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Cameroon Fights Boko Haram Recruitment with Goats, Sheep

Moki Edwin Kindzeka

   MAROUA, CAMEROON - The government of Cameroon this week began rolling
   out an unlikely weapon in the fight against Boko Haram militants.

   Authorities are distributing thousands of goats and sheep to young
   Cameroonians in villages along with border with Nigeria.

   The program aims to providing livestock for a basic income in order to
   stop the Islamist militant group's recruiting tactics. The hope is that
   the livestock will empower thousands of vulnerable families and stop
   them from joining the extremists, who promise jobs.

   In the village of Salak, 17-year-old Oumar Nafisatu received four
   sheep.

   Nafisatu says she is looking forward to having baby sheep so she can
   sell them to pay for her school fees. She is the only one to take care
   of herself, she says, after her father and mother passed away.

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