befall the country as neighbouring Nigeria.
The video,
which was posted on January 5, is directly addressed to Cameroon's
President Paul Biya after repeated fighting between militants and troops
in the country's far north.
"Oh
Paul Biya, if you don't stop this, your evil plot, you will taste what
has befallen Nigeria... Your troops cannot do anything to us," Shekau
said in Arabic.
It is first
time Shekau has directly addressed Cameroon and is also the first
admission that Boko Haram has been actively operating in the country.
Boko
Haram fighters had in the past launched attacks on northeastern Nigeria
from bases in Cameroon but recent months have seen an increase in
strikes within the country.
Boko
Haram, which began its violent insurgency in 2009, has taken over
swathes of territory in three northeastern Nigerian states, and declared
some towns as part of its Islamic caliphate.
Cameroon's far north has come
increasingly into the group's firing line and on December 28, Yaounde
deployed fighter jets against Boko Haram for the first time.
Biya
personally ordered the air strike after the insurgents crossed the
border and seized a military camp, the government said on December 29.
The aerial bombardment, hailed as a new phase in the counter-insurgency, forced the Islamists to flee, it added.
Cameroon's
president has made a series of strong statements against Boko Haram and
in October last year vowed to go after the group "until it's totally
wiped out".
In May last year, he said that a Paris meeting of Nigeria's neighbours was designed to "declare war on Boko Haram".
But
a key agreement at the summit to set up a regional force has yet to be
implemented, with Cameroon increasingly vocal in its criticisms about
the lack of a coordinated response to Boko Haram.

No comments:
Post a Comment