BY ERNESTINE NGUM
The crisis in the North West and South West Regions, which long escalated into an armed conflict continues to take new twists, the government, through the defence and security forces, has intensified its pursuit for those suspected to be separatist activists, others accused of supporting and collaborating with the Ambazonia separatist fighters and those who are sympathetic to the separatist cause.
The military has also intensified its crackdown on members of the now outlawed Southern Cameroons National Council, SCNC.
In this light, security and defence forces have been indiscriminately arresting all those suspected to be Ambazonia activists, collaborators and sympathisers and also persons suspected to have been taking part in activities organised by the SCNC.
Sources say the arrested persons are being tortured and detained under inhumane conditions. Some are reported to have died in detention.
For fear of their lives, many have fled and their whereabouts is not known. One case is that of Mbah Brandon Njang, who is a member of the SCNC and is being hunted by defence and security forces. Mbah is said to have been active in distributing SCNC T-shirts and other propaganda gadgets such as flyers, posters, banners, and other documents.
Mbah’s ordeal started sometime in January 2023 when he attended an SCNC meeting in Bamenda in the North West Region. The meeting, we gathered, was to protest against the celebration of Youth Day on February 11, 2023.
The police stormed the venue of the meeting while it was ongoing and arrested all those in attendance, including Mbah. The arrested persons were accused of being terrorists and attempting to split the country. They were whisked away to the Bamenda police station, tortured and detained under deplorable conditions.
However, on January 12, 2023, Mbah was released after he is said to have signed an undertaking to desist from SCNC activism.
Nonetheless, he still continued with SCNC activities. It was apparently for this that he was again arrested on February 14, 2023 at a military checkpoint in Bambili, Tubah Subdivision, Mezam Division of the North West Region. The defence and security officers who arrested Mbah found SCNC t-shirts and other materials in his possession.
He was tortured and ferried to the Bamenda police station where he was detained.
Meanwhile, on February 20, 2023, a group of Ambazonia fighters raided the police station where Mbah was detained, killing many security officers. In the process, Mbah and other detainees escaped.
Since then, Mbah’s whereabouts is not known. But shortly after he escaped from detention, the military raided his uncle’s residence in Bamenda, looking for him. After discovering SCNC materials in Mbah’s uncle’s house, he was shot dead and the house burnt down.
A warrant of arrest is reported to have been issued for Brandon Njang Mbah. If rearrested he will be tried in a military tribunal, under the 2014 anti-terrorism law, whose maximum punishment is the death sentence. That is if he is not killed outright, like many others who have been victims of extrajudicial killings within the context of the armed conflict in the North West and South West Regions.
Flashback on origin of crisis
It should be recalled that the Anglophone crisis, something that pundits say had been brewing for several years, boiled over in 2016, 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 where they are serving life sentences. They were sentenced by the Yaounde military tribunal in August 2019 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.