Mamfe: Candles lit under a seemingly newly constructed flag stand painted in colors of the flag in Egbekaw – Mamfe November 6, 2024, tell the story of wounds yet to heal from a massacre now a year old. Celebrations for Paul Biya’s 42nd anniversary as President was an air of memory for militants of the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) and the rest of the population of Mamfe, Manyu division in the South West region.

According to Cameroon News Agency, a memorial service was held in memory of 26 civilians and one soldier killed at dawn on November 6, 2023, by armed separatist fighters. One year over and broken, burnt walls of yet to be rehabilitated houses are traceable. Life is yet to be like it once was in Egbekaw.

Clothed in his party fabric, Minister Delegate in charge of Special Duties at the Presidency, Victor Mengot recalled, ‘…we all know what happened here this same morning last year. I was in Mamfe and after the gunshots we came and saw the tragedy firsthand.’ The son of the native
soil further lamented that he, ‘had never seen such a scene of dead bodies. A result of people who use guns and cutlasses to kill others for nothing. That day, we all mourned in Manyu!’

The ecumenical service, which was held with numerous armed soldiers observing, had the SDO for Manyu, Alineu Yves Betrand, Mamfe Mayor, traditional rulers, and other authorities and militants present. The slain of Egbekaw are part of over 6000, according to rights organizations, who have been killed by both military and armed separatist forces in an eight-year running socio-political unrest in the North West and South West regions.