If you live in a country like
Cameroon, people will often ask you how safe it is. There is normally quite
some news about Boko Haram. If it is peaceful, where people don’t starve or
other disasters happen, there is no news. So the only thing you hear are the
problems…
In Cameroon, security is quite
a big thing. Boko Haram is really concentrated in the North and Far North
Regions, but the insecurity is a topic for everyone. Sometimes the insecurity
in the northern part of the country is causing problems in other areas. For
example, the road between Kumbo and Bamenda is still under construction. It
seems that there is no money to finish it because it was all spent on the army
to fight Boko Haram.
In daily life, you mainly
notice a lot of road controls. When you travel by taxi you get constantly
stopped. If you travel by bus between Bamenda and Yaoundé every passenger has
to leave the bus at least once or twice to get their ID cards checked.
But, does this provide
security? There is no computer system to check your ID card. So how do they
know this person is not a searched terrorist? The only thing they can see is if
you have an ID card with you. But I am pretty sure a terrorist would always
make sure he or she travels with an ID card, so what does it proof? They only
thing is that the policeman can ‘chop’ some money if someone travels without an
ID card, but that is hardly extra security…
Recently I visited the offices
of some international organisations. Normally you also have to leave your ID
card at the security guard and they register who you are. Nowadays in some
organisations they also check your bag (more or less) and scan your body with a
metal detector. However, if that thing beeps, they don’t do anything! I visited
an organisation recently, the man entering just before me had the detector
beeping, with me it beeped. But nobody bothered to check. I came to the conclusion
that if you want to commit an attack, you should put your weapon or bomb in
your pocket, that is where they expect metal to be and don’t check. So does
this really provide security?
In Abuja I saw something
similar in the Hilton Hotel. There was a real danger there as Boko Haram did
attack Abuja and focused on places with many westerns, so that makes the Hilton
Hotel a potential target. All bags had to be scanned, every person had to pass
the metal detection, like in the airport. But in the airport they check you
when the detection beeps, here they didn’t.
Maybe some terrorists are
really stopped by all these checkpoints. And maybe people really feel safer
with all these controls. But to me, it really feels like a fake security. But
fortunately, the security situation in most of the country is not so urgent
that it really matters!
