Dibussi Tande: Scribbles from the Den

Roll Call of Infamy (1): Boko Haram Suicide Bombings in Cameroon in 2015

By Dibussi Tande

In 2015, Boko Haram carried out 34 separate suicide attacks in Cameroon, killing about 200 people and injuring close to 400.

In July 2015, Boko Haram carried out its first ever suicide attack on Cameroonian soil. This event marked a new phase in Boko Haram’s ever-evolving strategy of confrontation with Cameroon.

Security forces carrying away a victim after the first Maroua attack (c) AFP

The first phase of that confrontation had been characterized by regular cross border incursions into Cameroon, with the first officially acknowledged incursion occurring on April 10 2012 in the town of Banki.

The second phase involved the kidnapping of locals and foreigners primarily for ransom. Some high-profile foreign captives included the Moulin-Fournier family, kidnapped in February 2013, Father Georges Vandenbeusch kidnapped in November 2013, two Italian priests and a Canadia nun captured in April 2014, and nine Chinese workers captured in May 2014. The most prominent Cameroonian captives included Françoise-Agnès Moukouri, wife of Cameroon’s Vice Prime Minister Ahmadou Ali, and Seini Boukar Lamine, the Lamido of Kolofata, both captured in July 2014 in Kolofata.

White House Press Secretary: No Combat Role for US Troops in Cameroon

"And so just to be clear about the U.S. military personnel that were deployed to Cameroon, they are armed but they are armed for the purposes of force protection and providing for their own security. They will not be there in a combat role but rather to provide force protection for -- to allow these airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations to commence." Josh Earnest

 

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest has clarified the role of the 300 US troops being deployed to Cameroon. Here are the relevant excerpts from yesterday's White House press briefing:

President Obama Deploys 300 Troops to Cameroon in War Against Boko Haram

Today, President Barack Obama sent a War Powers letter to Congress announcing the deployment of 300 U.S. Armed Forces personnel to Cameroon "with the consent of the Government of Cameroon." The letter notes that the forces will "conduct airborne intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance operations in the region."

Members of the U.S. Special Operations forces alongside soldiers from the 3rd Battalion Intervention Rapid (BIR) training together in Bamenda, Cameroon, on January 17, 2013. (Photo by Air Force Master Sgt. Larry W. Carpenter Jr.)

According to White House press secretary, Josh Earnest, the deployment "will be part of a broader regional effort to stop the spread of Boko Haram and other violent extremist organizations in West Africa." 

See below for the full text of the letter from the President to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate.

[Video] On the Frontline of Cameroon's War With Boko Haram

“Since the beginning of this year, the Cameroonian army has brought a modicum of peace; kidnappings and killings have decreased, but, until Nigerian forces take full control of Boko Haram areas, people in Cameroon's Far North will never feel safe from the men in caves across the border.”

Government forces in Nigeria have been on the front foot in recent weeks, winning back a series of villages from the Islamist militant group, Boko Haram. But their advance has not been without cost to their neighbours. Here is a Channel 4 News (UK) report from Northern Cameroon.

 

Click here for an article based on the Channel 4 News report in Northern Cameroon.

Staving off Boko Haram: Why Cameroon Must Unilaterally Exercise the Right of Hot Pursuit (Part 2)

By Dibussi Tande

Click here to read Part 1

Impact of Boko Haram Insurgency on (Northern) Cameroon
Whatever the reasons for the failure of Nigeria’s military campaign against Boko Haram, the consequences have been disastrous for Cameroon, with the Far North region bearing the brunt of the group’s indiscriminate savagery. The Cameroon side of the border with Borno state is now dotted with ghost villages, many razed to the ground by Boko Haram or simply abandoned by frightened inhabitants who now make up the estimated 30,000 internally displaced persons in the region. In addition, over 100 schools remain closed since the beginning of the 2014/2015 academic year.

A bridge connecting Nigeria and Cameroon destroyed by Boko Haram insurgents in May 2014 (c) AFP

Boko Haram’s attacks have brought the once thriving economy of the “Grand North” to a screeching halt. The economic downturn in the region which began in 2012 had by June 2014 become a full-fledged economic crisis. According to Rene Sadi, Cameroon’s Minister of Territorial Administration,

Staving off Boko Haram: Why Cameroon Must Unilaterally Exercise the Right of Hot Pursuit (Part 1)

By Dibussi Tande

Cameroon can no longer remain on the defensive under the guise of respecting a neighbor’s sovereignty and territorial integrity when there is no effective sovereign on the other side of the border, and when that neighbor’s territory is being occupied by a mutual enemy.

Funeral procession of 26 Cameroonian soldiers who died during clashes with Boko Haram in the Far North region in August 2014 (c) LCCLC Facebook page.

During the May 2014 Paris Summit on security in Nigeria, Cameroon’s president Paul Biya, along with other leaders from the region, declared total war on the Nigerian Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram following a series of high profile kidnappings of foreign nationals in Cameroon and the kidnapping of over 200 school girls from the town of Chibok in Nigeria. That declaration of war seemed to have had the opposite effect as Boko Haram stepped up its attacks on Cameroon. In fact, the Paris summit had barely begun when about 200 Boko Haram militants carried out an unprecedented attack on Cameroonian soil, kidnapping 10 Chinese engineers in the town of Waza.

Beyond Boko Haram: The Rise of Fundamentalist Islam in Nigeria [Conference Presentation]

Find below a downloadable version of the presentation that served as the basis of my talk at the conference on threats to Nigeria's security which took place today at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, DC.

Beyond Boko Haram: The Rise of Fundamentalist Islam in Nigeria

View more PowerPoint from Dibussi Tande

  Panelists at the conference included Jacob Zenn, Analyst for West African Affairs at The Jamestown Foundation;  Dr. Andrew McGregor, Editor in Chief, Global Terrorism Analysis; Mark McNamee, Analyst at The Jamestown Foundation; Lauren Ploch Blanchard from the Congressional Research Service; Carl LeVan, Assistant Professor of African Politics at American University; Colonel Gene McConville, Senior Military Advisor at the Africa Center For Strategic Studies; Ambassador Eunice Reddick, former US ambassador to  Gabon and São Tomé and Príncipe, and currently Director of the Office of West African Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.

 

Boko Haram and the Fear of Islamic Extremism in Cameroon: Part 3 – Beyond the Hysteria...

By Dibussi Tande


January 2012 was a particularly hectic and nerve-wracking month for Cameroonian security and intelligence services, along with political, administrative and religious authorities in the “Grand Nord” as they frantically tried to put measures in place to hold back what they viewed as a potential, if not imminent, Boko Haram tidal wave across Northern Cameroon.

Boko Haram and the Fear of Islamic Extremism in Cameroon: Part 2 – The Changing Face of Islam in Cameroon

By Dibussi Tande

The evolution of Islam in Cameroon can be split into three major phases or generations; a the period of complete dominance by traditional Islam, followed by the era of the emergence of the “Arabized Intellectuals,” and finally, the period marked by the appearance of Islamic fundamentalism in the public sphere. Of course, this is not a linear trajectory since there is a certain amount of overlapping between these different periods.

The face of moderate traditional Islam in Cameroon:. Sultan Ibrahim Mbombo Njoya, Muslim ruler of the Bamoun, at the ordination of a Catholic Priest, Father Mbouapegnigni, in Foumban.

Boko Haram and the Fear of Islamic Extremism in Cameroon: Part 1 – Boko Haram’s Cameroon Connection

By Dibussi Tande

“Biya was concerned about the threat of Islamic extremism.… He was beginning to worry about Islamic extremists infiltrating Cameroon from Nigeria and making inroads through Cameroonian mosques.” Wikileaks

The wave of Christmas Day bombings in Nigeria carried out by Boko Haram, the extremist Islamist sect which has its base in northeastern Nigeria, has once again raised the specter of religious extremism gaining a foothold in Cameroon.