Victims implore divine, ancestral justice as Douala land expropriation saga drags on.

Sawa ritualists conveying message from the ancestor

Two years after their houses were destroyed at the Dikolo neighbourhood in Bali, Douala I Subdivision of the Littoral Region, the victims of the highly contested "Douala land expropriation saga", have implored justice from divine forces and their ancestors. 

Gathered at the site which has become a desolate land on Sunday, June 2, the victims as well as other well-wishers of the Sawa descent, carried out rituals, praying on the gods of the land to intercede for them.



A host of other religious leaders offered prayers to the Almighty God, beseeching both divinities to ensure justice prevails over what they term “human injustice”.

It is worth recalling that, it was in the early hours of May 14, 2022, at about 4:00a.m. that bulldozers accompanied by 200 police officers and dozens civilian heavyweight guards, led the demolition exercise at the site, rendering homeless some 1,000 families. 

One of them, Patrick Moudissa Bell, recalling the May 14 incident, said he saw his childhood residence in the Bali-Dikolo neighbourhood reduced to dust.

Now the spokesperson of the victims, Moudissa noted that his family had lived there for more than two hundred years.

While calling on their ancestors to put an end to the injustice the Sawa people have been experiencing since the colonial period, victims of the land saga also demanded complete restitution by the state 

"The Littoral Administrative Court had handed down a judgement that, the land should be restored to the original owners, but we want to say, ever since there has been no headway…nothing else has been done. So, this ceremony, was held in remembrance of our suffering but also to call on the authorities to see into it that, everyone affected, gets possession of the lost properties," Moudussa said.