By Kate Bih
The population of Bamenda was met with a grim sight this morning at the entrance to St. Blaise Hospital on Ayaba Street.
A man was discovered lying motionless, his lower body severely burned while his upper body remained untouched by the flames.
The scene, witnessed this morning by MMI reporters, has left residents in shock and disbelief.
Eyewitnesses recount seeing armed men in civilian attire at around 10 pm on November 15, 2024.
These men reportedly brought the victim to the location and set fire to his legs using tyres.
“Looking further, we can authoritatively say separatists brought the man and lit fire on him, and watched him burn from the legs,” a local resident said.
The man is yet to be identified. No separatist group, too, has claimed responsibility for the act, which adds to many atrocities committed in the English-speaking Regions since 2016.
The city of Bamenda and its environs has been the epicenter of attacks from the military and separatist fighters, who want to carve out a breakaway state from the Anglophone Regions of Cameroon.
Civilians continue to be victimized through arbitrary arrests and detentions, forced disappearances, extrajudicial killings and imposed lockdowns.
Historians like Prof Victor Julius Ngoh have asserted that the armed conflict broke out after separatists hijacked a peaceful Teachers and Lawyer’s protest in 2017 to declare secession.
Since then, they have adopted very harsh measures, including kidnapping and forced disappearance and arson attacks on civilians to advance their cause.
Actions like the gruesome burning of a civilian have often been reported in Bamenda and other parts of the North West and South West regions.
Often, neither the military nor separatist have claimed responsibility for such despicable acts yet they continue to happen.
Bamenda residents have now become vigilant as to who is carrying out what actions.
The victim’s body remains at the site as of Saturday morning drawing crowds who are grappling to comprehend the brutal act.
