By Cynthis Bakoma
The crisis raging in the North West and South West Regions, which has morphed into an armed conflict, continues to take new twists.
As the conflict rages on, the government has stepped up its crack down on those suspected to be sponsoring the Ambazonia separatist fighters and others who are sympathetic to the Anglophone separatist cause.
The government has also declared some of the suspected sponsors of the fighters, some of who are residing abroad, wanted.
In this light, security and defence forces have been indiscriminately arresting family members, loved ones, of the suspected sponsors of the separatist fighters.
Sources say the arrested are being tortured and detained under horrendous and inhumane conditions. Some are reported to have died in detention.
Meanwhile, the separatist fighters have also been assaulting families of persons abroad who have refused to sponsor their activities. The fighters have been kidnapping, torturing and even killing some of these family members.
Some of the families of the accused are reported to have been fleeing.
A case in point is that of Cecilia Etala Molungu, who is said to be living abroad. Etala’s family is reported to have been living in one of the hotspots of separatist fighters, Muyuka in Fako Division of the South West Region.
We gathered that sometime ago, when the fighters in Muyuka were asking every family to give financial support for their struggle, the family of Etala was also approached. The fighters had warned that any family that did not support will be seriously dealt with.
Thus, Etala began sending financial support to the separatist through her family. Her family was then taking the financial support to the separatist fighters.
However, things took an ugly turn when the defence and security forces are said to have learned that Etala’s family had connections with and was collaborating with the separatist fighters.
While Etala’s family members were accused of supporting and promoting terrorism, she was accused by the military of financing terrorism.
Afraid, Etala and her family members thus resolved to stop giving the financial support to the separatist fighters. This caused the fighters to storm their family house in Muyuka to find out why the financial support was no longer coming.
Etala’s mother, whose name we got as Edna Nalova Metutu, is said to have told the fighters that they no longer wanted to have any dealings with them. This greatly angered the fighters, who seriously tortured the family members. It is alleged that the fighters also went ahead to rape two of Etala’s sisters and one got impregnated as a result of the rape.
The separatist fighters are said to have told Etala’s family members that if the financial support does not start coming soonest, they will all be killed.
Meanwhile, the security and defence forces are also said to have increased their investigations on the allegations of Etala and her family’s collaboration with and support to the separatist fighters.
The Amba fighters in Muyuka are noted for several atrocities they have committed. One of such is the grueling killing of a woman in August 2020.
In a shocking video that widely circulated on social media, three suspected separatist fighters in Muyuka were seen beating and dragging a 35-year-old woman, identified as Confort Tumassang, over the ground with her hands tied behind her back on August 11, 2024. She begged for mercy before she was beheaded and her body left in the street.
Amidst the Amba threats and the investigations by the security and defence forces, Etala’s family members, for their safety, are said to have escaped from Muyuka. Their whereabouts is not known till date.
If the Amba fighters lay hands on Etala and her family members, they will definitely be killed, like many others who have been victims of atrocities committed by the fighters.
In the same vein, if Etala returns to Cameroon and is arrested by defence and security forces, she and her family will be tried in a military tribunal, under the 2014 anti-terrorism law, whose maximum punishment is the death penalty. That is if they are not killed outright, like many others who have been victims of extra-judicial killings.
Repatriated Cameroonians Going Missing
It should be noted that many Cameroonians who have been repatriated from the United States of America have been going missing.
This was the case in October 2020 when some 57 Cameroonians were deported from the US back to Cameroon. They are alleged to have been interrogated by security operatives, tortured and detained.
A 2022 Human Rights Watch report documented that deported Cameroonians experienced abuses by Cameroonian authorities, including rape, torture, and other physical abuse, arbitrary detention, extortion, unfair prosecutions, restrictions on freedom of movement, and the targeting of relatives.