Every single new day in Anglophone Cameroon comes with its own story. Usually such stories are never pleasing to an ordinary man except the belligerent parties. Saturday January 23rd is one of those sad days’ denizens of Bamenda, capital city of the Northwest region of Cameroon will wish to wipe off their memories
Victims of the Bamenda killings
Four boys in their early 20s were allegedly killed by the Cameroon military forces. They were reportedly killed in a neighborhood known as Meta Quarter, in Bamenda, chief town of the Northwest Region of Cameroon. The boys whose names ERuDeF Humanitarian News got as Ngalim Aloysius, Nelly, Salle Saddam and brain were reportedly shot dead shortly after being arrested by the Cameroon military. Two of the slain boys are said to be students of Bilingual High School, Downtown Bamenda. The incident happened after fire exchange between the Cameroon military and the separatist fighters. These boys, reports confirm were considered as separatist fighters,
Local paper on the killings
In another separate development, widely circulated online videos show two women stripped naked by alleged separatist fighters. The crimes of these women is that they are dating Cameroon military officers. Separatist fighters are seen beating one of them severely with wounds all over her body. The woman in question confessed that she had no choice than date the military officer in question. She revealed that the military officer that she is dating wowed to kill her if she doesn’t date him. Despite her plea, the woman was severely beaten.
Britain’s MP weighs in
After securing a deal to leave the European Union, Britain signed a trade deal with Cameroon, This Trade deal did not go well with Britain’s shadow Secretary of State for International Trade, Emily Anne. She frowns at Cameroon’s human right record especially in the context of the ongoing Anglophone conflict in the Northwest and Southwest Regions of Cameroon. Hear her: “I would urge all members to think about the Cameroon deal and how little consideration ministers gave either to Human Rights or to the rights of this parliament when they decided to sign it”. … she continues “the trade deal was agreed by ministers apparently with no consideration and clearly no concern for the persistent gross violations of international human rights that are taking place inside Cameroon”.
The two parties involved probably do not have plans of a ceasefire as calls made by both the natonal and international communities are not being heeded to. The war crimes and gross human right abuses keep pilling up. On the 20th of January, a young form five student was caught in a gun battle between separatist fighters and the Cameroon military. The young boy was hit by a stray bullet and died on the spot.
Apart from stray bullets hitting innocent people, locally made bombs just add to the nightmare. Bombs planted by alleged separatists are found almost every week in the conflict hit regions. Some explode meanwhile others are noticed and detonated on time by military agents.
Shockingly, after the gruesome massacre of 8 civilians in Mautu, a locality in the Southwest region of Cameroon, another fresh killing was carried out in Fontem Subdivision, Lebialem Division of the Southwest Region. Two women were found dead in a farmland. According to reports they went to the farm with a man who was nowhere to be found. One was shot at the back while the other at the head, not sparing even a dog tied by a tree. The perpetrators of the crime are yet to be known. Separatists and government forces point fingers at each other.
