Wednesday, March 27, 2013



Land-Grabbing: Africa's Latest Minefield

By Ntaryike Divine Jr
Douala, Cameroon
27 March 2013


Inhabitants of Adjap, a largely deprived hamlet nestled deep in the bowels of the tropical rainforests of southern Cameroon currently live life on the margins.  Over the years, the roughly 2,000 denizens have impotently watched their ancestral forest lands continually annexed by the government and ceded to alien agribusinesses and logging companies.


“Our ancestors settled here in 1903.  We considered the land ours until 1947 when the colonial government suddenly seized it as private state property, arresting anyone cutting down trees for firewood or to build,” explained Adjap tribal chief, Marcellin Biang.


Alongside thousands of neighbors in seventeen abutting villages, the Adjap natives have eventually been squeezed into a tiny 14,000-hectare strip of land; a bare tierce of the close to 50,000-hectare expanse they controlled under pre-colonial customary jurisprudence.  They complain their steady tenure rights erosion is spawning disastrous impacts on livelihoods.


A stone-throw-away in Akom I, chieftain, Luther Abessolo says his subjects are increasingly lazy as a result of the prevailing tenure insecurity. “We live in utter uncertainty because the government can decide to seize our land at short-notice anytime.  Our people lack motivation to cultivate the land,” he said. 


Among the worst-affected are some 32 aboriginal Bagyieli pygmies.  They’ve been dislodged from their natural forest habitats and constrained to survive as misfits in unfamiliar atypical village settings. “Before, we led normal lives, hunting and gathering medicinal plants for a living.  But logging companies and agro-industries have destroyed the forests,” regretted pygmy community head, Martin Mba.  


Yet, despite their despair, these people are comparably lucky.  Initially, the government appropriated all of their lands for relocation to foreign investors.  But three years of pressure masterminded by local NGO Cameroon Ecology, CAMECO since 2006 resulted in the government backpedaling and retroceding the portion of land they currently have limited rights over.


Several hundred kilometers away in Cameroon’s southwest however, it’s yet a sadder tale.  Existence for some 14,000 villagers as well as numerous endangered floral and faunal species is under high risks of jeopardy.  US-owned agribusiness, Herakles Farms is adamantly razing some 73,000ha of dense natural forests for a US$ 600 million oil palm plantation despite locals’ unwavering objection.


Locals protesting their sidelining from the venture negotiations have ended up behind bars.  Herakles officials reiterate the multinational has legitimately leased the land for 99 years.  But global environment watchdog, Greenpeace, reported in February that the less than 50 cents per acre per year tax to the government, the absence of a presidential decree authenticating the concession, pending lawsuits, flawed environmental impact assessments, among others soaks the investment in contention.


The Herakles controversy is not Cameroon’s first though.  Across the country, hostilities have frequently erupted between nationals and Chinese agribusinesses growing rice, maize and cassava exclusively for their home markets.  


Findings from a research issued in March by Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) indicate that over 10 million of Cameroon’s estimated 22 million hectares of forest lands have already been committed to assorted concessions.  The Washington DC-based non-profit global coalition working to advance forest land tenure reforms adds that some US$18 billion have been pipelined for investment in the agribusiness, forestry, mining and infrastructure sectors in Cameroon. 


Large-scale land acquisitions by foreign governments and investors, a phenomenon termed “land-grabbing” by activists; have steadily swollen across the developing world over the last decade.  The Land Matrix Partnership states that 227 million hectares of land have been grabbed worldwide since 2001. 


According to the World Bank 70 percent of the current demand for forest and arable land targets Sub-Saharan Africa with vast parcels of “cheap” and unoccupied terrains.  As an example, Oxfam cites Liberia, which has sold off three-tenths of its territory to land-grabbers in five years.


“Once seen as marginal, this issue has emerged as one of the development priorities of our different governments,” admits Cameroon’s Forestry and Wildlife Minister, Philip Ngole Ngwese.


Land-grabbing peaked following the 2008 global food price spikes.  Steadily, governments and venture capitalists from the opulent Gulf States and Asian tiger economies, the EU and US have been rushing to acquire large terrains in developing countries to grow and secure food supplies for their soaring populations and biofuels for expanding markets.


