CAMEROON: Rapid intervention military unit strays from its mission

DOUALA Friday, August 29, 2008 (IRIN) - In 2001 the Cameroonian government created a special rapid intervention battalion (BIR) to quell hostage-taking and looting by criminal gangs operating on its eastern and northern borders, but this force is now straying from its original mission, causing anger among human rights groups. The BIR was originally set up to fight criminal gangs known as ‘coupeurs de routes’  who operate on the borders with the Central African Republic in the east and Chad and...