By Atia Tilarious Azohnwi
One has to muster a lot of courage to travel along the Buea-Kumba highway as the crisis in the North West and South West regions deepens. The road links Kumba, the economic capital of the South West Regions to Buea, its administrative capital. It used to be the busiest stretch of road in the region. Even before the independence of Cameroon, Kumba has always been the economic hub of the then West Cameroon because most villages and towns are all connected to Kumba.
Today, the road has not only become insecure, but it has sharply deteriorated as the crisis in the area digs in.
From Buea to Kumba, there are over 20 villages and towns with the most influential towns being Ekona, Muyuka, Malende and Mbalangi. These settlements used to host thousands of persons but today are a shadow of themselves. Buildings along the road in these localities have what could be bullet holes on them while others are gradually suffocating in grass.
State forces have multiplied controls as the Non State Armed Groups struggle to find their place. The fighters frequently ask commuters to ‘contribute to the struggle’ by dropping on the ground only banknotes as coins are not accepted. This has since morphed into commuters being removed from their cars and taken into the bushes.
“They came to my car and after realizing that I was a Pastor, they said ‘greetings Sango, something for the struggle’.” According to a regular driver on the way, you just need to obey them and don’t argue” he stated.
To make sure the road is practicable the men in uniform patrol the road with visibly sophisticated weaponry.
On Tuesday March 19, dozens of commuters were removed from their vehicles and taken into the bush at Banga Bakundu. Elements of the Rapid Intervention Batallion, BIR rescued about 80 passengers who had been taken into the bushes by alleged members of the Non-State Armed group along the Buea-Kumba road. They were released after an operation was launched immediately after their abduction and confirmed non was harmed though most of them lost valuable items.
The passengers who were travelling in buses and mini buses were stopped just after Muyuka and all ordered to step down and were later taken to the bushes were their valuable items like phones and money were seized from them.
This paralyzed traffic along the Buea-Kumba highway alerting defence forces who immediately launched a search and succeeded to rescue the passengers before clearing the road.
Incidents of this nature started on June 15, 2018 and have since made the highway insecure. Many travel this road with their hearts in their hands.
Transportation fare has since skyrocketed from FCFA 1,500 to between FCFA 2,000 and FCFA 5,000 depending on the drivers. It is the passengers who are left to pay the price.
Movement along the road has been made difficult by regular clashes between security forces and the Non-State Armed Groups.
A driver plying the road said he had witnessed scary scenes in several of his travels and would not want to encounter such dangers, preferring to stay home until the situation is under control.
As the battle between security forces and separatist fighters continue to rage on, the population holds its breath as they suffocate in the economic hardship brought about by the violence.