On 3 August at least 12 people were killed by the armed extremist group Boko Haram in Darak, a small fishing village in the Far North region of Cameroon. According to local communities, at least three villages on the island have been attacked in recent weeks. The latest attack is part of a broader pattern of increased Boko Haram violence against civilians that started earlier this year. Following a series of attacks by alleged Boko Haram fighters in March, more than 4,000 people were displaced in several localities in the Mayo-Tsanaga district. The following month Boko Haram fighters reportedly attacked and destroyed approximately 400 shops and houses in the Mayo-Moskota district.

For over a decade recurrent violence perpetrated by Boko Haram has resulted in mass atrocities in the Lake Chad Basin, on the borders of Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon. The Boko Haram insurgency began in Nigeria in 2009 and was aimed at overthrowing the secular government and establishing an Islamic state. Across northern Nigeria the group has perpetrated widespread killings, suicide bombings, abductions, torture, rape, forced marriages and the recruitment of child soldiers, as well as attacks that are directed against government infrastructure, traditional and religious leaders and the civilian population. Boko Haram has subsequently spread into Chad, Niger and Cameroon, where it perpetrates similar abuses.

When Boko Haram expanded from Nigeria into Cameroon in 2014, the group disrupted traditional socio-economic relations between communities in the Far North region and weakened local trading networks, leading to an increase in inter-communal violence. The volatile security situation has been further exacerbated by growing desertification, water scarcity and limited access to grazing land, which has fueled clashes and tensions between communities.

The government of Cameroon has increased its troop deployment to the Far North region over the past few months. During an emergency meeting in May, the Cameroonian government also requested more troops from Nigeria and Chad to be deployed to their shared borders as part of the regional Multinational Joint Task Force, which was established in 2015 to combat armed extremism.

While combating Boko Haram, Cameroon’s security forces must carry out all military operations in strict compliance with international humanitarian and human rights law. Juliette Paauwe, Cameroon expert at the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, said, “The violence stoked by Boko Haram is not just a security issue. Meaningful programs that tackle poverty, radicalization, corruption and environmental degradation are urgently needed if the government of Cameroon wants to address the root causes of inter-communal violence and armed extremism.”

SOURCE: Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect