YAOUNDE - Last Sunday, popular radio journalist Mbani Zogo Arsène Salomon, better known as Martinez Zogo, was found dead on the outskirts of Cameroon’s capital Yaounde. Zogo was kidnapped by unknown people five days earlier. His decomposing body showed signs that he had been tortured prior to his death.
The murder is the latest in an escalating trend of forced and sometimes fatal disappearances in Cameroon.
Disappearances have been a key part of the struggle, with all sides taking people. The families are left with no closure. “It’s been over four years today. I cannot tell where my father is nor if he is alive or dead,” said Abedine Akweton Abilitu, whose father was arrested in 2018 on suspicion of collaborating with the rebels. “I had to drop out of school to assist my mother in searching for dad.”
His mother died last May without ever knowing what happened to her husband.
Secessionist groups have also been accused of “disappearing” people. Their main targets are civil servants in the conflict areas.
