There are strong indications that Nigeria and Cameroon may
clash over Boko Haram as the Federal Government accuses Cameroon of
harbouring members of the militant Islamic sect.
A
top source in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who confided in one of
our correspondents in Abuja, said that President Goodluck Jonathan would
report Cameroon to relevant agencies in the United Nations.
Part
of government’s strategy is to adopt the policy of hot pursuit, whereby
Nigeria’s military will chase the insurgents into their hideouts and
flush them out while those in the diplomatic circles will continue with
diplomacy.
Saturday PUNCH learnt that this was one of the reasons
why Jonathan canvassed that countries should be allowed to chase fleeing
terrorists to other nations while addressing fellow African leaders
during Thursday’s International Conference on Human Security, Peace and
Development: Agenda for 21st Century Africa, in Abuja.
He had
asked his colleagues to, as of necessity, change their collective
approach and work closely together to confront and defeat the purveyors
of hate who do not respect borders and boundaries.
He said, “Our
architecture must recognise the fact that trans-border criminals don’t
respect boundaries while law enforcement agencies are compelled to
respect our international boundaries,’’ adding, “There must be
compromise on this if we must wipe out criminality and trans-border
crimes.
“While we respect our national boundaries, terrorists move
in and out of our borders, it’s now time that we should agree as
African leaders that an act of terror against one nation is an act of
terror against all nations.”
In a veiled reference to Cameroon,
the President said, “We must not allow our countries to become safe
havens for terrorists; we must cooperate maximally beyond political
boundaries and adopt protocols that allow other countries to pursue
terrorists to their safe havens in other nations.
“While we cannot redefine our borders we can redefine our collective approach in fighting trans-boundary insurgencies.’’
Saturday
PUNCH learnt that the Federal Government was of the view that since the
joint commissions had not yielded any positive fruit, it should start
looking towards a new direction.
“The best option is to involve the military and use the policy of hot pursuit,’’ a foreign ministry source noted.
The Federal Government believes Cameroon has a history of harbouring criminals that use its territory to destabilise Nigeria.
Saturday
PUNCH learnt that the Federal Government was aware of Cameroon’s
unexplainable indifference to Nigeria. One of the sources said that as
early as 1906, northern Nigeria suffered from violence orchestrated by
religious leaders whose roots were in northern Cameroon.
It was
further learnt that the Federal Government was disturbed that Cameroon,
unlike Niger and Chad, had been providing a safe haven for fleeing Boko
Haram members in northern Cameroon.
Nigeria’s frustrations were
echoed by President Goodluck Jonathan, who during the last presidential
media chat, made a veiled reference to contacts being made with Cameroon
over Boko Haram.
According to a source, the 1906 Mahdist rebellion in Kano has an imprint of such pseudo Islamic teachers.
The
source recalled that Mallam Muhammadu Marwa, better known as
“Maitatsine” a Fulani native of Marwa, in northern Cameroon, was driven
from the northern commercial city of Kano back to Cameroon by the Emir
of Kano in 1962.
He further noted that Maitatsine returned to
Nigeria in 1966 as a Quranic teacher. “Marwa remained in the country
recruiting and indoctrinating gullible young men until he led an
insurgency in the 1980s,’’ he added.
Commenting specifically on
the Boko Haram insurgency, the source said, “From all indications, there
appears to be an unwritten understanding between the sect members and
Cameroonian security forces that they can operate from bases within
their borders as long as they don’t launch attacks within Cameroon.
“Cameroon
has a history of harbouring criminals who use its territory to
destabilise Nigeria. You may wish to recall that the leader of the
Maitatsine Islamic sect operated from Marwa, a Cameroonian border with
Nigeria’’
Also, a retired diplomat who pleaded anonymity,
expressed disappointment that Cameroon had failed to reciprocate
Nigeria’s generosity, especially after giving up the Bakassi Peninsula.
He,
however, said the situation was not hopeless if Nigeria could leverage
on its healthy relationship with western powers like the United States
and the United Kingdom to put pressure on France who in turn would call
Cameroon to order.
Investigations by Saturday PUNCH further showed
that Nigerian diplomats were at their wits end after several diplomatic
entreaties through the Nigeria/Cameroon Joint Commission which sought
to strengthen bilateral ties between the two neighbours failed.
The
source made reference to America’s war in Afghanistan which he said was
part of US strategy of taking the war on terrorism to insurgents
outside US borders.
Military sources, who also pleaded anonymity
because they were not authorised to speak on the issue, confirmed the
agreement between Cameroonian gendarmes and Boko Haram operatives to
Saturday PUNCH.
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