‘His Family Was His Pride, Joy’: Family Holds Mass for Mainimo Frankline Killed in Russia

By Hans Ngala

Weeks after news of the Cameroonian casualties in Russia’s war, one more victim has been memorialized. A funeral for Mainimo Frankline was held in his hometown of Kumbo. There was just one issue: No casket and no corpse. Frankline was killed on the frontlines in Ukraine while fighting on behalf of Russia. It is believed that a drone hit their location.
Frankline’s name appeared on a list released by the Franco-Swiss investigative group, INPACT, on February 11. The INPACT report identified 95 Cameroonians who have been killed in Ukraine as they fight for Russia.
The solemn funeral service on March 3rd at Kumbo Cathedral, where Frankline was baptized as a baby and attended church for most of his life, was attended by close friends, his mother, father, and other relatives. His family made the difficult decision to organize a funeral without his corpse – nearly a month after news of his death in Ukraine reached them in faraway Cameroon.

“Frank had not even been in Russia for up to four months when he was killed” his sister-in-law *Belinda told us as she held back the tears. She also explained that “I believe that God didn’t want him to go on this trip to Russia. The signs of divine protection were all there,” she says. She told this reporter that Frank initially missed his flight and as a result, got delayed by several days and had to look for extra money to top up the flight money before he could travel.
“Even his mother told him not to travel. She said she had a premonition that it was not going to be a good trip” his sister-in-law explained to us.
However, Frank, a father to three kids, said he would make the trip. “He was so caring and was worried about how he would care for his children.”

Losing His Unborn Baby Before the Doomed Russia Trip

According to Belinda, Frank’s wife was several weeks pregnant with what would have been the couple’s fourth child. “She (his wife) begged him not to go on this trip, but Frank is not the kind of person who can easily be talked out of something when he makes up his mind,” Belinda explains.
The stress of Frankline’s travel caused his pregnant wife to have a miscarriage – losing the baby just a day before his flight. Belinda explains that as a result “His wife was not even able to see him off to the airport” because her body was recuperating from the immense blood loss and strain she had been through in the build-up to the miscarriage. Frankline’s wife stayed behind while other friends and relatives saw him off to the airport.
She cried profusely, both because of the pain of losing their fourth child and also because she said she just wasn’t comfortable with his traveling to Russia – fearing that something would happen to him, fears that would be proven right just a few months after he arrived in Russia.
The couple already has three children together, and Frankline has been working as a taxi driver and a car spare parts dealer to support his growing family.
“He wasn’t actually doing badly financially,” Belinda explains. “His earnings from his job as a taxi driver and car spare parts sales were actually good. Sometimes he could get as much as 30,000 CFA (about 60 USD) in one day”. That amount is pretty good for someone in Cameroon, where millions of others live on less than a dollar a day. In a week, Frankline could make nearly 200 Dollars.
Frankline’s wife declined to comment when contacted by CNA. However, she did speak of being under immense emotional and mental stress and the fact that the funds the couple borrowed to enable Frankline to travel need to be repaid. “Most of those she borrowed from are already asking for their money back,” Belinda, her sister, explained. “We are talking millions of CFA here. How will she, as a single mother now with three kids to feed, pay back such large sums without a steady job?” she asked rhetorically.

‘Where is the Money?’

Belinda explains that Frankline had been working in Dubai, but due to the difficulty in renewing work visas and work contracts in Dubai, he chose to come back to Cameroon and continue his taxi business. But when he learned of the opportunity in Russia and the promises of better pay, he took that route.
“It’s almost as if he died for nothing because each time we spoke on the phone, he always complained. He often told us over the phone: ‘They told us there is money here, but ever since we came, we have not seen the money. Where is the money?’ he often said.
“We never got a single dime of money from him because he said some other people were getting their money, but he never got anything. It’s almost as if he died for nothing,” Belinda laments.
She explains that the family has been left without answers. Countless trips to the Russian embassy in Yaounde have not produced much. “At one point, after we went to the Russian embassy several times, they said we should instead go to Cameroon’s Ministry of External Relations,” Belinda explains. She says that she believes the Russians know their brother is dead and don’t want any accountability.
“We just want his body at this point because at least we get some closure that way,” she sobs. “At least we’ll have a grave to point to and say he’s buried there. But this torture, this limbo of not knowing if he is truly dead and having a hope that he’s alive, which may be false, is just too much. Imagine his poor mom and what she’s going through. Frank was her favourite child,” Belinda narrates.

Funeral in Kumbo

After being sent back and forth with no results, between the Russian embassy and the Ministry of External Relations, Frankline’s family made the difficult decision to hold a funeral for him without his body.
“The pain of knowing that we will never see his body, hear his voice or say ‘Goodbye’ to him is the saddest part” Belinda sobs as the tears roll down her cheeks.
Frankline’s funeral took place in Kumbo, the second largest town in the North West Region which has become the flashpoint of clashes between separatists and government soldiers. The North West and the South West Region of Cameroon are seeking to break away and return to their pre-unification status of autonomous status. Separatists want to rebrand the country ‘Ambazonia’. The clashes between separatists and soldiers in Kumbo and most parts of the NW and SW regions, made it impossible for our reporters to travel to Kumbo – one hour away from the provincial capital Bamenda to cover Frankline’s funeral.
We were able to get a copy of the funeral program in which the 34-year-old’s family describes him as “a devoted husband and a loving father to his three beautiful children” whose “family was his pride and greatest joy”. Mainimo Frankline is also remembered “for his remarkable sense of humor, Frankline had a unique gift he could light up any room” a copy of his funeral program reads in part.

A second memorial service for Frankline has been scheduled for March 7th in Yaounde, for those unable to attend the one in Kumbo due to the insecurity in that part of the country.
Two of our colleagues at CNA were his close friends and his loss has touched us in a deep and personal way.

We understand how traumatizing this kind of news is, for our readers. We advise readers who may feel traumatized by this story to seek appropriate mental health assistance. We also call on readers to avoid joining the Russia-Ukraine War because it almost always means certain death.
The INPACT report we cited earlier in this report, suggests that the number of deaths could actually be higher for all the African nations involved because some victims have not been found yet.