Anglophone Crisis: Taxi Drivers Vow To Retaliate Military Excesses

Kesah Princely & Regis Che, in Buea

Some taxi drivers in the North West capital, Bamenda, say they would join Ambazonia fighters if Cameroon’s Defense and Security forces fail to stop exploiting them.

     Military men controlling vehicles

Speaking recently in Bamenda, town-ship transportaters accused uniformed officers of unlawfully using the ongoing Anglophone armed conflict to extort money from them and passengers.

The disgruntled car owners revealed the city has witnessed a high rate of militarisation which has caused food traders and technicians to forcefully lose food and money for fear of being assaulted, Mimi Mefo info reported.

  Furious Cameroonian Rapid  Intervention Battalion (B.I.R) render market scanty

“Soldiers put drivers and passengers at gunpoint to extort money from them. A boy was asked at a checkpoint in Akum, to give FCFA 5,000 simply because the military suspected that he is a scammer,” a taxi driver told Mimi Mefo info.

The Bamenda drivers said they are tired of their continuous exploitation by the military. They have resolved to join separatist fighters in the bushes if their situation is not addressed.

The separatist fighters whom taxi drivers want to join, have been accused of gross human rights violation including kidnapping for ransom, stopping the operation of schools, and torture of civilians.

A source in Bamenda told TWIF NEWS that some uniformed officers value money than the wellbeing of passengers. “Sometimes, soldiers collect money from drivers without even inspecting their car documents and the state of the vehicle,” our source added.

The Cameroonian government has always maintained that the military in the restive North West and South West regions are professional in their duties, and are not acting against the local population. 

Contact TWIF NEWS for ADVERTS and other information via: +237674667038.