Le bataillon d’intervention rapide face à la problématique de la défense nationale et de la lutte contre la criminalité transfrontalière au Cameroun (1998-2018) : Emphase sur l’opération ALPHA et la force BIR cote

Abstract

Relying on Operation Alpha and the B.I.R Coast force, this research work analyzes the contribution of the Rapid Intervention Battalion (B.I.R) to national defense in Cameroon. Therefore, it studies the genesis and evolution of its Defense forces. It understands that the establishment of the Cameroonian army in the modern sense of the term is the result of the processus of state building which is fundamentally linked to security. In such a context, the young army had to permanently adapt to new threats. Which led to the creation of the BIR in 2001. Initially called B.L.I when at its creation in 1999, this unit created by retired Israeli Colonel Avi Sivan Abraham had to eradicate the phenomenon of highway robbers in the regions of Adamaoua, north and far north of Cameroon. Later, after having succeeded, and stifled the so-called hunger riots of 2008, he was entrusted with the mission of combating the phenomenon of maritime piracy which had erupted in the Cameroonian Gulf of Guinea following the Greentree agreements. Once again, under the name of the BIR coast guard force, the phenomenon was reduced to its simplest expression in Cameroon while the Gulf of Guinea remained the epicenter of maritime piracy in the world. Victim of his successes, he got the mission to intervene in the fight against the Boko Haram sect the day after President Biya's speech in Paris. At the time this mission was entrusted to it, the islamist sect Boko haram harassed the country with its mass and kamikaze attacks as well as with the use of improvised explosive devices. But once again, the response of the men in black will be satisfactory and weaken Boko Haram. Consequently, this study argues that the B.I.R remains one of the main elite units of the Cameroonian army and the fruit of the strategic and visionary genius of President Paul Biya. It explains that among its success factors are: political will, technical support from Israeli partners, quality of personnel, training and logistics and civil-military operations. While subsequently observing that this model could be used in several countries in the Sahel, it nonetheless remains useful to put in place measures aimed at perpetuating it. The thesis further posits that the firepower of the B.I.R,its operational successes…, are performance indicators which can inspire other components of the cameroonian army. And by extension, its successes in the fight against the Boko Haram sect and maritime piracy are textbook cases whose export to the Sahel countries and beyond could be beneficial. However, if the BIR wants to perpetuate the fabulous story of the 300, which began its writing in 1999, it must absolutely know how to reinvent itself in an environment that is constantly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous.