Cameroon: Nkwen community in ruins as armed young men destroy houses

Alegue residents are now living in fear and uncertainty after several armed young men stormed the area on Monday, September 25th, 2023, destroying houses.

“As I write, dozens are homeless; we are even scared they will come again,” a source and a victim who preferred not to be named told MMI.

Alegue is a small community (quarter) situated after the Nkwen industrial zone. Nkwen is in Bamenda, the headquarters of Cameroon’s restive North West Region.

Our source has revealed that Alegue has been at the centre of conflict between the indigenes of Nkwen, where Alegue is situated, and Bambili in Tubah Sub-Division.

Both Nkwen and Bambili are in Mezam Division.

“Some unidentified young men reported from Nkwen invaded the community, destroying houses and rendering some people homeless,” an Alegue resident who says he has been living in the area for years told MMI.

Genesis

The conflict between the people of Nkwen and Bambili started in the 1970s. The Anglophone Crisis, which started in 2016, has further exacerbated the inter-tribal conflict among several villages in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions.

Our source told us that the majority of those whose houses have been destroyed are neither from Nkwen nor Bambili. “Some of us are not from the two villages; we only bought plots and built our houses; unknown to us, it was a disputed area,” he told MMI.

“And all through, we haven’t had any confrontation, resistance, or notification during the construction of our houses. Only for us to get into this now, and upon finding out, we are told uncompleted stories,” our source added.

Conflicts like these have spread and worsened across other villages like Akwaya and some parts of the Momo, Fako, and Ngoh-Ketunjia Divisions.

Administrative silence

For almost a week, dozens of the at least ten houses destroyed are now in the cold.

Victims are now worried about the silence of the authorities regarding their plight.

The Anglophone Crisis has also had an impact on the ability of security forces to quickly intervene and put an end to such conflicts.

“We could only use temporal things to shield the cold. The strange thing is that no civil administrator or Fon of Bambili and Nkwen has visited us, the victims, to assess the situation,” our source lamented, adding, “We have been left to ourselves.”

“Kindly share our story and the pictures for the world to see,” Philip (not his real name) residing in Alegue told MMI.

Fear of the unknown

As Alegue residents go to bed this Sunday night, they have raised serious concerns about their safety. “We heard there might be another invasion tomorrow morning,” Philip told MMI.

As our sources cried for help, they said, “We still hear rumors of another invasion to take place tomorrow, Monday, October 2, 2023, to continue destroying houses.”

“People of goodwill, please come to our rescue,” they told MMI.