I
By Nobody
In 2006 Nigeria and Cameroon Almost went to full scale war and the Nigerian populace knew nothing about it. Two decades of French interference in Cameroonian politics and covert manipulations against Nigeria's security interest led to skirmishes on the contested Bakassi Peninsula. Thanks to a new civilian leadership control of the military tensions were eventually de-escalated. But what if war had indeed broken out with an Anglo/ECOWAS alliance on one side and a Franco Cameroonian and Chadian alliance on the other side. Would ECOWAS countries have even agreed to come to the aid of its most powerful member state as the ECOWAS SECURITY CHARTER stipulates? or would a surprise premptive attack Cameroon and Chadian troops backed by French air power overwhelm the Nigerian army. In this [i]three part series [/i]we examine the implications of a potential war between both counties.
In 2005 Militants from the Niger Delta returning from a bothched raid on an Exon Mobile oil terminal open fire when they encountered Cameroon soldiers, killing 20 Cameroonian soldiers.
Mistaken the militants who wore army uniforms as Nigerian soldiers, Cameroons reprisal came swiftly. Nigeria troops stationed in the disputed Bakassi Peninsula came under fire from Cameroonian troops. The attack, just 20 miles from Calabar killed 6 Nigerian soldiers and injured dozens more. Abuja believed that the attack was premeditated with Yaounde brining in its BIR (Cameroonian Special Forces) to ambush Nigerian soldiers. Alleged abuse against Nigerian civilians living in the islands made the Nigerian government furious.
In March, Nigerian soldiers launched a blistering counterattack against Cameroonian forces. A Nigerian army patrol unit violated Cameroonian territory by infiltrating the peninsula as far as the Rio del Ray and opened fire on a Cameroonian army outpost, killing dozens of Cameroonian soldiers. Cameroonian troops returned fire, killing five Nigerian soldiers. Fighting intensified after Cameroonian artillery units without warning shelled Nigerian army outposts in the Bakassi Peninsula, killing seven Nigerian soldiers and scores of civilians. The Nigerian army responded this time with overrwelming fire power by air, land and sea. Nigerian artillery troops shelled a Cameroonian patrol outpost, at the same time two Mi-24 attack helicopter penetrated 24 kilometres into Cameroonian airspace and opened fire on a Camerooian army outpost where Cameroonian gendarmes were watching a football game, killing 20. The Nigerian Navy also dispatched 24 armed speedboats to the peninsula to police the creeks.It was after this incident the Cameroonian army reached out to its colonial master France with whom it has a Defence Treaty.
In January 2007 the Nigerian Air Force was placed on maximum alert after the Nigeria Intelligence Agency (NIA) discovered that France was building a military base in a town near the Bakassi Peninsula. It should be noted that despite a 1996 ICJ ruling o refrain from military activities until a final court decision is reached Cameroon and Nigeria seemed hell bent on re-igniting the issue while France fuels the fire.
The Nigerian Air Force based on the eastern flank of theTactical Air Command in Yola and Maiduguri was placed on maximum alert. The Nigerian Army 3rd Amoured Division was also placed on alert. The National Security Council, headed by Nigerian President ordered the immediate reactivation of two Nigerian Air Force bases in Yola and Maiduguri recently closed and its compliment of two attack helicopter squadron was ordered to be ready by the end of the month.
The discovery that France was building a military base in Gagura, a town in Cameroon located near the disputed Bakassi Peninsula border with Nigeria came as a shock.It stunned Nigeria's military planners. According to the Intelligence report the French base was nearly completed and had facilities for deploying military aircrafts. FRENCH military aircrafts. There was little doubts concerning whose planes will taking off from those airfields, the French will not build a multi million dollar air base for Cameroons compliment of 6 Alpha jets. The swift action and coordination by Nigeria's military planners afterwards did not go unnoticed by the Franco military alliance. The message was clear - If the Franco Cameroonian, and by extension France is eager to solve the dispute ilitarily, Nigeria will likely oblige.
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