Angry relatives are demanding to know why the Biya regime is not reporting on Cameroon military casualties in the war in Manyu Division. Defense Minister Joseph Beti Assomo chaired a high level security meeting yesterday in Yaoundé on the situation in Manyu but details of soldiers killed by Southern Cameroons militants have not been released.

Cameroon Intelligence Report gathered that the controversial 14 days Manyu War ordered by President Biya has already claimed the lives of 89 Cameroon troops. The Friday December 15 2017 security meeting that held in Yaoundé is expected to give Mr. Biya an understanding of the situation on the ground.

Biya has reportedly ordered for a halt to combat operations and 3 trucks loaded with soldiers left Mamfe late last night via Bamenda to Yaoundé.  Families of soldiers killed in Manyu still have no answers. Many elements of the Rapid Intervention Battalion wounded in Akwaya and Eyumojock have died in a Douala Military Hospital.

A relative to a young gendarmerie officer who recently gave up from wounds sustained during the attack on the Egbekaw Gendarme station, said: “If they have nothing to hide, why won’t they publish the names of officers killed in Manyu? It’s a huge cover-up.

“Look at Manyu Division now after Biya declared the war. It’s certainly not any safer. “I think Mr. Biya is responsible for the Manyu war and I hold him responsible for my son’s death.”

A Francophone soldier assigned to transport the remains of 5 of his colleagues after the attack on Kajifu said: “We were told before we came to Manyu that there were secessionist-terrorists. We were led to believe they had acquired guns from Nigeria.  It was a lie. It was a blatant lie. They are young men who wanted to engage in a political process to make Cameroon better.”

Pressure is increasing for a comprehensive report on the Southern Cameroons conflict, which is costing the nation billions of FCFA. Some Anglophone CPDM figures are privately questioning why the Yaoundé political establishment seems to still be blocking a regular press briefing by the Minister of Communication on the happenings in Manyu when the regime had come clean over the Boko Haram crisis.

By Sama Ernest in Mamfe