By Wifah J.N
The recurrent message during the various meeting by Anglophone elites sent to the North West and South West regions to preach peace and dialogue with the population was for government to unconditional release all those who have been arrested in the context of the Anglophne crisis.
Many also called on government to account for those who have been killed and many who have been missing since the crisis erupted late last year.
Many parents who spoke to The Sun on the sidelines of these meetings recounted their personal ordeals and how they have been moving from one police cell to another in search of missing family members.
No comprehensive list has been given by government for those who have been arrested. This leaves families to worry whether their loved ones were actually arrested or killed during the protests.
News of a “mass” grave in Buea, reported by a local newspaper raised anxiety in the minds of family members who are yet to know the whereabouts of their loved ones.
In Limbe, a Mile 4 resident recounted how his neighbour was arrested in his home and how it took him several days to locate where he was being held.
In Ekona and Mile 16, many youths are reported to have fled into the bushes after military officers carried out numerous raids in the towns.
In Bamenda, several families told The SUN that After the bloody September 22, and October 1, 2017 protests in the North West region that witnessed some killings and numerous arrests, hundreds of families who failed to see their loved ones in cells across the region have been trooping into the neighbouring West region after they were hinted that the Bamenda central prison was full and so, those arrested have been transferred to Bafoussam pending further investigations.
Another family in Bamenda told the SUN that their son, Wainkem Michael, has been missing since the December 8, 2016 and they have been unable to trace him. He was neither amongst the first 21 youths who were released or the 55 others, including the Anglophone leaders who were released last August.