Yaounde - Barely 24 hours after President Muhammadu Buhari's visit to Cameroon, the government has deported more than 2 000 Nigerians living in the country illegally as part of new security measures intended to prevent suicide attacks by Boko Haram jihadists, according to officials in Yaounde on Saturday.
Regional newspaper L'Oeil du Sahel reported that about 2,500 Nigerians had been "rounded up" in Kousseri, in the far north of Cameroon, and sent back to their country on Thursday.
A source close to regional authorities confirmed that "more than 2 000 'irregular' Nigerians have been expelled from Kousseri".
Mey Aly, an official from a local NGO, said that most of the Nigerians "had fled the atrocities of Boko Haram" to take refuge in Cameroon.
The area has been hit by two suicide attacks since June with authorities in Cameroon embarking on significant steps to boost security, including banning women from wearing the full face-veil amid fears that suicide bombers could use the garment to conceal explosives.
"With these attacks, the tone of the authorities has changed," said a security source in Maroua. "They have asked that foreigners [notably Nigerians] and displaced people in the border areas go home."
Some 300 Cameroonian children were removed from their Koranic schools in Maroua and taken back to their villages on Friday, according to a source close to local authorities, as the schools' managers feared that insurgents could try to use them for suicide attacks.
Per Second News gathered that President Buhari and his Cameroonian counterpart Paul Biya pledged to strengthen co-operation between the two countries in the fight against Boko Haram insurgents.
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