Konye Sub-Division:

Amba Gunmen Ransack Nfon Mukete’s Kombone Palace

-Royal Valuables Carted Away

By Doh Bertrand Nua in Kumba

Mukete in an interview with reporters at his main palace in Kumba

One of the palaces of Cameroon’s eldest Member of the Senate and paramount ruler of the Bafaws in Meme has been attacked by unknown gunmen. Nfon V.E. Mukete’s Kombone Bafaw Palace in Konye Sub-Division was reportedly attacked on the night of Wednesday 1st August breaking Thursday 2 August 2018. The gunmen were said to have looted cultural artefacts and other royal valuables. Kombone is the village where the Bafaws in Kumba town, first settled before moving to their present location in Kumba.

            A Source from Konye revealed to this reporter that the gunmen stormed the palace, shattering the windows and carting away valuable materials.

            No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. But it is suspected that the perpetrators are members of the ‘Ambazonia Defense Forces’, ADF, who claim to be fighting for the liberation and restoration of the statehood of the British Southern Cameroons.

            News of the attack on Nfon V.E. Mukete’s Kombone Palace has been received with mixed feelings by indigenes of Kumba, who note that the palace serves the Nfon for his royal activities whenever he sojourns in Konye Sub-Division.

            The Kombone palace is arguably the most beautiful house in Konye Sub-Division, along the Kumba-Mamfe road. It was refurbished only recently as Kombone was venue of the “Mbum Bafaw” annual cultural festival.

            The attack on the palace comes at a time when most traditional rulers in Konye have all escaped to unknown locations because of threats to their lives by Amba boys.

            Several palaces have been attacked since the escalation of the Anglophone crisis in the Northwest and Southwest Regions. Only recently, the chief’s palace in Etam village in Tombel Sub-Division was attacked and set ablaze and the chief chased away by unknown persons. Similar attacks on traditional institutions have been recorded in Nguti and accross Lebialem Division.

            Nfon Mukete had not reacted to the attack at press time yesterday. All attempts to get to the partriarch were futile.