Attacks in the Far North region of Cameroon perpetrated by the Islamist armed group Boko Haram have increased, with the recent killing of almost 80 civilians and the looting hundreds of home. As reported by the Human Rights Watch, since mid-December, there have been five attacks in the towns and villages of Blabline, Darak, Gouzoudou, and Mozogo in the Far North region. 

One of the deadliest recent attacks was in Mozogo where 14 civilians, including eight children, were killed and three others, including two children, have been wounded by about 100 Boko Haram fighters. The armed men entered the town of Mozogo breaking into private properties and looting homes while shooting at residents. In the meanwhile, a female suicide bomber infiltrated a group of civilians and detonated her explosive. Following this attack, hundreds of people fled Mozogo to nearby villages while the 300 people who remained slept outside for months. Similarly, 27 people were killed and 12 others were kidnapped during the Darak attack, an island on Lake Chad. While the village of Blabline saw two attacks in a few days where Boko Haram fighters fired at people as they fled, killing two, and looting homes, bicycles, food, telephones, clothes, and other items.

As a result, civilians are suffering from terrorist attacks and from human rights violations leading to a humanitarian crisis that has forced over 322,000 people to flee from their homes, including 12,500 from December. However, the deployment of the Cameroonian military forces is too thin to repel the Boko Haram attacks and the humanitarian organizations find it difficult to deliver assistance given the absence of security in too many areas. 

Thus, Cameroon’s international partners should push for accountability for human rights violations and work to strengthen the civilian component of the Multinational Joint Task Force established by the African Union in 2015, which is made up of troops from Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria, to respond to Boko Haram attacks across the LakeChad basin. 

To know more, please read: 

https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/04/05/cameroon-boko-haram-attacks-escalate-far-north

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/boko-haram-attack-kills-14-in-northern-cameroon/2103351

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/1/8/armed-attack-kills-several-in-northern-cameroon

https://www.hrw.org/africa/cameroon

Author: Eleonora Gonnelli; Editor: Benedetta Spizzichino