Bana, a locality in the Upper Nkam Division in the West region of Cameroon is breathing fresh air after a highly agitated weekend marked by unrest following the killing of a young man by a gendarme officer in a land dispute.
Calm has returned to Bana after the tense atmosphere that prevailed in the locality and affected neighbouring Bafang over the weekend. Youths in the area stormed the streets to protest after a 24-year-old man Agence Cameroun Presse got the name as Loic Kameni was gunned down by a gendarme officer Saturday August 14.
Reports say the worst happened in the course of a dispute involving family members over a piece of land. Loic Kameni with a machete in his hands is said to have opposed a decision by the gendarme officer identified as Aboubakar Ndi who was called in by the other party in the dispute.
The situation then degenerated and the gendarme officer gunned him down before the rest of the family and later on escaped. This enraged youths in the area. In reaction to the killing, they burnt the car of the “killer” gendarme, took the tires to the main road where they erected barricades with it and later burnt it down thereby perturbing circulation on the stretch of road linking Bafang to Bafoussam for several hours.
They went about parading the streets with Loic Kameni’s corpse before proceeding to the gendarmerie unit in Bafang and took it hostage. Reports say the presence of the Senior Divisional Oficer for the Upper Nkam on the scene of the incident was not enough to calm down the furry of the enraged youths. According to them, he was talking “nonsense”.
That notwithstanding, the SDO came in time to save the Commander of the Bana Gendarmerie Brigade who almost succumbed to mob justice. The enraged population were determined to stay on the road with the body of the late young man. They had conceived a traditional mortuary to conserve the body of Loic on the road.
Reports say it was late in the night of Sunday August 14 that the corpse of the victim was removed from the road with the arrival of the Governor and taken to the mortuary in Bafang District Hospital.
To get the scene, Governor Awa Fonka Augustine is said to have to trekked for some time due to the perturbed nature of circulation. He got to Bana when inhabitants had already put on a big fire for a vigil in honour of the departed young man.
According to family sources, Loic Kameni will be laid to rest on August 21. In the meantime, investigations are underway to put light on the case.
Stevyne K.
