- Sep 12, 2009
- 6,840
- 3,592
By Michael Martinez, Christabelle Fombu, and Pierre Meilhan, CNN
updated 3:41 PM EDT, Sat May 17, 2014
(CNN) -- A Cameroonian soldier was killed and 10 Chinese nationals went missing after a Boko
Haram attack in northern Cameroon, officials from China, the United States and France said
Saturday.
No further details were immediately available on the circumstances of their disappearance, said Lu
Quinjiang, first counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Yaounde, Cameroon's capital.
One Chinese national was injured in Friday night's attack and was being treated by a Chinese medical
team in the Chadian capital of N'Djamena, Lu said.
French President François Hollande mentioned the incident Saturday while hosting a security summit
in Paris about the growing threat from Boko Haram, the Nigeria-based terror group.
Later, U.S. Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman specified Boko Haram as being behind Friday's
attack in a region of Cameroon known to be a stronghold for the group.
"Cameroon just suffered its own Boko Haram attack at a Chinese company last night," Sherman said,
noting also that Boko Haram is to blame for the abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls in Nigeria.
Several African and Western nations stepped up their search for the girls under a new plan announced
at the security summit.
Boko Haram translates as "Western education is a sin" in the Hausa language that's the lingua franca
in West and Central Africa. The militant group says its aim is to impose stricter enforcement of Sharia
law across Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, which is split between a majority Muslim north and
a mostly Christian south. Boko Haram's attacks have intensified in recent years.
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/17/world/africa/cameroon-china-boko-haram/
updated 3:41 PM EDT, Sat May 17, 2014
(CNN) -- A Cameroonian soldier was killed and 10 Chinese nationals went missing after a Boko
Haram attack in northern Cameroon, officials from China, the United States and France said
Saturday.
No further details were immediately available on the circumstances of their disappearance, said Lu
Quinjiang, first counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Yaounde, Cameroon's capital.
One Chinese national was injured in Friday night's attack and was being treated by a Chinese medical
team in the Chadian capital of N'Djamena, Lu said.
French President François Hollande mentioned the incident Saturday while hosting a security summit
in Paris about the growing threat from Boko Haram, the Nigeria-based terror group.
Later, U.S. Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman specified Boko Haram as being behind Friday's
attack in a region of Cameroon known to be a stronghold for the group.
"Cameroon just suffered its own Boko Haram attack at a Chinese company last night," Sherman said,
noting also that Boko Haram is to blame for the abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls in Nigeria.
Several African and Western nations stepped up their search for the girls under a new plan announced
at the security summit.
Boko Haram translates as "Western education is a sin" in the Hausa language that's the lingua franca
in West and Central Africa. The militant group says its aim is to impose stricter enforcement of Sharia
law across Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, which is split between a majority Muslim north and
a mostly Christian south. Boko Haram's attacks have intensified in recent years.
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/17/world/africa/cameroon-china-boko-haram/