be no respite and Ijaws will not allow our own suffer alone.
“In furtherance thereof, the unilateral declaration of ceasefire has been called off. The Nigerian state has declared war on the people of the Ijaw and Niger Delta. All combatants and fighters are hereby called upon to take up judgment against any and every agent of the Nigerian state and her imperialist collaborators, such as Shell Petroleum Development Company. The struggle is on course.”
MEND in its own statement signed by Jomo Gbomo, said while it still respected its ceasefire, it could call it off at the slightest provocation.
The statement reads in part: “Around 1900 hrs on Tuesday, June 24, 2008, only 19 hours away from a Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) unilateral ceasefire aimed at restoring peace, the Nigerian military blocked the channel leading into one of our major camps in Bayelsa State with eight heavily armed gun boats in preparation for what seemed like a dawn invasion.
“Our fighters headed towards the army position and fired warning shots to them to leave or be confronted. As our fighters approached in over 50 war boats, the eight gun boats turned and fled from the area, thereby averting a clash and maintaining the on-going ceasefire.
“MEND wishes to reiterate its willingness to respect its unilateral ceasefire but will not hesitate to call it off at the slightest provocation or threat.”
The Joint Military Task Force (JTF) has, in the meantime, said there was no evidence of any attack against any camp of militants.
The commander of JTF Bayelsa, Lt. Col Musa, said: “It is a lie. There is no record of any attack on any militant camp. Let them state the camps that were attacked and what time. They are just looking for ways to end the ceasefire without justifiable reason.”
Musa explained that the military was after the militants, who engaged one another in a bloody clash in the Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, because they were plain criminals and not freedom fighters.
©2003 The African Independent, Inc. All rights to republication are reserved.
