9, February 2024
French Cameroun: 2 killed as fire hits IDP camp in Far North Region 0
At least two people were killed in a fire accident at a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Cameroon’s Far North Region, officials and local police said on Friday.
The fire, which broke out in a tent on Thursday night, gutted other shelters in the Ndaba locality that hosts the IDPs. Two children who were unable to escape were killed in the tragedy.
Local police said that at least 100 shelters were destroyed, while dozens of households in the camp were displaced.
Rescue workers were conducting an assessment to determine the extent of the damage, and the victims were in critical need of food, shelter, and other items, according to the police.
Fires in camps and communities where IDPs are resettled have become common in the semi-arid region, where temperatures sometimes reach 46 degrees Celsius.
Source: Xinhuanet
11, February 2024
11 February: Amba Fighters impose lockdown in Southern Cameroons 0
Fighting erupted again early Saturday in parts of Cameroon’s war-torn English-speaking regions of Southwest and Northwest as armed separatists began imposing a three-day lockdown to disrupt National Youth Day activities.
Residents of Bamenda, the capital of the Northwest Region and the largest city in English-speaking Cameroon, said they heard bursts of gunfire in some parts of the city.
“The streets are deserted. People are afraid to go out. Almost all activities are not operational,” a resident of the city, who asked not to be named, told Xinhua by telephone.
Officials in both regions have assured residents of “tight” security and urged “everyone, all the youth, to come out en masse to take part in National Youth Day activities.”
On Thursday, separatist leaders announced that they will impose a lockdown in the regions from Saturday to Monday as a measure to disrupt National Youth Day activities, which will be held in the central African country on Sunday.
Separatists said the event was “illegal” in the two Anglophone regions, where they have been clashing with government forces since 2017 in a bid to create an independent nation they call “Ambazonia.”
Source: Xinhuanet