(Business in Cameroon) - In order to help the Cameroonian authorities to fight the multifaceted crisis “that Boko Haram’s attacks on civilian populations engender” in the Extreme-North region, the European Union (EU) has announced that it will “soon” launch two new aid projects totalling 4 billion FCFA. This was announced on March 24, 2015 in an official release.

The first project, totalling 2.6 billion FCFA, will be used “to strengthen the operational capacity for protecting civilians, particularly firemen and border police.” The second project, worth 1.5 billion FCFA, “aims to encourage the socio-economic integration of under-privileged youth in the Extreme-North region.”

Indeed, many sources believe that Boko Haram, the Nigerian terrorist, Islamist sect, has been able to recruit large numbers of Cameroonian youth in the Extreme-North region due to their poverty. In light of this, the European Union is striving to make youth less susceptible to Boko Haram’s allure so as to reduce the Nigerian sect’s ability to recruit in Cameroon.