A Cameroonian military court has acquitted the five Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) aid workers accused of collaborating with the country’s Anglophone separatists after they were arrested in 2021 while transporting a wounded rebel for medical care.
The Army accused the detained workers of complicity with these groups, which are fighting to forge an independent English-speaking state in Cameroon, where the majority of the population speaks French.
Now, a military court in Buea has finally acquitted Mewouo Marguerite Gerzande, Ashu Dabinash Godlove, Yvette Enjoh Mpong, Felix Tegwi Ndum, Kale Mayu Mila and Tanyi Tanyi Elvis, all employees of the international NGO, after several appeals.
The five had been charged since December 26, 2021, shortly after they were arrested by the Cameroonian military at a checkpoint in Nguti (southwest), reports the Actu Cameroun portal.
MSF decided in July last year to suspend its operations in the Cameroonian towns of Kumba and Mamfe, in the Southwest region of Cameroon, after denouncing a campaign of harassment by Cameroonian government forces against its workers in the midst of the separatist conflict.
The NGO pointed out however that «a small team will remain in the region» to continue working for the liberation of these aid workers, already achieved and, in the best case, to preserve a minimum of structure in view of a possible return.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
