The Senior Divisional Officer (SDO) for Meme, Chamberlain Ntou’ou Ndong, has sealed a number of shops at the Kumba Main Market, for failing to open this Tuesday, October 1, 2024.
Media reports say the administrative authority, accompanied by security officers, was on the streets this Tuesday morning amid general silence in Kumba, caused by fear of separatist attacks.
Kumba is an economic hub in the English-speaking South West Region of Cameroon, where a separatist armed conflict has been raging since 2017.
On October 1, Ambazonia separatists celebrate their independence, often holding forbidden parades in many areas of the two regions.
This year, many people have chosen to stay at home even in the interior villages. Major towns like Buea, Bamenda, Kumba, Kumbo, and Limbe have seen shops and other economic activities shut down every October 1 as people refrain from being caught in separatist-military gunfire.
There is however, confusion over whether people are staying at home because of information which circulated about a lockdown imposed by separatists, or because of fear of the unkown.
On the eve of October 1, administrative authorities across the two regions announced preemptive security measures aimed at thwarting any potential separatist attacks.
However, the government has usually interpreted lockdowns as part of the population’s complicity with separatists and has made several attempts in the past to end the lockdowns.
