BFF-47 3 separatists, priest killed in Cameroon anglo zone

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BFF-47

CAMEROON-UNREST-POLITICS

3 separatists, priest killed in Cameroon anglo zone

BUEA, Cameroon, Oct 6, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Three anglophone separatists were
killed in clashes with Cameroonian security forces in the flashpoint
southwest town of Buea, a day before presidential polls, sources said
Saturday.

The incident on Friday followed the killing of an English-speaking priest
by a soldier on Thursday in Bamenda, capital of the northwest — the other
largely English-speaking region engulfed by the anglophone separatist
uprising.

The churchman’s slaying was confirmed in a statement issued by the town’s
diocese.

The unrest came as Cameroonians prepared to vote in polls that will be
marked by unprecedented violence in the anglophone regions and opposition
manoeuvres to oust President Paul Biya who is seeking a seventh term.

“Three separatists were killed Friday in Small Soppo, Buea,” said a source
close to the security forces, whose account was confirmed by witnesses
contacted by AFP.

“They were killed during exchanges of fire between the security forces and
the separatists,” added the source.

“I saw the bodies of three people in Small Soppo,” added one of the
witnesses.

The army also attacked a separatist base at Lysoka, some 15 kilometres from
Buea, but no estimate for injuries or fatalities was immediately available.

In Bamenda the priest was killed in front of a church following a mass,
according to the statement which was signed by the archbishop of Bamenda,
Cornelius Fontem Esua, as well assistant bishop Michael Miabesue Bibi.

A soldier fired “three shots into his neck and he died instantly,” said the
statement.

The situation in the southwest was tense on Saturday a day ahead of polls.

It follows the killings of a civilian, a police officer and a suspected
separatist in the town of Kumba, 55 kilometres (35 miles) north of Buea in
the week.

Eight candidates, including Biya, 85, will face off in polls which will
feature a limited opposition coalition for the first time since 1992 after
presidential hopeful Akere Muna threw his weight behind Maurice Kamto on
Friday.

Separatist fighters have threatened to disrupt the vote in the anglophone
regions but Yaounde has insisted that a raft of security measures will
protect the poll.

BSS/AFP/FI/ 2212 hrs