Boko Haram
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- Boko Haram
Boko Haram leadership has announced in a new video their intention to continue carrying out deadly attacks in Nigeria. This time around, the video was carefully mounted and a spokesperson revealed they plan to foster their activities under the direct supervision of Abubakar Shekau.
In the 12 minutes message, a man surrounded by eight armed individuals said in the Hausa language that there will be no negotiations and no surrender. This video resurfaced a week after one showing the leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau appearing weak and pretending to announce that his end is near.
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- Chi Prudence Asong
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The Yaounde authorities have banned a public ceremony to honor victims of the Boko Haram war. Jean Paul Tsanga Foe, the prefect of Yaoundé I, on Thursday ordered the forces of law and order to disperse a crowd that had gathered to pay homage to over 1,200 victims of Boko Haram atrocities.
The Divisional Officer noted that the organizers were simply disturbing public order. Some political commentators have opined that its now unclear whether the April 1, 2016 rally summoned by a group of opposition parties in Yaounde will hold as announced.
It is vital to include in the report that 48 hours after the DO placed the ban, he granted permission to some members of the ruling CPDM party to stage a public meeting calling on President Biya to run for president.
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- Sama Ernest in Yaounde
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A special security meeting grouping Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Commission of the Lake Chad Basin and Benin has opened on Friday in Yaounde. The Joint Multinational Force of the Commission of the Lake Chad Basin (LCBC) and Benin will examine the job done so far in combating the Nigerian Islamic sect, Boko Haram.
The meeting holding at the Congress Hall in Yaounde is being attended by senior officials of the defense forces of member countries of the LCBC and Benin including the commander of the Joint Multinational Force (FMM), Major General Lo Adeosun. The forum also aims at evaluating military strategy, self-criticism, adjustment and remobilization.
In his opening remarks, Cameroon’s Joint Chief of Army Staff, Rene Claude Meka, revealed that some adjustments were needed on basis of the realities on the ground. Nigeria’s Major General Adeosun hinted that some proposals have been made to be approved referring particularly to the divisions of certain sectors.
The Friday discussions includes coordination and liaison between FMM and domestic operations and necessary adaptation of the concept of operations received from the civilian authorities of member countries of the LCBC and Benin.
The military leaders also observed that proposals for financial support for the Force were made at a high political level. But many promises have not yet been realized. A delegation of the African Union is to stay in N'Djamena to try to accelerate the process of release of funds.
Meanwhile, FMM suggested the deployment of its police unit. This unit remained in reserve, waiting for the right moment which is already recognized. The leaders have agreed that the MMF Police Unit must urgently establish the authority of the state in the areas that were occupied by Boko Haram.
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- Rita Akana in Yaounde
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Boko Haram:Would-be suicide bomber arrested in Cameroon is not one of the missing Chibok schoolgirls
A senior Nigerian official has told the BBC that a would-be suicide bomber arrested in Cameroon is not one of the missing Chibok schoolgirls.
The girl had told investigators she was one of 270 abducted in Nigeria in 2014 by Islamist militant group Boko Haram.
She had explosives strapped to her body, had been drugged and was badly injured when she was arrested last week, Cameroonian officials say.
Boko Haram is increasingly using girls to carry out suicide bombings.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari ordered a new investigation into the kidnappings in January, but admitted he had no information on the girls' whereabouts.
The abductions of the schoolgirls from Chibok town in north-eastern Nigeria sparked international outrage and the #BringBackOurGirls social media campaign.
While about 50 of the girls managed to escape, 219 of the girls remain missing.
Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau has said some of the girls have been converted to Islam and forced to marry Boko Haram fighters.
There have been reports that some of them may have been forced to fight for the militant group, which is affiliated to Islamic State.
Although Boko Haram has been driven out from most of the areas it controlled in north-eastern Nigeria, it has continued to carry out suicide bombings and raids into neighbouring Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
(BBC)
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- Rita Akana
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- Boko Haram
Cameroon military has launched an operation code named “Tentacle” which the army leadership say its the last operation to clean the remnants of Boko Haram militants operating in the Cameroonian and Nigerian communities of Djibrili and Zamga. Cameroon Concord’s military informant revealed that Operation Tentacle” began on March 16, 2016 and has been supported by elements of the Joint Multinational Force (FMM). The troops commanded by Brigadier General Jacob Kodji, leader of the 4th Joint Military Region and commander of Operation Emergence 4 have reportedly killed 20 jihadist fighters and captured 12 others.
