Authorities in Cameroon revealed that the Islamist terrorist organization Boko Haram has been carrying out daily attacks against villages close to the Nigerian border, killing at least 30 people and injuring dozens of others.
Voice of America reports that Midjiyawa Bakary, the governor of Cameroon’s far north region, has recorded around a hundred attacks close to the Nigerian border over the past three months.
One of their victims was 55-year-old cattle rancher Lamsi Guidjo, who has been forced to ask for temporary housing at a mosque in the local town of Mora, close to the Cameroon border. His plea for protection came after Boko Haram jihadists attacked his ranch in Werwack village on Tuesday, making it too dangerous for him to return.
During a security meeting on Wednesday in the city of Maroua, Bakary confirmed that recent attacks have cost the lives of 30 people in the villages surrounding Mora, Tokombere, Limani, Kolofata, and Ashigachia. Those attending the meeting called on community leaders, the clergy and civilians step up their efforts to work with the military to help stem the wave of attacks.
Another major concern behind the rise of attacks is the absence of Cameroonian troops, who ceased their operations in the region this year on the basis that peace had been restored. However, Swaibou Issa, a researcher on Boko Haram at the University of Maroua, told VOA that although the group has lost power in numbers, it still has fighters in the border area.
“The engagement, the commitment of our political authorities is clearly defined that no matter the cost, they want peace,” Issa said. “It is their duty to protect civilian populations, it is their duty to fight those who are not willing to go for peace. The two processes always go together in a war.”
One of the main targets of Boko Haram’s violence has been Christian communities in the country’s far north. Last week, militants hacked to death a 12-year-old boy with machetes after he refused to become a child soldier for the caliphate
Boko Haram terrorists have been fighting for over a decade to establish an Islamic caliphate in Nigeria’s northeast and began extending their violence over the border with Cameroon in 2014.
According to United Nations estimates, Boko Haram insurgents have killed over 27,000 people and displaced 1.8 million since 2009. Approximately 170,000 Cameroonians, the majority of whom Christians, have been displaced as a result of the group’s activities.
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