Fear of Boko Haram Recruitment in Cameroon

Maroua - Nigeria's extremist Islamist group Boko Haram are believed to be actively recruiting fighters across the border in Cameroon's Far North Region, according to residents and local government officials.

More than 100 suspected Boko Haram fighters and preachers (the latter presumed to have links with the group), have been arrested in the Far North Region since 2012, but many have been released due to lack of evidence, according to a local security official.

"There are many Muslim brothers coming from Nigeria with the aim of preaching to the youths. The government has warned against this practice, but they still reach out to the young people because they make them promises and give them money," said Ibrahim Haman, an Islamic preacher and elder in Mora District in the Far North.

Residents of Mayo-Sava area in Far North Region say that unidentified preachers are secretly reaching out to youths in their locality. Haman pointed out that some youths have managed to escape the sect after being recruited, but many others have not returned.

"Boko Haram is considered here as just another religious group, and it is not difficult to be a member if you want to. Young people from here have been lured into joining Boko Haram," he said.

Military training Seventeen-year-old Mustapha* recounted to IRIN how he was brought back home to Cameroon blindfolded after failing to cope with the insurgents' military training. He had been taken to Nigeria by a preacher.

"I was the youngest among eight other boys who told me they came from the towns of Banki, Kolofata and Ngeshawa (in Cameroon) and Maiduguri (in Nigeria). Before I was taken, they told my father that I would come back rich and a great Muslim, so he allowed me to go. We were reading the Koran and they would preach to us about fighting for the Muslim faith," said Mustapha.

"I went for my second military training in the mountains, but suffered many injuries and I was bedridden for one month," he said, explaining that he was brought back as his injuries ruled him unfit for combat.

A government official in Mora District, however, said that it is difficult to ascertain that Boko Haram is recruiting from Cameroonian border villages. There are similar ethnic communities in Cameroon's Far North and northeastern Nigeria who have family on either side of the border, speak the same language and share a common culture, making undetected cross-border movement easy.