Advocates of the large-scale land transactions argue they bear potentials to dramatically improve local infrastructure and services, boost state tax revenues, create jobs, guarantee food and energy security for less-developed countries.  According to them, activists have been exaggerating the negative outcomes.


A study of 18 recent land grabs in 10 African countries dubbed; “Social and Environmental Impacts of Agricultural Large-scale Land Acquisitions in Africa,” actually suggests a reporting prejudice. 


“The objective was to look at the actual consequences as opposed to predicted consequences. The vast majority of reports on land grabs are about predicted effects,” said Michael Richards, Natural Resources Economist with the UK-based Forest Trends.  “So there could be a reporting bias in that many of these reports are put together by advocacy groups who want to show the negative effects.”


However, flurries of recent media reporting on the unfurling scramble for land generally continue to underscore instances of grotesque human rights violations and neocolonialist drifts.  In Sub-Saharan Africa, pre-colonial laws recognizing the land ownership rights of local communities and indigenous peoples have been progressively dumped as governments become absolute landlords, transferring ownership rights to foreigners.


Across West and Central Africa, an escalating number of poverty-stricken countryside men, women and children are being chased off ancestral lands they have relied on for ages for farming, grazing and hunting. They are increasingly squatters and low-paid laborers for the incoming foreign investors and even local elites. 


“So when the government takes this land and gives it out in a lease for 40, 50 or up to 99 years, the people often lose access to these commons resources,” Richards noted.  “In some cases, they do allow access for the extraction of certain products.  But in other cases, they put great fences which stop communities having access.”


And that’s not all.  He adds that land grabbers also usually obtain unlimited rights to water use, implying curtailed availability for downstream users.


The growing land tenure insecurity is spurring flaring fury from indigenes against their governments and the foreign investors.  Experts warn of looming threats of hunger, stalled investments and political instability should the land deals continue to be shrouded in secrecy and corruption, lack of accountability and transparency, or negotiated without the informed consent of local communities.


Rights and Resources Initiative has been leading a worldwide crusade to reverse the trends.  It’s been pressing for government forest land policy reforms that recognize and restore the land ownership rights of local communities.  It warns the tenure crisis is worst in Africa, where only 0.4 percent of forest land is owned by local people, as opposed to about 24 percent in Asia and Latin America.


In 2009, it summoned stakeholders from across the globe to rethink and propose better tenure rights governance for West and Central Africa at a conclave in Cameroon’s capital Yaoundé.  Participating government representatives, related sub-regional institutions, NGOs and the civil society declared their commitment to lobby and double forest land areas under community ownership by 2015.


“We identified problems of deforestation, lack of respect for human rights and the crisis that was unfolding across the region.  The meeting generated a lot of recommendations and governments made a lot of commitments about what to do,” says Andy White, RRI Coordinator. 


But four years down the road, and only two years before the Objective 2015 deadline expiration, not much has been achieved and from declaration of political willingness by some governments. 


Reports presented at a follow-up regional dialogue in Yaoundé in early March indicate that only half of the 26 West and Central African countries scantily revisited their tenure systems.  Even so, they only opted to cede feeble secondary rights to indigenous people, granting them access and usage privileges, but maintaining tight  grips on stronger rights to exclude intruders or transfer ownership to a third party.


“There’s been some progress.  Some governments in the region have initiated new land reforms.  But the laws and policies they’re proposing are really inadequate,” said White.  “The crisis has become much greater over the last four years than we expected and there’s been far too little action.  Crisis in terms of loss of live, crisis in terms of the systematic destruction of the culture of the forest peoples like here in Cameroon.  It’s just alarming.”


And so new recommendations stipulate fast-tracking the implementation of previous policy reforms commitments embracing the full bundle of rights of local communities in land tenure negotiations, as well as reinforcing the lobby power of NGO and civil society organizations. 


