Cameroon has been arresting or dismissing members of local self-defense militia in the north amid fears that Boko Haram may be trying to turn some of them against their communities. Local authorities tell VOA the crack down follows an investigation by security agencies.
The governor of the Far North region of Cameroon told VOA there is concern that Boko Haram may be trying to infiltrate Cameroon via the local self-defense groups.
Governor Midjiyawa Bakari said authorities are screening the groups.
He says they have taken all necessary measures to remove the bad grains from the good and to stop further infiltration that may destroy all the good works that the self defense groups have been doing. He says they are organizing self defense groups to henceforth work in synergy with security forces and denounce suspects as soon as they get any information.
Crackdown in border villages
Bakari did not say how many of the vigilante group members had been arrested, but local newspapers report that at least 70 have been picked up by the police in a dozen border villages and that the crackdown is still on going.
Authorities did not offer any examples of this alleged cooperation between self-defense group members and Boko Haram and whether it has contributed to any specific attacks.
Last month, Amnesty International accused Cameroon of arbitrary arrests and human rights abuses against suspected Boko Haram supporters. Amnesty said more than 100 people have been sentenced to death since July 2015 in trials which Amnesty says were “deeply unfair.” The government slammed the Amnesty report as biased.
Abdoul Garba, a self-defense group leader in Kolofata on Cameroon’s northern border with Nigeria, says the insurgents are promising better conditions and deceiving some of them to work as spies.
Call for better working conditions
Garba says the government should give the self-defense groups food and material to boost their morale. He says that will improve our working conditions and spur us to work as the government expects.
The self-defense groups have helped the military by patrolling villages and hard to reach border areas, but they say this is hard, dangerous work and they need more training.
Inoussa Hama, a member of a self-defense group in Kolofata, says men in his group have been kidnapped and killed. He says they need special training to be able to work from 9 PM to 4 AM every day.
Cameroon believes the terrorists’ ability to organize large-scale attacks has been greatly reduced, and that they are trying to replenish their ranks by recruiting vulnerable youths in Cameroon.
voanews.com
