Government forces went on a rampage this week in Kumba, Southwest region where they arrested many young Southern Cameroonians for unknown reasons.

The youths, most of whom say they do not know why they have been arrested, have been beaten and detained by Cameroonian soldiers who are asking the parents of those arrested to pay bribes for their children to be released.

A source in Kumba has informed the Cameroon Concord News that the young men “were forcefully taken out of their houses in a military raid carried out in the morning of Thursday, March 2, 2023 at about 2am and driven to the police station.”

Government forces have the bad habit of arresting young men for no just reasons and this is fueling a lot of tension and fear in the town, the source added.

The soldiers deployed in Southern Cameroons are here to make money and they are not missing any opportunity to exploit the already impoverished population, our source underscored.

It is challenging to drive around Southern Cameroons these days because of mixed patrol checkpoints in the two English-speaking regions of the country.

From Buea to Kumba, there are 9 checkpoints and all commercial drivers plying that road must pay CFAF 1,000 at each checkpoint. This is draining and it is killing business, the source lamented.

From Buea to Mamfe, there are 17 checkpoints and passengers are put through unnecessary checks which make free movement within the Southwest region challenging, our source pointed out.

The Southern Cameroons crisis which started as a protest by teachers and lawyers in 2016 has already resulted in the deaths of some 10,000 people and there is no end to the killings as government troops think that killing civilians is a sport.

Instead of seeking to minimize the killings, Cameroon government soldiers have transformed the unfortunate situation into a money-making business and this is with the support of their bosses in Yaoundé.

This explains why some Yaoundé government officials are determined to scuttle any efforts aimed at bringing peace to the country’s two English-speaking regions like the Canada-led talks which were announced a few weeks ago.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai