By Lusy Lima
The crisis in the North West and South West regions, which has morphed into an armed conflict has been taking new twists with residents in some localities in the conflict-hit regions being caught between atrocities committed by Ambazonia separatist fighters and government’s clampdown on suspected separatists and sympathisers of the Anglophone cause with the use of defence and security forces.
Security operatives have been indiscriminately arresting Anglophone activists and suspected activists. Sources say the arrested persons are being detained under deplorable and inhuman conditions. Some have reportedly died in detention.
This has caused many of them to flee into hiding and the whereabouts of many is not known.
Meanwhile, as the gun battles between the military and separatist fighters increase, some villagers in some communities have been forced to escape into the forest, for fear of being caught in the crossfire.
The separatist fighters have also been torturing and killing those whom they suspect are giving information about them to the military. They have also been forcefully recruiting young men and women to join in their fight for independence of what they have named Republic of Ambazonia. Some of those who do not collaborate with the separatist fighters have been abducted and killed, with some beheaded.
One of those who have been caught between the Ambazonia fighters and the military is Miss Ayuk Arrey Tabot, a vibrant young aspiring jurist who had taken up residence in her native village called Afap that situates in Eyumojock Sub Division, Manyu Division of the South West Region of the Republic of Cameroon. The said lady who moved to Afap village over a year ago in order to assist her beloved parents in their small scale cash crop plantation and palm oil milling business, the supplies of fresh vegetables and food stuffs , is one of the most recent innocent victims caught in between the two warring parties on grounds of unfounded allegations.
Miss Ayuk Arrey Tabot, in the course of said business had been supplying foodstuffs and other provisions to the military agents who occupy the make shift camps in that locality and it’s environs to check armed separatist’s occupation of the said community. Her ordeal started some time in 2023 when some men, who are said to have introduced themselves as separatist fighters, contacted Miss Ayuk Arrey with a request for the supply of huge quantity of vegetables and other food stuffs. When the said lady hesitated in doing so given the high risk involved, the said separatist fighters later on stormed her family home on the 7th of November 2023 with threats to kill her , her parents and other siblings if she does not reconsider her stands in relation to their proposal.
For fear of her life, Miss Ayuk Arrey is said to have started supplying the separatists fighters with foodstuffs , fresh vegetables and other food items. She supplied the said stuffs both the military and separatists until April 17, 2024 when a group of separatist fighters are said to have stormed her family home, accusing her and her father of giving information to the military about their hideouts. Miss Ayuk Arrey and her father were also accused of having been campaigning for school resumption which contravenes the separatist’s calls for school boycott and series of ghost towns within that locality .
In the course of the said attack, Miss Ayuk Arrey Tabot , her elder brother called Armstrong and one of her cousins called Arrey were abducted by the separatist fighters. While they were being conveyed to the fighters’ camp, her cousin attempted to escape on their way and was shot on his leg.
However, after having been tortured, raped and detained at the fighters’ camp under deplorable prison conditions with an appalling health situation, Miss Ayuk Arrey Tabot is said to have on the 28th day of April 2024 , escaped from the hands of her captors. Since then her whereabouts is not known.
Meanwhile, the military is also said to have launched a manhunt for Miss Ayuk Arrey Tabot and the members of her family on grounds of their alleged links with separatists. The military is said to have launched a fierce raid at her father’s house in Afab in the later days of April 2024 in search of Miss Ayuk Arrey Tabot , her father and other family members based on their suspected links with the separatist movement. As they couldn’t lay hands on any of them, the entire property was set on fire to serve as a deterrent message to members of that locality.
Should the separatist fighters lay hands on Miss Ayuk Arrey, she will certainly be killed like many others who have suffered from atrocities committed by separatist fighters.
Meanwhile, if she is arrested by the defence and security forces, miss Ayuk Arrey Tabot may be tried in a Military Tribunal in Yaounde under the Anti-Terrorism Laws of Cameroon whose maximum punishment is the death penalty. That is, if she is not summarily executed at the time they lay hands on her like many others who have been victims of extra-judicial killings.