UN condemns killing of humanitarian aid worker in Batibo

For close to four years today several confrontations between soldiers and separatist fighters in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions have left thousands dead.

There have been repeated calls for access to be granted to vulnerable persons by health workers.

The recent trend over the past weeks however has been the killing of humanitarian workers.

The latest victim was a humanitarian aid worker serving with the Community Initiative for Sustainable Development (COMINSUD) in Batibo Subdivision in the North West region.

““I am outraged and saddened by the killing of another aid worker in the North West region of
Cameroon. On behalf of the United Nations and the wider humanitarian community in Cameroon,
I extend our deepest condolences to his family, community and to COMINSUD” Humanitarian Coordinator ad interim in Cameroon, Mrs. Siti Batoul Oussein said.

Killed by unknown individuals, the aid worker who was an implementing oartner for several UN agencies had left his home on August 7th.

This action Batoul Oussein says jeopardises not only other humanitarian workers, but the vulnerable persons they attend to also.

““Violence against humanitarian workers is not acceptable under any circumstances. It jeopardizes
access to much needed assistance for people affected by the crisis in the South West and North
West regions” she added.

Adding that the murder comes barely a month after the killing
of a community health worker in the South West region, she has reiterated the United Nations’ call for all armed actors to refrain from any attacks or
obstruction of aid workers and humanitarian agencies on whose assistance so many lives depend.

Several humanitarian workers have often found themselves entangled in the violence, with one side often accusing them of being a spy or sharing information with the other. This has seen some kidnapped, tortured and in some cases like in Batibo, murdered.

Mimi Mefo info