By CYNTHIA BIH
Many civilians in the North West and South West Regions have been caught between military crackdown and atrocities committed by Ambazonia separatist fighters.
This is as the crisis rocking the regions, which long escalated into an armed conflict, rages on. Some civilians have also found themselves trapped in crossfires between the military and Amba fighters. Many have lost their lives after having been hit by stray bullets in the gunfire exchanges between the military and Amba fighters.
Meanwhile, the Amba fighters have also been forcing young men and women to join them in their armed struggle for the independence of a country they have christened Republic of Ambazonia. Those who have refused to join the Amba fighters, collaborate with or support them financially have been abducted and killed, with some beheaded.
On their part, the defence and security forces have been indiscriminately arresting people suspected to be collaborating, sympathising with and supporting the Amba fighters materially and financially. Sources say the arrested persons are being tortured and detained under deplorable and inhumane conditions. Some have reportedly died in detention.
This has caused many of them to flee into hiding and the whereabouts of many is not known.
One of those who have been caught between the Ambazonia fighters and the military is Ndakwe Daniel Tangwa, who was a music teacher in Limbe, Fako Division of the South West Region.
Ndakwe’s ordeal began some time in 2019 when he was stopped by the military one night at SAMCO Quarter in Limbe. That night, the military and Amba fighters were engaged in a gunfire exchange. As Ndakwe was heading home on his motorbike with his wife, he was stopped by soldiers, who pointed a gun at him point blank, suspecting him of being an Amba fighter. But when the soldiers discovered that he was with a woman behind, they let him go.
However, because of that incident that greatly traumatised Ndakwe and his wife, he decided to relocate from Mile Four to another quarter in Limbe.
But his torments were far from over. As Ndakwe had refused to join the Amba fighters or give them material and financial support, sometime in 2021, they are said to have started sending messages on WhatsApp, threatening him. The fighters are said to have warned him that if did not send them financial support, they will kill him and also harm members of his family.
As Ndakwe did not budge to their threats, one day the Ambazonia fighters trapped him on his way back home on his motorbike, kidnapped and took him to one of their camps somewhere around Mutengene. There, he is said to have been tortured.
However, the next day, the military stormed the Amba fighters’ camp and a shootout ensued between the soldiers and Amba fighters. In the midst of the shootout, Ndakwe is said to have escaped. Some Amba fighters were killed in that military raid, but many of them escaped.
Not long after, the Amba fighters are said to have accused Ndakwe’s family of having caused the military raid on their camp in Mutengene by informing the military of Ndakwe’s kidnap. The Amba fighters are also aid to have vowed to kill Ndakwe if they lay hands on him.
Later, the military is also said to have also accused Ndakwe of having been collaborating with and supporting the Amba fighters. A military manhunt was launched for him.
Nonetheless, suddenly Ndakwe is reported to have vamoosed and his whereabouts is still not known.
If the Ambazonia separatist fighters lay hands on Ndakwe Daniel Tangwa, he will certainly be killed, like many others who have suffered from atrocities committed by separatist fighters.
Meanwhile, if arrested by the defence and security forces, Ndakwe Daniel Tangwa will be tried in a military tribunal, under the 2014 anti-terrorism law, whose maximum punishment is the death sentence. That is if he is not killed outright, like many others who have been victims of extra-judicial killings within the context of the armed conflict in the North West and South West Regions.
Origin of crisis
It is 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.
Many houses, and even whole villages, have been burnt down in the crisis-hit regions.
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.