7,000 CMR, Chad soldiers on northern border with Nigeria

About 7,000 soldiers from Cameroon and Chad have taken positions on Cameroon’s northern border with Nigeria, ready to combat Boko Haram Islamist extremists but the soldiers are finding cross-border operations difficult due to the fact that the insurgents have planted mines along the border.

Chadian and Cameroonian soldiers chanted songs of war during a joint training session in Fotokol on Cameroon’s northern border with Nigeria’s Borno state, a Boko Haram stronghold.

Chadian soldiers currently organize attacks on Nigerian towns seized by the Islamist group and assist Cameroon in protecting its territory from militants fighting to create an Islamist caliphate from Fotokol town.

Cameroonian-born Captain Beltus Kwene, who is supervising the training session, says it is imperative for forces to know each other in order to form a united front against Boko Haram and also prevent them from penetrating their territory.

In the beginning, Boko Haram fighters gained access to Cameroon’s territory because of the confusion they had identifying Chadian soldiers he says, adding that they nevertheless succeeded in pushing back the insurgents.

The soldiers take turns to protect the bridge on the Elbeid river that separates Fotokol from Gambarou, Nigeria. Boko Haram fighters occupied the town for several months before Chadian soldiers chased them out early last month.

Thousands died, the soldiers say. Richard Ti, a Cameroonian soldier who was part of the operation to save Gambarou from the insurgents, says they were able to avoid killing civilians because they found ways to identify the Boko Haram fighters.

“They have a peculiar way of dressing and they always move in a group armed with rockets and machine guns,” he explained. “The population here collaborated with us so whenever there is an enemy in the quarter, they quickly alert us.”

Troops are also stationed at the Cameroonian village of Kerawa, which derives its name from the Kerawa mountain on the Nigerian side of the border. Chadian Army Captain Azize Abdouramann told VOA that Boko Haram fighters are trained on the mountain.

He says they hear gunshots when the militants are training and that they have a mosque where they pray before and after training and fighting. He adds that there is a special military post there for Boko Haram leaders.

According to Captain Ibrahim Njanko of the Cameroon military, Boko Haram fighters seem not to be disturbed by the huge presence of Chadian and Cameroonian troops at the border area.

He says the insurgents came through the mountain to target Kolofata, which hosts one of their main bases.

“When they decided to launch an attack Kolofata, they gathered all their resources, all their tanks, all their machine guns and everything because they know this town is the headquarters,” the captain said.

“Nobody can quite determine the day, the date and the hour they will attack because they always launch surprise attacks.”

Njanko says the insurgents have put up stiff resistance, they have developed new strategies and are now planting mines.

“Now what they do is that, they put explosives on the road. They know that when the car passes on these explosives it will blown up killing some of the soldiers, so they have adopted this land mines approach as their new strategy,” he noted.

“Even the day they attacked Kolofata, their explosives were between Kerewa and us. Another one was between Amchide and our camp. They pressumed that army friends who may come to help us will definitly pass on the explosives and will be destroyed.”

Eight Cameroonian soldiers died in February when a mine exploded between Kolofata and Kerewa. One soldier Elvis Medumbe says that has not frightened him against combating Boko Haram.

“We are waiting for them right now to see what they will do but we know that we are ready in any situation,” he said confidently. “We are alway ready. The government is behind us, they give us every thing we request and so we are ready and prepared to face the Boko Haram. We are confident that we shall defeat them.”

It should however be noted that Cameroon has received training and equipment from the United States and Russia to detect and destroy the mines.