Thousands Protest Boko Haram, Support Army In Cameroon

Thousands of people marched in Cameroon's capital on Saturday to
protest against Nigeria's Boko Haram insurgency and support the
Central African nation's army, which is fighting alongside regional
neighbours to defeat the sect.

The march in Yaounde was aimed at informing the public, especially in
the southern regions, about the threat posed by Boko Haram, which has
carried out regular cross-border raids in the far north, one of the
organisers said.

Yaounde is located in the central region of the country.

"It was important to tell Cameroonians that we are at war and a part
of the country is suffering," said Gubai Gatama, a newspaper editor
who was among the march's organisers. "About 150,000 people have been
displaced by the conflict."

In addition to its own citizens forced to flee the violence, thousands
of refugees have poured into Cameroon from northeastern Nigeria, where
Boko Haram is seeking to carve out an Islamist emirate, Reuters says.

"Some 170 schools in Cameroon's northern region have been closed," Gatama said.

Boko Haram's six-year insurgency in Nigeria has spread to neighbouring
countries, where the group has launched attacks over the past year,
burning villages and kidnapping residents.

The Lake Chad region nations threatened by Boko Haram, Nigeria along
with Cameroon, Niger and Chad, have launched a joint offensive to
quell the rebellion and claim to have retaken territory from group in
recent weeks.

Muhamadou Labara Awal, 27, was among the 5,000 people who organisers
estimated marched on the May 20 boulevard in Yaounde, chanting and
waving the flags of the regional coalition.

"It was important for me to be here because I'm not a soldier to be
deployed to Fotokol. The only way I could pay homage to our troops was
to be here," Awal said, referring to a northern town regularly
targeted by Boko Haram.
--Agency Reporter