BY TALLA AGHAA CHRISTOPHER
Youths from the two English speaking regions of Cameroon have been caught in-between government and separatist fighters better known as ‘amba boys’ accusations since the Anglophone crisis that started in 2016 with strike actions by Cameroon Common Law Lawyers and Anglophone teachers against marginalistion metamorphosed into an arm conflict.
The youths are either tagged by ‘amba boys’ as spies for the government or by the military as spies for the ‘amba boys’. These accusations and counter accusations have caused many youths to be arrested and tortured with some killed by both the military and separatist fighters. This has forced many other youths to relocate to unknown destinations for fear of the unknown from both ends.
Being alive for many youths in these restive regions is a miracle given that each new day comes with its own. Many homes have been broken into with women left drown in tears. They have been looking for their husbands and children who are either missing or dead. The outskirts of towns like Buea, Kumba, Bamenda, Kumbo and Mamfe have been the hardest-hit by the crisis. Many have fled in order to provide a level field for the smoking guns to rattle.
Those arrested in connection to the crisis have been considered as terrorists and numerous trump-up charges levied against them such as propagation of false information, revolution, insurrection, secession and non possession of National Identity Card.
For fear of the unknown, considering the jail term that awaits suspected activists, many have relocated to unknown destinations after having been declared wanted by the Yaounde regime.
The case of Anu Nora Anumendem, Kengne Takam Ludovick and many others remain very pathetic. The government, through security and judicial officials, have revisited their case and are bent on prosecuting them if arrested.
36- year – old Anu Nora’s ordeal forces tears to run down everybody’s eyes around her neighbourhood in Small Ekombe village, Meme Division, South West Region. Anu Nora is a victim of circumstances because her husband was a frontline member of the leading opposition party in Cameroon, the Social Democratic Front, SDF. Family sources disclosed that military men, July 21, 2018, stormed their residence in search of her husband. She disclosed that she never knew the where about of her husband but some two military officers, who forced their way into the house, raped her in front of her children and to the hearing of her blind aunt.
As if this wasn’t enough, reports say she was whisked to the Kumba gendarmiere brigade were she was detained for close to 13 days before been released on August 2, 2018 thanks to intervention of her Attorney. Traumatised by these, she was rushed to the hospital. The following day, news went viral on the social media that she has been tagged “a spy” by the separatists fighters, since she wasn’t taken to Yaounde like others arrested in connection to the crisis.
Neighbours testify that Anu Nora’s residence was on constant impromptu search by separatist fighters. As if this was not enough, family sources hinted that Anu Nora received a call from her Lawyer early April 2019 that there was an arrest warrant against her. It was against this backdrop that Anu Nora Anumendem relocated to an unknown destination, this reporter gathered. Her present destination as we went to Press remains cloudy according to family sources.
Despite calls across the board for the government of Cameroon to call for dialogue to end the crisis, the government has intensified search and arrest of more Anglophones and sympathiser in connection to the crisis.
Similarly, the case of Kengne Takam Ludovick, whose where about remains unknown since September 2018, is on the table of the judiciary. He is under police search lights, family sources have confirmed.
According to reports, Kengne Takam, a renowned international footballer returned to Cameroon in 2016 after playing professional football in Asia and Thailand for several years. While in Cameroon, he became a sympathiser of the Anglophone struggle , and participated in the” Wirba Force” movement before going back to Thailand for a contract with a new club. While in Thailand, Kengne Takam was informed that his wife has been taken to an unknown destination and his son hospitalised following military attack on protesters during a rally in Bamenda organised by “Wirba Force” group on February 27,2017.
Reports hold that Kengne Takam Ludovick couldn’t make it to Cameroon due to his football club engagements and non permission from his club. Kengne’s wife was released thanks to intervention from her friends but was later admitted for two weeks in the hospital. Shortly after this, Kengne’s wife was arrested again in her shop in Bamenda for alleged civil disobedience , detained and denied access to her lawyer and family.
This situation forced Kengne Takam Ludovick to came to Cameroon on February 14,2018 to secure the release of his wife. While at the police station, things rather changed. Kengne was instead interrogated, arrested and detained for sponsoring and financing the Ambazonian fighters to destabilize Cameroon. He was whisked to the Yaounde Central Prison after spending two weeks in detention, where he was seriously tortured. Kengne was placed incommunicado for several months under deplorable detention and was only discovered by other inmates during a prison census in August 2018.
Matters got worse when he was informed that his contract with his Thailand football club has been terminated due to his prolonged stay in Cameroon. After serious negotiations, Kengne Takam Ludovick was released on September 4, 2018 and was admitted at the hospital. It’s from here that he disappeared to an unknown destination.
With government tightening the noose on separatist fighters and their sympathisers, the future promises to be pregnant.
It should be recalled with the ongoing war in the two restive Anglophone regions, statistics indicate many Anglophones have become internally displaced. The death toll is on a perpetual rise while there are claims that about 150 villages have been burnt down and some 11000 people remain internally displaced with close to 45000 people as refugee in other countries