Muyuka: Security Forces in Manhunt for Youths Accused of Setting Police Station on Fire

Nti Stephen: his whereabouts remains unknown 

Security forces have launched a manhunt for a group of youths, accused of having been involved in the setting ablaze of a Police Station in Munyenge, Muyuka Subdivision, South West Region of the country.

The inferno at the police station led to the death of three policemen.

The attack on the detention facility took place in the wake of the ongoing armed conflict in the Anglophone Regions which has claimed thousands of lives and many others displaced.

Residents of Munyenge in the early hours of Monday, August 28, 2018, which is also observed as a Ghost Town Day for residents of the Anglophone Regions, went on a peaceful protest to condemn the excesses and gross marginalisation of Anglophones by the government of Cameroon and the brutality on civilians by the armed forces which has led to the death of some youths in that area and many others in the region.

The protest was interrupted by the military and live bullets used on peaceful protesters which then aggravated the whole protest.

The angry youth are reported to have set the police station on fire with three members of the police force losing their lives in the process.

Amongst those arrested following the attack on the police were Nkengong Romanus, a well-known community leader and Nti Stephen, spokesperson of an association known as community standard association which has as its objective to fight against all forms of discrimination and marginalisation against the English-speaking minority part of Cameroon.

They were arrested on August 28, tortured and taken to an unknown destination.

It is alleged that Nti Stephen escaped from detention while some members of his association have gone underground for fear for their lives.

We also gathered that when he was arrested, his parents were also manhandled and tortured.

Soldiers are reported to have burnt down their family house following accusations levelled against him.

However, their whereabouts is reportedly unknown.

Nevertheless, Nti’s ordeal with security forces was far from over as the police kept swooping on the neighbourhood in search of him not only because of his alleged involvement in the burning of the police station but also because of the massive destruction of state properties by protestants which was attributed to him.

A warrant of arrest, we gathered, has been issued on them.

If re–arrested, Nti Nkemasong Stephen and other members of his group will be tried in a military tribunal under the anti-terrorism law, whose maximum punishment is the death penalty.

That is if, they are not killed outright, like many others who have been victims of extra-judicial killings within the context of the ongoing Anglophone conflict.