Division around Boko Haram continues

During a conference-debate on 28 August, intellectuals were divided on the nature of the attackers. The intervention of politician, Anicet Ebenezer Thursday, August 28, 2014, during a conference-debate on Boko Haram deserved to be relived.

In essence, he asked journalists never to speak of Boko Haram, as there are none in Cameroon. He argues tenaciously that what happens in the far North is neither more nor less than an armed insurrection.

The politician did not want to go further to explain his thinking. On the idea of the insurrection, Denis Kwebo, journalist for the daily Le Jour, Owona Nguini, socio political scientist, shared the same idea. Although Owona Nguini stated that it is not a conspiracy, as it seems to be widespread in various opinions. Socio-political opinion should not think that a part of Cameroon seeks to stand up against another.

Denis Kwebo abounds in this logic and explains that this insurgency can be composed of Cameroonians from all sides. He took an example in Nigeria to support his thought that a rebellion is often heterogeneous. Njoya Moussa was therefore the only one of the panelists to support the idea that it is Boko Haram which leads abuses in northern Cameroon.

But the risk in these positions in time of war is the fear of stigmatizing a part of Cameroonians, shared between the shots of the assailants and critics," explained a bystander at this meeting.

But beyond that, this conference allows one to understand that this subject of Boko Haram is not only sensitive, but also difficult to define. In all cases, Bosco Talla, the Coordinator of the meeting admitted that he had to contact twelve persons, of which only two have agreed to participate in this debate.

Normal, what is happening in the far North escapes to the understanding of many of our compatriots.