Cameroon: kidnapped Batibo DO, announced death by government

The PM announced the assassination of the Divisional Officer of Batibo, Namata Marcel Diteng more than four months after he was abducted by unknown assailants.

The family of the abducted Divisional Officer of Batibo Sub Division, in Momo Division of the North West region, Namata Marcel Diteng is still to come to terms with the recent announcement of the assassination of their father and husband kidnapped on the 11^th of February 2018.

The announcement was made by the Prime Minister and ahead of Government, Philemon Yang while launching the Emergency Humanitarian Assistance Plan in Yaounde.

It is revealed on page 6 of the plan that “administrative authorities have been regular targets of the terrorists who, in their propagandas have continued to call for the murder of these representatives of the state”. The PM went on to present some of the striking cases “Here are some examples; 11 February 2018, kidnap and assassination of the Divisional Officer of Batibo (Namata Marcel Diteng), North West region”.

However, the DO’s son, Namata Bila who talked to us indicated the surprise and shock of the entire family upon getting the news saying that the government has never informed them of the assassination of their father and husband. Namata Bila said the family only learnt of the news early Friday morning, June 22, 2018 on the media and don’t actually know who to believe.

Another family member who preferred not to be quoted informed that should the information be true, then the government of Cameroon will have a series of unanswered questions to face.

One of them he mentioned will be to clarify the family of when their person was assassinated; the identity of the kidnappers, what were the motives behind the abduction and assassination, the where about of the mortal remains of the Divisional officer and when the family shall bury him.

Critics see the discrete announcement as a failure of the government, indicating that the state abandoned corpse of a senior civil administrator in the hand of “terrorists”.

Worth noting is that fact that the senior civil administrator of the Batibo Sub Division, Namata Marcel Diteng who braved calls for boycott of the 52nd Youth Day celebration in the two English speaking regions of the country was abducted in the early hours of 11 Feb, 2018 as he inspected preparations of the traditional march pass at the Batibo ceremonial ground.

Hours after his abduction, his service car was spotted burnt along the roadside some kilometers away from the feast ground. Since then, the where about of the DO had remained a mystery?

Three days after the incident, the first deputy Senior Divisional Officer for Momo, Ernest kwandzeh was installed o to serve as interim DO of Batibo Sub Division. He was installed on the 14^th of February by North West governor, Adolphe Lele L’Afrique and is acting in that capacity till date.

The minister of communication who doubles as government spokesman, Issa Tchiroma Bakary in a press conference in February had indicated that the Divisional officer had not been killed following information that went viral on the social media claiming the abductors had taken away the life of the DO.