By Cynthia Bih
The bodies of Felix Amandong Sah and Patience Katuih Kum were found lifeless away from their burning house on Monday February 6, 2023 in Nkwen, outskirts of Bamenda, North West Region of Cameroon after the Cameroonian military raided the neighborhood.
According to our sources who witnessed the incidence, the military raid the area that morning in search of seperatists whom they said were being accommodated by a family in the neighborhood. “They break into our house and asked if we knew where separatists were holding their meetings in the neighborhood and we said we do not know. They surrounded our neighbors house, went inside, pulled them out and shot them before setting their house on fire.” Our source narrated.
“There was another young girl we did not recognize, who was also pulled out of the house by the military. They asked her where her sister was as they forced her to the ground with a gun pointed to her head. From all indications they were looking for Uncle Felix’s daughter whom we have not seen for some time now.” She added.
The SUN Newspaper spoke with a relation of the deceased couple who regretted that his brother and wife died due to their involvement with the Southern Cameroons National Council, a pressure group banned by the government of Cameroon and believed by government to be partly responsible for the armed conflict going on in the country.
The brother of the deceased told The SUN Newspaper that he had been issued a summons inviting him for questioning at the police station. “They kept asking me to tell them where my brother’s daughter Amandong Wilmer Zou is. They said Wilmer was the secretary of the secret meetings that my late brother and wife were hosting in their home and that Wilmer must have some very vital information on the whereabouts of some separatists fighters in the community.” He said.
“I tried telling them that Wilmer could not have been their secretary and one of the officers gave me a thunderous slap that landed my face on the table. He then shouted with a fierce voice warning me not to tell any lie again because they have in their custody one of the members of the SCNC group who usually attends meetings at my late brother’s place. They told me the person has confessed everything and called names of all persons involved and all of them must be fished out.” He added.
Wilmer is a young lady in her early twenties whom The SUN Newspaper gathered was a university student in Bamenda. We were unable to establish any contact with her and cannot say where she is either. She has not been seen since the tragic incidence that befell her parents.
Her uncle says she too had been issued a summons and since she is nowhere to be found, he cannot say whether she is safe or not. “Anything could have happened to her” He chipped.
Wilmer is one of many Cameroonian youths who is victim of circumstances around the parents involvement in political matters. Like Wilmer’s parents, many have parents have either been killed by stray bullets or targeted killings and houses razed by either armed groups or the military in relation to the armed conflict in the North West and South West Regions o Cameroon.