Ngarbuh: Victims of massacre turn down government’s request

Victims of the Ngarbuh February 14th 2020 massacre have rejected the government’s offer to exhume bodies of those killed by the military for a befitting burial one year after the killings.

Speaking in Ntumbaw village near Ngarbuh village in Ndu subdivision, Donga Mantung Division in the North West Region Wednesday, February 3rd, 2021, the Governor of the North West Region Adolphe Lele L’Afrique said “Government wanted to give those killed a good burial but the people say it’s against their custom and tradition to exhume bodies”.

To the administrator, despite the refusal by locals that bodies should not be exhumed and reburied properly, the government will rebuild the mass graves for them to look presentable where people will pay them homage.

Away from that, the government through the Governor of the North West has promised to provide potable water, electricity, build schools, hospitals, and other social facilities as a means to appease victims of a massacre carried out by the military in collaboration with some members of the vigilante group.

One of the victims says he is not ready to resettle in Ngarbuh village after all the disaster caused there by the government last year.

“What is on my mind now is how to get my brother who disappeared on the day of the killings. From all indications, he was not killed but as he jumped out of the window when the military was shooting and burning, I and the family have not set our eyes on him”.

To Governor Adolphe Lele L’Afrique, “I have given five million francs to each family that lost a member in the massacre. The money will help to rebuild the houses.”

He adds that a gendarmerie brigade and a military camp are already operational in the locality to ensure the security of people.

MMI recalls that government forces from Nkambe, Divisional capital of Donga Mantung in the North West invaded Ngarbuh village on the night of February 14th, 2020, killing people indiscriminately while equally setting ablaze several houses. The government of 88-year-old President Paul Biya first attributed the killings and burnings to separatists but results of an investigation later proved that the military was responsible.

Since then, some soldiers arrested in connection to the massacre are facing trial at the Yaounde military tribunal.


Mbatho Ntan.