Cameroon has border problems
Nigeria and Cameroon have signed a series of agreements to strengthen trade and commerce between the two countries. However, a section of Cameroon’s north-western border with Nigeria was closed by the Nigerian authorities in February in an attempt to block the free passage of the militant Islamist group Boko Haram. The group is waging a campaign of violence in north eastern Nigeria and has reportedly used areas in north-western Cameroon to launch attacks and escape military operations by the Nigerian armed forces. The border closure has interrupted cross-border logistics operations and caused trade between Cameroon and Nigeria to stagnate. Currently, it is unclear when official border crossings will resume normal service, particularly as the Nigerian president has requested that parliament extend the year-long state of emergency in north eastern Nigeria by another six months. Separately, a border crossing between Cameroon and Chad linking the Cameroonian city of Kousseri to the Chadian capital N’Djamena is reported to have been closed in May following an attack on a border police station that Cameroonian officials have blamed on the Boko Haram militant group. Also, Cameroon’s north-eastern border is subject to tighter security measures aimed at controlling the flow of refugees and armed militants from the highly unstable Central African Republic (CAR), where political and religious tensions have broken out into civil war.