Cameroon sends troop to border with Nigeria after confrontation between separatists & Nigerian herders

The Cameroonian armed forces have deployed soldiers at the border with Nigeria after the borderline was theater of bout between Nigerian sharpers and Cameroonian separatists.

Some 100 soldiers have been sent to the village of Gayama to prevent clashes on the border with Nigeria. At least 12 people have died in the clashes that have been going on for one week. 20 people have reportedly been wounded.

The clashes reportedly erupted after the Nigerian herders crossed into Cameroon with their cattle to search for pasture but refused to pay taxes to the separatists who control swathes of the area.

Many people have fled the area. Abdoulahi Aliou, the highest-ranking government official in Menchum, the administrative unit in charge of Gayama, said the rebels killed two herders immediately upon their refusal to pay.

In reaction, the surviving herders, who are ethnic Fulani from Taraba and Benue states, returned home and organized a counterattack.

The herders, Aliou told media, came back in huge numbers, attacked separatist camps, and killed at least four fighters. Six civilians, including the traditional ruler of Munkep village and his son, were also killed in the clashes. The clashes were not new. Last June, villagers in western Akwaya town said armed men, believed to be separatists, carried out a series of attacks that killed at least 30 people, including five Nigerian merchants.

The separatists have been fighting since 2017 for the independence of English-speaking side of Cameroon.