Cameroon: IDP dies by drowning after being chased by gendarmes

A young man whose name MMI is yet to get has died drowning in river Bonamene in Bonaberi, Douala Littoral Region of Cameroon.

The Anglophone internally displaced person fell into the river and drowned after being chased by elements of the national gendarmerie.

The incident occured Monday June 26, 2023.

Gendarmerie officers had stormed Bonamene neighborhood to fish out smokers of marijuana commonly called banga.

“These images are from a river in Bonamene, Bonaberi Douala that connects from the sea. There is a group of guys who always smoke marijuana around Bonamene quarter. So gendarmes came in on Monday to chase them out,” an eyewitness told MMI.

Security officers while on the field “held this boy and were crossing with him on the bridge. He attempted to escape and fell into the river.”

The eyewitness added that “as he was struggling to swim to safety, gendarmes were shooting him with stones. He was hit by one of the stones and was unable to swim and drowned in the mud inside the river.”

Rescue teams came in and after five hours of search, he was pulled out of the river dead.

Attempts by his father to bring in the police was futile as he was asked to an amount of money that he could not afford.

There is tension in the neighborhood as locals are considering dumping the corpse at the Gendamerie Brigade, whose elements committed the act.

“His father went to call the police. Surprisingly, the police demanded that he should pay money for them to come and make an assessment of the situation.The poor idp father could not afford it and came back without the police. We are contemplating dumping the corpse at Gendamerie Brigade where its elements committed the act,” he continued.

By David Atangana