Cameroon faces upsurge in deadly violence against women

Yaoundé, CAMEROON – Cameroon is experiencing a surge in frequently deadly violence against women, with eight women reported killed over a ten-day span last month and no fewer than 72 women slain in the country between January 1 and April 4 this year in the central African country of 31 million.

The outspoken Bishop John Berinyuy Tatah, auxiliary of the Bamenda archdiocese in Cameroon’s English-speaking North West region, is urging action to prevent the killing of women and girls in the country.

“An attack upon the life of any woman is an assault upon her God-given dignity,” Tatah told Crux Now.

The prelate told Crux Now he has “accompanied families through suffering and bereavement,” and knows how “such violence leaves wounds that can endure for generations.”

According to Cameroon’s Minister of Women’s Empowerment and the Family, Prof. Marie Therese Abena Ondoua, reports include cases of intimate partner violence, serial predation, and suspicious circumstances authorities are still working to unravel.

Harrowing cases

Perhaps the most harrowing case emerged in Douala on August 22, where 34-year-old victim identified as Modestine was allegedly butchered by her husband.

Reports say the man barricaded the doors of their home from inside before attacking his