BY SANDRA LUM
As the crisis that has been rocking the North West and South West regions, which long spiraled into an armed conflict, rages on, many civilians including civil society and human rights activists are bearing the brunt and some are fleeing for their safety.
Many in the crisis-affected regions have been caught between the military and separatist fighters who are clamouring for the independence of a country they have named Ambazonia.
Some who are accused by separatist fighters of siding with the military are often abducted by the fighters, and are either killed or are only set free after the payment of huge amounts of money as ransom. Meanwhile, those accused by the military of collaborating or sympathising with the separatist fighters are also either killed by the military, or are arrested, tortured and detained under very inhumane conditions. Some have reportedly died in detention.
For this reason, many of them have escaped and their whereabouts is not known. But the military has launched a manhunt to track them down.
A case is that of Agbornkwai Epse Eyong Dorcas Takem, who, together with some of her church members, had created a women-led association known as Capacity Reinforcement Organisation for Women and the Girl Child, CROWG. The association supported women and girls who are internally displaced, and victims of the armed, by inspiring some to go to school while others learn a trade to boost their lives.
However, some of the activities of CROWG seem to have been misconstrued by the military. It was apparently for this reason that in January 2022 when CROWG was holding a meeting with some victims of the Anglophone crisis in Limbe, Fako Division of the South West Region, the military stormed the venue.
Agbornkwai and the treasurer of CROWG were arrested and whisked away to detention. Accused of being agents and informants of separatist fighters, Agbornkwai and her colleague were tortured and detained under horrible conditions. However, they were later released on bail.
Nonetheless, Agbornkwai’s ordeals as far as the Anglophone crisis is concerned was far from over. Sometime in February, 2022, she was kidnapped by separatist fighters somewhere around Ekona. The separatist fighters are said to have taken her to one of their camps where she was tortured and reportedly raped.
Agbornkwai is said to have been freed after her family promised to pay a ransom to the fighters. But because the ransom was never paid after the fighters released her, they have vowed to deal with her of they lay hands on her.
Meanwhile, sometime in March 2022, the military raided Agbornkwai residence in Douala. However, she is said to have escaped under conditions that remain unclear. But her husband’s nephew, who was living with them, was killed. Since then, Agbornkwai whereabouts is not known.
The military has launched a manhunt for her. She has been accused of using CROWG as a smokescreen in funding secessionist activities against the state.
If arrested, Agbornkwai Epse Eyong Dorcas Takem will be tried in a military tribunal, under the 2014 anti-terrorism law, whose maximum punishment is the death sentence. That is if she is not killed outright, like many others who have been victims of extrajudicial killings within the context of the armed conflict in North West and South West regions.
Meanwhile, if the separatist fighters lay hands on her, she will definitely by killed like many others who have been victims of atrocities committed by the fighters.
Flashback on origin of crisis
It is also 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, some 400,000 displaced with some living in bushes while over 50,000 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 at the Kondengui maximum security prison in Yaounde, where they are serving life sentences.
They were sentenced in August 2019 by the Yaounde military tribunal on charges including terrorism and secession.
Many other activists such as Mancho Bibixy, Penn Terrence, Tsi Conrad, among others, are 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.