Cameroon: the convoy of a governor attacked

Bernard Okalia Bilai, the governor of the South-West region in the English-speaking area, was to inaugurate a chief officer recently appointed by Paul Biya.

According to the Cameroonian media, South West Governor Bernard Okalia Bilai was heading to Menji, capital of the Lebialem department on Friday, for the inauguration ceremony of the new chief officer. Shots targeted his convoy at Lewoh, according to several sources that report many wounded in the convoy.

No official report was published on Sunday in the Cameroonian media. The English-speaking North West and South West regions together account for about 20% of Cameroon’s population.

They have been shaken for more than a year by a deep socio-political crisis, which has gradually turned into an armed conflict. The separatists, fighting for the independence of English-speaking Cameroon, asked the Yaoundé representatives as well as the security forces to leave their territory, calling them “force occupation”.

For the past three months, armed separatist groups have been multiplying violent actions against State symbols (gendarmerie attacks, kidnappings of civil servants, clashes with the army).

Between two fires, the populations of the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon are facing growing humanitarian needs.

Thousands of the inhabitants of the area have migrated to neighbouring town in Nigeria, others are taking refuge in the French-speaking zone.

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