A Red Cross worker identified as Diomede Nzobambona in his early sixties has succumbed to injuries sustained during an attack in Bamenda, chief town of the restive North West region of Cameroon, the aid international organization has said.
In a statement, the body says the Canadian delegate died on Monday August 23, following injuries he sustained the day before, during an attack in Bamenda.
“It is with great sadness that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) confirms that one of its staff died on August 23 following injuries he sustained the day before during an attack in Bamenda.” The statement partly reads.
“Words are not enough to express our immense sadness nor to soothe the grief of his family and loved ones. We send them our sincere condolences and the expression of our deepest sympathy.” Markus Brudermann, head of the delegation for the ICRC in Cameroon said in the statement.
The late Diomede Nzobambona was a Canadian delegate working in the fields of water and sanitation. He had worked for the ICRC since 2003 and had been under contract with the Canadian Red Cross between 2007 to 2012.
He was in Bamenda, chief town of Cameroon crisis-hit North West region to provide humanitarian assistance to communities affected by the over four years long Anglophone crisis rocking the region.
According to the statement from the International Committee of the Red Cross, the circumstances of his death have not been clarified and they cannot give any information. The aid organization maintained that its priority is to support those who have been affected by Diomede’s sudden death, especially his family, relatives and colleagues.
Diomede is not the first aid worker to die in Cameroon’s Anglophone crisis-hit regions. Few days ago, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Cameroon said four workers have been killed since 2019, meanwhile in the last 16 months, over 19 incidents of abductions involving humanitarians were reported in the said regions.
Unending insurgency in Anglophone regions
Ambazonia separatist militia groups have been waging an armed insurgency in the North West and South West regions of Cameroon to get the independence of both regions for close to five years now.
The latter have been battling with Government forces in attacks that have displaced more than 700,000 civilians and forced another 63,800 across the border to Nigeria, according to a United Nations report dated April 2021. Thousands have been reportedly killed in these attacks.
The latest killing was perpetrated in a church in Bali, in the Bui Division, North West region at the Presbyterian Church Ntafoang on Sunday August 22 during service. A female worshipper was shot dead and the Pastor on duty seriously injured when men dressed in military uniform fired bullets at the church.
An ambush by armed separatists in the same locality last month killed five police officers.
Last Friday August 20, a seven-year-old primary school pupil was killed in Kumbo during a cross fire between Government forces and separatists while she was attending a holiday class at the St. Theresa’s Catholic Primary School. One of her mates was equally injured.
Many Cameroonians seek to see an end to the bloody hostilities and have appealed to both camps for a ceasefire that could lead to a genuine dialogue.
Ariane Foguem
