Separatist fighters burn vehicle in Bafut for violating ‘lockdown’

Ambazonia separatist fighters operating in Bafut, a town located a few kilometres from Bamenda in the North West Region of Cameroon, burned down a pickup on Monday for operating during a lockdown they have imposed on the two English-speaking Regions.

A video that emerged online showed gunmen, who identified themselves as separatist fighters in Bafut, setting a vehicle on fire. MMI could not independently authenticate the footage.

The fighters claimed to have intercepted the vehicle at about 3 a.m. on Monday, September 11, as it was transporting beer and soft drinks to Wum, in the Menchum Division of the North West.

The gunmen accused the vehicle’s driver of violating an ongoing two-week lockdown they are enforcing in the English-speaking Regions of Cameroon.

In the video, the fighters could be heard faulting the driver for circulating drinks from a brewery company they have banned from operating in the North West and South West Regions.

The fate of the vehicle’s driver was unknown as of the time of this report.

For six years now, Ambazonia separatists have not only fought for a separate state from Cameroon but have also fought against schools and the sale of products from one of Cameroon’s leading brewery companies, Les Brasseries du Cameroon.

Several vehicles transporting drinks from the company have been burned in the past, drivers have been abducted, and beer retailers have been kidnapped and asked to pay lofty sums of money.

The separatists have been enforcing a two-week lockdown in the Anglophone Regions since September 4, the date the Cameroon Government programmed for school resumption nationwide.

The lockdown has grounded many schools and economic activities in towns and villages in the two Regions for the second week now, with thousands of children deprived of education.

Last week, the separatist fighters, or Amba boys, as they are popularly called, launched several armed attacks to enforce the lockdown, killing a number of civilians. The incidents deterred many from resuming normal activities this week.