Cameroon: a week after the Akwaya massacre, the toll has worsened
Cameroonian police on patrol in southwestern Cameroon (illustrative image).
AFP/Marc Longari
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
In Cameroon, a week after the Akwaya massacre on the Nigerian border, in the South West region, the toll has worsened.
At least three people have succumbed to their injuries, according to the president of the Council of Protestant Churches in Cameroon.
Reverend Samuel Fonki Forba is from the area.
He is the first to have alerted at the beginning of last week on the death of at least thirty inhabitants, including women, children, the elderly, victims, according to him, of reprisals within the framework of a community conflict, aggravated by the security crisis in the region.
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This is an old rivalry for access to fertile land between the Oliti community and the Messaga Ekol community in this remote and isolated part of the Manyu department, close to the border with neighboring Nigeria.
"
A conflict that we managed to manage
, explains Reverend Samuel Fonki Forba,
until the appearance of gangs of young people in the area who took up arms and presented themselves as separatist fighters
".
For more than five years
A situation of conflict between separatist groups and government armed forces that has lasted for more than five years in the South West regions of the North West, two predominantly English-speaking regions, originating from the former West Cameroon.
According to Reverend Samuel Fonki Forba, it was the villagers "
who asked the Amba Boys to intervene
" in their dispute and this is what led to an explosion of violence between the two neighboring communities.
The Cameroonian Ministry of Defense does not mention a community conflict.
But speaks of a “
terrorist attack
” perpetrated “
by a hundred heavily armed assailants
”.
The press release mentions thirty-two civilians murdered, including five of Nigerian nationality, a health center and about fifty homes burned.
Call for non-violence
The defense forces say they have killed four attackers and are on high alert to prevent further attacks.
Esther Omam, director of the NGO Reach Out Cameroon based in Buea is worried.
For her, other tragedies like that of Akwaya are to be feared because of the circulation of weapons in remote and fragile areas.
Like Reverend Samuel Fonki Forba, Esther Omam calls for non-violence and dialogue between elected officials, traditional chiefs and religious leaders to prevent other latent conflicts between neighboring communities from taking an ultra-violent turn.
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To read also:
Cameroon: more than thirty dead in intercommunity violence
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Cameroon
Crime