Cameroon and the Central African Republic (CAR) have formed an alliance through their defense ministers to address the major crime hub in the scrubby savannah and semi-tropical border areas between the two African countries.
“Armed groups and criminal gangs usually have a free ride along this border,” Emile Sunjo, senior lecturer of international relations and conflict resolution at Cameroon’s University of Buea, told The Epoch Times in an email.
“The porous and unpoliced nature of the border makes it extremely difficult for any serious attempts to ensure security,“ Sunjo said. ”The complex nature of the security threats along the border with rebels and armed gangs mingling with refugees and citizens makes it difficult to properly identify the perpetrators of the insecurity.”
Rameaux-Claude Bireau, CAR minister for national defense and army reconstruction, and Joseph Beti Assomo, Cameroon’s minister delegate to the presidency in charge of defense, said in a joint statement that they’ve agreed to “boost exchanges in the areas of training, intelligence, and the fight against cross-border crime and other types of threats.”
“It is a fight that we are waging against the highwaymen,” Bireau told local reporters. “Cross-border security will be ensured between Cameroon and the Central African Republic. It is a message of hope that I am sending to the people of Cameroon and the Central African Republic.”
But security experts, including Sunjo, have picked holes in their resolve.
“Comparatively, [the] Cameroon–Central African Republic land border distance is relatively shorter and from that standpoint, [insecurity] is feasibly controllable,” Norbert told The Epoch Times in a text.
“However, the ability of both to effectively and sustainably control trans-border insecurity will depend on their commitment to the engagements taken and the degree to which [the] trans-border grassroots population will be assertively associated to the process, [that is] the organization of trans-border grassroots vigilante groups and committees of alert/whistleblowers.”
During the recent cross-border security meeting, the defense ministers of Cameroon and the CAR restated their leaders’ resolve to band together and face growing insecurity along their common border.
“There are already stories of them engaging in criminal activity in cities like Douala using motorbikes. It is difficult to say exactly what the Cameroon government should do, but for starters, the ease with which these Central African rebels and civilians obtain civil status documents could be checked by enforcing a stricter policy on these.”