Separatist Fighters operating in Bamenda have begun the New Year with another chapter of horror as the five-year conflict in the English-speaking regions continues.
This was seen last Wednesday 4 January 2023 when the remains of a gendarmerie officer was dropped at the Mbingfibie junction in Bamenda, North West region of Cameroon.
The officer whose name we got as Emva Emva Yvan was abducted around Nchuobou just around the area where his lifeless body was displayed.
Though the circumstances surrounding the incident are still sketchy, eyewitnesses have confirmed that the officer was not on active duty at the time he was abducted:
“He was with others in civilian attire around the vicinity on Tuesday when separatist fighters operating in that area got wind of their presence. They stormed the area, and the soldiers took off in a private car but one was not fortunate. He was taken away by the boys,” explains an inhabitant of the locality.
We also gathered that soldiers reportedly invaded the area thereby creating a tense atmosphere when they came for the body of the slain gendarme.
According to locals, this led to the random arrest of many locals:
“We hear some persons were taken for questioning including some quarter heads. We are yet to be informed if they have been released or not” narrated a local.
Such random extrajudicial killings have become a significant feature of the ongoing conflict plaguing Cameroon’s English-speaking regions.
By Soulemanu Buba
