The Pastor of the New Apostolic Church was serving with COMINSUD as a field agent for the general food distribution project supported by the World Food Program (WFP) to affected and displaced persons in the Guzang cluster.

“Tanjoh Christopher was abducted from his home by armed men at about 9 am and about 11 am, the family was alerted that he had been abandoned at the entrance to the St. John of God Hospital Batibo bleeding to death,” said Fon Nsoh, Coordinator of COMINSUD.

Concordant sources, including the immediate family members of the deceased, say Pastor Tanjoh's “crime” was that he denounced the excesses of the armed men on the civilian population they claim to protect.

In an audio recorded in the Moghamo local dialect and sent to an “Amba captain”, whom Tanjoh referred to as “my junior brother”, Tanjoh is head advising the rebel against greed and extortion.

He also condemns kidnappings and extortion of ransom from the population they claim to protect. He says they could not claim to “… be fighting against La Republique when at the same time they were terrorizing the population.” He concludes that as a Pastor, and under the God he serves, he would always stand for the truth.

“We think that as an older person and pastor, he did just what he was supposed to do. Civilians should not be the target and the object of the current armed conflict, ”said Fon Nsoh, COMINSUD Coordinator. “If people are to fight for the population, they should not also make the population suffer. By every standard, civilians, especially aid workers, need protection within the context of the conflict between persons in arms. ”

COMINSUD says they continue to appeal for the protection of humanitarian aid workers and the vulnerable population especially by all parties involved in the longstanding crisis in the North West and South West Regions since 2017.

“We remain deeply saddened by this horrific execution of a humanitarian by all standards and condemn the act in very strong terms. Our deepest condolences go to the family, ”Fon Nsoh's dispatch read in part.

Pastor Tanjoh was born on August 8, 1965, and was to celebrate his 55th birthday on Saturday, August 8, 2020. Sadly, he was buried in Guzang on his birthday.

UN condemns killing

The Humanitarian Coordinator ad interim in Cameroon, Mrs. Siti Batoul Oussein, strongly condemned the killing of Tanjoh, humanitarian aid worker serving with the Community Initiative for Sustainable Development (COMINSUD) in Batibo Subdivision in the North West region of Cameroon.

“I am outraged and saddened by the killing of another aid worker in the North West region of Cameroon. On behalf of the United Nations and the wider humanitarian community in Cameroon, I extend our deepest condolences to his family, community and to COMINSUD”, said Mrs. Oussein.

The UN regrets that this killing is the latest in a series of attacks, violent extortion and harassment against humanitarians in the South West and North West regions. It comes barely a month after the killing of a community health worker in the South West region, it said.

“Violence against humanitarian workers is not acceptable under any circumstances. It jeopardizes access to much needed assistance for people affected by the crisis in the South West and North West regions,” said Mrs. Oussein.

Mrs. Oussein reiterated the United Nations’ call for all armed actors to refrain from any attacks or obstruction of aid workers and humanitarian agencies on whose assistance so many lives depend.