EXCLUSIF - Reportage avec l’armée camerounaise, en guerre contre Boko Haram

Subscribe to our YouTube channel: http://f24.my/youtube LIVE - Follow FRANCE 24 here: http://f24.my/YTliveFR In Cameroon, the Far North region is regularly the target of deadly attacks by Boko Haram. The attacks are often carried out by suicide bombers, including women and teenagers. Our reporters followed several Cameroonian army units, including its elite unit, as it immersed itself in this new terrorist hotbed in Central Africa. 1,000 km from Yaoundé, the Maroua region, capital of Cameroon's Far North Province, is rife with suicide attacks. These attacks are often carried out by young girls or boys turned into human bombs in Boko Haram recruitment camps in neighboring Nigeria. Since 2013, when Nigerian Islamists allied with the Islamic State (IS) organization began attacking Cameroonian territory, hundreds of people have been killed in attacks and bombings in the Far North region. Preventing jihadists from striking Cameroon by crossing the porous border is a crucial mission for the Cameroonian army, on the front lines defending the territory and preventing the infiltration of suicide bombers. For five days, we were able to share the daily lives of these Cameroonian soldiers engaged in the hunt for suicide bombers. Under heavy escort—about fifteen armed men—we traveled hundreds of kilometers of bumpy tracks in this arid, impoverished, and difficult-to-access region. A "Father of Courage" in the Bush We followed several units of the Cameroonian army's elite corps, the Rapid Intervention Battalion. Intelligence gathering, surveillance patrols, and, above all, preparation for an intervention against a rear base of the Islamist sect in Nigeria. A risky operation, part of a new strategy: to strike future suicide bombers in their stronghold in Nigeria. Alongside the Cameroonian army's offensive, some are choosing peaceful methods to try to fight terrorism. This is the case for priests like Father Grégoire Cador, a Frenchman who has dedicated his life to the Gospel and to his parish in Tokombéré, where he has been serving for some twenty years. Despite the risks, he has chosen not to abandon his Christian faithful, who represent a tiny minority in the predominantly Muslim Far North. This "courageous father," accompanied 24 hours a day by an armed escort, goes into the recesses of the bush to preach brotherhood between the different religious communities, in order, he says, to avoid "total war." But in the face of Boko Haram, priests risk becoming prime targets. Our website: http://www.france24.com/fr/ Join us on Facebook:   / france24.videos   Follow us on Twitter:   / f24videos