Cameroon says it is recruiting 20,000 more defense and security forces to fight Boko Haram following reports that the terrorist group, based in Nigeria, is recruiting young Cameroonians to fight for them.

Senator Haman Paul, who hails from northern Cameroon, told VOA about Boko Haram’s recruitment of young Cameroonians to fight for the creation of an Islamist caliphate in northern Nigeria.

“That was something that we witnessed in Maroua (in Northern Cameroon). People told us actually that they found people in town that were not actually people that they were used to. Listen when you (the government of Cameroon) find that one part of the country is in a very delicate situation, you better manage prevention and facts instead of consequences,” said Paul.

Another lawmaker from northern Cameroon, Sali Dairou, said just last week that Boko Haram seized cattle from Cameroonian ranchers who lived along the border with Nigeria’s Borno and Adamawa states, a stronghold of the militant group.  He said the ranchers have lost thousands of cattle.

Dairou said the militants also killed some of the cattle ranchers, and thousands of their cows went into the wild. He said this was a huge loss and no rancher has the courage to go to the boundary with Nigeria and bring back his remaining cattle.

Cameroon’s Minister of Territorial Administration, Rene Emmanuel Sadi, said the threat posed by Boko Haram has led many people from the border areas to flee.

He said northern Cameroon is the hardest hit as many schools have remained closed and people are abandoning their farms and cattle.

Credit:VOA