CAMEROON INFOTREND

FOUR DEAD, OTHERS WOUNDED IN CAMEROON'S MAIDEN REGIONAL ELECTIONS

By Mildred Ndum Wung Kum

A Roman Catholic Priest and a seminarian - all of Bamenda Archdiocese sustained injuries meanwhile two traditional rulers and two municipal councillor are reported to have died within the context of Regional elections  in Cameroon.

mangled car of Fr Anthony Viban, screenshot from amateur video

Reverend Father Anthony Viban and a seminarian were driving to Alatening, a locality in Mezam, Northwest region. They had left Akum for a Holy Mass in Alatening in the morning of Sunday 6th December 2020, Day of pioneer Regional Elections in Cameroon when they were shot. The priest was wounded on the arm while the seminarian was wounded on the leg, local sources say. The car transporting them was mangled by gunshots. It's windscreen shattered, while its wheels were deflated.

Sources say the two are responding to treatment  in a medical facility.

Councillor Encho Elias Ambi is reportedly dead after being shot in the Northwest Region. The incident is said to have happened  minutes after he voted in Mbengwi, a town that hosted polling stations in Momo Division of the Northwest Region. He is said to have been shot in a convoy along the Alabukam neighbourhood as he struggled to return to Bamenda after voting.

Two other traditional leaders are also feared dead. A traditional leader in Garoua reportedly died after voting. Another who was heading a list died on the eve of Elections still in the Francophone part of Cameroon.

Another Municipal Councillor in one of five councils in Momo Division also died after a brief illness; Mayor Itambi Andrew of Njikwa Council died  on Friday December 4, two days to the D day of Regional Elections.

The polls took place in Cameroon where a socio political crisis has been raging in the Anglophone regions for more than four years, the East Region battling with seleka rebels and the Northern Regions plagued by Boko Haram insurgency.