Cameroun: AFCON 2021 Picks Spanner in the Wheel, Deafening Gunshots Send Malian Squad off the Pit in Buea, More Attacks Planned

A Cameroun gendarme officer has been reported dead, and five other people including a lawyer wounded following a running gun battle between government forces and pro-independence fighters in Buea, capital of the restive Southern Cameroons.

The incident occurred in Muea, a precinct less than two miles away from the Molyko sports complex where the Malian National Team was training Wednesday, January 12, 2022.

Among those wounded and ferried to the hospital for medical attention is Barrister Ivoh Aloh Njuh, head of the Nunjang Law Firm in Buea. Sources at the Buea hospital confirmed to Timescape Magazine that the total number of gunshot cases from Wednesday’s shootings stands at five.

Multiple sources have maintained that the attack on government security forces in Buea Wednesday was carried out by a detachment of the Ambazonia Defense Forces (ADF). There are several Ambazonia self-defense groups in Fako Division professing to render the seaside resort of Limbe and the capital Buea ungovernable in attempts to disrupt the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2021 in the region.

Ambazonia self-defense groups have previously warned CAF not to allow the hosting of AFCON matches on their territory by the government of Cameroon which is considered a colonial administration by the locals.

A source at the Cameroun Ministry of Defense who spoke to Timescape Magazine on conditions of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press said information they have received reveals that there are several Ambazonian ‘generals’ in Fako armed to the teeth. The source further hinted that from the look of things the next forty-eight hours are likely to be deadly in the area with multiple explosives and gun battles targeting military and foreign delegations.

The military officer that spoke to Timescape Magazine also hinted that the Yaounde authorities were dispatching thousands more troops to Fako to try and salvage the situation. He expressed worry that despite bringing in soldiers from neighboring countries to assist, the security challenge was getting out of foreseeable proportions.

This is a developing story.