For years, populations in northern Cameroon have had to live with bandits and the impact of banditry on economic activities, transport and ordinary people’s lives. Authorities have taken measures in recent years that appear to have reduced banditry, however the area is still prone to attacks, some of them fatal.
In the past six months, armed bandits killed at least six persons, including two soldiers, and wounded many others in the Far North, Cameroon’s northernmost province, according to a gendarme.
They also stole 10 vehicles and robbed traders of dozens of millions of CFA francs. In neighbouring Northern Province, seven persons suffered bullet wounds. Two people, including a gendarme, died and many heads of cattle were stolen in Adamoua, just south of Northern Province.
“The situation is very critical, if not worrying, but it should be said that (banditry) is on the decline because the authorities are determined to fight it by all means,” an army officer in Adamoua’s administrative centre, Ngaoundere, a town of about 160 000 inhabitants, 622 km north of the national capital, said Yaounde.
There are a number of signs that the government has stepped up its campaign against the ‘jaagina’ (‘people who mask their faces so as not to be recognised’)as the bandits are called in Fulfulde, the language most widely spoken in Cameroon’s far north).
Military escorts, air patrols help reduce banditry
Members of the security forces have been escorting public transport vehicles. The army regularly conducts search operations in the hope of catching the bandits and sometimes soldiers drive around in civilian cars or lay ambushes along roads where attacks are frequent. The air force carries out patrols above high-risk roads, and military outposts have been set up in some villages.
The incidence of banditry in the north led to the creation in 1999 of a Light Intervention Batallion, which was dissolved and replaced in July 2001 by the Bataillon d’intervention rapide (BIR – Rapid intervention Batallion) based in Maroua, capital of Far North Province.
Reliable sources said the BIR, which received counterinsurgency training, was asked to spare no means to safeguard the lives of area residents and was given a mandate to shoot first during operations against the bandits. However, the main emphasis was on prevention, they said.
“Since BIR units started constantly patrolling the areas often attacked by bandits, the attacks have gone down,” said Lele Lafrique, prefect of the department of Vina, in the capital Ngaoundere. Military sources while acknowledging signs of encouragement admitted that the authorities still had a long way to go to eliminate banditry altogether.
The bandits include army deserters, fugitives from justice and members of militias formed by traditional rulers. They move around in bands of five to 15 members who generally speak the same language, usually Haoussa, Fulfulde or Arabic, spoken in neighbouring areas in Chad and Nigeria, and across Lake Chad in Niger.
Military sources said more than 15 bandits had been killed this year, while 55 had been arrested. Three gangs were dismantled and about 100 weapons recovered, including some 40 hunting rifles and weapons of war. The BIR has also recovered more than 100 head of cattle in commando raids and handed them back to their owners.
“The phenomenon has also become marginal in our province because some people have seen the advantage of having an airport and a major train station here,” a professional in Garoua, Northern Province, told IRIN. “Wealthier people use those means of transport, which evidently reduces the risk of attacks.”
Wealthy businessmen make attractive targets
However, some still use the road, he said, adding that the bandits’ main victims were traders and cattlemen who travelled with millions of CFA francs in their pockets. This was confirmed by an officer of the gendarmerie.
“We are in a region where people easily move around with 10-million CFA francs (about $15 600) on their persons in buses or trucks,” he said.
“Many traders who go to remote areas or neighbouring countries to buy or sell goods know that the security forces are ready to escort them whenever they ask. However, they seem to place more faith in marabouts, whom they ask for magic potions to protect them.”
Such measures are of little use against well-organised bands that lay their ambushes after receiving information on their prospective targets. The bandits usually set up roadblocks or shoot at vehicles’ tyres forcing them to stop. They strip passengers of their valuables and then make off, often taking routes that are hard to follow, according to the gendarme.
“They know the people they are going to attack perfectly well and they know their movements,” the gendarme said. “They usually attack on major market days or on paydays” and especially during the dry season.
“They fear that their tracks can be easily found during the wet season,” explained an officer of the judicial police, who claimed – like many other people in the region – that the brigands enjoyed the complicity of unscrupulous businessmen and some greedy traditional chiefs shielded by administrative authorities.
State radio recently reported that a village chief in Adamoua Province had been caught “red handed” and was detained at the military jail in Garoua pending the completion of his trial. Sources in the area said such chiefs provided transport and weapons for the bandits in exchange for part of their booty. They also said some chiefs even encouraged their children and other relatives to become brigands.
“It’s high treason, especially when people know we are assistants to the administration and it’s our duty to help the authorities fight plagues that block development,” said a traditional chief. “The guilty ones must be severely punished.”
Effect on trade and tourism
Banditry has had a disastrous effect in the north. In addition to creating a climate of insecurity, it also hampers economic activity, to the detriment of the people of the area.
Toubourou Market, located at a point where the borders of Cameroon, Chad and Central African Republic meet, was closed for a long time because of the activities of the brigands. Activities at the Ngaoui Market in the nearby department of Mbere also slowed down because of attacks by bandits on traders. Unemployment has also been on the rise.
“In addition to communication difficulties and infrastructural problems, the insecurity created by the bandits has dealt a considerable blow to the development of tourism in Adamoua,” saod Yaya Robert, provincial delegate for tourism in Ngaoundere.
Visitors to the region usually come from Western Europe, the United States and other Central African countries. “The tourists are very well informed on the destinations they target,” Yaya said. “You can imagine how many of them desist because they learn that criminals operate here.” However, he was happy about the measures the state had taken to protect people and property in the region. The establishment of the BIR, he said, was gradually bringing tourists back to Adamoua and hotel occupancy had gone up. From 12 679 tourists in 1999/2000 there were 13 595 in 2000/2001. By May 2002, 12 700 arrivals had been registered, which meant that the number should exceed 14 000 by the end of the year, Yaya said.
Some people were still worried. “It’s a shaky calm,” said an engineer. People, he added, should cooperate with the authorities and denounce all those who play an active or passive role in the perpetuation of this phenomenon which is rooted in poverty, among other things.
An army officer said he felt banditry could be eliminated altogether if security forces were given substantial resources. “Even though reinforcements have been sent, many feel there is still a staffing problem,” he said. “This need is urgent in sensitive zones and along the borders with Chad, Nigeria and CAR” some of whose nationals have been accused of being involved with the bandits.
Security forces sent to fight banditry should also be given special allowances, the officer said. He added that there was a shortage of communication equipment and suitable vehicles to match the heavy-duty ones the bandits used, especially since the region’s roads were in poor condition.
Cameroon’s newly elected parliamentarians (legislative polls were on 30 June) have promised communities more modern infrastructure but have paid little attention to security in the north. Local authorities, however, are well aware that it remains a major challenge.
“It’s a problem that goes beyond the competence of the municipalities,” said El Hadj Mohaman Toukour, former mayor of Ngaoundere. Local authorities, he said, can do little more than support the military in their actions on the ground.
“It’s a complex and difficult phenomenon,” said the town’s new mayor, Djidji Issa Yaya. “However, we are aware that it worsens the crisis in the region and that we have to help the competent authorities to fight it.” – Irin