North-West Region Cameroon: Mysterious Fire Guts Ntamulung Church Center Few Days to Bilingualism Commission’s Event

The night of May 29 breaking May 30, was a fearful one for some inhabitants of the principal city of the Northwest region Bamenda, as there was an attempted arson on the Presbyterian Church Center in Ntamulung.

Before the arson attempt, the Presbyterian Church Center of Ntamulung in Bamenda had been chosen to host the Listen to the People meeting organized by the National Commission on Bilingualism and Multiculturalism (NCBM) as from Thursday May 31^st to Friday June 1^st, 2018.

According to sources, the building was rescued from the flames by local residents who rushed to the scene to circumscribe the mishap.

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According to eyewitness accounts, a container of fuel was discovered at the scene which according to them, suggested that it was an arson attack.

TCR learnt that a Pastor of the Presbyterian Church revealed that the center had been subjected to threats a few days to the accident as demands were made from anonymous persons that it should not host the public talk of the National Commission on Bilingualism and Multiculturalism.

Since Wednesday morning, fingers have been pointing to Anglophone separatists that have been craving for the “restoration” of the independence of “Ambazonia”.

Some pundits think that their aim might have been to prevent a forum whose prime contractor is an organization set up by the Yaoundé government to resolve the Anglophone crisis but by keeping intact the unity of the country.

TCR however gathered from some Bamenda locals that before the arson attempt, they had not learnt of any threats from Anglophone separatists against the Presbyterian Church Center as declared by a pastor of the PCC.

Recall that the Presbyterian Church was issued a serious caveat by Anglophone separatists against hosting the Elective Convention of the SDF party in the first quarter of this year because they wanted the party to act in loyalty to their cause. Their threats forced the party of Ni John Fru Ndi to move the convention to the Bamenda congress hall. Separatists warned that the party moves its elective convention to French speaking part of the country if it insisted on holding it.

A few days after the elective convention, part of the residence of the National Chairman of the SDF party was set ablaze. The fire disaster was also blamed on separatists but this blame was however challenged by some critics who questioned how possible it could be separatists that attempted to burn the chairman’s residence with a night curfew in place.

By T. Silas