Cameroon: incidents on the sidelines of the CAN in Limbe

Cameroonian security forces patrol the streets leading to the Limbe football stadium on January 18, 2021 in the English-speaking area of ​​Cameroon.

- AFP / File

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

In Cameroon, while the South-West province hosted this Wednesday afternoon, January 12, these first CAN matches in Limbe, the provincial capital of Buea, experienced a major shooting this morning.

There are said to be two civilian deaths and several injured, one of them seriously.

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With our special correspondent in Douala

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According to residents of Buea, a major exchange of gunfire began around 7 a.m. on the road between Molyko and Muea neighborhoods.

They lasted about 1 hour and were heard in the surrounding neighborhoods.

This road is located not far from the Molyko stadium, which serves as a training site for the CAN group F teams. 

The Eagles of Mali, who were preparing on this ground their entry into the afternoon against Tunisia, had to interrupt their session.

The authorities did not communicate about this clash, and did not respond to our requests. 

This shooting probably opposed members of the security forces, deployed in large numbers during the competition, and separatist fighters.

Some militia groups had threatened to act against the tournament to denounce the situation in the English-speaking regions. 

Their strategy would be to disturb the craze for football, one of the rare unifying subjects between Anglophones and Francophones.

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• Cameroon

• CAN