Despite its assurances at the recent security summit in Paris, Cameroon has still not begun its much-expected involvement in Nigeria’s efforts to stop acts of terrorism by members of the Boko Haram Islamist sect, according to Coordinator-General of Nigeria’s Counter-Terrorism Centre, General Sarkin-Yaki Bello.
Bello, who said Nigeria’s border countries still need to step up their involvement in regional control of terrorism, however singled out Niger and Chad for praise, saying they have been very cooperative in the anti-terror war.
“Niger has been proactive and aggressive; Chad has shown zero tolerance for Boko Haram. Cameroon, we’ve engaged them to be more pro-active. They haven’t really. Not yet”, he told Reuters.
He supported previous claims by Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshall Alex Badeh that the Military is aware of the location of the girls abducted in Chibok last month, but he expressed fears that the girls could be endangered should the military adopt a forceful approach to their rescue.
“We want to bring them out alive”, he said. “If you let them out, the terrorists get stronger. We also need to protect those they haven’t yet killed or kidnapped”.
Cameroonian Minister of Information, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, refuted the claims of nonchalance, saying troops had already been deployed to its far north region to counter Boko Haram.
“Cameroon has never been the weakest link in the chain”, Tchiroma said.
“As the deployment of troops and equipment in the past few days prove, we have put up an iron curtain with enough firepower, which Boko Haram cannot break.”
Nigeria’s leaky borders with its neighboring countries has always been identified as one of its major weaknesses in combating terrorism, as Boko Haram’s foot soldiers have previously launched attacks only to flee to Cameroon
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