“We are calling on the support of RRI and other partners because we want to build a network of traditional rulers to constitute a lobby to defend our rights,” said HM Bruno Mvondo, bureau member of the Council of Traditional Rulers of Cameroon.   “For us traditional rulers, the land belongs to the community.  But in front of modern law, our customs don’t have any strength.  We’re begging the authorities to take into account our traditional law.”


And while debates regarding who owns Africa's lands gather momentum; fresh findings suggest wealthy nationals and elites are also increasingly joining the land grab rush, stepping up the pressure on vulnerable local communities as a decades-old song: Who Owns The Land by Nigerian singer Sonny Okuson begins to make more sense.



 



 





    




Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Cocoa Plantation Farming Is Scientifically Illogical – Marisa Yoneyama


Cocoa Plantation Farming Is Scientifically Illogical – Marisa Yoneyama
Wednesday, January 04, 2012
Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria and the Ivory Coast have been chosen to benefit from a five-year US$13, 5 million venture to boost their respective cocoa sectors.  The scheme, dubbed the African Cocoa Initiative aims at enabling farmers shift from exclusive cocoa cultivation and embrace crop diversification as a means of enhancing food security as well as boosting income.  The project is due launch in the beneficiary countries in the weeks ahead. Divine Ntaryike Jr sought to know more about the initiative from the project spearhead, the World Cocoa Foundation, WCF. In the following email-conducted interview, Marisa Yoneyama, Communications Manager at the Washington-based WCF, says exclusive cocoa farming is fast becoming scientifically irrational.

How does the program intend to improve the genetic quality and productivity of cocoa varieties under cultivation?  Can you briefly explain the process that will boost the genetic quality of the plant?

The World Cocoa Foundation African Cocoa Initiative (WCF/ACI) will support a five year program of regional research led by the African Cocoa Breeders Working Group (ACBWG).  This effort will continue to be coordinated by the IITA [international Institute of Tropical Agriculture] in Ibadan as they support and provide technical expertise to the national institutions.  Specifically, these efforts will develop, pilot and test new production approaches for producing and distributing “certified/improved” planting materials, and demonstrate superior performance of “certified” planting materials under good agricultural practices in collaboration with farmers and communities.

To evaluate and test the effectiveness of selected approaches, baseline information will be established during the first year on the quality of existing tree stocks of the targeted pilot sites and farmer knowledge about the use of mineral fertilizer. The ACBWG in collaboration with the cocoa genomics efforts of USDA-ARS, Mars, Pennsylvania State University and CIRAD will select the most productive clones and hybrid crosses for multiplication and distribution in the targeted pilot sites. The program will test and develop various multiplication/distribution systems for certified planting materials according to respective seed/clonal production policy in each producer countries. DNA genotyping with SNP markers will be used to assure the genetic purity of the certified/improved planting materials, which will then be multiplied and distributed through these systems in the targeted pilot sites.

The timeline of activities requires close attention to the start-up. Given the biological lags associated with perennial crop production and the seasonality of cocoa planting from March to May, getting the multiplication systems and demonstration plots planted by May of year 1 will be critical.  Concurrent with the development of multiplication and distribution systems for improved planting materials, the program will develop demonstration plots of improved planting materials so that farmers may personally/visually evaluate the superior performance of these materials as compared to their local materials.

By year five the demonstration sites and multiplication systems will enter the second year of production, and allow for a preliminary assessment of the agronomic performance of “certified” planting materials relative to local or farmers’ own materials.  New approaches that the project expects to evaluate include clonal propagation methods (top grafting of rootstock, side grafting of old trees, chupon grafting of coppiced trees, and production of clonal gardens and clonal seedlings  using somatic embryogenesis), and decentralized mini-seed and clonal gardens operated by commercial nurseries and cooperatives. The program may also consider innovations in current seed garden production units to improve their functionality and impact.  The seed brokerage system developed by STCP in Ghana, Nigeria and Côte d'Ivoire is an example of such an impact. Backstopping and training on SNP and other molecular approaches for marker assisted selection will be provided by IITA.  IITA will also help in setting up a valid quasi-experimental design for measuring the impact.

The project also seeks to curb environmental hazards resulting from cocoa farming. How much has current farming methods spoiled the environment? 

