France re-echoes commitment to fight Boko Haram

The Government of France has reaffirmed its position to fight against the Boko Haram terrorist sect and its zeal to secure better living conditions for Cameroonians living in the areas concerned.

The reaffirmation was made in a press release the French Ambassador to Cameroon, HE Christine Robichon, on September 2 in Yaounde. The release debunks all allegations of France’s conspiracy against Cameroon regarding the war she waged against Boko Haram.

“France condemns, with the greatest strength, the attacks perpetrated by the Boko Haram terrorist movement in the North of Cameroon, border with Nigeria.

France reiterates to Cameroon authorities her solidarity in the fight against terrorism. With respect to Human Rights, she wishes to pay homage to fallen soldiers who lost their lives in the fights against Boko Haram and associates herself to the funerals of families of civil and military victims of terrorism,”, the release reads.

The statement posits that France remains committed at the side of Cameroon, Nigeria, Niger and Chad in the fight against the threat which Boko Haram constitutes to peace and security in Africa, and has as objective to support the efforts of concerned states to reinstate security and assure sustainable development conditions in the affected areas, to the benefit of the populations.

While tacitly refuting claims of some local news reports which hold that France may be a wolf in sheep clothing, the note remarks that the President of the Republic of France, Francois Hollande, did not meet representatives from Cameroon during his last visit to Chad, July 18-19.

Saluting the mobilisation of countries of the region since the Paris Summit of May 17, to come up with a response to the agitations of Boko Haram, notably the setting up of a multinational force as agreed on July 22 by the governments of Cameroon, Nigeria, Niger and Chad, France encourages them to follow their coordinative efforts, notably, on the occasion of the Abuja meeting for security in Nigeria on September 03.

The release was issued a day after Boko Haram launched another attack on the Cameroonian town of Fotokol. According to a report broadcast on CRTV radio, Cameroonian soldiers responded with heavy artillery fire killing 40 members of the sect.

In the course of the fire exchange, two of Boko Haram’s vehicles were destroyed and a Cameroonian soldier wounded by explosives which they threw as they fled back to Nigeria. The wounded soldier is currently receiving treatment in Maroua.