Brenda Yufeh
28 February 2008
Violence sparked off Yesterday in some neighbourhoods halting most activities.
Terror! This was the atmosphere in some neighbourhoods in Yaounde yesterday, 27 February, 2008. The day could be described as a black and tense Wednesday, particularly in neighbourhoods where violence sparked off, leading to human casualties and material damage. Commercial activities in the town were grounded as almost all big shops, banks and market places remained closed. The usual trekking by inhabitants took its course as no taxi was seen along the road. Even private cars could not circulate freely, particularly in violence -prone areas. While some parents rushed to collect their children in school premises before time, some pupils and students were seen walking back home in panic and tears. The forces of law and order and fire fighters were on several fronts to disperse the vandals as well as calm the situation.
The Mokolo-Tsinga-Madagascar neighbourhood was the peak of violence, a veritable "no go" area for over six hours yesterday. Onlookers described the zone as a "deadly one". The throwing of stones and the burning of items along the road characterised the area. No single buyer or seller was seen in the Mokolo and Madagascar markets. As reporters of Cameroon Tribune drove through the Mokolo market to nose for the news, onlookers warned: "do not attempt to go further, it is bad around Mokolo Elobi, your car will be stoned and burnt by vandals". As the reporters attempted to drive away, they saw a huge crowd of the forces of law and order heading for different directions within the market in a bid to ensure peace and order. There, the vandals had taken a stronghold. They had lighted a series of fires along the road using trash from roadside dust bins, sticks and old cars as well as used tyres. In some areas, the roads were completely blocked with the huge trash bins owned by Hysacam.
Before dispersing the vandals, the forces of law and order went into a tussle with them as they kept throwing stones and other weapons. As the forces left the Mokolo-Elobi area for Madagascar and other violence zones, the vandals returned to their usual act of burning and destroying items. Part of the Tradex petrol station at Mokolo-Elobi and the door of the Youth Centre at the Nkomkana neighbourhood were destroyed. By 11 a.m. the Delegate General for National Security, Edgard Alain Mebe Ngo'o, the Secretary of State in the Ministry of Defence in charge of the Gendarmerie, Jean Baptiste Bokam, the Governor of the Centre Province, Koumpa Issa and the Senior Divisional Officer for Mfoundi, Joseph Beti Assomo as well as some military and police officers visited the Mokolo zone to assess the degree of the violence. The moment, the delegation arrived at the zone, nobody was seen along the road. They had all disappeared into thin air. The forces of law and order were ordered to go into various hide-outs to fish them out to come and extinguish the burning flames.
But how did it all happen? Few of the people found could hardly provide answers. After a series of questioning, a courageous young man recounted that as early as 8 a.m, four boys began shattering and burning objects on the roads around the market. Within a short time, the entire area was under a thick billow of smoke. As the fire progressed, other people joined in the burning and shattering of items.
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To the best of my knowledge you are not fit to be a journalist.Shame on to you BRENDA YUFEH.Do you want readers to believe with you that people just suddenly started burning tyres and prostesting for no good reason.You just want to tell us that,you are out of reach of facts or hiding the truth.Can you explain yourself better by calling people Vandals,what creteria have you used.It means the whole country has sudden been attacked by a madness,everybody rioting.If i were your master that you want to please,not a franc will be given to you because nothing has been said.I will advice that if you are not married better go and get an old tapper in the village and settle down to produce a replica fools of your type,town life not good for you.And if its promotion that you want forget about it but for money you can never be paid chick feed 50.000frs.Tell the truth that's what your job demands ok?
The writer of this piece refers to the protesters in Yaounde as "vandals" at least five times. It completely fails to link what was happening in Yaounde to similar events happening in other places in Cameroon and thus gives the impression that what was happening in Yaounde was an isolated event and the perpetrators simply portrayed as criminals. It sounds as if a gang of bandits held Yaounde hostage for a while. Reading this piece one would hardly think that similar events were happening in Douala, Bamenda, and other places in Cameroon at the same time.
This sloppy journalism from Cameroon Tribune is what Cameroonians have come to expect. It is a shame that a paper owned by the Cameroonian people grants them such bad deals when it comes to informing them about what is happening in their country. Journalists paid by the tax payers have tended to serve the interest of the corrupt Biya government rather than the people for whom they are working. It's a shame.