BY Evelyn Kubu
As the crisis in the North West and South West regions, which has morphed into an armed conflict, rages on, residents in some localities in the conflict-hit regions have been caught between atrocities committed by Ambazonia separatist fighters and government’s clampdown on suspected separatists and sympathizers of the Anglophone cause with the use of defense and security forces.
Government has equally launched a manhunt for alleged activists siding with separatists. The activists include members of the outlawed Southern Cameroons National Council, SCNC, a pressure group clamouring for the restoration of the independence of the former British Southern Cameroons. A list bearing the names of these alleged activists is already making rounds in the hands of the military, as they have been placed under military searchlight and declared wanted.
It is against this backdrop, that unanswered questions have been raised about the whereabouts of many Anglophones who have disappeared amidst the ongoing armed- conflict rocking the restive North West and South West Regions.
One of such is Paul Epiebong Epie, a resident of Kumba, Meme Division, South West Region of Cameroon. Reports say his whereabouts remains cloudy since he fled the country, sometimes in August 2021.
As we went to Press, family sources hinted that his name has featured in the list of those to be arrested and prosecuted anywhere he is found within the national territory. THE SUN gathered that his case is even more complicated due to his frontline role within the ranks of the SCNC. Reports say Epiebong Epie, like many other Anglophone activists, has stood against the marginalisation of Anglophone Cameroonians since his University days.
Reports say following the passing on to glory of his mother in February 2021, Paul Epiebong Epie returned to the country, according to family sources, for the funeral programme in July 2021. His stay was short-lived as the military multiplied strategies to arrest him. Epiebong Epie escaped out of the country unfortunately without taking part in his mother funeral.
As we went to press, the military had launched a fresh pursuit for his arrest alongside many others for them to be prosecuted at the Yaounde Military Tribunal on charges of secession, hostility and related offences and his support for a two-state Federation. The military keeps making impromptu checks at the residential area of Epiebong Epie in Kumba, just to arrest and prosecute him. Family sources have hinted as they are constantly harassed and molested for them to disclose his where about which unfortunately, remains cloudy.
Flashback of 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 marginalization 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, houses as well as villages razed to the ground with extrajudicial killings being a regular occurrence.
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.