Moma Sandrine in Bamenda
Bamenda is the divisional headquarters of the Mezam division in North West Region of Cameroon. Since the start of socio-political unrest in the region, the town has been a hotspot for military raids once there’s a suspected infiltration of separatist fighters.
It all started with the arrest of Mancho Bibixy and others in 2016 and since then it’s been almost a normal thing for arrests to be made at random.
While in some of those arrested are given the chance to immediately seek bail, others a simple thrown into prison cells immediately after arrest.
Last Tuesday May 8, Ntamulung quarter in Bamenda was the target for military raids. According to eyewitnesses, it was at about 7pm that a military truck stormed the quarter, rounding up everyone on sight.
The military bundled people who were hanging around Ntamulung junction into these trucks and took them to the station. At the sight of this, inhabitants of the area started running helter-skelter not caring to know the reason for the arrest.
According to what The SUN gathered, those who had their National Identity cards on them were released the following morning while those who had no identification document on them had to continue warming the cold floors of the cells.
A trader who pleaded for anonymity narrated his slim chance of not getting arrested “I closed from work at about 6pm and was heading home from food market. When I first dropped at mile 2 junction, the heavy downpour did not permit me to continue with my journey. I waited there till it was past seven. Within this time I received a phone call informing me of military raids in Ntamulung. Fortunately for me, by the time the rains had ceased, the military officers were done and I hurried home. On getting to my neighbourhood, it was almost a dead street as people had all rushed for safety”.
As the tension that filled the air in Ntamulung was gradually settling in the days ahead, inhabitants of Bamenda were hoping such an incident will not repeat itself. However their expectations were short lived as Saturday May 12 brought another drama. There was another military raid around hospital roundabout which left the whole area between Food Market and Main Market in total confusion.
As people started running, traders who were making the last profits of Saturday sales hurriedly closed their sheds, some abandoning their goods just to run for safety without knowing the reason for the commotion.
At this time, different versions of the story emerged. While some people said the Ambazonia fighters had invaded Bamenda, others said a state of emergency had been announced. However they were only as good as their guesses.
A young trader around hospital roundabout told The SUN “We were going about our normal businesses when two military trucks came in and started arresting people at random at few minutes after 6pm, men, women and their children were arrested. They did not care if you had a National Identity Card or not”.
At the time this reporter finished talking with the trader, another military truck, supposedly the third drove towards the roundabout for another round of arrests. This prompted those who had stayed to run for safety while others scrambled for the scarce taxis. Some passengers even proposed to pay double the taxi fare while others begged to sit even in the car trunk. The confusion became so intense prompting a lady to leave her baby behind as she ran. She later realizing herself and started looking for the child.
Many of the traders were forced to abandon their goods like Garri, salt, tomatoes, mangoes which were littered around the food market as people trampled on them while trying to run.
Since February this year, denizens of the North West have been subject to an indefinite curfew that was placed by the Governor from 9pm to 6am. However, a lot of people are now questioning why the military conducts raids before 9pm.