A 48-year-old Bible translator has been murdered at his home in Cameroon, the second translator to be butchered to death in the region in just two months.
Benjamin Tem, who helped to complete the New Testament translation into the Aghem language in 2016, was murdered at his home in the Wum region on Sunday night, according to reports from Efi Tembon of Oasis Network for Community Transformation.
While the attackers have not yet been located, locals have blamed Muslim Fulani radicals.
In a post on Facebook, Tembon said: “He was attacked last night by people suspected to be pro-government Fulani herdsmen. They butchered him and cut his throat.”
According to Christianity Today, Tembon said: “I think our authorities have actually been working with the Fulanis. There is a war of independence going on in the area and so the local population supports independence for southern Cameroon. And these attacks toward the local population is not just by Fulanis, the military is also attacking and burning homes. So the military is working hand-in-hand with the Fulanis. They have actually armed some Fulanis to help them fight the local population.
“They know that the Fulanis are Muslim and the local population tends to be Christians. And so trying to create a conflict will create chaos in the area,” he added.
The attack comes just two months after Bible translator, Angus Abraham Fung, was cut to death with a machete, while his wife, Eveline, had her arm hacked off.
Like Tem, Fung also reportedly worked on the Aghem Bible translation project which has now seen more than 3,000 copies of the New Testament published in the Aghem language.
According to the United Nations, almost 800,000 people have been internally displaced in Cameroon in the past two years.