Yaounde — In Cameroon, authorities say separatists have set up roadblocks to at least 20 western districts to protest what they call excessive brutality by government troops. The rebels accuse Cameroon's military in the past week of killing at least 27 people and burning scores of homes. Cameroon's military denies the allegations and blames separatists for the killings.
The Northwest, one of two regions where separatists are active, produces maize, potatoes, beans, rice and other produce for Cameroon's major cities. Cattle from the region is sold throughout the country and markets in neighboring Nigeria.
But government officials say thousands of people, especially merchants, are blocked from traveling into or out of the region.
Nembo Ngam, coordinator of the Network of Maize Farmers in the Boyo district, says fighters set up roadblocks to at least 20 districts this week and are threatening to kill merchants who defy a separatist ban on the movement of goods and people.
"There is no means by which products can leave the villages to towns with the blocking of the roads," he said. "The effect is that we the masses are in trouble because prices of basic commodities have risen. We are begging and pleading for the government to see what they can do because the blocking of the roads is a hard pill to swallow."
Speaking via a messaging app, Nembo said the affected districts are running short of basic commodities imported either from or through Nigeria, or Cameroon's economic capital, Douala. He said there has been a 60% increase in basic commodity prices.
Fighters say they mounted roadblocks to stop the central African state's military from torching homes and killing civilians.
Separatists say government troops indiscriminately killed 27 people in the past week, and either arrested or tortured scores of civilians accused of failing to inform the military of separatist fighters' whereabouts.
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Capo Daniel, leader of the Ambazonia Peoples Rights Advocacy Platform, one of Cameroon's separatist groups, says the roadblocks will be removed when Cameroon government troops stop abusing civilians.
"Our fighters had to set up major roadblocks that have cut off a huge part of our rural areas from the Bamenda city center and the rest of the world, basically to be able to carry out operations targeting the Cameroon military, so that our people can be able to go back to their day-to-day life which our fighters are fighting for," he said.
The military denies it indiscriminately arrests, tortures and kills civilians and blames fighters for the past week's killings.
The military says in one of the attacks, separatists disguised themselves as government troops to try to frame them for the killing of 10 civilians at Nacho Junction in Bamenda.
Deben Tchoffo, the governor of Cameroon's Northwest region, says government troops are attempting to track down and kill all fighters who refuse to drop their weapons and surrender.
"The armed forces works with professionalism, respecting human rights, but there are still pockets of resistance. We have to mobilize the population to denounce those that are bringing havoc and disorder in our various communities."
