In the war on terror, guns and bombs
just haven’t been enough. So Cameroon is trying spells and curses too.
About a year ago, Cameroonian
President Paul Biya urged citizens to use witchcraft against Boko Haram, the
Islamic State-affiliated militants who have terrorized West Africa for years.
“We expect every village to have
brilliant actions in this direction,” said Midjiyawa Bakari, governor of the
Far North region of the country, echoing the president. “We want to hear that
this or that village has wiped out or limited the sect's damage through
witchcraft. Fight for your country.”
Many viewed the move as a sign of
Biya’s desperation as the jihadists continue their rampage of suicide attacks,
pillaging and kidnapping throughout Cameroon, as well as in Chad and Nigeria.
The three countries have made headway against the group — some commercial
routes between Cameroon and Nigeria that had been closed due to the violence
have reopened, and some of the people displaced from villages near the Nigerian
border have been able to return home. But there is much more left to do.
And locals in Mora, a remote
mountainous district in the Far North province near Nigeria, said they would
try anything to end the Islamic State’s reign of terror.
After Biya’s call to employ
witchcraft against Boko Haram in January 2016, hundreds of militia fighters
rushed to sorcerers, commonly called “marabouts,” to obtain lucky charms and
talismans to protect them in battle.
"Since I have this gris-gris, I
have no problem,” said Mohamad Ahmed, a gym teacher and member of a local
militia in Mora, referring to a small cloth bag typically worn around the neck
or wrist.
Filled with supposedly magic objects
and paper inscribed with verses from the Koran, Bible or other holy scriptures,
gris-gris originated in Africa but are common among voodoo practitioners in the
Caribbean as well. Women often don them for contraception.
“It is so powerful,” said Ahmed. “I
put it on at the moment I go into the field of fighting. The fetish protects
its wearer. If someone shoots at you, the bullets have no effect. They fall on
the ground like small pebbles.”
Ahmed noted that he has not been
shot to test the charm, however.
In the past two years, more than
1,500 Cameroonians have died in the war against Boko Haram, while the violence
has displaced 155,000 people, according to the government.
"One morning the terrorists
entered our house,” said a 32-year-old woman who fled Kérawa, a village on the
Nigerian border, with her 9-month-old baby.
The woman, now in Mora, was a farmer
in Kérawa. She declined to provide her name out of fear of retribution
from Boko Haram militants. “They murdered my husband before our eyes,” she
said. “Then they raped my neighbor before setting fire to the whole village.
Soldiers on patrol saved us."
Ironically, witchcraft is illegal in
Cameroon due to its perceived pernicious effects in tribal communities, where
believers frequently cast spells in hopes of hurting their enemies. The law
imposes fines and prison sentences of as long as 10 years on those convicted of
black magic.
However, "it is well known that
occult ceremonies are practiced in the political circles of Cameroon at a very
high level,” said Henriette Ekwe, a Cameroonian political analyst and good
government advocate.
She maintains that the call for
occult help isn’t a good sign.
“When one comes to advocate the
practice of witchcraft, it is because one is not sure of one's army,” she said.
“It is not up to a head of state to advocate practices of black magic in a
theater of operations where it is the weapons that must inflict defeat on Boko
Haram, not magicians or sorcerers. This is very serious for the morale of the
troops."
“What is surprising,” she went on,
“is that the head of state advocates the practice of witchcraft prohibited in
Cameroon. How many times have we thrown old people into cells on the grounds
that they are accused of practicing black magic in the villages?”
Baba Boukar, a marabout, claimed
that he had studied witchcraft for years and could invoke curses and cure the
sick. Against Boko Haram, he said his disciples could choose between magic
trinkets like Ahmed’s, or vampirism.
To locals, there are two types of
witchcraft: fetishism, which employs charms to harm or do good, and vampirism,
in which incantations replace the physical objects.
"Some members of the vigilance
committees now have the ability to mystically eat the hearts of enemies or make
them slaves by pronouncing incantations," said Boukar. These would be
spiritual, not literal, accomplishments.
Another militia fighter, a
30-year-old who gave his name only as Delli, said he possessed an amulet that
allowed him to turn invisible and sneak up on Boko Haram terrorists in Kérawa.
"I was recently alerted that
two women were in possession of a bomb. I wanted to surprise them,” he
explained. "I pronounced the magic phrases and I appeared before them. The
bomb was defused."
Still, officials don’t know if the
wizardry has been working or not.
"We pass the information of the
higher-ups to the populations concerned,” said Toudje Goumo, a deputy prefect
of the Mayo-Sava area in Cameroon’s Far North region. “Regarding witchcraft, we
don’t have the resources to assess the level of its impact on the ground.”
But locals believe. In fact, faith
in the supernatural is so strong among Cameroonians that some said they feared
militia members might use magic to commit crimes or exact revenge for
grievances against their neighbors.
“I am concerned about the
consequences,” said Ngue Bong Simon Pierre, a lawyer in Douala. “Isn't it
possible that those responsible for performing these rites might also abuse
them?"
Christian Locka reported from
Yaounde, Cameroon.
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