The debate on how cocoa both contributes to and prevents environmental problems has been underway for some time.  On the one hand, the clearing of forest land to plant cocoa and the use of agro-chemicals and fertilizers for cocoa production have been seen as detrimental; the integration of trees and other crops in modern cocoa and improved agriculture and soil conservation practices has been seen as positive. 

Modern cocoa cultivation depends now on a more educated farmer that has adopted good agriculture practices.  These include the safe handling and proper application of chemicals and fertilizers.  These also include protection of the cocoa crop by planting shade trees and other crops like plantains and fruit trees.  When well established and maintained, cocoa can be a very positive contribution to a healthy environment.

The initiative also mentions increasing biodiversity and crop diversification. Isn’t this a way of ensuring that farmers don’t entirely concentrate on cocoa, and so by growing say plantains and coco-yams alongside, they have a ready source of food? In other words, isn’t this a tacit way of them subsidizing cocoa? Why not enable them maximize only cocoa production and bargain for higher prices?

This relates in part to the question above.  All of the cocoa in Africa is produced by small family farms.  In its origins a century ago, cocoa was produced in a mix of plantations and small holdings.   Today the plantations no longer exist.  This is due in part for the need to farmers to produce other crops, both for family need and for the market at different times in the agricultural calendar.   This spreads their earnings from selling produce over the whole year and helps with their food security in the family. 

As emphasized above, modern cocoa production depends on an integrated system with other timber and fruit trees and food crops being incorporated into a cocoa landscape.  This maximizes the use of the land and the incomes for farmers.  But it also reduces the risk on producing only one crop or the risk to the environment.

Higher cocoa prices are now linked to the quality of the post-harvest handling of cocoa. Farmers can receive a premium price when they insure that the cocoa beans are properly cleaned, fermented and dried. Teaching the steps to good quality handling is now an important aspect of assisting farmers in attaining better prices.   There are no longer good scientific reasons to promote plantation farming of cocoa.

Douala Tittering On the Brink of Ethnic Chaos


Douala Tittering On the Brink of Ethnic Chaos
Wednesday, January 04, 2012
By Divine Ntaryike Jr

Cameroon’s largest city Douala is witnessing an uneasy calm following frenzied and fatal skirmishes Tuesday pitting predominantly Bamileke motorbike taxi riders (otherwise called “benskins”) and natives of the Deido Canton.

Local gendarmes have confirmed the riots culminated in the killing of at least two persons.  Several persons were hospitalized with injuries ranging from knocked off teeth and severe burns to fractures.  Vastly deployed anti-riot forces teargased demonstrators all day to enforce the currently shaky calm.

The raging hostilities exploded Monday night after yet-to-be identified vandals torched three houses and set ablaze scores of bikes in the Deido vicinage.  The perpetrators were ostensiblystriking back following a decision by Deido youths to bar the circulation of motorbike taxis in the neighborhood chiefly populated by Douala natives.

The currently protracting rancor between the riders and indigenes erupted on New Year’s Eve when Eric Mony, a Deido native was allegedly stabbed to death by motorbike riders who transported him to his abode after he went nightclubbing.  The killing prompted acts of retaliation by irate Deido natives who indiscriminately pounced on all riders; seizing and burning their bikes as well as banning their circulation in the neighborhood. 

Tuesday’s confrontations were thus a natural elongation of the December 31 hostilities as the city’s taxi riders unanimously teamed up to denounce what they rated the “arrogance” of the Deidos and the laxity of local administrative authorities.

Governor Francis Fai Yengo, flanked by collaborators led a hastily-arranged troubleshooting venture to the canton where closed doors discussions obviously failed to chill flaring tempers.  “We agreed that a truce should be observed to allow time for the authorities to better seek ways of resolving the problem,” Deido Canton Paramount Chief, Gustave Essaka Ekwalla explained.  But his close aides hinted that it would be hard to implement the ceasefire.

