Cameroon, Nigeria Announce Effort to Jointly Fight Separatists

YAOUNDE, CAMEROON - Cameroonian and Nigerian authorities have agreed to jointly fight armed separatists in both countries. The nations' top security and government officials announced the deal during an emergency security meeting that ended Thursday in Nigeria's capital, Abuja. The meeting was convened after Anglophone separatists in Cameroon and the Indigenous People of Biafra in Nigeria said they would join forces to fight for independence.

Babagana Monguno, national security adviser to Nigerian President Mohammadu Buhari, said Thursday secessionist groups are uniting to destabilize Cameroon and Nigeria. The retired major general spoke at the end of the eighth session of the Cameroon-Nigeria transborder meeting in Nigeria's capital, Abuja.     Monguno said the neighboring countries will jointly combat the rebels operating within their borders. "President Muhammadu Buhari reassures you [Cameroon] that Nigeria's territory will never be used by any group of secessionists to destabilize another friendly sovereign country. In addition, we would work closely together to ensure that any real or perceived attempt to form any alliances between secessionist groups in Nigeria and Cameroon are decisively dealt with," Monguno said. Speaking on Cameroonian state radio, CRTV, Monguno said Nigeria will continue to support the efforts of Cameroonian authorities to stop the separatist crisis in Cameroon’s English-speaking western regions. The United Nations says at least 3,000 people have been killed and 550,000 civilians displaced in Cameroon and in Nigeria by the separatist crisis that escalated into an armed conflict in 2017.