The UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Cameroon has warned that the security situation in the country is deteriorating at catastrophic rapidity. In a rare public interview she granted the BBC, Najat Rochdi said Boko Haram jihadists continue to attack villages and agro-industrial plants on a daily basis in Cameroon. Najat Rochdi also indicated that the number of displaced Cameroonians has tripled to 190,000, not counting the 60,000 Nigerian refugees and 312,000 Central Africans who have fled violence in their countries.

The UN official stressed that “the impact of the violence is not over”. She made a clarion call on the international community to remain vigilant. For her, Cameroon has eventually become a fertile ground for the recruitment of jihadists. She sounded a note of caution that if humanitarian aid was not channeled to Cameroon, the giant of the Sub-Saharan region may witness a radicalization of its youth population.

The atrocities carried out by the Nigerian Islamic sect, Boko Haram has claimed the lives of at least 20,000 people since 2009. A multinational force from Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Benin and Cameroon, has since last year weakened the group. But attacks from the jihadists are far from over.

Text culled from Cameroon Intelligence Report