BY LUCY LIMA
The crisis in the North West and South West regions, which long escalated into an armed conflict, has been taking fresh twists with civilians facing the consequences of 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 tortured and detained under deplorable and inhumane 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.
The separatist fighters, on their part, have also been torturing and killing those whom they suspect are giving information about them to the military. Some of those who do not collaborate with the separatist fighters have been abducted and killed, with some beheaded. Others kidnapped by separatist fighters have only regained their freedom after the payment of huge amounts of money as ransom.
One of the families that is bearing the brunt of Amba atrocities and military crackdown is that of Brenda Nkengasong Atabong. Her mother, Beatrice Atabong, is said to have been kidnapped by armed separatist fighters identifying themselves as members of the Ambazonian Defence Forces, ADF, in early 2022 in Likomba, Fako Division of the South West Region.
The assailants had stormed their residence at around 7:00 a.m., held the children at gunpoint, and forced them to lie face down while they took Beatrice away. After three days in captivity — during which she was reported subjected to physical abuse, hunger, and untreated illness — she was released following the payment of a ransom.
Because of the poor conditions under which she was kept and the maltreatment she suffered, Beatrice was traumatised upon her release by the separatist fighters.
Meanwhile, in May 2023, Brenda Nkengasong Atabong, who is said to be currently based in the United Kingdom, lost all contact with her family.
It was later reported that a violent confrontation had taken place between the military and separatist fighters in Likomba. During the crossfire, the Atabong family home was burned down. Later in in February 2024, it emerged that Brenda’s father, Peter Atabong, had been caught by uniformed military personnel near the ruins of their home. The military is said to have been actively searching for Peter Atabong, his, wife Beatrice Atabong, and their children. The military had accused them of collaborating with separatist fighters. Arrest warrants had reportedly been issued, and one was left with a neighbour.
The whereabouts of Brenda’s parents, Peter and Beatrice Atabong, is currently unknown since their home was destroyed.
With the accusations levelled against her family, if Brenda Nkengasong Atabong returns home and is arrested, she 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.
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, others internally displaced with some living in bushes while over 70,000 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 serving life sentences at the Kondengui maximum security prison in Yaounde. Many other activists such as Mancho Bibixy, Penn Terrence, Tsi Conrad, among others, are also 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.