Sunday 10 September 2017

Uneasy calm returns to Kumbo after hostilities


Calm has reportedly returned to Kumbo in Bui Division, North West region after gendarmes shot and killed a 19 year old boy whose names we got as Sevidzem Cyprian in Kifem and another 35 year old father of four whose name we got as Abdul Aziz in Tobin on Monday September 4, 2017.
                In an official statement, the Minister of Defense Joseph BetiAssomo, said the boy in Kifem was shot accidentally after villagers attacked gendarmes with locally made guns, wounding one of the gendarmes. The defense minister said the gendarmes were in Kifem on an anti-drug operation and that they opened fired in self-defense. A claim greatly debunked by eyewitness’ account in Kumbo.
                Gendarmes reportedly had a tip-off that the nicotine-containing plant was being grown in the area and went to apprehend the suspect. When they got to the scene and could not immediately find the drug-containing plant, they are reported to have proceeded to rounding up the man’s goats.
                Cyprian, angered by what he saw, raised an alarm, alerting other villagers who descended on the scene and got into a scuffle with the red-capped officers. In the heated struggle with tempers flaring, shots were fired and one hit Cyprian.
                Cyprian’s body was being brought to Kumbo a few hours after his murder by an irate mob of youths who went through the town chanting songs but the mean company commander and his men used teargas and gun shots in attempts to disperse the swelling crowds and “seized” Cyprian’s body  and took it to the hospital.

                The hospital authorities reportedly refused keeping the body, saying tensions were high and that the hospital could be burned down by the population. With the hospital having refused to keep the corpse of the murdered teenager in their mortuary, the gendarmes took the body out of Kumbo. It is currently unclear where the body is but speculations are that it could be in Jakiri or Bamenda.
                Things again took another dramatic turn in Kumbo when the population stood their ground, demanding for the body of Cyprian in front of the Senior Divisional Officer’s office at Tobin. The SDO’s office is reported to have been pelted with stones by the irate mob.
                With the anger, some of them went to a nearby government school and set it ablaze. Images on social media showed the school littered with white sheets of paper while smoke and flames billowed from windows in one of the buildings.
                In response, the security forces again responded with brute force, firing shots that hit and killed one Abdul Aziz, a mechanic who was going to refund a client’s car he had been repairing. These other shootings further inflamed the mob but military back up from Bamenda helped quelled the situation.
                The defense ministry says the commander of the gendarmes in Kumbo has been dismissed over the unrest.
                Fon of Nso blasts Military excesses and calls on Population to avoid confrontations
                HRH SehemMbinglo I on September 5, 2017 at the palace courtyard while addressing Nso sons and daughters as well as notables condemned the managerial acumen and notorious attitude of the Company Commander and appreciated the prompt response from the Head of State by replacing him.
                The Fon regretted that from time immemorial, aNso man has always been a sacrificial lamb, be it in a political or any social unrest adding that they always end up being the best losers.



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