Sidonie was not a Terrorist.
The night of 25th May, 2018, shall forever live in infamy in the minds of British Southern Cameroonians. The entire people of Santa precisely around the village of Menka, woke up to see their green scenery transformed into blood and gloom. Even the chirping savannah birds in this usually beautiful spring morning could not squeeze a smile from any citizen of the village. Yes, every face was united in anger and grief. Even the masterminds are said to have felt remorseful for the job their boss – The french-speaking appointed governor of the region Mr. Lele Afrique ordered them to do. The story from the lying government of Issa Tchirouma and the armchair global media was “terrorists killed” in Santa. Beneath these inaccurate global headlines lies the anguish of parents who saw close to 37 of their kids slaughtered by the same government that is responsible for their safety.
In the mangled and blood soaked bodies was that of young Sidonie, hanging from one of the ceilings of the rooms in the building. The seemingly isolated building is where village teens usually congregate every night to play card games, and do other fun things that communities that lack televisions or other entertainment gadgets usually do in the evenings. Her red jacket like that of Michael Jackson remains indelible in the mind and conscience of sympathizers till date.

One person who survived the massacre was whisked off from his hospital bed in the nearby village of Akum, alongside his two siblings and massacred by the French Cameroun military. They wanted to delete any living witness of the genocide. The local government authority in the area failed even to visit the bereaved families. A confirmation that they knew the planned assassinations. This prompted the local opposition leader Mr. Fru Ndi to put the planned massacre squarely on the French Cameroun government. A village hearse – clunker pickup did the door-to-door identification and delivery of the corpses to the devastated parents and community.
As the village of Menka was mopping the flood tears that morning, six more innocent civilians were discovered dumped in Bali, some 15kms away. They had been pulled out of their homes around Mbengwi, a nearby township, and fed with French-made bullets. They were buried in a mass grave by the villagers.