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At least 20 people are reported dead and thousands have fled Cameroonian
villages on the border with Nigeria following a conflict between armed
Nigerian cattle ranchers and Cameroon farmers.
Eyewitnesses say
hundreds of Fulani herdsmen fleeing conflicts in Nigeria's Taraba and
Benue states reacted violently when Cameroon village farmers called for
them to leave the area.
Cameroonian member of parliament Walang Richard tells VOA the Fulani were armed and caught the villages by surprise on Tuesday.
"These
guys are heavily armed. Heavily armed, I repeat. They have burned down
schools, they have burned down houses, they have destroyed crops, it is a
disturbing issue," he said.
The villages involved include Efung, Afu, Gayama and Mayi, situated about 20 kilometers from the nearest military post.
This
is not the first violent incident involving Fulani herdsmen who have
long been embroiled in conflicts over land rights with regional farmers.
In 2012, they raided the village of Baoro. Cameroon’s government
responded by creating a military post in that village.
Walang
says more needs to be done to protect citizens in his district. He also
says the number of dead is probably higher than what the military
initially reported - given that people have been scattered on both sides
of the border.
"They are so many. There are even some we are
looking for and not seeing. They are taking the thing lightly, but we
must secure our border," he said.
Cameroonian soldiers have been
deployed along the country's borders to deal with violent spillovers
from the conflicts in Nigeria and the Central African Republic
source: nairaland
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