Boko Haram Threatens Cameroon In New Video

Source: pointblanknews.com

(AFP) – Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau has threatened Cameroon in a

video message on YouTube, warning that the same fate would befall the

country as neighbouring Nigeria.
The video, which was posted on January 5, is directly addressed to

Cameroon's President Paul Biya after repeated fighting between militants

and troops in the country's far north.
“Oh Paul Biya, if you don't stop this, your evil plot, you will taste what

has befallen Nigeria… Your troops cannot do anything to us,” Shekau said

in Arabic.
It is first time Shekau has directly addressed Cameroon and is also the

first admission that Boko Haram has been actively operating in the

country.
Boko Haram fighters had in the past launched attacks on northeastern

Nigeria from bases in Cameroon but recent months have seen an increase in

strikes within the country.
Boko Haram, which began its violent insurgency in 2009, has taken over

swathes of territory in three northeastern Nigerian states, and declared

some towns as part of its Islamic caliphate.
Cameroon's far north has come increasingly into the group's firing line

and on December 28, Yaounde deployed fighter jets against Boko Haram for

the first time.
Biya personally ordered the air strike after the insurgents crossed the

border and seized a military camp, the government said on December 29.

The aerial bombardment, hailed as a new phase in the counter-insurgency,

forced the Islamists to flee, it added.
Cameroon's president has made a series of strong statements against Boko

Haram and in October last year vowed to go after the group “until it's

totally wiped out”.
In May last year, he said that a Paris meeting of Nigeria's neighbours was

designed to “declare war on Boko Haram”.
But a key agreement at the summit to set up a regional force has yet to be

implemented, with Cameroon increasingly vocal in its criticisms about the

lack of a coordinated response to Boko Haram.
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