Cameroon: Locals in Southern Cameroons Locality in Bali Say Cameroon Military Killed Nursing Mother During Church Service

Christians who went to worship at the Presbyterian Church, Ntafoang in Bali- Nyonga on Sunday, August 22, did not know that during their time in the presence of their Maker, one of them would be brutally killed right in Church. 

The Parish Pastor, Muntoh, and a Church member were shot in the Church in the restive Southern Cameroons. The female Christian whose only name Timescape Magazine got as Maa Grace, was hit by a bullet, same as Reverend Muntoh.

Eyewitness accounts say Cameroon military men in about 15 trucks, armed to the teeth stormed the village Sunday morning, firing gunshots as Christians worshiped.

While the Pastor survived the gunshot, the lady died of the bullet wounds, bleeding profusely by the time she was rushed to the hospital. Given the Senior Divisional Officer’s ban on the circulation of commercial motorbikes in Bali, the victims of the shooting were taken to hospital on the Church Wheeled bier.

An eyewitness told Timescape Magazine that “We were all in the Church for the Sunday service, when the Cameroon military started shooting from Tih ascending the hill to Ntanfoang… suddenly, bullets caught the female Christian and she started screaming and then, the Pastor too was hit via the window….”

Several parts of Mezam have witnessed military invasion lately as a special operation authorized by the Governor of the region against pro-independence self-defense volunteers is ongoing. This special operation which has recorded several deaths, according to top military sources is intended to clear roadblocks on stretches where pro-independence self-defense volunteers instituted bans by motor vehicles to retaliate the government ban on the circulation of commercial motorbikes.

The Bambui-Fundong road was cleared of vehicles parked on the road and made it passable again though transport vehicles are yet to commence plying the road, an indication that the issue was not the cars blocking the road. The Governor also authorized an operation in Bali Nyonga to clear the road linking Bamenda to Ekok in Nigeria, though this stretch did not have any physical barricade. All these efforts, people living along the stretch from Bali through Mamfe, and then to Ekok say, are not yielding as no road user is willing to take the risk.

The operation that has been running for about two weeks now, aimed at stopping a “no vehicle ban” by pro-independence self-defense volunteers appears not to be yielding the desired effects. The commanders of the 5th military and Gendarmerie regions, Brigadier General Nkar Valère, Brigadier General Ekongwesse Divine and the Regional Delegate for National Security, have all been working to implement this special operation without any real success.