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ABSTRACT
In November 2018, the State of Cameroon announced the creation of the National Committee for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (NCDDR) to organise, supervise and manage the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of former Boko Haram fighters and armed groups in the English-speaking North-West and South-West regions. The need arose as communities had been hosting successive waves of former Boko Haram associates. This research focuses on those communities where reintegration routes are either off or upstream the institutional framework set by the government. Based on a field survey and available literature on the current security crisis in the Far-North region of Cameroon, the study describes the profiles of these ex-hostages and ex-combatants that are grouped under the term of ex-associates. Reception conditions as well as the ordalic reintegration mechanisms put in place by the communities’ leaders are also analysed. The challenge of identifying and counting those ex-associates exhaustively and the delay in implementing a coherent national reintegration strategy make it quite illusory to envisage a credible alternative to that still existing community model.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
All authors contributed equally to this article.
1 Onuoha, ‘Dilemma of voluntary surrender to state security forces’.
2 Warner and Lizzo, ‘The Boko Haram Disaggregation Problem and Comparative Profiles of Factional Violence’.
3 Chétima, ‘Comprendre Boko Haram à partir d’une perspective historique, locale et régionale’.
4 Emmanuelar, ‘Insurgency and humanitarian crises in Northern Nigeria’.
5 Agbiboa, ‘Eyes on the street’.
6 Chétima and Abelegué, ‘Laboratories for Violence’.
7 Hansen, ‘The ugly face of the state’.
8 Terretta and Chétima, ‘The US and France backs Cameroon’s reign of terror’.
9 Saibou and Machikou, ‘Reintegrating Former Boko Haram Associates’.
10 See, Saibou and Machikou, ‘Reintegrating Former Boko Haram Associates’; Bobbo, ‘La politique nationale de DDR des ex-combattants de Boko Haram’; Belporo, ‘Building Peace through DDR Programs’.
11 See, for instance, Kassim and Nwankpa, ‘The Boko Haram reader’; Cohen and Lefebvre, ‘Structuration régionale et déterminants ethno-religieux de la violence politique au Nigeria’.
12 Hansen, ‘The ugly face of the state’; Agbiboa, ‘Eyes on the street’.
13 Matfess, Women and the War on Boko Haram.
14 Emmanuelar, ‘Insurgency and humanitarian crises in Northern Nigeria’.
15 Bukarti and Bryson, Dealing with Boko Haram Defectors.
16 Owonikoko, ‘Take them to Government House or Aso Rock’.
17 See, for instance, Ugwueze, Onuoha and Ngwu, ‘Operation Safe Corridor program’; Ike, ‘Rethinking reintegration in Nigeria’; Owonikoko, ‘Amnesty for Boko Haram members’; Onuoha, ‘Dilemma of voluntary surrender to state security forces’; Ebiede, Langer, and Tosun, ‘Disarmament, Demobilisation, and Reintegration’; Clubb and Tapley, ‘Conceptualising de-radicalisation and former combatant re-integration’; Gunaratna and Hussin, Terrorist Deradicalisation in Global Contexts: Success.
18 Saibou and Machikou, ‘Reintegrating Former Boko Haram Associates’
19 L’Œil du Sahel, n°914 of Monday, April 17, 2017.
20 Chétima and Abelegué, ‘Laboratories for Violence’.
21 Foucher and Maman Inoua, ‘Boko Haram dans le Bassin du lac Tchad’.
22 Interview with an ex-associate, Tolkomari, February 10, 2019.
23 Interview with an ex-associate, Gansé, April 27, 2020.
24 Interview with an ex-associate, Ldaoudsaf, May 9, 2020.
25 Saibou and Machikou, ‘Reintegrating Former Boko Haram Associates’.
26 Chétima, ‘Comprendre Boko Haram à partir d’une perspective historique, locale et régionale’.
27 Interview with an ex-associate, Ldamang, May 17, 2020.
28 Interview with the head of the NCDDR Far North center, Mora, December 15, 2021.
29 Ibid.
30 Suarez and Baines, ‘Together at the Heart’.
31 Interview with an ex-associate, Tourou, May 19, 2020.
32 Ike et al., ‘Rethinking reintegration in Nigeria’.
33 Tarela et al., ‘Community Perspectives of Former Terrorist Combatants, Militants’.
34 Focus groups with 6 women from Kolofata, Mora, Kourgui and Gancé, Méri, February 20, 2018.
35 Interview with young people in Tolkomari, February 23, 2018.
36 Matfess, Women and the War on Boko Haram.
37 Interview with His Lamine Seini Boukar, Lamido de Kolofata, October 17, 2020.
38 Interview with an ex-associate, Tolkomari, February 26, 2018.
39 Interview with ex-combatant, Mora, December 13, 2022.
40 Several of them have rented huts in Kolofata, Tolkomari, Gancé and Gouzoudou to try to reintegrate into the community.
41 International Crisis Group, ‘Cameroon’s Far North: A New Chapter in the Fight Against Boko Haram’.
42 Focus group with the young people of Mémé and Mora, October 17, 2020.
43 United Nations Security Council, S/RES/2349, March 31, 2017, para. 29.
44 Decree No. 2018/719 of November 30, 2018, establishing the National Committee for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration.
45 Chétima and Abelegué, ‘Laboratories for Violence’.
46 Ibid.
47 Interview with the head of the NCDDR Far North center, Mora, December 15, 2021.
48 Ashukem, ‘To Give a Dog a Bad Name to Kill It’; Saibou and Machikou, ‘Reintegrating Former Boko Haram Associates’.
49 Perazzone, ‘Reintegrating Former Fighters in the Congo’.
50 Carayannis and Pangburn, ‘Home Is Where the Heart Is’; Tegenbos, Jolien and Vlassenroot, ‘Going home?’.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Melchisedek Chétima
Melchisedek Chétima is a Professor of African history at the University of Québec, Montréal (UQAM).
Mbarkoutou Mahamat
Mbarkoutou Mahamat is an Associate Professor at the department of history, Higher Teacher Training College, University of Maroua.
Gigla Garaktcheme
Gigla Garaktcheme is an Associate professor at the department of history, University of Maroua.