Wum boils again:

Locals desert town as army arrest over 200

By Mua Patrick Mughe in Yaounde

The crisis that gripped Wum following the brutal killing of one Ngong Leonard, a bike rider, by a soldier last January 24, is far from over, Cameroon Watch has gathered.

Reports say following a military raid which began as early as 4am, Wednesday February 17,over 200 inhabitants of the locality were arrested and detained at the Wum Gendarmerie brigade and other makeshift detention facilities.

Though the exact reason for the mass arrest remains unknown, Cameroon Watch independently gathered that the combat ready soldiers are in search of two military rifles which reportedly went missing when an angry mob stormed and burnt down the military camp in Wum. The attack by the irate youth, it should be noted, was the aftermath of the brutal murder a bike rider by a soldier.

(File photo) Barricades mounted by an angry mob during the showdown in Wum

We learnt that three military trucks having on board over 500 soldiers arrived Wum, from Nkambe and Bamenda. The soldiers are said to have embarked on a door-to-door search of the missing firearms on the wee hours of Wednesday. The search which began at Waindo, the village which hitherto played host to the military facility, saw the arrest of many youth suspected to have taken part in the demonstration which led to the destruction of the military base.

Those arrested, majority of whom are young men in their mid twenties were first taken to the courtyard of the Wum grandstand. They were later tossed to the Wum Gendarmerie brigade were they reportedly spent the night. It is yet unclear what the next step of the security officials will be but we gathered that those arrested are most likely to be transferred to Bamenda.

To recall, yesterday’s arrest came barely a week after scores of inhabitants including the fon of Waindo were arrested and ferried to Bamenda where they are currently being detained. Fon Nndung Noah Mvo , who is second class ruler of the Waindo chiefdom was reportedly arrested at a  fuel filing station in Wum, Tuesday February 9. He was immediately remanded in custody at the Wum Gendarmerie brigade before being transferred to Bamenda.

Violence gripped the town of Wum after irate youth burnt down the army barracks (including military hardwares) in Waindo village to avenge the death of a commercial motor bike rider who was reportedly stabbed to death by a soldier. An angry mob made up mostly of bike rider had mounted barricades in the town of Wum in protest of his brutal killing. The rampaging bikers and other angry youth confronted soldiers in their barrack up station in Wum with the corpse of their slain colleague which they had retrieved from the mortuary. They were demanding the head of the ‘killer’ soldier.

Not even the tireless persuasion of the state counsel for Menchum, Bekondo Burnett nor Menchum SDO, Emvoutou Bita Benoit Williams, could stop the enraged population from venting their spleen. A senior military officer is said to have opened fire on the demonstrators, wounding at least four.