Mobs of uniformed soldiers armed with cutlasses and clubs from the much-feared Rapid Intervention Battalion, BIR, at Man O’ War Bay went on the run riot in the coastal town of Limbe in the early hours of Wednesday 24 in a bloody pounce on the ill fated inhabitants of the oil refining City.
Panic ensued in the oil city as the furious soldiers battered several people and smashed over 20 vehicles and their windows with their rudimentary weapons. After studying the guidelines to be followed on how the B.R.I. operates this reporter observed that a soldier of the BIR is supposed to fight only against other men in combat, mercenaries, armed gangs and pirates at sea never should it be heard that the elements of the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR) were seen fighting civilians and disturbing public peace.
As to what sanctions the perpetrators of the atrocities would face, the BIR authorities said that at the moment they could not tell who the culprits were. They said they would make a roll call of all their elements and try to get all those who were absent, and from the absentees, deduce those who might have committed the act and get them sanctioned. They said there were several recalcitrant elements of the BIR who have been sanctioned for other misconducts and some even jailed at the Buea Prison. “So the BIRs do not condone such acts of violence.
It was the first time that BIR soldiers erupted into a riotous mood against the civilian population. They are seen as deeply loyal to the 77-year-old President Paul Biya, but the rank-and-file troops are subject to the hardships ordinary Cameroonians endure in the country’s rapidly worsening crisis. Observers say the BIR Special Forces underline a deep fear within President Biya’s political circles ahead of presidential polls in 2011.