Red Cross staff killed in Cameroon's restive Anglophone region

By James Tasamba

KIGALI, Rwanda (AA) - A Red Cross employee was killed in Cameroon's northwest Anglophone region, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Tuesday.

Nzobambona Diomede, 62, who was working in water and sanitation died Monday after sustaining injuries the previous day during an attack in Bamenda, according to the ICRC.

The Canadian national was in Bamenda to provide humanitarian assistance to communities affected by a four-year-long separatist armed violence.

"Words are not enough to express our immense sadness nor to soothe the grief of his family and loved ones. We send them our sincere condolences and the expression of our deepest sympathy," Markus Brudermann, head of the ICRC’s delegation in Cameroon said in a statement.

It said circumstances of his death had not been clarified and no further information could be provided.

ICRC is a neutral and impartial humanitarian organization that provides protection and assistance to victims of armed conflict and communities affected by armed violence.

Militant separatists fighting for “independence” of the two Anglophone regions in the northwest and southwest have clashed with government forces since 2017.

Aid workers have been working to assist more than 700,000 internally displaced people in the region, according to official data.