Bambui: Government forces kill Masquerade in funeral event

By Wilson Musa

There is consternation and anguish in Bambui. On Saturday, January 7, 2022, in what is one of the most abusive affronts on the culture of the people of the North West Region, the military invaded a compound where a death celebration was taking place in serenity, in Fonta Quarter.

Sources said they opened fire, creating a commotion. As the traumatized people were fleeing for safety in all directions, one of them was targeted and executed by the military on the spot.

An eyewitness: “At about 3:35 PM at the peak of the celebration, the military marched into the celebration ground while others had taken position around the area. People could barely flee into the bushes since the military had surrounded the area. Most of the masquerades unmasked themselves and abandoned their masks as they took refuge among the women and the rest of the panic-stricken population. The military got many people beaten up indiscriminately, while equally firing traumatizing shots. After killing the masquerade, they took off the mask and all the dresses from which the extracted cowries we use for cultural events, placed on the corpse, and took pictures for their propaganda”. At this moment, we do not know the exact number of deaths since some people escaped into the bushes during the shooting.

The cultural sacrilege was committed barely one day after Paul Biya told diplomats that “…Cameroon remains committed to the peaceful resolution of conflicts through dialogue and negotiation”. Many are asking questions as to what immediate threat people at a cultural event and more particularly a “juju”, masquerade poses to a military, to deserve a lethal bullet. The reckless actions and cruelty of the military which endangered the lives of the civilian population at a cultural gathering contribute to sowing mistrust between the people and the military.

“So, the government is asking people to return to their communities, just for them to find a way to trap and easily eliminate young men, whom they see as a threat without any proper justification”, was a statement made by one of the traumatized persons who witnessed the shooting. “You come to a death celebration where people are unarmed and are celebrating a piece of their culture. Why open fire on them? Is Cameroon not a party to the 1977 Geneva Convention? Moreover, according to article 53, any act of hostility directed at the culture or spiritual heritage of a people is a war crime. Is this fighting a cultural genocide?”.

This incident, one too many, has provoked mourning across the community over the many atrocities committed lately by the military, among them the summary execution and public display of the corpses of young men at major squares, and the burning of civilian houses that people had spent their entire life setting up and the destruction of livelihoods, sometimes by looting. On the other hand, there have hardly been any reported attacks on military convoys or installations in Bambui and many are wondering why there is continuous targeting and elimination of the young people there. The Bambui community has enjoyed relative peace over the past years and even celebrated the 20th anniversary of the death of their previous Fon, in a ground-breaking cultural jamboree just a few months back. Every activity previously suspended because of the crisis was gradually taking shape. But this shooting incident has angered the community and will, to some extent, roll back or stagnate the progress in the return to normalcy.

Sensitive incidents of this nature which show open disregard for a people and their culture set a very dangerous precedence in this crisis, leading to more radicalization. On Sunday morning, the ceremonial ground was still littered with masks of jujus, other cultural items as well as the food items and drinks, that people abandoned while escaping. Even children at the ceremony were temporarily abandoned by fleeing parents. After the attack, the military invaded compounds around the neighborhood, breaking into some. The entire neighborhood including the ceremonial ground remained deserted.

A notorious gendarme officer in Tubah said to be the commander, whose only name we got as John is allegedly responsible for the abuse of the culture and most of the targeted executions of young people. His excesses, which remain unchecked to date, are a significant threat to peace, social cohesion, and harmony.