Pastor Executed by BIR Soldiers in Ndu Sparks Outrage
NDÚ, SOUTHERN CAMEROONS — The killing of Pastor Desmond Njoh, a Cameroon Baptist Church minister, by Cameroon’s elite Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR) has reignited anger and grief across Ambazonia. Eyewitnesses told BaretaNews that the clergyman was summarily executed in broad daylight while returning from an evangelical mission in Ndu, North-West Region. According to reports, Pastor Njoh was stopped at a hidden BIR checkpoint, ordered off his motorcycle, and shot dead despite pleading that he was not an Ambazonian fighter. “He told them he was a man of God,” a witness recounted. “He begged for his life. They didn’t care. They shot him and left him on the road.”
The brutal killing adds to a long list of atrocities allegedly committed by the BIR since the Anglophone conflict began in 2016. Human rights records reveal a consistent pattern of state-backed brutality: from the 2020 Ngarbuh massacre, where 21 civilians—including 13 children—were slain, to the 2021 Ngie incident involving rape and torture of civilians, and the 2022 Ndop funeral ambush that left at least 17 missing. Amnesty International’s Ilaria Allegrozzi told BaretaNews that these are “not rogue elements,” but evidence of “state policy.” Despite repeated international condemnation, the BIR continues to operate with near-total impunity under the direct command of 92-year-old President Paul Biya.
President Biya has remained silent on Pastor Njoh’s killing, consistent with his government’s long-standing denial of abuses and tendency to brand victims as “terrorists.” Meanwhile, the United Nations estimates that over 6,000 people have died and more than 700,000 displaced since the conflict began. Once places of refuge, churches, schools, and hospitals have now become targets of war.
Ambazonian activists and diaspora groups are calling for an International Criminal Court investigation into the BIR and President Biya for alleged crimes against humanity. “Pastor Njoh was not holding a gun; he was holding a Bible,” said Mark Bareta, founder of BaretaNews. “If a pastor can be executed in cold blood, no one is safe.” Funeral services for Pastor Njoh are set for Sunday amid heavy military surveillance, as locals brace for further reprisals.
As Ambazonia marks eight years of conflict, the blood on Ndu’s dusty roads stands as a haunting reminder of a people’s suffering and a nation’s unanswered prayers for peace.
