Protesters in Yaounde, Cameroon on Saturday asked that,Abubakar Shekau, leader of terrorist organisation Boko Haram, which is fast spreading it extremist across West and Central be killed at all cost.
Several thousand people took to the street including the country’s Labour Minister Gregoire Owona to denounce Boko Haram’s bloody insurgency.
“This march symbolises Cameroon’s unity against Boko Haram,” Gregoire Owona told marchers, before shouting “Shekau!”
In response, the crowd which organisers said numbered 10,000-15,000, chanted: “You are dead, you are a coward.”
Although, Boko Haram started in Nigeria which has been battling to deal with the insurgents in the last 6 years, in recent weeks the banned terrorist organisation has been wrecking havoc in Cameroon, Chad, Nigeria, killing, maiming and take hostages.
Over the past seven months Cameroonian soldiers have been battling the Nigerian Islamists, which are now locked in a regional fight that also includes soldiers from Nigeria and Chad.
Boko Haram’s six-year insurgency, which has left 13,000 dead and forced over a million from their homes, has increasingly spilled over into neighbouring nations.
Several ministers led the vocal, but peaceful march, which saw protestors waving the flags of Cameroon, Chad and Nigeria.
“It was important to be here for me, for my brothers who are on the front, for my country,” said marcher Philomene Ekombo, a Cameroonian flag in hand.
However, the date of the demonstration sparked controversy in Cameroon because it coincided with the anniversary of protests in 2008 in which the government said 40 people were killed. Locals groups put the death toll at 139.
Critics claimed the march organisers, with government encouragement, planned the protest in order to overshadow memorials of the 2008 killings. Organisers denied the allegation, saying: “There is no memorial war.”