Boko Haram ‘expanding into Cameroon’

There are now indications that Boko Haram may expand its terrorist territory into neighbouring Cameroon, with the country’s president, Paul Biya, now appealng for international military help to fight the militant group.

Boko Haram has threatened to step up its cross-border raids into the country from Nigeria.

The group is part of a “global” movement that has attacked Mali, the Central African Republic and Somalia in its drive to establish its authority from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic, Biya said, in a report by Reuters.

“A global threat calls for a global response. Such should be the response of the international community, including the African Union and our regional organizations,” he said in a New Year speech on Thursday to diplomats at the presidential palace.

He said he regretted that a regional military force against the Islamists had yet to be established.

At least 15 people were killed in an attack on a bus in north Cameroon on New Year’s day.

A man purporting to be Boko Haram’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, threatened in a video posted online this week to step up violence in Cameroon unless it scrapped its constitution and embraced Islam. Biya did not comment on the video in his speech.

The country has deployed more troops to its Far North region and has killed hundreds of the Islamist fighters. New laws aimed at stamping out the militants were also helping, Biya said.

“Although weakened by the losses it has suffered, our foe nonetheless remains capable of bouncing back,” he said.

The German government donated 120 all-terrain vehicles to Cameroon’s military in November.