“Motorbike taxi riders in Bepanda, Village, Makea and other parts of the city are mobilizing.  Deido youths are mobilizing and from every indication, there will be trouble tonight.  The governor’s instructions to police to disperse crowds of more than five persons are useless.  The only way to prevent further bloodshed is for the entire city to be placed under a state of emergency,” Robert Ekwalla, a Deido native noted.

By nightfall Tuesday, Deido youths, armed with clubs and machetes had again erected barricades on roads in the area to keep out the riders. Meantime, water cannons [otherwise known as “MamiWata”] and combat-ready troops were ubiquitous. 

Tuesday’s riots considerably snail-paced activities across the city.  Panic-stricken pupils and students missed the first day of classes as schools resumed for the second term, traders and workers stayed indoors, traffic flow came to a standstill and shops remained closed for the day.

Despite the massive troop deployment, he authorities are keeping their fingers crossed as risks of further violence remained sky high late Tuesday amid budding insinuation that politicians were gearing up to take advantage of the fray to reap political capital.

Jean Jacques Ekindi of the MP, Fritz Ngo of the MEC, Dooh Collins and Francoise Foning of the ruling CPDM were all spotted cajoling the rioters.  “I am asking the authorities to ensure that politicians are kept away because they are the ones who may come to infuriate the protesters or push them into the streets for their personal interests,” Tonye Fonguimo warned.

Boko Haram Hideout Uncovered in Northern Cameroon!


Boko Haram Hideout Uncovered in Northern Cameroon!
Wednesday, January 04, 2012
By Divine Ntaryike Jr
On New Year’s Eve, the Nigerian government temporarily shut down its land boundaries with Cameroon, Chad and Niger as a means of impeding crossborder activities by militants of the radical Islamic terrorist group, the Boko Haram.

And while the impacts of that decision are only beginning to be felt in Cameroon’s predominantly Muslim northern regions, with reports of rising fuel prices and stranded traders, authorities there are almost certain they have blown the cover on a Boko Haram refuge.

Reports indicate that members of the extremist group are increasingly present in Lagdo, a cosmopolitan settlement in the North Region, following calls for vigilance by local administrative authorities in the regional headquarters Garoua. 

“They are easily identifiable with their bizarre dressing.  They wear long beards and red or black headscarves,” Peter Kum, a reporter with the French language daily, La Nouvelle Expression reported Tuesday, January 3.  According to him, since several months Lagdo locals have testified that the strangers are combing surrounding villages and actively preaching anti-Western sermons, establishing units and proposing huge amounts of money to those willing to follow them.

Presiding at a December 15 security coordination conclave devoted to maintaining peace and order before, during and after the 2011 end-of-year festive period, the Governor of the North Region, El HadjGambo Haman did not mince words.  He instructed security forces to be on the alert, noting the increasing influx and presence of Boko Haram militants in parts of the region.

“The Boko Haram being chased from Nigeria’s northeast, as well as thousands of runaway Chadian soldiers in irregular situation here must be closely monitored to avoid unwanted trouble throughout the national territory,” he warned.  Separate sources suspect that the presence of the extremist Boko Haram militants has soared steadily following increasing clampdowns on them by the Nigerian government especially following the Christmas Day blasts that left close to fifty dead.

Security sources and administrative officials in the North Region, speaking on condition of anonymity, say for the time being, there is no need to panic.  They are claiming that intensified intelligence monitoring implies the activities of the terrorists are under control.  “We cannot begin to arrest suspects because the law does not allow for that.  At the moment, they are not breaking the law,” one said.

Following the fatal Christmas Day attacks in Nigeria claimed by the group, authorities in Cameroon’s Far North Region, which also shares porous borders with Nigeria, have also reinforced surveillance.  Several Quran learning centers have been reportedly shut down, while Islam teachers are being closely watched by intelligence operatives.  Many of them are grumbling following several interrogations they have been put through.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

New Investment to Lift Cotton Transformation Ceiling


New Investment to Lift Cotton Transformation Ceiling







Monday, December 05, 2011





By Divine Ntaryike Jr

The Cameroon government is touting fresh investments in the cotton transformation sector as a likely output and value-added export stimulus in the coming years.  The ongoing government chest-pounding follows the fertile conclusion of a US$ 2million loan deal last  November in the industrial hub, Douala.

