BY NDIMUH B. SHANCHO
One of the incarcerated10 separatist leaders, better known today as the Nera 10, Deacon Tassang Wilfred has called on other Ambazonia leaders to unite and negotiate with the Cameroon government,while forgetting that they (Nera 10) are still alive. In a letter titled “As Though We Were Dead”, dated July 13, 2019, the Ambazonian IG member told all separatist factions that “in the event where Yaounde decides to hold us as hostages in a bid to weaken the hands of the free leadership around the negotiation table, my appeal to our people and to Ambazonia’s negotiation party is this: consider the Nera10 as dead. Negotiate as though you were seeking retribution for the more than 30,000 wasted Amba souls”.
Deacon Tassang craved on the indulgence of the different factions of the Ambazonia leadership to unite for the independence of Southern Cameroons, without any exception.“Dear people, this will be made difficult if the free leadership continues to go each one his way; each thinking and believing they are the summit of wisdom and knowledge. Our leaders must unite. I truly hope that what we now see staring at us is genuine; talks, dialogue, negotiations. We, I mean you, our leaders, cannot afford to continue this journey in disarray……… Any other wisdom that stands against unity stands against Ambazonia and her quest. Without exception, unite,” the letter reads in part.
The outing of Deacon Tassang urging his separatist counterparts to unite and negotiate even without Sisiku yuk and all other Ambazonia leaders in Kondengui , is not unconnected to what has become known as the “Swiss Talks”, which harvested divergent opinions from different separatist factions.
Shortly after the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs declared its willingness to facilitate the process that will culminate in paving the way for the much trumpeted dialogue on the Anglophone problem, June 27, 2019, some leaders of Ambazonia eight separatist groups pledged to take part in the negotiation process initiated. A day after, that is June 28, 2019, the Vice President of the Interim Government of the ‘Republic of Ambazonia’, Dabney Yerima (Vice to SesekuAyukTabe), in a press statement, denounced the Swiss dialogue on the account that dialogue cannot begin when the Cameroon Government has not stopped the killing of Ambazonians.
This is just one out of many salient issues and areas of great concern that the Ambazonia leaders have disagreed on.
These different factions with divergent views have made pundits to wonder which factions will represent Ambazonia in case of a dialogue, reason why Deacon Tassang’s call for unity is at an opportune moment.