Cameroon officers say separatists resumed assaults on civilians and colleges after a infamous rebel chief and 4 of his collaborators had been killed throughout a raid this week.
The army mentioned the slain insurgent chief, often called Bitter Kola, was behind many atrocities, together with the October 2020 homicide of seven college students at Mom Teresa Faculty in Kumba.
Navy officers reported on Tuesday that Kola was amongst 5 rebels killed in a raid on their hideout in Mofako Butu, a village close to Kumba within the South West area.
Chamberlin Ntou’ou Ndong, probably the most senior Cameroon authorities official within the Meme district, the place Kumba is situated, mentioned Kola and his fighters had torched a number of dozen colleges, killed an unknown variety of civilians and authorities troops, and kidnapped scores of others for ransom.
Separatists acknowledged that Kola and 4 of his shut collaborators had been killed. They mentioned on social media platforms that not less than seven Cameroon authorities troops additionally died within the raid.
The federal government denied any troop casualties.
Capo Daniel, chief of the Ambazonia Peoples Rights Advocacy Platform, one in every of Cameroon’s separatist teams, mentioned he’s sad with the Cameroon army for displaying Kola’s physique at a market sq..
“We wish to condemn the present apply of the Cameroon authorities of desecrating the our bodies of lifeless troopers,” Daniel mentioned. “These are struggle crimes and are in opposition to the Geneva conference.”
The Cameroon authorities mentioned Kola imposed a lockdown within the South West area to protest instructional institutions reopening for the 2023-24 faculty yr. Officers mentioned that after the lockdown was imposed, separatists began attacking and killing civilians who defied the order.
The federal government mentioned that separatists killed a number of dozen civilians inside the previous three weeks. Amongst them had been 4 individuals shot lifeless within the state-run agriculture firm PAMOL’s camp at Lobe, within the South West area.
Gabriel Mbene Vefonge, president of the Cameroon Agricultural and Allied Staff Commerce Union, mentioned fighters ought to cease attacking civilians who go to work to earn cash, care for their households and contribute to the expansion of Cameroon.
“It’s inhuman, barbaric and horrific,” he mentioned. “It’s inadmissible and unacceptable. We name on all of the authorities of this nation and all different companions … to assist our opinion that it is a terrorist act and it should cease.”
Cameroon’s army mentioned it’s making an attempt to guarantee civilians within the risky South West and North West areas of their security. The army mentioned it seized struggle weapons and exhausting medication from fighters.
South West Governor Bernard Okalia Bilai mentioned that troops have been stationed in all restive cities and villages and that they may depend on civilians to inform them about rebels’ presence of their neighborhoods.
“We’re on everlasting alert,” he mentioned. “It’s an uneven struggle. That’s the reason we’re inviting the inhabitants to maintain the efforts of the forces of legislation and order and the administration by denouncing. If the inhabitants doesn’t denounce, it is going to proceed and so they would be the first victims. As soon as we’re knowledgeable, we are going to do the remaining.”
Battle sparked in Cameroon in 2016 when predominantly English-speaking western areas protested discrimination by the nation’s French-speaking majority. Cameroon’s army responded with a crackdown, and rebels took up arms claiming to defend the English-speaking minority.
The Worldwide Disaster Group, an impartial group primarily based in Brussels working to stop wars and promote peace, says the battle has killed 6,000 individuals and displaced 750,000.