Cameroon: the radicalization of Islam and the expansion of Boko Haram

Abstract

The radicalization of Islam in Cameroon is quickly changing the country's religious landscape and contributing to the spread of religious intolerance. Unlike, for example, neighboring Nigeria and the Central African Republic, previously Cameroon rarely faced serious manifestations of sectarian tensions, but over the past 10-15 years traditional Sufi Islam has been increasingly supplanted by the ideology of Wahhabism. Wahhabism is rapidly spreading not only in the north of the country, but also in the south, which until recently was inhabited mainly by Christians and animists. The spread of Wahhabism is actively supported and funded by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Egypt. Sufism, the followers of which mainly include Fulani living in the northern regions, is gradually losing its position. The specific interpretation of Islam leads to the destabilization of religious and public political life, and Koranic schools and refugee camps become "incubators of terrorists". The growing influence of radical Islam in Cameroon is largely due to the expansion of the terrorist organization Boko Haram into the country; one of the consequences of this is the broadening affiliation of Cameroonians, inspired by calls for the cleansing of Islam and the introduction of Sharia law, with this armed Islamist group. As in other African countries, the radicalization of Islam is accompanied by the intensification of terrorist activities, leading to an exacerbation of the internal political situation, an increase in the number of refugees, and the deterioration of the socio-economic situation of the population, etc. The failure of the Cameroonian government to counter terrorist activities in the north of the country in the near future may lead to an escalation of the military-political conflict on religious grounds in the context of political instability that Cameroon is experiencing at the moment.