Fru Isidore Asoba, a repentant separatist fighter who joined the government disarmament centre in Bamenda, has been killed by his former colleagues.
He was found dead at Nchoubouh, a neighbourhood in Mankon, Bamenda, in the North West Region.
Asoba, who was an element of the Ambazonia Defence Forces, (ADF), broke ranks with the armed separatist militia a few weeks ago and joined the Disarmament Demobilization Reintegration (DDR) centre in Bamenda, a government-run outfit created to pacify repentant fighters.
The Ambazonia Defence Forces, an armed separatist militia controlled by Norway-based Lucas Ayaba Cho, has claimed responsibility for his killing.
Ayaba Cho Lucas, leader of the Ambazonia Governing Council, a separatist faction that has the ADF as its armed wing, announced Asoba’s death on Sunday, June 16, asking the government to collect his corpse.
“Status changed from wanted to deceased,” said Ayaba Cho in a post carrying the image of Fru Isidore Asoba.
Accusing the deceased of treachery, he vowed that his fighters would revenge ont to anyone who abandoned the independence struggle.
Asoba is one of many civilians killed in the English-speaking Regions and whose death is being justified by Ayaba Cho Lucas. Cho has previously hailed his fighters for killing other civilians, including through public executions, after accusing them of treachery.
Asoba is among many ex-fighters who have been targeted and killed over the years for simply abandoning the armed struggle.
Separatist leaders like Ayaba Cho have normalized the killing of civilians in the English-speaking Regions and have continued to justify the execution of persons deemed as traitors by separatist fighters
Human rights groups have also continued to condemn the act of targeting people who are not in active combat, a crime spelled out in international humanitarian law and statutes such as the Geneva Convention.
