Relative calm returns to Bamenda after days of military brutality

The chief town of the Northwest region is experiencing a timid but progressive return to normalcy after days of violent clashes.

Movements across the town is slowly picking up pace in all parts.

Food market, one of the hardest hit areas during the recent tense gun exchanges has now opened with multitudes rushing to foodstuffs and other house provisions as many have predicted uncertainty in the coming days.

Meanwhile commercial institutions like banks and credit unions, shops and other business operators at Commercial Avenue are still closed as owners of businesses in the area insist of having a safe atmosphere before kicking off activities.

Bamenda residents have been indoors since Monday

This will come as a relief to the people of Bamenda, as this past week saw the town embroiled in one of the fiercest gun tensions that it had ever witnessed since the crisis started.

Disturbing videos of chaos was all over the social media. Some showed security forces intimidating the local population and destroying other’s businesses, while other videos still in the town showed soldiers in what was a gun exchange with separatist fighters at the heart of the town, with one of the soldier’s particularly taking refuge at a filling station.

The killing of a soldier sparked the fierce gun exchange

The tensions all started when a police officer was reportedly killed by separatist fighters.

This caused other security officers to go on a rampage of intimidations and brutality which culminated to a total shutdown of the town for several days.