Boko Haram Threatens To Declare War On Cameroon

Boko Haram, has threatened to declare war on
Cameroon if she does not cease to support Nigeria's
military campaign against it. In recent times, the sect has been at the receiving
end of a massive onslaught by the army in Borno,
Yobe and Adamawa states. Members of the sect
have reportedly fled these attacks and were said to
have relocated to safe havens in Cameroon, Niger
and Chad. However, efforts by the sect to make Cameroon a
safe haven have been countered by Cameroonian
troops who launch regular attacks against the
fleeing militants. Camer.be, a Cameroonian daily, says the leader of
the sect, Imam Ibn Muhammad Abubakar, wrote to
President Paul Biya recently to complain about the
attacks. According to the paper, Abubakar
threatened to unleash terror on the country should it
continue to lend support to the Federal Government's military campaign. In the letter, Boko Haram, which has renewed its
attacks on villages and cities in the north eastern
part of Nigeria, said it had no problems with
Cameroon. But it added that the situation could
change soon as the Central African country was
interfering in matters that did not concern it. The newspaper reports in French but its story was
translated by one of our correspondents. "Boko Haram is ready to start a war with Cameroon
and all those around the world trying to oppose it,"
the paper quoted the letter as saying. The letter was
written in Hausa, the language that Boko Haram has
been using to communicate with journalists. It is
widely spoken in some parts of Cameroon. The letter reportedly came a day after newspapers
in Cameroon reported a bloody clash between
members of the sect and the Nigerian Army at
Limani, a Cameroonian city. During the clash, Cameroon deployed troops
comprising soldiers from her 32nd Motorised
Infantry Battalion, the country's police and
gendarmes to assist Nigerian soldiers. The newspaper reports that the Boko Haram leader
expressed displeasure with the deployment of the
Cameroonian soldiers especially. According to the newspaper, about 400 members of
the sect were involved in the clash which witnessed
massive exchange of fire and air attacks, leaving
the city damaged.

Vanguard