Boko Haram threatens Cameroon over Nigeria

 

Violent Islamic sect, 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.