Mutengene-Cameroon: Mass Arrests For Allegedly Stopping Sonara Fuel Trucks From Transiting To Yaoundé

Several youths were Tuesday and Wednesday January 11 and 12, arrested in Mutengene, Southwest Region and taken to yet to be identified detention centers in the country. The Cameroon Journal gathered that the youths were picked up along Tiko Road, Limbe Road and Buea Road exits of the town where they had gathered at night, burning tyres and mounting barricades on the road to prevent trucks transporting fuel from the National Oil Refinery in Limbe to Yaoundé.Witnesses said the youths were acting in solidarity to the ongoing crusade for West Cameroon independence.

Eyewitnesses say multiple gunshots were heard across Mutengene at about 2:30 amon Tuesday and at about the same time Wednesday morning.“On Monday night, several people were arrested at Atlanta and Rangers neighborhoods along Limbe road. On Tuesday morning, a truck from the gendarmerie came and picked up more people from those areas. Nobody knows where they were taken to,” a Mutengene resident told The Journal.

Another eyewitness who craved anonymity blamed the protesters. “The Consortium which is commanding the strike asked everyone to stay at home, but these boys will not listen. Businesses and schools were all closed on Monday as we observed a ghost town.

Tuesday businesses resumed but schools remained 100% closed,” he said, noting that people like this make things difficult for the consortium” because they cannot be struggling to release people in Yaoundé while others are getting themselves arrested here in Mutengene.

“Unconfirmed reports say some 17 truck loads of security officers left Yaoundé Wednesday night for the Southwest region. The region was hitherto seen by government as a lesser threat, as security was before reinforced solely in the Northwest region since common law lawyers strikes sparked a crisis in both regions.

Cameroontoday