Is Boko Haram a Grand North conspiracy or armed rebellion?

According to the French website Mediapart, Boko Haram could be a conspiracy by Northern elite to destabilize the country. But the famous discussion forum, Grande Palabre has debunked this hypothesis, arguing that Boko Haram may just be the first phase of a bigger armed rebellion that is taking route in the Far North of Cameroon.

“Boko Haram is pointer to a big rebellion that is finding its route in Cameroon.” This is the reading that political analyst and civil society activist, Eric Mathias Owona Nguini makes of the Boko Haram phenomenon.

He was speaking on 28 August 2014, in Yaounde, at a roundtable organized by the discussion forum, Grande Palabre.

Taking a look at Boko Haram from a politico-strategic and historical standpoint, Dr. Owona Nguini recalled that before the advent of Boko Haram the Northern parts of Cameroon, especially the Far North region had been a heaven for activities orchestrated by armed groups that were generally referred to as coupeurs des routes. He said the coupeurs des routes razed terror in that part of Cameroon for about 30 years before it was curbed by government forces in the early 2000s.

As for Boko Haram, Owona Nguini contends that it constitutes a socio-anthropological and political threat which emanate from the complex sociological structure of Cameroon and which stifles national cohesion and consensus in the country.

The University Don debunked the belief held by some commentators that Boko Haram is a conspiracy planned and sponsored by Northern elite. “I don’t see any conspiracy by Northerners in Boko Haram,” Owona said, noting that with its complex sociological make-up it is difficult for one section of Cameroon to rise up against another. Dr. Owona landed at the conclusion that Boko Haram may just be the beginning of a general rebellion in Cameroon and pointed out that such rebellions are not uncommon in Africa.

“There is a war that is finding its route in Cameroon,” Prof. Mathias Owona Nguini said with discernible conviction.

Other analysts and commentators differ with Owona Nguini when they argue that Boko Haram is not an armed rebellion.

“Boko Haram is not an insurrection. Those who think it is should show us where Boko Haram is found,” said Ekani Anicet, a political leader, who went further that “if some persons have planned an insurrection they should tell Cameroonians.”

To the reputed investigative journalist, Denis Kwebo, Boko Haram could truly be an armed uprising in gestation. But he dismissed speculations that the insurgency is the handwork of Northern elite alone. To buttress his point, Kwebo recalled how after a bank raid by Boko Haram in Nigeria some of the architects that were arrested were found to be Ibos from the Eastern regions of Nigeria.

The dismissal of the hypothesis of a northern conspiracy contradicts vividly with the position held by French journalist Fanny Pigeaud, author of the article “Cameroon, Paul Biya, après plus de trente ans de regne, est confronter a une rébellion armée” that was published on the French website Mediapart last week. Le Jour newspaper carried the article in their edition of Thursday 28 August 2014, with the caption: “Boko Haram. La these du complot nordiste”.

In her write up, Fanny Pigeaud said “as to the initiators and sponsors of Boko Haram they can be found among politicians of the Grand North and among members of the party in power. She cited the name of Marafa Hamidou Yaya as a principal suspect. In a rejoinder to Fanny Pigeaud article, Marafa’s wife has debunked the claims against her husband as baseless and false. She recalled the several letters her husband has written to President Biya urging him to take urgent steps to check Boko Haram before their activities assume a wider dimension.

Fanny Pigeaud notes in her article that the Far North of Cameroon is a fertile ground and heaven for armed groups. “Because of abject poverty and unemployment of the populations, it is easy to recruit youths in the Northern parts of Cameroon with just a few francs cfa. 40% of the population here live below the poverty line (with less than 500 frs CFA a day) and they feel abandoned by the powers that be in Yaounde.

To further buttress her point the French journalist, who also writes for Jeune Afrique magazine, quoted National Assembly speaker, Cavaye Yeguei Djibril as affirming sometime ago that “Boko Haram has accomplices in Cameron….And some of them are among us and pretending to support the powers that be…”