Mbonge, Meme division:

Ambazonia ‘Tigers’ seizesecurity checkpoints, kill soldier

-Gov’t forces fight back, set village homes ablaze

-Local chiefs, villagers run for their lives

By Doh Bertrand Nua in Kumba

Ambazonia forces overran areas in Mbonge

On Sunday January 14, 2018, Ambazonia ‘Tigers’ took over control of all the security checkpoints along the Kumba-Mbonge stretch notably at Kwa-Kwa, Nake, Bole and Kombone villages in Mbonge Sub-Division. The merciless Ambazonia hit boys mounted road blocks and searched all vehicles that passed through the stretch of road.

                The search led to the identification and brutal slaughtering of a Chief Warrant Officer whose name The Median got only as Adama. His mutilated body was later deposited at the mortuary of the Kumba District hospital.

                In the same light two other military officers were humiliated and manhandled during the funeral ceremony of the chief of Kwa-Kwa. The officers had come to join family members in mourning.

                In yet another instance the family compound of a BIR officer at Bongwana was attacked by unknown persons. 

Gov’t forces raid villages, set houses ablaze

                In a bid to counter the Ambazonia fighters and recover the security checkpoints from them, a deployment of about five truckloads of soldiers from Buea descended on the area on Sunday at about 2pm. The heavy gunfire exchange that ensued between the Ambazonia fighters and the military officers led to the recovery of the checkpoints from the Ambazonians, who retreated into the bushes.

In the course of the heavy exchange, villagers and their Chiefs fled into nearby bushes for safety. Our sources revealed that the military men set ablaze several houses that were believed to host the Ambazonia soldiers.

                Meanwhile, some village chiefs in Mbonge Sub-Division who were said to be earmarked for assassination by the Ambazonia hit boys had all escaped to unknown destinations, fearing for their lives. The chiefs were accused of defending the government against the Ambazonia struggle, we learned.

                Reports say Chief Sakwe Dosa Eric of Kombone Town Village had since been warned to distance himself from the Divisional Officer of Mbonge, Bikie Alain Serge Bifolo.

Chief Sakwe’s warning came barely days after two village chairpersons in Mbonge Sub-Division were severely beaten by unknown persons.

                The former traditional council chairman of Kwa-Kwa village and that of Kombone Town village were each given a snake’s beating by youths of their villages for reportedly siding with the government over the Anglophone struggle.

                What was however baffling to many in the area was the fact that the two council chairmen said they couldn’t identify the persons who flogged them.