Buea: Over 70 detainees go on hunger strike

Detainees at a gendarmerie brigade located at Mermoz Buea are on hunger strike.
A greater number of the detainees were arrested in Mautu village, situated in Muyuka subdivision in the South West region.

One of the detainees has informed Mimi Mefo Info that “…we will henceforth refuse to eat food here because for three weeks we have not been told why we were arrested. We have not been given access to our lawyers. They don’t feed us and worst still we are kept in a filthy and small room for so many people. We want to be released.”

To our informant, they were arbitrarily arrested and their identification documents confiscated on the night of 13th of September 2020 and brutally transported to Buea.

“Since then, we have not been interrogated. No one knows what is happening,” he adds, while expressing disappointment at the way the security service operates.

The detainees say their relatives in Mautu village and others have been supplying them food though not on regular bases.

Muyuka subdivision remains one of the hot spots of separatist activities but family members of those detained say that should not be a reason to invade a village arresting innocent civilians.

To the people, they want the immediate release of those detained. “We thought the arrest was to keep them there until after October 1st, 2020. But today is already the 2nd. So why detain them? A relative questions.

Efforts to get the gendarmerie react to this have so far failed.

Mbatho Ntan.