Many Cameroonian soldiers have gone AWOL (absent without leave) in the past months, most of them ending up on the war front between Russia and Ukraine. The soldiers were allegedly deceived into thinking they were going to greener pastures by signing less-than-honest contracts with middlemen who promised them better lives in Europe. By the time they realised what they were getting into, it was too late, with many returning in black bags.

At a time when soldiers are needed most at three war fronts in the Northwest and Southwest regions, Cameroon’s Ministry of Defense has taken measures to ensure that soldiers do not desert the country to fight in Eastern Europe, where a war is raging between Russia and Ukraine.

In a statement addressed to officers in charge of the defence and security units, the Minister of Defense, Joseph Beti Assomo, ordered the unit heads to ensure that desertions do not occur again.

“Following reliable concordant information concerning the clandestine departure of certain elements of the defence and security forces, do take all necessary urgent and appropriate dispositions to ensure the tightened control of the men within your ranks,” the defence minister said. 

He instructed senior Cameroonian army officers to prohibit all outings from the national territory by elements of the defence and security forces who do not have authorisations duly signed by him after vetting by the chain of command and military security.

For those already involved in the Russia-Ukrainian war, Assomo called on the senior military officers to “immediately take appropriate measures in conformity with the regulations in force”.

However, most of those who have already gotten into the adventure have ended up being duped and taken to the war front where they were killed without receiving a single franc. This deceitfulness does not only involve recruits from within the ranks of the Cameroon military, it also involves Cameroonian civilians who are dragged into a web of what some have since described as “human trafficking”.