Southern Cameroons Crisis: Weapons of separatists seized by angry villagers in Balikumbat ⁰

Dozens of weapons of separatist fighters have been seized by angry population of Balikumbat, a locality in restive Cameroon’s Anglophone region of Northwest, local officials said on Saturday.

Quetong Anderson Kongueh, Prefect of Ngoketunja Division where the incident happened said, the population revolted against the fighters after they seized items from them “unjustly”.

“They marched to the camps (of the separatists) and seized all their weapons and arrested some of the fighters,” Konguh told reporters.

“This population has been suffering for a long time, and they think the time has come for them to put an end to this. They suffered from kidnappings, killings and forceful financial contribution and so on. These guys (separatists) blocked the main entrance to Balikumbat and were controlling who and what goes in and out,” he added.

Separatists are yet to react to the allegations.

In December, two separatists were killed by the population in a locality in the Northwest after villagers accused them of killing an innocent man.

Fighting between government forces and armed separatist groups has been going on since November 2017 after the separatists declared the independence of a nation called “Ambazonia” in the two English-speaking regions of Northwest and Southwest.

According to the United Nations, more than 700,000 Cameroonians have been displaced internally as well as fled to neighbouring Nigeria by the conflict.

Source: Xinhuanet