Cameroon separatists in southwest kill mayor

By : AFP

Date: 11 May 2020 6:55pm WAT

(FILES) In this file photo taken on October 03, 2018 The wreckage of burnt out car is pictured, allegedly destroyed by separatists fighter in a recent attack, as a Cameroonian soldier (L) patrols the edge of the abandoned market in the majority anglophone South West province in Buea. - In the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon where the army and separatist rebels have been fighting for nearly three years. A bloody conflict that has left more than 3,000 people dead, forced 700,000 to flee their homes and crumbled health facilities, leaving civilians, already war-torn, at the mercy of disease and now the COVID-19 coronavirus. (Photo by MARCO LONGARI / AFP)

Separatists in the English-speaking South-West region of Cameroon killed a local mayor in an ambush in which two soldiers were also wounded, the region’s governor said Monday.

Ashu Priestley Ojong, mayor of Mamfe, was killed by “terrorist secessionists” on Sunday morning, Bernard Okalia Bilai said in a statement.

The attack on the mayor’s convoy happened as they were travelling from Mamfe to the nearby village of Eshobi, state broadcaster CRTV said.

They went there after receiving a tip-off that some rebels would be laying down their arms, the report said.

Ojong was elected in February in legislative and municipal polls that the separatist rebels said should be boycotted.

English-speaking separatists in both the North-West and South-West regions of the central African country have been fighting government forces since early 2017.

Rights groups have accused both sides of atrocities in the conflict, which has left more than 3,000 dead, closed schools and clinics and forced 700,000 people to flee their homes.

Cameroon has been ruled with an iron fist for decades by ageing President Paul Biya, whom rights groups accuse of stifling democracy and protests.