Fire is burning in Cameroon and government authorities are too busy fighting to keep their power. If towns and villages burn, it does not move anyone. This region is taken for granted for the ruling party. It votes more than 95% in its favour. But the situation is serious. The violence has reached another level.
For several days now, the population has been imploring the government and in particular its Minister of Territorial Administration to take the measure of what is happening in this region to stop the violence. If previously, living together has always been difficult in Logone-Birni, we are heading towards a real massacre.
Zina Dalaina is the Sub-Prefect of Logone-Birni. For him, "the clashes that had begun Sunday between the Arab-Choa communities and the Mousgoums, continued Monday causing new victims."
Assessment of the violence
"The provisional toll of the violence is 19 dead, including 18 Choa Arabs, and five wounded on the Mousgoum side. These clashes continued in villages outside Logone-Birni. The fire ravaged six villages. It all started in the department of Mayo Danay. These two communities cohabited there. However, shops belonging to the Choa Arabs were ransacked and set on fire," the sub-prefect explained.
What was the spark?
Abakar Brahim, the former mayor explains that the conflict would be linked to a dispute over agricultural land.
"I call on both communities to respect the living together that our President of the Republic has been preaching for years. They must learn tolerance," said the governor of the Far North, Bakari Midjiyawa. The defense and security forces arrived Monday in Logone-Birni.
Conflicts between communities are common in cameroon's Far North, where many people are armed.
They mainly oppose nomadic herders and sedentary indigenous farmers. The latter accuse the former of ransacking their fields by grazing their animals.