The Development Bank of Central African States [BDEAC] and the Societe Generale de Banques de Cameroun, a French commercial bank subsidiary agreed to respectively disburse US$ 1,4 million [700 million FCFA] and US$ 600,000 [300 million FCFA] in loans to the private venture hatched by SITRACO [Cotton Industrial Transformation Company]. 

"At the moment, local processing of cotton is about 5 percent, with the remaining 95 percent exported. The ultimate goal of this initiative is to raise the level of local processing to at least 40 percent and also reduce raw exports," Martin Yankwa, an inspector in the Ministry of Industries, Mines and Technological Development explained. 

Cameroon’s feeble textiles industry has been dominated by CICAM [Cotton Industry of Cameroon] since 1965.  Skimpy internal demand, weak adoption of modern technology, unfair completion and dumping have discouraged investment for local transformation.  In fact, cotton production has slumped by about 50 percent over the last five years from 306,000 tons during the 2004/05 season to 161,000 tons in 2010.

The loan pact heralds hope for the over 200,000 growers scattered across the main production hubs in the country’s northern parts.  They are bound by regulations to exclusively sell their harvests to the Cotton Development Corporation, SODECOTON, which provides them inputs among others in return.  But the 200 FCFA per kilogram offered them by the state-run corporation has fuelled smuggling of harvests to neighboring Nigeria where rates are far higher.

SODECOTON’s agricultural production director, Ibrahim Ngamie, says during the 2010/11 harvest season, SODECOTON incurred losses of over 14 billion FCFA [about US$ 31 million] as a result of trafficking of some 25,000 tons to Nigeria.  With this year’s harvests beginning, Nigerian traffickers are said to be invading the growing areas once again.  The Governor of the North Region, Gambo Haman has warned that smugglers will be ranked in the same league as highway robbers and dealt with as such.

Meantime, SITRACO intends to flag off operations at its Douala factory in the course of 2012.  General Manager, Robert Kemajou says the total cost of the project stands around 5 billion CFA francs ($10.4 million) at least.  The company will reel off rolls of cotton ready for consumption by the textiles industry, as well as engage in the fabrication of medical supplies. 

Apart from its use in the fabrics industry, western medicine employs cotton for dressings, bandages, swabs and wool.  Scientists say cotton’s role is fast-evolving.  Its roots and seeds contain compounds that bear the potential for treating cancer and HIV.  Elsewhere, cotton seeds have been proven to be high protein sources.  Cotton is also being developed for use in cleaning up oil spills, for electrical conductivity purposes, erosion control and packing material among others.

Addressing a Central Africa Cotton Business Forum in the capital Yaoundé last February, US Ambassador to Cameroon, Robert P Jackson preached the benefits of Cameroon introducing biotechnology in cotton growing.  According to him, embracing biotech will increase production and enable farmers reap advantage from record-high world market prices.

 India introduced the technology in 2002 and saw production double in 2008, he added.  A formal government reaction to the recommendation is still awaited. Cameroon’s cotton output has not only stagnated, but slumped considerably over the years.  

Cameroon Government Kick-starts Boko Haram


Cameroon Government Kick-starts Boko Haram Clampdown
Monday, December 05, 2011
By Divine Ntaryike Jr

In recent months, Muslim clerics have recurrently presumed the snowballing presence across Cameroon of members of Nigeria’s militant Islamic sect, the Boko Haram.  In August for example, Sheikh Ibrahim Mbombo Mubarak, a Douala-based Imam warned that the Central African nation no longer served only as a sanctuary for fugitives of the extremist movement, but was fast becoming a station for enrolling converts.

Ostensibly, the chimes of those alarm bells are finally netting government attention. Authorities in the country’s largest metropolis, Douala, have kicked off consultations with Muslim clerics and community leaders aimed at elaborating a blueprint to fend off the inbound fundamentalists.  The kick-starter session, to be replicated nationwide held in late November under the auspices of Bernard Okalia Bilai, senior divisional officer for the Wouri Division headquartered in Douala.

