Eighteen people were injured by three blasts at the start of a marathon in English-speaking southwest Cameroon on Saturday, which has been plagued by a bloody conflict between the army and separatist rebels, the foreign minister told AFP Sports and the local governor.
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These explosions occurred at the start of the 28th edition of the ascent of Mount Cameroon, also called the “Race of Hope”, which took place in Buea, the capital of the Southwest Region, 70 km west of Douala, the economic capital of Cameroon.
“Eighteen people were injured, including one athlete and 17 spectators,” Sports Minister Narcisse Mouelle Kombi told AFP.
“There were a couple of attempted stoppages with three explosions on the track. These explosions had no impact on the race,” Regional Governor Bernard Okalia Bilai said.
In a video sent on WhatsApp, the attack was claimed by the Ambazonian Defense Forces (ADF), one of the main armed groups in the English-speaking world.
“Our forces launched an attack on the soldiers protecting the athletes taking part in the Mount Cameroon race in Buea,” said Daniel Capo, the ADF spokesman.
The Northwest and Southwest are mostly populated by Cameroon’s English-speaking minority, some of whom feel ostracized by the French-speaking majority of this country, ruled with an iron fist by President Paul Biya, 90, for nearly 40 years.
These two regions have been the scene of a deadly conflict between armed separatist groups and the army and police since late 2016, with the two camps regularly accused of crimes against civilians by international NGOs and the UN.
The conflict has claimed the lives of more than 6,000 people and forced over a million people to flee, according to the think tank International Crisis Group (ICG).
The US Embassy in Cameroon condemned the blast on Twitter “as we condemn every act of violence.”
The soldiers went to the site of the blasts and life in Buea returned to normal, an AFP journalist noted.
A total of 483 athletes from Cameroon and abroad took part in the “Race of Hope,” according to an official document consulted by AFP.
This almost 42 km long competition consists of climbing Mount Cameroon, the highest mountain in the country. This year’s edition was marked by the celebration of the 50th anniversary of this competition, which was created in 1973.