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By Andrew Nsoseka& Derrick Wambo Woteva The people of Bakweri Town, Sandpit area in Buea, on Monday, July 30, experienced one of their greatest horrors in memory, when masked elements of the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR) moved into Bakweri Town and m
Bakweri Town Summary Executions: Eyewitnesses Narrate Massacre Of Youths By Military
By Andrew Nsoseka& Derrick Wambo Woteva The people of Bakweri Town, Sandpit area in Buea, on Monday, July 30, experienced one of their greatest horrors in memory, when masked elements of the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR) moved into Bakweri Town and massacred youths, took some away and executed them in neighbouring Muea, leaving communities behind wailing and mourning their children and friends. Following the incident, a team from The Post set out tovisit the scene of the killings andget the details from those who witnessed what they described as summary executions. Most of those who witnessed the killings, sought for anonymity, scared of being identified with the story, for fear of being subsequent targets. Account Of A Close Friend One of those who was with the victims, minutes before the soldiers swooped in narrates: “At about 1:45pm on Monday, we stood around the road, nine of us, discussing. One of my friends made a call, and someone was to send him money via mobile money and my phone was used for the transaction. We separated. I went into my house and he crossed the road moving down to where the BIR later came. About five minutes later, those who were still outside called me and I came out. After about five minutes, two BIR Hilux vehicles arrived and branched off at the Executive Hotel Junction. The first BIR vehicle carried BIR soldiers all in black attire. The second vehicle came with soldiers in their normal BIR attire with inscriptions on it. They got into the quarters and we had no idea of where they were going to or what they were going to do. About 10 minutes later, we heard gunshots coming from the direction where some of our friends were, at LalaWotoye. Everyone who heard the shots ran into their houses. We didn’t know what was happening. Some of us thought the soldiers were firing into the air to scare people. After about 15 minutes of sustained gunshots, the guns went silent.Peoplethen came out of their homes. I also came out and we stood by the road, confused about what was going on.The very BIR pick-up trucks came out of the quarters. They drove down towards Sandpit, although they came in from a different direction. As they drove past us, we heard cries from the direction they were coming from. They had shot some boys who were caught smoking. We rushed to the scene and upon reaching there; we saw those who were killed.One of them was my younger brother here in the quarter. He is not an Amba fighter. They are not Amba boys. All they did was smoke. And when you listen to the radio and watch these journalists who have not even come to the scene, you hear them saying, “Amba boys have been killed.” All lies. Let the truth be told, innocent people were massacred.” This account was corroborated by many other eyewitnesses. Another eyewitness narrates how a corpse was later taken away: “Mayor Ekema came in after we had carried the dead bodies from the gutter where they were killed, up to the road, the T-shirt I wore is completely stained with blood. Thank God we got there earlier and even took pictures of the corpse else they would have displayed guns on them and then claimed that they were armed, whereas they had nothing, not even sticks. “I recognised two military officers there, one called Joel, and the Company Commander of the Brigade here in Buea. There was a small captain there, he is of the 21st Motorised Battalion, and he had his own crew. They came here. They all cocked their guns, the Mayor holding his own gun, said he is giving us five minutes to bring the corpses outside. About three boys from the crowd asked him who he expects to remove the corpses and hand to them, and where they are taking the corpses to. The Mayor lifted his gun and trained it on us – a people he calls his own. Finally, they carried the corpses away. Former Quarter-head Who Witnessed Shooting Scene At the area where the boys were surrounded and shot dead, we met an elderly man who has lived there since the 80s and also served for seven years as the Quarter-head. He said the area, under a mango tree, opposite his residence, where the boys were massacredis a smoking joint where many of the youths, about 30 of them, usually come to smoke. He said, sometimes, “even the military officers come there and smoke and we all see them”. “I have advised them like an elder to stop smoking, but they usually come there, it is not new.” Asked what he witnessed on that fateful day, Mola Sam narrated: “I stood outside here, in front of my house, discussing with one of my neighbours who is a Lecturer at the National Advance School of Public Works in Buea. We were discussing what is going on, this Chiefs matter,all of a sudden, we heard: ‘gham, kakakakakaka!’ deafening gunshots, just in front of us. My neighbour, a man, ran down and even missed the road to his house. He just went down straight, instead of crossing the bridge and going to his house. He was confused. I also ran into my house and locked the door with my family and all of us were lying down on […] Read more
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