“We have been informed of attempts of  Boko Haram infiltration.  Their doctrine is anti-social as it condemns western education.  It’s a doctrine that persuades young graduates to rip their degrees because it’s satanic.  It’s a doctrine that condemns what today constitutes the values of our society and top authorities of the country don’t accept that such hateful dogma is established in our communities, and thus the necessity of this meeting.  We must be vigilant,” the administrator expounded, adding that ongoing high-level deliberations are contemplating how to best stave off the infiltration. 

Boko Haram is a term coined from Hausa to symbolize radical opposition to Western education.  It is believed the movement was hatched between 2000 and 2003 in Nigeria, as the Committee of Islamic Youth.  Its initial goal was to counter Christianity.  Before long, it metamorphosed into Boko Haram. The radical religious group has been accused of, or claimed responsibility for a spate of savage assaults in recent years in Nigeria.  Essentially, militants target and kill Christians, police, politicians, local government officials as well as blow up government institutions.

In July 2009, sectarian clashes pitting Boko Haram and Christians in Nigeria’s Borno State, which shares borders with Cameroon, left over 800 people dead within days.  The Nigerian police and army launched an offensive that culminated in the killing of the group leader, Mohammed Yusuf, alongside several high profile aides.

The crackdown triggered the escape of some of the group members to neighboring Cameroon, Chad and Niger.  Sheik Mubarak says after initially seeking refuge in Cameroon’s predominantly Muslim northern regions, which share porous borders with Nigeria, the runaway militants have steadily infiltrated Muslim communities elsewhere across the country and are hosted unwittingly or knowingly by some hard-line Cameroonian Muslim leaders who even allow them preach extremist ideologies in their mosques.

“Boko Haram militants are experts in camouflage.  Don’t wait to see them with or without long beards.  They use all possible means to circulate.  The most important thing is to be able to decode their messages, which they are spreading with CDs.  And that’s going on in mosques, within Muslim communities and among religious leaders, some of whom are providing protection for them because they pass for Muslim brothers and so cannot be denounced,” Mubarak asserted. 

Mubarak has also alleged that some prominent members of the group, including Mohammad Nour and Mohamed Kahirou are Cameroonians who actually grew up in Douala and have since returned following the ongoing crackdown against the sect in Nigeria.  He says they are the main purveyors of the Boko Haram philosophy in Cameroon. 

Meantime, the Conference of Imams of Cameroon has equally expressed concern over the potential danger posed by the swelling presence of Boko Haram militants in the country.   Legislation on religious freedom is loose and worship houses are freely sprouting at alarming rates.  The Conference has warned that with Cameroonian Muslims witnessing doctrinal disputes and an increasingly moribund economy, recruiting Boko Haram followers across the country, with over half of its 20 million inhabitants toiling below the poverty line will be quite easy, as obtained in Nigeria when the group was first hatched.

Several Nigerian newspaper reports have hinted that police interrogations of captured Boko Haram members have revealed that the group procures weapons [including rocket launchers and AK47s] from unnamed sources in Cameroon and Chad.  Some of the reports also indicate the group has been considering the possibility of using Niger, Chad or Cameroon as a logistics base from where operations, targeting its critics and government institutions in Nigeria, can be launched.

In June this year, the Shehu of Borno State accused aliens from Chad and Cameroon of masterminding Boko Haram attacks that left several people dead.  A month later, 36 nationals including Chadians and Cameroonians were identified among those killed in a gun battle between police and suspected Boko Haram activists. Earlier this month, 43 Cameroonians, suspected of belonging to the group were expelled to Cameroon

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Cameroon Serving As Hideout For Nigeria’s Boko Haram – Cleric


Cameroon Serving As Hideout For Nigeria’s Boko Haram – Cleric
Ntaryike Divine Jr
Douala, Cameroon
14 August 2011

Cameroon no longer serves merely as a refuge for members of Nigeria’s
radical Boko Haram Islamic sect, but has become a base for enrolling
converts, a Muslim cleric in the C. African nation has warned.

