BY CYNTHIA NGUM
Reports hold that the lives of many alleged Anglophone activists including their relatives both at home and abroad remain a misery ever since the Anglophone crisis, which later on escalated into an armed conflict, started.
Many of them have been accused by the government of siding, aiding and abetting with separatist fighters to have picked up arms against the state, demanding for the restoration of the independence of former British Southern Cameroons or the creation of a new country known as the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.
Suspected activists who have been arrested have been either jailed or killed and their homes razed to the ground and majority of their family relatives killed. Many have gone underground, the whereabouts of many remains cloudy. Homes of suspected activists who are abroad for fear of the unknown are constantly being investigated as the military keeps on making impromptu visits, thus injecting constant fear. The government has earmarked many activists both at home and abroad for arrest. They have already been tagged as terrorists and those masterminding and supporting the crisis from their hideouts abroad, thus declaring them wanted. Majority of the activists have even been attacked abroad by suspected pro-government activists.
The crisis has been on now for closed to six years.
Origin of crisis
It should be recalled that Common Law Lawyers went to strike in October 2016 to protest government attempts to annihilate the Common Law practice in a constitutionally bilingual and bi-jural Cameroon. The strike lasted for over a year.
Anglophone teachers in the country joined the strike in November 21, 2016 to uphold Anglo-Saxon values of educational system under threat in Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions.
The government crackdown on Anglophone activists has since intensified with arbitrary arrests, detention, torture and extra-judicial killings becoming the new normal, human rights groups have said. Investigative findings from many human rights groups and nongovernmental organisations have in one voice condemned the extra-judicial killings by mostly the military on innocent civilians including children and pregnant women and burning of houses. Due to this confusion, and fear of the unknown, many youths and businessmen continue to go underground and those abroad have been declared wanted.
According to statistics from human rights groups, over 7,000 persons have been killed, hundreds kidnapped, thousands of houses and over 400 villages razed with over 75,000 persons identified as Internally Displaced, with over 45,000 as refugees in Nigeria. These attacks have been so alarming that human rights groups across the board have concluded that Cameroon is no longer safe.
Youths caught in the web
Many youths in the English-speaking North West and South West regions are reported to be entangled due to the Anglophone crisis.
Many cases abound and Cameroon is no longer a safer place for them. Even though 23-year-old Nsoh Karl Chi’s whereabouts still remains cloudy since September 2022, a manhunt has been launched for him by the military. Family sources disclosed that his aunt, whose name we got as Bih Comfort, was killed by the police for not providing information regarding his whereabouts.
It should be recalled that Nsoh, considered as a victim of circumstance amidst the ongoing armed conflict rocking the North West and South West Regions, was arrested amongst other family relatives by the police on April 11, 2021 in their Ntarikon – Bamenda residence for siding with separatist fighters. The police equally accused him of being a spy and influencing other teachers to respect ghost town and school boycotts.
Reports hold that Nsoh, like many other youths who have been accused of siding with separatists, pleaded innocent to all the allegations from the police, but continued to receive death threats. Nsoh was detained under inhumane detention conditions for several days.
The Police Commissioner, according to reports, accused his family of many terrorism offences including secession, masterminding and supporting the Anglophone movement from their hideouts abroad and that his uncle, who just returned from abroad, was in possession of dangerous weapons. Thanks to the intervention of their family lawyer, Nsoh Karl was granted bail.
For fear of the unknown, taking into consideration that his name was on the security database as a spy, his family made all arrangements for Nsoh to leave the country, especially as his closest cousin, Che Gilbert, was killed by the military on his way back from attending a youth rally. His cousin, family sources say, was tagged a spy and a frontline supporter of the Anglophone movement.
Another victim of circumstance amidst the ongoing Anglophone crisis is Nganda Mekumba Maurice. The holder of a Masters Degree in International Trade from the IAE NICE Graduate School of Management, University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, France, will face the wrath of the law if seen anywhere within the national territory. Ever since he organised some activists and they staged a protest march in Muyuka, Fako Division, South West Region, that ended with the hoisting of the flag of Southern Cameroons National Council, SCNC, a movement clamouring for the independence of former British Southern Cameroons, his name has remained on the database of the security and the military has been hunting for him since then. Though he escaped to a nearby village, he was molested for two months. Family sources hinted that he only escaped from the hands of the security while in hospital for treatment.
Nganda Mekumba Maurice was smuggled out of the country thanks to the assistance of some Southern Cameroons sympathisers in May 2018 though his residence was constantly being raided by the police, according to his wife.
As if this was not enough, the homes of his mother and sister were razed to the ground in Big Ngwandi village in Meme Division. Family sources have hinted that Nganda didn’t relent while abroad and joined other Anglophone activists living in total fear. They have lost many love ones and their homes razed to the ground just because he is a victim of circumstances in the ongoing armed conflict in former British Southern Cameroons. Nganda Mekumba Maurice has been declared wanted by the regime and the police keep raiding their neighbourhood in Muyuka just to apprehend him and his wife, The Sun gathered.
The ongoing socio-political impasse in Cameroon especially in the restive North West and South West regions, the United States Department of States Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour published a 45-page report on Cameroon’s human rights situation in 2018, wherein they highlighted the worsening human rights Situation in Cameroon. It stated that about 3,000 civilian lives have been lost due to the armed conflict, and about 730,000 displaced with many living horrible lives in neigbouring Nigeria.