3 weeks ago
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The deputy mayor of a city in Cameroon’s English-speaking north hit by separatist violence has been killed after being abducted by armed assailants, CRTV state radio reported Monday.
The politician’s body was found lying in a pool of blood two days after she was kidnapped from her home on Saturday, the CRTV station said, quoting a local prefectural official.
A local human rights group told AFP her children witnessed the abduction.
English-language journalist Atia Tilarious Azonhw was abducted in the same city, Bamenda, last Friday and no trace has been seen of the reporter since.
The capital of the anglophone Northwest Region, Bamenda has been the scene of a slew of kidnappings and killings since the outbreak of separatist violence in 2016.
Separatists have repeatedly killed or kidnapped civil servants, including teachers, or elected officials, whom they accuse of “collaborating” with the central government of predominantly French-speaking Cameroon.
The conflict erupted in late 2016 after President Paul Biya, who has ruled Cameroon for almost 42 years, violently put down peaceful protests in its two anglophone regions.
Many in English-speaking Cameroon see themselves see themselves as marginalised by the central government.
At least 6,000 civilians have been killed by government forces and separatist fighters since the beginning of the conflict, according to Human Rights Watch.
AFP
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