BY CYNTHIA BIH
While the crisis in the North West and South West Regions, which long escalated into an armed conflict, continues to take new twists, healthcare personnel and professionals of other walks of life are suffering as gun battles between Ambazonia separatist fighters and the military rage on.
The healthcare and other humanitarian workers have been caught between the Ambazonia separatist fighters and government defence and security forces. While the separatist fighters have sometimes kidnapped and also killed some health and humanitarian workers, defence and security forces have, on their part, been arresting any health and humanitarian worker accused of having links with separatists or providing healthcare and humanitarian assistance to separatists. The military is also accused of having killed some health workers.
The arrested healthcare personnel, we gathered, are being detained under horrible conditions. Some have reportedly died in detention. It is in this light that many of them have fled into hiding.
Medical professionals concerned for their lives
It should be recalled that attacks on hospitals by both the military and armed separatists have left medical professionals in the English-speaking regions concerned for their lives.
Many of them have lost their lives. This was the case in August 2018 when Nancy Azah and her husband, Njong Paddisco, who were nurses who ran separate clinics in the small town of Mbengwi in the North West Region were shot dead by the military while on their way to attend to people wounded in the armed conflict.
The nurses’ deaths had sparked outrage among medical staff who said they were being threatened by both sides of the conflict: government security forces accuse them of treating armed fighters and hiding some in hospitals while the armed separatists accuse medical staff of disclosing their identities to the military.
Another case is that of a young medical doctor who had just left school and was working in the North West Region. She was shot by military men – she did not die.
In another instance, an ambulance was taking a patient from one hospital to another and somewhere in the bush, the military shot at it and damaged the ambulance, hurting the nurse who was accompanying the patient.
Meanwhile, in February 2022, Shey Janet, a nurse, was killed and a medical doctor wounded as a 16-man team of medics came under bullet attacks in Mile 90 Nsongwa, Bamenda. Bullets were rained on their vehicle, snatching the life of the health worker who, before her demise, served at the Women’s Health Programme of the Cameroon Baptist Convention, CBC.
Medical student declared wanted
Another case of somebody linked to healthcare who has been entangled in the web between separatist fighters and the military is Anchi Abia Sharon, who was a nursing student at Biaka University Institute of Buea (BUIB).
Her ordeal reportedly began sometime at the end of September 2023 when she was posted to do internship at Diligent Care Clinic in Buea.
However, in the night of October 1, 2023, a group of separatist fighters are said to have stormed the hospital with one of their wounded comrades. Anchi is said to have been abducted by the fighters and taken to one of their camps where is reported to have been forced to administer treatment on the wounded fighter.
Nonetheless, three days later, she was released by the fighters. But her tribulations were far from over. On October 17, 2023, she was summoned by State Counsel of the Legal Department in Buea.
When Anchi appeared before the State Counsel, she was charged for supporting separatist fighters, and failure to report after she was kidnapped by the fighters. She was whisked to the army camp, where she was interrogated for hours to disclose the location of the fighters’ hideout. Failing to extract this information from her, the soldiers are alleged to have repeatedly raped Anchi.
She was later released after intervention by a lawyer. But her torments took another twist in December 2023 when the military attacked a separatist hideout near Buea. A crossfire led to the killing of several separatist fighters. After the military attack on the separatist hideout, the fighters are said to have accused Anchi of having been the one who disclosed the location of their camp to the military.
The fighters are said to have vowed that they will kill her if they lay hands on her.
But unfortunately for Anchi, a warrant of arrest was issued for her by the State Counsel. When she got to know about this through channels that remain uncertain, Anchi is said to have vamoosed and her whereabouts remain unclear.
The military is said to have been frequenting her family residence in Buea in search of her. Separatist fighters are also reported to have been storming the same residence looking for her.
If arrested, Anchi Abia Sharon 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, Anchi will definitely be killed, like many others who have been victims of atrocities committed by the fighters.