Boko Haram, the fundamentalist Islamist sect based in Nigeria, began kidnapping civilians and attacking villages in northern Cameroon in 2013. The government deployed about 1,000 troops to the border with Nigeria in May 2014 in an attempt to thwart the cross-border incursions by Boko Haram. The deployment further emboldened the militants, and they escalated their attacks. In January 2015, Chad sent 2,000 troops to Cameroon to help in the fight against the group. Boko Haram is opposed to Western education, political philosophy, and society, and seeks to overthrow the government and implement sharia throughout the country. The groups name translates to Western education is sinful.

See also Encyclopedia: Cameroon .

U.S. State Dept. Country Notes: Cameroon