Boko Haram is hiring, training kids

Thousands have fled the border villages of Amchide, Kerawa and Banki in the Far North Region, following threats from children, aged 11 and below, hired and trained by Boko Haram terrorists, The Post has learnt.

The disclosure was made by the Company Commander of the 42ndMotorised Intervention Unit, BIM, Lt. Edgard Tankam.

Lt. Tankam was speaking to The Post on Sunday, September 28, 2014, in Mora, chief town of the Mayo – Sava Division of the Far North Region, about 30 kilometers from the border with Nigeria.

“The villages are almost empty. The people are running away because of fear. Kerawa and Amchide are still controlled by the Boko Haram,” Lt. Tankam added. “You cannot imagine that those responsible for the violence now are infants. My sister’s three children held the whole family hostage on Thursday.

They had joined Boko Haram and we did not even know. We were all shocked to see them appear with children, in the morning of Thursday, after being missing for about two months. They returned, armed and very violent,” narrated a refugee.

The population of Mora has more than doubled, since the new threats from kids of the Islamic sect. Sources say they carry guns and veil themselves like women. People fleeing from the threats by the Islamic group settle in Mora, Maroua and other neighbouring towns and villages.

“I am very frightened, if not I’d not be here. We feel safer here in Mora,” said a victim, Mahama Maragana.

Maragana is an ICT expert, working at a telecommunications Centre (Tele-Centre Communauté Polyvalent, TCP) in Amchide. He said the kids are recruited by Boko Haram from Islamic schools in the villages and trained in bushes.

“Many people in these localities are poor. The terrorists give children money and encourage them to join the group. Children who are not willing to shoot are killed,” lamented Maragana.

Maragana said he ran away with his wife and five children, but still returns to Amchide occasionally with the help of security forces to maintain the TCP equipment.

He said a Boko Haram attack, earlier this year, which resulted in the kidnapping of some 10 Chinese in the area, was carried out mainly by the kids.

He also said some of them, mostly Cameroonians, were involved in the Kolofata raid in which the wife of Cameroon’s Vice Prime Minister was abducted.

Meanwhile, Lt. Tankam corroborated the point that Cameroonians are part of Boko Haram and that the root cause is poverty. He also said most Cameroonians, because of fear, are accomplices to Boko Haram.

The entire Far North Region has been placed under a curfew by administrative authorities. The use of motorbikes and taxis are prohibited after 6.00pm and 8.00pm, respectively, as a measure to curb insecurity.

Over 600 refugees from Nigeria were registered in Mora alone on September 29 by officials of the United Nations Refugee Agency, UNHCR. The refugees recount that the situation in Borno State, Nigeria, is deplorable.