A dozen days after the death of Frédéric Mounsi and Bienvenue Bello, two researchers of the Institut de recherche géologique et minière de Garoua victims of the popular vengeance in the village of Mbalda, 20 people suspected of having participated in their assassination were arrested, Tuesday, March 11. The local authorities have, for their part, authorised the exhumation of the bodies of the victims. It will take place on Friday.. Twenty-four hours after their arrest, the hearing of the 20 persons suspected of having taken part in the assassination of the two researchers of the Institut de recherche géologique et minière de Garoua, Frédéric Mounsi and Bienvenue Bello, as well as their guide, Oumarou Kalabay, in the extreme north of Cameroon, continued on Wednesday 12 March in the premises of the gendarmerie company of Mokolo.. While the lawyers of the families of the three victims hope that the open procedure will allow all the light on what happened in the afternoon of Sunday 2 March in the village of Mbalda, the elites of the canton of Lara Bello originally demanded, they say, an independent investigation, of the measures taken by the authorities to ensure compensation for their victims. It is also the case of the development association of the village of Lamé where Frédéric Mounsi was born who demand a transparent and impartial investigation so that all the perpetrators of this heinous crime can be identified. At the beginning of the week, the Ministry of Scientific Research had specified that Bienvenue Bello and Frédéric Mounsi had visited Soulede-Roua in the company of their guide Oumarou Kalabay to carry out research to solve the problem of access to drinking water faced by the populations of the Mandara Mountains. On the death of the three men, he had denounced a “barbaric killing” and demanded that “justice be done”. This Wednesday 12 March toujours, les autorités locales ont, elles, autorisé l’exhumation de leurs dépouilles, conformément au souhait des familles qui estiment qu’elles ont été inhumées dans la précipitation. The latter will then be able to dispose of the bodies in sealed coffins in order to carry out the burials. Their lawyers, for their part, await the operation scheduled for the morning of Friday 14 March and the issuance of autopsy certificates just after the conclusion of the medical examiner.
Cameroon: 20 people arrested after the assassination of two researchers in the far north of the country
