The brutal execution of a five-month-old baby in Muyuka, Southwest region of Cameroon, has stirred nationwide condemnation.
According to the mother of the slain child, Martha Neba Ngu, her baby was executed by a group of Government soldiers.
However, Cameroon’s Communication Minister and Government Spokesperson, Rene Emmanuel Sadi, has stated that the baby was killed by Amba fighters.
But the Minister’s version of the story had earlier been refuted by the child’s parents and grandparents, insisting that their baby was killed by Government troops.
The act, according to the deceased’s parents, happened at about 3:30 pm on May 20. Mimimefoinfos, quoted the father of the deceased, Zephaniah Funi Neba, as having stated that: “My baby was sleeping in the sitting room when six armoured cars drove to the compound. The military started ‘raining’ bullets. I ran, one of them broke open the door shooting my baby in the head”.
Neba’s version of the story was further corroborated by his neighbours.
One of the neighbours stated that she spied through the door
and spotted a man in a military uniform who forcefully opened the door, while
his colleagues looked on.
Another reporter, who visited the scene said, one of those he interviewed told
him that he overheard a military officer blaming his colleagues in the French Language
for shooting the baby.
In a widely circulated video, the mother of the deceased child is seen in tears, cursing the killers of her child.
The enraged mother stated that her baby was killed by Government troops.
“Come and kill me too… come and kill me…” the mother of the slain baby wailed.
Beside the child, bullet canisters about 11 in number could be seen, gathered and placed on the ground and on the sofa where the child’s lifeless body laid in her own pool of blood. The head of the deceased was ripped open by bullets.
Narrating her pains, the mother of the deceased said they heard gunshots and ran to seek refuge.
“We ran to hide, and the baby was on the chair. The baby was sleeping. They came, broke my door and killed my baby…military, the army, they are the ones who killed my baby. See what they have done to my baby, no good will happen to them. The person who killed my baby will die in a worse situation. They are killing the innocent ones…the God I worship will not forgive you …”
Minister Reacts
Following the ugly incident and the widespread condemnation it has attracted, Minister Sadi came out with Government’s version of the story.
In a communiqué dated May 22, the Government Spokesperson said the baby was killed by separatist fighters, who were hunting down the baby’s father, a former rebel fighter, for deserting the group.
Minister Sadi slammed Mrs Neba for accusing security officers of killing her daughter.
To him, the deceased mother and the videographer staged the scene to discredit the Government.
Going by him, the video of the wailing woman that has gone viral and the high calibre bullet canisters gathered from around the premises was done with the ill-intention to smear the image of the military.
However, the father of the deceased has refuted the story which a pro-regime activist Yannick Kawa earlier published, tagging Neba as a repentant Amba Fighter.
Neba had earlier said he has no problem with Ambazonia fighters. He insisted that his daughter was killed by Government soldiers, who stormed the area with armoured vehicles, prompting people to flee.
In the past months, cases of similar incidents have occurred, but have been given little publicity by mainstream media.
A similar incident was reported months back in Kumbo, where another toddler was killed by an alleged ‘stray bullet’.
Weeks back, a mother and her toddler were buried in Bamenda, after they succumbed to bullet wounds randomly fired by a group of soldiers who were returning from a mission. Most of these deaths have gone investigated.
