Summary
The document reports an escalation of security issues in northern Cameroon due to frequent clashes between the Cameroonian army and Boko Haram. A recent attack on the Kousseri gendarmerie brigade, aimed at freeing detained Boko Haram members, resulted in casualties. Authorities confirm that Boko Haram has sleeper cells in the region, demonstrating strong organization and significant operational capacity.
Security operations in Kousseri have intensified, including searches and an increased military presence along the Nigeria-Cameroon border. However, challenges persist due to the influx of Nigerian refugees, raising concerns about Boko Haram infiltration.
Additionally, Cameroon has temporarily closed a key bridge to Chad, suspecting it to be a route for arms trafficking. Tensions also exist between Cameroon and Chad, with allegations that Chadian authorities are involved in arms smuggling to destabilize Cameroon.
Instability is even more evident in eastern Cameroon, where armed individuals recently kidnapped 18 people, who were later rescued by security forces. The government denies Nigerian allegations that abducted schoolgirls were taken to Cameroon for forced marriages.
Authorities emphasize their commitment to maintaining national security, ensuring stability, and cooperating with neighboring countries, while reaffirming that Cameroon must not serve as a base for regional destabilization.
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CONTFINENTIAL 09 May 2014
To the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation
Rabat
Primary Recipient: CAB1-DG7/3
Recipient for Information: CAB2- SG/4.
Subject: Cameroon /Security Issues.
I have the honor to bring to your attention that the far north of Cameroon has been experiencing clashes between the Cameroonian army and elements of the Boko Haram sect for the past few days.
The attack by Boko Haram on the Kousseri gendarmerie brigade, during the night of May 4th to 5th, which resulted in four deaths, aimed to liberate some members of the sect being held in the said brigade.
These frequent clashes within Cameroonian territory confirm, as highlighted in previous communications, that the sect has sleeper cells in the north of the country, capable of operating effectively at any time and any place. The mastery of the environment, the number of assailants, the weapons used, and their ability to blend into the population without leaving a trace, demonstrate, according to observers, the degree of organization of the sect. The three religious figures kidnapped last month are still being held in Cameroon in secret locations. There is already talk of their release in exchange for the release of sect members detained in Cameroon.
According to imams contacted on the ground, Kousseri was under siege last week. Security forces have conducted searches and checks of houses in the city in search of members of the sect. The Cameroonian army has doubled its presence and personnel along the far northern border with Nigeria. However, it is facing the influx of Nigerians fleeing combat zones to seek refuge in Cameroon, with the security risks that this entails through the infiltration of Boko Haram elements.
Furthermore, the Cameroonian authorities have closed for three days the bridge linking the Cameroonian town of Kousseri to Chad, a point of access used for arms trafficking from Chad.
According to Cameroonian officials, Chad is seeking revenge for its failure in the Central African Republic (CAR), and for the Cameroonian position, which was opposed to the one supported by N’djamena in that country since the overthrow of Bozizé. In Yaoundé, it is believed that Chad is doing nothing to prevent this trafficking which has made the town of Kousseri a major arms depot intended to destabilize Cameroon. They emphasize that this trafficking carried out by the Chadian regime, through the ZAGUA, the ethnic group of the Chadian president, tends to put pressure on Cameroon and to occupy this ethnic group which is profiting from this traffic.
The insecurity in northern Cameroon is becoming increasingly alarming, due in particular to the lack of coordination between neighboring countries and disagreements on the approach to be followed to restore security in the area. Nigeria, with its resources, is incapable of succeeding in this challenge alone. The same is true for Cameroon, which does not have the necessary resources and, in addition, suffers the consequences of the unrest in neighboring countries (refugees, arms trafficking, kidnapping, and incursions into its territory, etc.).
The challenge is enormous for the Cameroonian authorities, who are called upon to face arms trafficking from Chad, pressure from Nigeria, and threats from Boko Haram, which continues to use northern Cameroon as a fallback base against attacks by the Nigerian army.
The Nigerian and Cameroonian authorities expect much from the attention that the Americans and Europeans have recently shown towards the misdeeds of the Boko Haram sect. Their expertise could help reduce the movement capacity of the sect’s elements and their capacity for harm. The restoration of security, however, depends on the easing of relations between the countries concerned and their direct involvement, within the framework of a global approach to the security issue, to find common solutions and even to fight against the insecurity that prevails in the sub-region and threatens stability in the sub-region.
Cameroon, Cross-border Security: The full statement of the Cameroonian government:
During the night of May 1st to 2nd, 2014, armed individuals intercepted four vehicles used for public and goods transport in the locality of Yokofiré, 43 km from the town of Garoua Boulai in the Eastern region. During this attack, the eighteen people travelling in the said vehicles were taken hostage by the assailants who then fled.
Informed of this situation, the authorities immediately mobilized the defense and security forces stationed in the area, in particular the Multi-Purpose Intervention Group of the National Gendarmerie (GPIGN), to search for the assailants and release the hostages.
Under pressure from the GPIGN elements, who had managed to locate and then encircle the assailants’ retreat area, the eighteen hostages were released in two stages: first, two of them on May 3rd, 2014, and then the other sixteen on May 4th, 2014.
Furthermore, during the night of May 4th to 5th, 2014, at around 2:00 a.m., about thirty unidentified assailants launched a rocket attack on the Kousseri Gendarmerie Brigade in the Far North region.
The aim of this attack was to release a suspect arrested and detained on May 3rd, 2014, by elements of our defense forces during a check in the locality of Zigué, also located in the Far North region.
The toll of this attack is two deaths, Adjudant-chef DAPSIA Denis on permanent duty at the unit and the detainee Ibrahim BOUBA, of Cameroonian nationality, and three injured detainees in the Gendarmerie premises. Our defense forces have been put on alert and are currently conducting a sweep operation in the city of Kousseri and its surroundings.
Further information will be communicated to national and international public opinion as it becomes available. In the same vein, there are allegations from Nigeria that some of the two hundred and twenty-three young schoolgirls recently kidnapped in northeastern Nigeria have been taken to Cameroon to be forcibly married to members of the « Boko Haram » sect. We want to state that such claims are completely unfounded. We have already had the opportunity to affirm that Cameroon will never serve as a rear base for destabilization activities towards other countries. On the contrary, our country suffers from the unstable security situation prevailing in some countries. As I have just explained above, it is the target of attacks launched from neighboring countries and by nationals of these countries. I would like to reiterate our full availability to cooperate in good faith with the Governments of neighboring countries, to fight against cross-border crime, in compliance with the territorial integrity and sovereignty of each country.
I would also like to reassure the Cameroonian population that the Head of State, His Excellency Paul BIYA, has given firm instructions and taken appropriate measures to ensure that Cameroon remains the haven of peace and stability that many countries envy. Our defense and security forces are at work and are ensuring that Cameroonians and those who live in our country can go about their business peacefully.
Cameroon, under the wise leadership of His Excellency Paul BIYA, will continue resolutely and confidently on its path towards emergence.
Source: MINISTER OF COMMUNICATION
Source :
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