By Riches Soberekon
On Monday, July 17, 2023, unidentified gunmen carried out a fatal attack in Bamenda, Cameroon, resulting in the loss of nine lives.
The victims included a recently married couple, Simplice Lontsi Tsomene and Hélène Raisa Tanga, who were known as loving parents to three children.
The couple owned a phone shop in the city.
The authorities are blaming separatist rebels for the attack, which occurred at a busy junction. The attackers arrived in two unmarked vehicles and forced people to lie down.
According to witnesses, the gunmen accused the victims of being “black legs,” suggesting that they were either working with the government or not following the separatists’ orders.
Since 2017, there has been a conflict between rebels who wish to establish a separate nation called Ambazonia for Cameroon’s English-speaking regions, and the government. Bamenda is one of the hotspots in the conflict.
A day before the latest shootings, troops attacked a residence in the same neighborhood of Nacho, killing five young men.
The situation in Bamenda is deteriorating rapidly, with both sides committing horrific human rights abuses and atrocities.
Amnesty International recently released a report that outlines alleged rapes and murders committed by both parties in the Anglophone armed conflict, and they’re calling for the government to conduct an investigation.
Even though no group has admitted to the killings, some separatist Ambazonia leaders who are living outside the country have been urging their fighters to target people they consider “black legs” without any mercy.
