Baligansin, Bamukumbit clash leaves one dead

Houses burnt, several arrested as troops deployed

From Michael Ndi, on special assignment in Baligansin & Bamukumbit

At least one person was killed and several houses destroyed when a land dispute broke out in the early hours of last Saturday between Baligansin and Bamukumbit in Balikumbat sub division, Ngoketunjia division; in the North West region.
The man killed whose name we could not immediately get, hailed from Baligansin. He was said to be in his mid 20s. His corpse was taken to the Bamenda regional hospital mortuary.
According to eye witness accounts, the dispute between Baligansin and Bamukumbit erupted over a piece of farm land. Matters came to head when in the early hours of that ill-fated Saturday, irate Bamukumbit villagers stormed Baligansin and took the villagers off guard. They reportedly burnt four houses before killing one. Being a less-thickly populated village, Baligansins rather than fight back reportedly took to their heels.
Another bloody confrontation between Bamukumbit and Baligashu was nipped in the bud; thanks to the timely intervention of gendarmes from Balikumbat. The two villages have a long standing dispute over a piece of land that dates back to 1979.
A ministerial decision had on July 20, 1979 ruled that the disputed piece of land belongs to Bamukumbit but a 2005 prefectoral order awarded the land to Baligashu. In the midst of the administrative buffoonery, a prime ministerial order ruled the area as a no-man’s land.
But recently, the people of Baligashu secretly began constructing a newly-created Government Technical College on the disputed land. Tempers flared when the people of Bamukumbit got wind of the development; tempers which fortunately did not degenerate into a confrontation because of the timely military intervention.
North West governor, Adolphe Lele Afrique rushed to Bamukumbit on Saturday with troops to maintain order. Four people from Bamukumbit were arrested while the village remains heavily-militarized.