BY Lucy Lima
The Cameroon defence forces and other security operatives have established both search and arrest warrants for the apprehension of many businessmen of Anglophone extraction all over the national territory suspected to be siding with separatist fighters as the ongoing armed conflict that started about four years rages on.
The businessmen, like other Anglophones engaged in different professions including teachers, medical personnel, lawyers, just to name these, have been considered as hreats to the public and declared wanted. The population has equally been urged to be vigilant and report to the closest gendarmerie or police stations. The businessmen include Etonde Richmond Misodi Ni- Mbone, Akanji Martin, Mbanwei John and Mbelle Franklin Etonge.
The case of Etonde Richmond Misodi Ni- Mbone, owner of Rich Cocoa Enterprise dealing in the marketing of cocoa dry beans and general commerce in Koto Barombi and Ekombe of the restive Mbonge Sub Division, Meme Divisions in the South West Region with headquarters in Kumba amidst the ongoing Anglophone Crisis that has metamorphosed into an armed-conflict, is very much pathetic. Etonde Richmond Misodi Ni- Mbone, THE SUN gathered is a victim of circumstances and caught in the web of the military and separatist fighters amidst the ongoing crisis raging on in the North West and South West Regions.
Sources say before Etonde Richmond Misodi Ni- Mbone went underground in December 2018 he had been indicted by security operatives for using his business to sponsor separatist fighters otherwise known as Amba Boys, who have picked up arms against the state to clamour for the restoration of the independence of the former British Southern Cameroons and the creation of the State of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.
For fear of the unknown Etonde Richmond Misodi Ni- Mbone, one of the successful cocoa dealers in his area just like many other businessmen decided to leave the country taking into consideration the manner in which other businessmen and those of other professions have been manhandled by the military. Most of them have been arrested, molested, tortured and detained in a degrading, horrible, cruel, harsh and inhumane detention conditions and indicted by the military for siding with the separatist fighters.
As we went to press, THE SUN gathered from family sources that the whereabouts of Etonde Richmond Misodi Ni- Mbone remained cloudy as the military court has published a fresh list including his name and several others, launching a fresh pursuit for the arrest of more and more businessmen. The military, THE SUN also gathered, keeps making sporadic and impromptu checks around their neighbourhood just to arrest Etonde Richmond. The government has offered a huge amount of money for who will assist them arrest Etonde Richmond Misodi Ni- Mbone.
According to the Penal Code if arrested he will face charges on acts of terrorism, insurrection, hostility against the state, arms trafficking and failure to report.
Flashback on the crisis
It is also worth recalling that the Anglophone crisis, something that pundits say had been brewing for several years, boiled over recently, when Common Law Lawyers in the North West and South West regions went on strike. They were demanding for the return of the federal system of government, redeployment of Civil Law Magistrates back to Civil Law Courts in French Cameroon, among other grievances. Not long after, teachers in the North West and South West regions also went on strike, demanding for the redress of several issues concerning the English system of education.
Things, however, got worst when Anglophones in both regions, who had been fed up with the unfavourable political and economic situation of the country, the use of French as the dominant and official language, and the marginalisation of the Anglophones, joined the strike.
The crisis has left thousands, both civilians and security and defence forces dead, others internally displaced with some living in bushes while over 30,000 have fled to neighbouring Nigeria where they are living as refugees.
The separatist leader of the self-declared Republic of Ambazonia, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, and eight other close associates of his, who were arrested in Nigeria and extradited to Cameroon, are currently serving life sentences at the Kondengui maximum security prison in Yaounde. Many other activists such as Mancho Bibixy, Penn Terrence, Tsi Conrad, among others, are also serving jail terms at the Kondengui prison.
While the Anglophone crisis continues to escalate, international organisations and other western powers have called on the government to address the root cause through genuine and inclusive dialogue.