By EBBSEY NGUM
Several attacks have been perpertuated on taxi drivers by alleged separatist fighters in Mezam Division of the North West Region of Cameroon recently, following ‘failure to respect their order’, according to the fighters.
The SUN gathered that on Tuesday, June 4, 2024 gunmen dressed in civilian attire attacked a taxi driver by name Akoni in Ntarinkon, Bamenda II sub division, shattering the windscreen of his car and leaving him bleeding till the populace came to his rescue and rushed him to the Bamenda Regional Hospital for medical attention.
Another incident was recorded on Wednesday, June 5, 2024 at Travellers neighborhood still in Bamenda II sub Division, where gunmen set taxis ablaze for not respecting an order which they imposed on them. The said order prohibited taxis from plying the road with the normal yellow colour. In an online video, the supposed separatist fighters warned taxi owners to change the colour of their taxis from the existing yellow colour to another.
Some taxi drivers have expressed fear and say these continuous attacks on their sector is adding another nail to the existing daily hardships in the area. “This one that we are being attacked for a crime we never committed is like I will have to relocate to another region”, Suh, a taxi driver tells The SUN.
This amongst others are numerous complains the taxi drivers in Mezam Division say they have tabled to hierarchy.
The Senior Divisional Officer for Mezam had in a recent Prefectorial Order banned the circulation of motor bikes in the town of Bamenda from 6am till 6:30 pm which came as a result of numerous attacks with the use of bikes, the most recent being a bar in Bamenda where an improvised device exploded claiming the lives of some denizens. With bikes banned, taxis being attacked, movement of denizens is a currently challenging in the area.