Seven Chinese nationals kidnapped off Cameroon
YAOUNDE — Seven Chinese nationals working for a private fishing company have been kidnapped off the Bakassi peninsula in southwest Cameroon, Cameroonian and Chinese sources said on Saturday.
A Cameroonian source close to the investigation and rebel movements told AFP the seven were kidnapped on Friday "in international waters off Bakassi".
A source close to Chinese diplomats confirmed the abduction of the seven and their nationality.
Officials from the two countries "are working jointly to secure their release," the source said, adding the kidnapped Chinese were on a trawler at the time of the incident.
Chinese state news agency Xinhua quoted the Chinese embassy as saying their lives were not in danger and the kidnappers had provided them with food and water.
The embassy said that two fishing vessels belonging to the Dalian Beihai Fishing Company had been attacked in the incident in the early hours of Friday.
The vessels had returned to the port of Limbe with two sailors slightly injured.
The resource-rich Bakassi peninsula has been at the centre of a territorial dispute between Nigeria and Cameroon for 15 years. It was handed back to Cameroon in August 2008 after the International Court of Justice ruled in Cameroon's favour.
The marshy coastal region, potentially rich in oil and gas, has recently witnessed a spike in rebel attacks. Ten oil sector workers including seven French were kidnapped there in late 2008 by a group calling itself the Bakassi Freedom Fighters.
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Location of the Bakassi peninsula (centre) within western central AfricaThe Chinese embassy in Cameroon said earlier that a fishing boat was hijacked off the coast of Cameroon. Seven Chinese fishermen were kidnapped in the incident, which happened on Friday, and a group called the "Africa Marine Commando" claimed responsibility, according to an embassy official.

"We are working together with the Cameroon authorities on ways and means of seeking their release," the official said. The ship was hijacked "in international waters off Bakassi", a peninsula in southwestern Cameroon.

The Chinese news agency Xinhua quoted the Chinese embassy as saying that the kidnapped fishermen were being fed, and their lives were not in danger.

The Agence France-Presse news agency quotes a source close to the investigation of the incident as saying that authorities from both Cameroon and China "are working jointly to secure their release," and that the fishermen were on a trawler when they were kidnapped.