BY SANDR LUM
The Anglophone crisis that started in 2016 is far from over. Extrajudicial killings, kidnappings for ransom, the burning of houses and villages by both state security forces and separatist fighters, arbitrary arrests and detention in deplorable conditions, torture, and sporadic crossfire between separatist fighters and government forces, often leaving innocent civilians helpless, have become the order of the day.
In the face of all this, youths, activists, and innocent families are bearing the brunt of the unending Anglophone crisis and have increasingly become scapegoats. They find themselves caught between the military and separatist fighters.
Some have been considered a danger and threat to the public and declared wanted. The population has equally been urged to remain vigilant and report suspicious activities to the nearest gendarmerie or police station.
For those who have successfully escaped to countries where respect for human rights is considered a priority, their names are reportedly still in military databases, pending arrest and prosecution.
The family of Judith Fongue of Kumba, Meme Division, South-West Region of Cameroon, is among the families of innocent Anglophone civilians bearing the brunt of the unending crisis, which morphed into an armed conflict in 2017. Theirs is a particularly distressing case, according to reports.
Judith Fongue is reportedly caught between separatist fighters and state security forces, with both sides accusing her of being a government informant and an accomplice of separatist fighters. Reports indicate that both state security forces and separatist fighters have declared her wanted, dead or alive, placing her between “the devil and the deep blue sea” and forcing her to flee the country.
THE SUN gathered that since Judith Fongue, a call-box operator and petty vendor in Kumba, went underground in July 2025 for fear of persecution and amid death threats from separatists, her whereabouts have remained unknown.
THE SUN learnt that government forces raided Judith Fongue’s neighbourhood on May 10, 2025, killing her brother and father, John Fongue. She was allegedly tortured and sexually assaulted, blindfolded, and taken to a security camp, where she was detained on allegations that she had been receiving money from abroad to fund the ongoing armed conflict. Her brother, who was reportedly killed during the operation, was also allegedly accused of being a separatist fighter.
Judith Fongue was reportedly released without charge after spending a week in detention under what sources described as deplorable conditions.
It should be recalled that the family of Judith Fongue is among those reportedly hardest hit by casualties linked to the Anglophone crisis. It is on record that Judith Fongue’s elder brother, Fongue Emile, was killed by a stray bullet on March 10, 2023, during crossfire between separatist fighters and government forces. On June 16, 2018, another elder brother, Fongue Pierre, was reportedly brutally killed while driving back to Kumba, allegedly on the grounds that the road was prohibited.
Under Cameroon’s Penal Code, if Judith Fongue is arrested, she could face charges relating to acts of insurrection, hostilities against the state, and failure to report, which may attract severe prison sentences, including life imprisonment, depending on the specific charges and circumstances.
Contacted, a senior security official in Meme said the operations were “intelligence-led actions aimed at neutralizing armed groups and restoring order.” The official added: “We act within the law to protect civilians. Anyone with information should collaborate with authorities,” while noting ongoing disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) and humanitarian programmes.
Human rights groups say the crackdown on civilians, activists, and perceived sympathisers in the two regions has intensified, with reports of arbitrary arrests, detention, torture, and extrajudicial killings.
According to figures cited by the International Crisis Group and Amnesty International, about 4,000 people have died in the conflict. At least 500,000 people have been internally displaced, while about 40,000 are refugees in neighbouring countries. Nearly 700,000 children have reportedly been deprived of schooling.
The Crisis in a Nutshell
It is worth recalling that the Anglophone crisis, which pundits say had been brewing for several years, boiled over in 2016 when Common Law lawyers and teachers in the North-West and South-West regions went on strike.
The lawyers demanded, among other things, the return to a federal system of government and the redeployment of Civil Law magistrates from the English-speaking regions to Civil Law courts in the French-speaking part of Cameroon. The teachers, meanwhile, raised several grievances concerning the English-language education system.
In January 2018, when Anglophone leaders, including Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, Barrister Eyambe, and Nfor Ngala Nfor, were arrested in Nigeria and subsequently extradited to Yaoundé, Cameroon’s political capital, the crisis further escalated and had by then morphed into an armed conflict.
The crisis has left thousands of civilians, as well as members of the security and defence forces, dead. Others have been internally displaced, with some reportedly forced to seek refuge in bushes and other unsafe locations.