Boko Haram Kidnaps Wife of Cameroon's Vice Prime Minister

Good Lord.

Nigerian Boko Haram militants kidnapped the wife of Cameroon's vice prime minister and killed at least three people on Sunday in a cross-border attack involving more than 200 assailants in the northern town of Kolofata, Cameroon officials said.

A local religious leader, or lamido, named Seini Boukar Lamine, who is also the town's mayor, and five members of his family were also kidnapped in a separate attack on his home.

The Vice PM and his wife were apparently at a local's home to celebrate Ramadan when the attack occurred.

This was one of three attacks in Cameroon this weekend, plus at least one attack in Nigeria:

Meanwhile, a Boko Haram bomb killed five people as they left a church in Kano, Nigeria, also on Sunday.

Four countries are finally combining resources to fight Boko Haram:

According to the BBC, Cameroon, Nigeria, Chad and Niger recently formed "a 2,800-strong regional force" to combat Boko Haram.

Only 2800? Commenters point out that Nigeria is a country of 170 million people. The other three states in this regional force are much smaller, but still have a good number of people: Cameroon, 22 million; Chad, almost 13 million; Niger, almost 18 million.

We're talking about combined populations easily exceeding 200 million, and all they can muster against a serious cross-border terrorist force is 2,800 men under arms?

These would not be the only units available to fight Boko Haram, but it does seem like this is supposed to represent these nation's commitment to stamping them out.

It sure seems like a puny commitment.

posted by Ace at 03:22 PM

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