Cameroon: Fire razes down Bamenda food market

Giant flames razed down a food market in Bamenda northwest of Cameroon on Tuesday.

Officials said nearly 200 shops were burned down in the inferno. Cameroonian authorities have also opened an investigation to determine the cause of the fire in the market that supplies food to the entire city.

Although the cause of the fire is not known, traders suspect an arson attack, as they say flyers had earlier circulated warning traders who continued to operate their shops during ghost town protest days when people were urged to remain indoors.

READ: Schools remain closed in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions, as crisis intensifies

Bamenda has been the center of recent civil unrest in the country as demonstrations started in late 2016, when local lawyers and teachers in the area went on strike.

The region represents Cameroon’s English speaking minority and residents say they are being politically and economically sidelined by the Francophone government.