The army seized heavy weapons including Boko Haram’s major war arsenal that was stationed in the locality. We were also reliably informed that Nigerian troops are conducting a similar operation on the other side of the border. This major operation comes after those of Ngoshe and Kumshe- that witnessed the destruction of two Boko Haram bases by the Cameroon army some few weeks ago. Cameroon military sources hinted that Boko Haram jihadists are showing signs of weakening. Our source added that the terrorists are now apparently scattered amid sporadic attacks from the armies of both Nigeria and Cameroon and are operating uncoordinated.
Ever since the expeditions of Ngoshe and Kumshe, clashes have become almost non-existent. Lieutenant Colonel Leopold Emile Nlate Ebale, Operations Bureau Chief of the Rapid Intervention Battalion, BIR was quoted by Cameroon’s national daily newspaper Cameroon Tribune as saying "Before there was a kamikaze attack every two or three days, but after the last operations in Ngoshe and Kumshe, we have gone through three weeks without a suicide attack ". Under the direct supervision of Lieutenant Colonel Felix Cheka, the Cameroon army has installed a base known as South Zone Operation Alpha in the city of Kolofata that has painfully suffered repeated assaults from the jihadists. Lieutenant Colonel Felix Cheka and his men currently control an area of 2500 km2, covering all of Mayo-Tsanaga and Mayo-Sava divisions.
The Rapid Intervention Battalion has also opened another base in Kerawa, located at about seven kilometers from Kolofata where the Nigerian Islamic sect stepped up attacks some few months ago. The facility is called the 4th Light Response Unit (ULI). The South of the Far North region precisely at Achigachia is now being protected by the famous Koutaba legion including the Field Artillery Regiment from Nkongsamba.
Cameroon military spokesman, Colonel Didier Badjeck, during a recent press briefing noted that both Emergence 4 and Alpha-supported operations are intertwined and run in accordance with the strategic vision of the staff armed represented in the area by the commander of RMIA 4. Colonel Badjeck observed that “ Now it is no longer simply to prevent the infiltration of Boko Haram fighters and to cut off their networks but also to destroy their bases used for training, design, and implementation”.
The Cameroon army is now equipped with modern war machinery like drones that can scan the conflict zone. Military cooperation with France and the United States has contributed effectively to intelligence gathering which has been used for successful operations. According to Lieutenant Colonel Leopold Emile Nlate Ebale every major operation was preceded by several weeks of preparations focused mainly on intelligence information.
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- Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai
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A suspected suicide bomber intercepted in northern Cameroon on Friday before she could blow herself up claimed to be one of 219 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram in the Nigerian town of Chibok in 2014, military and local government sources said.
Two girls carrying explosives were stopped by local self-defense forces in the village of Limani, in an area of northern Cameroon that has been the target of frequent suicide bombings in recent months.
They were then handed over to Cameroonian soldiers belonging to a multi-national force set up to take on Boko Haram.
In a high-profile attack that sparked a global outcry, Boko Haram militants raided the school in April 2014 while the girls were taking exams. They loaded 270 of them onto trucks, though around 50 escaped shortly afterwards.
"One of them indeed declared that she is one of the Chibok hostages. She is around 15. We are now verifying, because on the Nigerian side they have the names and photos of these girls," said local government administrator Raymond Roksdo.
Two military sources, who asked not to be identified as they were not authorized to speak to the press, also confirmed that the girl had claimed to have been one of the Chibok abductees.
"We need a few days to be able to confirm this information. We have to debrief all the men who were present and interrogate the two girls before we can say anything," one of the military sources said.
Former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan was criticized for his slow reaction to the Chibok abductions, seen by many as indicative of his response to Boko Haram, which at its strongest held large swathes of northeastern Nigeria.
It was nearly a month before a fact-finding committee traveled to Chibok to establish whether the abduction actually happened and how many girls were missing.
Muhammadu Buhari, who defeated Jonathan in an election last year, ordered a new investigation into the kidnappings in January. [nL8N14Y501]
Joint operations between Nigeria and its neighbors Niger, Chad and Cameroon succeeded in driving Boko Haram from many of its strongholds in Nigeria last year.
However, as an 8,700-strong regional task force seeks to stamp them out once and for all, the Islamists have stepped up cross-border attacks and suicide bombings, many of them carried out by young girls.
(Reuters)
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- Elangwe Pauline
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