Buea shrieks into lockdown after widespread gunshots, killings on Thursday

Schools remained closed, and most shops and transport activities were grounded in Buea on Friday, September 8, after widespread gunshots in the city on Thursday killed at least three, and injured others.

From Muea, where the killings happened on Thursday morning, to Molyko, the city center of Buea, most shops remained visibly closed, and a considerably small number of vehicles could be seen on the road this morning.

A few schools in the city center, which managed to reopen earlier this week amid an ongoing separatist lockdown, are also closed.

Fear and uncertainty

Denizens were taken aback when armed separatists invaded neighbourhoods in the city on Thursday morning, sparking clashes with the military.

The Thursday gunshots happened on the outskirts of the city in neighbourhoods like Muea and Bwitingi, and were heard in popular localities like Mayor’s Street, Sandpit, and Dirty South.

In Muea, three people were killed, including two taxi drivers, and their vehicles burnt. This morning, the neighborhood is quiet: shops and entertainment spots are closed; school buildings are locked and very few commercial taxis are driving to the locality.

School resumption marred

As though to wash away the blood that was spilled on Thursday, heavy rains poured across Buea this morning, further compounding movement.

Separatists imposed a two-week lockdown on the two English-speaking Regions of Cameroon earlier this week as schools reopened nationwide on September 4.

Prior to September 4, ambiance had been building for a greater school turnout in the Anglophone Regions this year, with religious leaders reiterating that children be allowed to go to school.

Separatists’ threats and attacks on schools, students, and teachers have deprived about 700,000 children in the two Regions of school for over four academic years now, according to humanitarian groups.