Villagers on Cameroon’s northern border with Chad and Nigeria are holding daily protests in front of government offices and demanding that Boko Haram attacks escalate, where military intervention and troops should be deployed. Protesters say that in the past three weeks alone, at least 35 villagers have been killed after an alleged attack by an Islamic terrorist group.
Village leaders blamed Islamic fighters along with the terrorist group Boko Haram for killing at least 35 people and stealing livestock and food over the past three weeks. He raised funds for villagers to travel to the regional capital, Maraua, to seek help from the authorities.
Joseph Bioha, pastor of Cameroon’s Evangelical Church in Torou, a village on the border with Nigeria, said the villagers had come to inform the governor about reports of Boko Haram fighters abusing or killing civilians and stealing their food and cattle. Hardly a day goes by without it.
Bioha said villagers in Cameroon’s north wanted the government to immediately deploy troops to protect them and their property and bring back peace, adding that they were abandoned by Cameroon’s military and government to face Boko Haram alone. feel.
Village leaders said that Boko Haram infiltrated the northern cities of Kolofata and Amchid and the villages of Torou, Gambrou and Kumshe.
Midjiawa Bakri, governor of Cameroon’s Far North Region, told state broadcaster Cameroon Radio Television that the villagers were not abandoned by the military, as they claimed.
He added that Cameroonian President Paul Biya considers the pleas for more military deployment to be valid, and should be prepared to cooperate with troops who are already on their way to reinforce military presence along the border.
Bakari said Biya ordered financial and material assistance to village militias that cooperated with troops in fighting the terrorist group Boko Haram. He did not give details about aid or how much money the militia would receive.
Bakari said that many young people may rejoin the group due to lack of jobs following the death of Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau last year.
He requested them to be patient and said that the government intends to provide subsidy to the surrendered militants so that they can take up farming instead.
Cameroon’s military on Saturday dismissed local media reports that claimed troops had been sent to the far north to fight rebels in the western regions.
The army said that soldiers are always ready to protect civilians as and when required.
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