"Saidu Afiyatu's journey from Cameroon's capital, Yaounde back to his village in Gidado in the North West region, ended in unimaginable horror. On the morning of January 14, he returned to find his house burnt to the ground and two of his brothers murdered. "I never ever suspected a day like this would come, when people with whom we have been living together for decades would do this to us," Afiyatu told DW."
"He was not alone in his loss. According to village Chief Tata Ndzisshoto, suspected separatist fighters swept through the community before dawn, killing 14 people, including eight children. About 20 others were wounded and have been receiving treatment in hospital. Several homes were razed in the attack on the remote settlement, situated about 150 kilometers (93 miles) from Bamenda, which regional governor Adolphe Lele L'Afrique described as "barbaric.""
"The attack pulls into focus the brutality of the wider conflict that has plagued Cameroon's Anglophone region. Since 2017, by conservative estimates, some 6,500 people have been killed, and over a million have been displaced, according to the International Crisis Group. After teachers and lawyers from Cameroon's two English-speaking regions went on strike over the use of French in Anglophone schools and courts, the Yaounde-based government took a hardline."
On January 14, suspected separatist fighters attacked the village of Gidado in Cameroon's North West region, burning homes and killing civilians. Saidu Afiyatu returned to find his house destroyed and two brothers murdered. Village Chief Tata Ndzisshoto reported 14 people killed, including eight children, and about 20 wounded receiving hospital treatment. The settlement lies about 150 kilometers from Bamenda, and regional governor Adolphe Lele L'Afrique described the assault as barbaric. Since 2017 an estimated 6,500 people have died and over a million have been displaced amid tensions that began after strikes by teachers and lawyers over the use of French in Anglophone schools and courts, which escalated into violent confrontation and fostered separatist movements seeking an Ambazonia state.
Read at www.dw.com
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