“I make this claim based on clear indicators.  The administration has
been served several indices which have confirmed that these people are
in Cameroon and are even propagating their doctrine in various chapels
and mosques.  There are other indicators like CDs which carry their
ideology and are being distributed across the national territory,”
Sheik Ibrahim Mbombo Mubarak told AP in an exclusive interview in
Cameroon’s largest city, Douala.
                                  
Boko Haram is a term coined from Hausa to denote radical opposition to
Western education.  The extremist religious group has been accused of,
or claimed responsibility for a spate of savage assaults in recent
years in northeastern Nigeria.  Essentially, it has targeted and
killed Christians, police, politicians, local government officials as
well as blown up government institutions.

In July 2009, sectarian clashes pitting Boko Haram and Christians in
Nigeria’s Borno State which shares borders with Cameroon left over
eight hundred people dead within days.  The Nigerian police and army
launched an offensive that culminated in the killing of the group
leader, Mohammed Yusuf alongside several high profile aides.

The crackdown triggered the escape of some of the group members to
neighboring Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

Sheik Mubarak says initially, the fugitives sought refuge in
Cameroon’s predominantly Muslim northern regions which share porous
borders with Nigeria.  But steadily, they have been infiltrating
Muslim communities elsewhere across the country where they are lodged
naively or knowingly by some extremist Cameroonian Muslim leaders who
even allow them preach in their mosques.

“The No. 2 and No. 3 strongmen of the sect [Mohammad Nour and Mohammed
Kahirou] are from Cameroon and precisely, are people who actually grew
up in Douala.  So they came back when they were chased from Nigeria
and have been spreading their recordings and ideology.  Cameroon is a
favorable ground for the Boko Haram sect because there’s a sort of
laxity regarding freedom of worship.  Religions are practiced without
any authorization and that’s how these extremist movements are gaining
grounds in Cameroon,” he noted.

The Conference of Imams of Cameroon says it has alerted the government
of the potential menace to public order posed by the swelling presence
of Boko Haram members in the country.  Ostensibly, no formal action
has been taken.  Sheik Mubarak says the sect members quickly leave
town or lie low whenever their cover is blown, only to reemerge
elsewhere and continue spreading their dogma.

“You cannot wait to see a thief in thief’s clothing before you act,
uniforms for thieves don’t exist.  So their ideology should be tracked
by those capable of detecting indicators.  After Al Zarawi took over
the command of al-Qaida, Boko Haram signed an agreement with AQMI
–al-Qaida’s armed branch in Africa for its agents to get military
training.  Boko Haram is not only a sect with ideological differences,
but has military and strategic training and is ready to act and for
that reason, we remain under threat,” he warns.

Several Nigerian newspaper reports have hinted that police
interrogations of captured Boko Haram members have revealed that the
group procures weapons [including rocket launchers and AK47s] from
unnamed sources in Cameroon and Chad.  Some of the reports also
indicate the group has been considering the possibility of using
Niger, Chad or Cameroon as a logistics base from where operations,
targeting its critics and government institutions in Nigeria can be
launched.

In June this year, the Shehu of Borno State accused aliens from Chad
and Cameroon of masterminding of Boko Haram attacks that left several
people dead.  A month later, 36 nationals including Chadians and
Cameroonians were identified among those killed in a gun battle
between police and suspected Boko Haram activists.  Earlier this
month, 43 Cameroonians, suspected of belonging to the group were
expelled.

Sheik Mubarak says with the growing offensive against the group in
Nigeria, it could simply change nomenclature and begin active
operations under another name in Cameroon.  “It’s a movement which
initially was created in Nigeria in 2000-2003 under a different name.
It was called the Committee of Islamic Youth and at the onset, it its
goal was to fight Christianity.  Then it metamorphosed into Boko
Haram.  That is ‘prohibition of Western education, administrative
institutions and all that is pro-West.’”

The prelate adds that with Cameroonian Muslims witnessing doctrinal
disputes and an increasingly moribund economy, recruiting Boko Haram
followers across the country, with over half of its 20 million
inhabitants toiling below the poverty line will be quite easy, as
obtained in Nigeria when the group was first hatched.