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Seini Boukar
Lamine, the Lamido of Kolofata, after his rescue, with the Cameroonian
authorities (Image source: Xinhua)
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With cries of
‘Allahu akbar’, the Nigerian jihadis stormed into the village of Kolofata
across the border in Cameroon and kidnapped the tribal chief and his family
last July. Alistair Dawber, in nearby Garoua, finds out what happened next
Seini Boukar Lamine, a
tribal chief from northern Cameroon, is used to being addressed as “Your
Majesty”.
It was not a courtesy
extended by Boko Haram when the Islamist group stormed into his home and
kidnapped him and his family. The ordeal was to last two-and-a-half months
during which he was separated from his wife and children, the youngest a
three-year-old daughter, and lived in constant fear that they might be killed
at any moment.
On 27 July last year, the
tribal chief, or Lamido as he is known to his followers, was greeted with cries
of “Allahu akbar” as he and his family were finishing a Ramadan breakfast on
the last day of the Muslim month of fasting. It was at their home in Kolofata,
a frontier town little more than 5km from the Nigerian border where he is also
mayor. The town has frequently been attacked by the militants, who have pledged
allegiance to ISIS.
The Independent report continues:
On this occasion they
came for the Lamido. After a tip-off from a local teenager – he believes – his
entire family, apart from his 10-year-old son who managed to escape, were taken
by the militants.
“We heard guns and cries
of ‘Allahu akbar’ and we knew it was Boko Haram,” he says in an interview with
The Independent, his first with the international press since his release. “The
gunfire became more and more intensive. They came into our building and began
to break down the door with their guns and with a hammer – it took 30 minutes
for them to break the doors down. We knew they were coming for us.
“We were in the living
room – me, my wife and our eight children – they came in and at that moment we
knew everything was finished for us.”
Along with his family,
Françoise-Agnès Moukouri, the wife of Cameroon’s Deputy Prime Minister, was
also kidnapped. The high-ranking targets, and the fact that they were in the
same place at the same time adds to the suggestion that the kidnapping was
planned. Unlike many others who are murdered by the militants, some in
gruesome, filmed killings, the Lamido, his wife and his children and the Deputy
Prime Minister’s wife were to survive and be released in circumstances that
raise questions for the Cameroonian government.
However, it all nearly
ended sooner than that. “They even had a vehicle from the BIR [Cameroon’s
special forces] because there had been an ambush,” the Lamido says. “We drove
out and a couple of miles from Kolofata, we stopped. One of the vehicles
wouldn’t start because it needed a remote control of some sort. One of the guys
went back to look for it, but before that they accused us hostages of hiding
it. He lay four people down on the floor and threatened to shoot them. The
leader knew we hadn’t got it and eventually they set fire to the vehicle that
wouldn’t start and set off for the Nigerian border.”
The BIR has made
significant gains against Boko Haram in recent months, and has pressed the
militants back from the border villages inside Cameroon into Nigeria. But
because Cameroon’s elite fighters do not have a mandate to cross the border,
Boko Haram has consolidated territory in the area around the Sambisa forest. It
was here the captives were taken.
“They separated the men and the women and
children – from that moment we had no contact with the women in the group, and
had no news of them,” he says. “On the one hand we were confident [we would
survive]. Boko Haram had previously released people from the Cameroon. But
sometimes the group is mean and kills for nothing. Occasionally a hostage would
be publicly killed in an area used to play football – they were Nigerians but
we felt it could happen to us at any time.”
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Suspected Islamist sect member captured by Nigerian
troops as he lies next to a tree in Maiduguri, Nigeria. Photograph: Sunday
Alamba/AP; Image source: The Guardian UK
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The Sambisa forest is almost impenetrable, but this
kidnapping gives an insight into the way Boko Haram operates. According to the
tribal chief, the camp was also used to train fighters, as many as 20,000, he
estimates. And he is convinced that the men persuaded to join Boko Haram are
not just fighters inspired by jihad and motivated by the prospect of becoming a
martyr.
“We were always guarded by two or three young boys –
they would change all the time because most liked fighting rather than
guarding,” he says. “Those holding us were no more than 14 or 15 years old –
they had no say in what happened to us. It was the bosses who decided whether
we were released or murdered. The guys looking after us had been promised money
but they only got that if they went to fight.”
He also suggests that as well as using child soldiers,
Boko Haram has different strands, including those that are more radical and
dedicated to militant Islamism. “Our guards were good to us,” he says. “One of
their jobs was to make sure the extremists didn’t come and kill us.”
A total of 17 people were taken from Kolofata. After
27 days in captivity, they were taken by their captives to make a video: “It
was the first signal that negotiations were taking place, and a few weeks after
that they told us that they didn’t think they would be keeping us for long.”
The nature of the release is also shrouded in mystery.
The Kolofata group was held with a number of Chinese who escaped from the
jungle camp. They were recaptured five days later, but it became clear that
there was a plan to release them together.
The Lamido said he is
still unsure why he was released, but it has been widely reported that the
group was exchanged for Boko Haram fighters and possibly even weapons provided
to the group by the Cameroon government.
Officials refuse to be drawn on the issue, but don’t
deny that an exchange was made with a group with which government ministers
says Cameroon is at war.
The
Lamido
grins as he describes his release. “It’s a dream to be free,” he says. “I live
a life of peace.Note: "lomido" in the original story was changed to "Lamido"
Source: The Independent
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