Nigeria: Northern Cameroon Losing Battle Against Arms Trafficking. What Nigeria, Others Must Do

Surrounded by countries in conflict, the cross-border area has become a hub for gun-running.

Northern Cameroon has for decades been a hub for ammunition, small arms and light weapons trafficking in the Sahel. The problem has fuelled regional insecurity since 1980. In response, states of the Lake Chad Basin Commission created the Multinational Joint Task Force in 1994.

However, arms trafficking has worsened since Boko Haram’s emergence and expansion into Cameroon in 2013. In the past decade,…