Cameroon: Separatists accuse government of kidnapping journalist as ‘counter liberation operation’

The dust is yet to settle over the kidnap and torture of Fame Bunyui, a CRTV journalist in Buea, Cameroon.

Despite her release, tongues have not stopped wagging over who might have been responsible for the act.

Primary suspects of the act, separatists fighting government soldiers in the region, have denied carrying out the act.

Reacting to the incident, Capo Daniel of the Ambazonia Defence Forces said there is no evidence tying them to the act.

“This looks like a matter of a criminal gang taking advantage of the chaos of war to prey on innocent civilians,” he stated.

The Ambazonia Defence Forces, he said, “has a strict code of conduct and does not tolerate kidnappings let alone kidnapping for ransom”.

He further called on members of the media to act professionally by not apportioning the blame to them. He rather attacked the Cameroon government, stating that it has “been using kidnappings as a counter Ambazonia operation”.

Perpetrators to be brought to book

Capo Daniel further pledged that his militia was going to do all within its power to track the perpetrators of the act.

“We have seen this video on social media. It is very disturbing and we have been trying to identify the people who kidnapped the journalist. It is not acceptable and we are doing our best to identify the person,” he told MMI.

He added: “We have sent the video and images to all our forces that operate in the area and so we have not been able to identify who was behind the kidnapping. It is not acceptable and the public has to know the truth behind this kidnapping. This is criminal, it is not the Ambazonian struggle and we have to get to the bottom of it”.

Pro-government cliques on social media, it should be noted, have also made similar allegations again separatist fighters, accusing them of being responsible for the journalist’s kidnap and torture.

Mimi Mefo Info