From fry pan to fire: City Council set to demolish homes of Anglophone crisis IDPs in Yaounde!.

It is a development which observers have termed moving from fry pan to fire for the dozens of families who escaped the deadly conflict in the two English-speaking Regions, hoping to find peace in the nation’s capital, Yaounde.

Yaounde City Council officials stormed the Mvogbetsi neigbourhood on July 1, 2026, promising the worst for the IDP families occupying a piece of land in the area, estimated to be three hectares. 

The team of officials from the Yaounde City Council is said to have given the Anglophone crisis IDPs days to vacate the area, else they will have only their eyes to cry, when caterpillars start bringing down every structure on the said peace of land.

Some of the residents who insisted that they escaped the mayhem in the English-speaking Regions to settle in the area, told reporters that they are counting on authorities to put a stop to the demolition threat.

One of the persons who said their families are under threat, Desmond Fru, recounted that his family has been living in the area since 2017. Fru said his father escaped from the South West Region to Yaounde, after he was shot on the right leg by separatist fighters.

He detailed that they are in the process of erecting a structure in the disputed area to ensure the family can at least live in dignity. Fru said his father took the decision after fleeing with his family to the nation's capital. 

He disclosed that the persons who presented themselves as Yaounde City Council agents, said the institution wants to use the land for a waste transit site.

Fru questioned how such a project is possible in an area which already hosts several state institutions, including schools among others.

He expressed fears that those behind the demolition threat maybe considering household waste more important than human lives.

“There are people living all over...I don’t see how somebody will come to chase them just to set up a waste collection point. I fear my father might die if what he is trying to construct is demolished. I don’t think it is a good thing,” Fru told reporters.

Another potential victim stated that as at the day news of the threat was announced to them, not all the IDPs living in the area were present. 

She appealed to the Head of State, Paul Biya, to step into the situation and rescue the concerned families from the menacing fangs of the Yaounde City Council.

“…very soon, schools will resume and we are about to be thrown out.  We don’t where we can start from again. Things are first of all difficult for us; we find it difficult to even pay school fees for children. Most of them can't complete the academic year because we don’t have what to feed on, not to talk of paying their fees or clothing…,” she stated.

The woman said all they can do now is to beg the powers that be to have mercy on them. She noted that the area does not have potable water. 

“We lack money to pay transport to go even to the market, not to talk of the distance we trek to buy water...now, we are threatened with demolition. The government should please help us,” the IDP cried out.

Another IDP, Melvis Meshi, recounted having sold her properties in Bamenda and escape the armed conflict in the two English-speaking Regions to settle at Mvogbetsi.

“I have 11 children; they are coming to demolish this house…So, where do they want us to go to?,” Meshi questioned amidst tears. 

Like Meshi, Meyem Rita, also an lnternally Displaced Person, said they have out rightly been told to leave the area or face forceful eviction. 

How did they occupy the land?

Patrick Tuma Fombon, who identified himself as Bloc Head in the area, noted that having lived in the area, even before the Anglophone crisis erupted, he knows the dynamics of the dispute. 

Tuma recounted that when the crisis in the North West and South West Regions went deadly, IDPs, including those escaping Boko Haram incursions in the Far North Region, sort refuge in the area.

Tuma said he and others, alongside the then traditional ruler of Mvogbetsi, wrote to the Presidency. 

He added that the land under dispute had been idling since 2014. Tuma said through the traditional ruler, they “...requested that the land be handed back to the population so they could settle there”.

He explained that the land was initially occupied by an institution that had a poultry farm. 

When the request went through, Tuma said some of the IDPs were allowed to live there.

“…in fact, the land was 39 hectares. It was approved…the Presidency ordered that 39 hectares be given to indigenes. When the first land title came out covering 15 hectares, another land title came out of our two hectares. We had already sent documents, requesting the other section where this IDPs are lodged.  The documents are in process,” he told reporters.

The Bloc Head said he is disturbed by the threats of the Yaounde City Council.

“What is really surprising to us is that a few days ago, the Yaounde City Council sent agents to mark the houses and issued quit notices for them to liberate the land,” Tuma stated.

In the meantime, he said they have written to the “President of the Republic, knowing that with his kind nature, he can first of all halt the "inhumam" action of the Yaounde City Council. It is a shame the City Mayor is acting as if he has no feeling for these children”.

Yaounde City Council rambles

Reached through telephone early Wednesday, July 8, the Head of the Communication Unit at the Yaounde City Council, Dominique Mbassi, appeared evasive over the issue.

Reminded that those laying claim to the land said the institution where he works has given them six days to leave, Mbassi rather posed a question: “Where is the problem if they have been asked to leave?”.

Pressed further to talk, the Yaounde City Council official ordered The Guardian Post: “Go and ask them how they gained access into the land,” before ending the call.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3842 of Thursday July 09, 2026