Bamenda’s insecurity deepens as US returnee is killed in botched kidnap attempt

Armed men stormed the residence minutes after he returned from a construction site, tried to drag him away and opened fire when he resisted. He died of his wounds later that evening. Cameroon Concord reported that the assailants fled without taking anything of value.

A pattern of lethal violence tied to the Anglophone conflict

Recent Crisis Group briefings describe a sharp rise in abductions and targeted killings around Bamenda in 2025. Cameroon Concord has logged multiple similar incidents in the city over the past year:

• 4 Feb 2025 – A bridge-reconstruction worker named Elyse was shot at an excavator on the Lachance Bridge site in Bamenda II.

• 6 Jan 2025 – Magistrate Nchang Augustin was kidnapped on 29 December, held for six days and released after a ransom was paid.

• 25 Aug 2024 – Nfor Julius, a medical-supply driver, was tied up and executed on Foncha Street in Nkwen.

• 7 Aug 2024 – Two police officers were gunned down while guarding a bank on Commercial Avenue.

Cameroon Concord reported that each attack occurred in daylight, the victims were chosen for their perceived resources or public roles, and the gunmen vanished into surrounding hills before security forces could respond.

Why Bamenda keeps bleeding

• Kidnap-for-ransom economy – Armed groups finance themselves by seizing teachers, traders, civil servants and diaspora returnees believed to have foreign currency.

• Fragmented control – Security forces hold main roads by day, but many neighbourhoods slip under rebel influence after dark, giving attackers safe corridors of escape.

• Erosion of trust – Residents fear both the rebels fighting for the restoration of the statehood of former British Cameroons and alleged heavy-handedness by the army, so few are willing to share timely intelligence.

Official response

The governor’s office says joint gendarmerie-military patrols have been reinforced across Bamenda I, II and III. Police are urging construction firms and returning diaspora investors to register travel plans for escort support. Critics point out that similar measures after last year’s killings produced only brief lulls.

The human cost

Mr Abegley had hoped to create jobs with his projects. Instead, his death warns overseas Cameroonians that returning home now carries mortal risk. Unless the government and the rebels resume credible dialogue—and undermine the kidnap-for-ransom economy that feeds on ordinary citizens—Bamenda’s streets will continue to trade hope for blood.