BY LUSY LIMA
As the crisis rocking the North West and South West regions, which has morphed into an armed conflict, continues to escalate, the government has stepped up its manhunt for Anglophone activists, separatists and suspected sympertisers of the Anglophone cause.
In this light, security operatives have been indiscriminately arresting activists and suspected activists as well as people considered to be sympertisers to the move by separatists who are fighting for the independence of what they have christened Republic of Ambazonia. The government’s crackdown has caused some of them to flee into hiding and the whereabouts of many is not known.
Sources say the arrested activists, separatists and sympertisers are being tortured and detained under horrendous and inhuman conditions. Some have reportedly died in detention.
One of those the security and defence forces are said to be on the lookout for is Amissu Nyenepok Mohtindankem, a businessman in Douala, who has been accused of spreading separatist propaganda by disseminating messages and videos on social media.
Amissu’s ordeal began on September 21, 2017, when while returning home, the military, which had been routinely storming Anglophone neighborhoods in Douala, arrested him. Though he presented his identification document, Amissu was forced into a military truck and whisked away amongst others. They were interrogated and detained under deplorable conditions.
We gathered that under pressure, Amissu was forced to unblock his mobile phone. It was when the military, after having gained access into his phone and finding videos and pictures depicting atrocities committed by the military in the North West and South West regions, accused Amissu of spreading separatist propaganda and ideology.
He was then tortured for several days. It is alleged that he had to pay the sum of 300,000 FCFA to regain his freedom. He was hospitalised because of injuries is sustained from the torture.
Amissu’s misfortune got worse when on June 18, 2018 his father, Idrisu Tantoh Mohtindankem, was killed when a stray bullet hit him during gun battle between the government military and the separatist fighters.
He had to travel to his village of Baba in the North West region to bury his father. While on his way back on June 21, 2018, separatist fighters had blocked the road and in retaliation, the military attacked the area and started shooting.
Caught in the crossfire, Amissu was arrested by the military while others were killed. He was tortured and later taken to the Ndop central prison, Ngoketunjia. He was detained for days.
Meanwhile, on July 28, 2018, fighters attacked the prison, firing at the warders and freed all inmates and burned down the prison. Some of the inmates, including Amissu into the bush.
Since then the whereabouts of Amissu Nyenepok Mohtindankem is no known. We gathered that a warrant of arrest has been issued for him. If rearrested, he will be tried in a military tribunal under the 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.
Meanwhile, other suspected separatists for woman the government has launched a manhunt include Che Samson Anye, Ayuk Nkongho Peter, Samuel Lyonga Moambo among others.
Origin of the crisis
It is worth recalling that the Anglophone crisis, something that pundits say had been brewing for several years, boiled over in 2016 when Common Law Lawyers in the North West and South West regions went on strike, paralyzing the courts. They were demanding for a return to the federal system of government, redeployment of Civil Law Magistrates back to Civil Law Courts among other grievances. Not long after, teachers in the North West and South West regions also went on strike, demanding the redress of several issues concerning the English sub-system of education.
Things got worse when concerned citizens in the North West and South West regions, who had been fed up with the unfavourable political and especially economic stagnation of Cameroon at large, but more importantly in these regions, joined the strike.
But after negotiations with the teachers and lawyers ended in deadlock, the government banned the Southern Cameroons National Council, SCNC, and the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium, CACSC. Some of the leaders of the Consortium such as Barrister Felix Agbor Nkongho and Dr. Fontem Niba were immediately arrested while others such as Barrister Bobga Harmony and Tassang Wilfred fled into hiding.
It should be recalled that leaders of the Anglophone separatist movements including Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and nine others, who were arrested in Abuja, Nigeria in January 2018 and later extradited to Yaounde are currently at the Kondengui maximum security prison, from where they have been attending trial at the military tribunal.
It is also worth noting that many people, both civilians and security forces, have been killed in the crisis, many more internally displaced and over 30,000 have fled to neighbouring Nigeria where they are living as refugees.
While the Anglophone crisis continues to escalate, international organisations and other western powers have called on the government to address the root cause of the crisis through inclusive dialogue.