BY Lucy Lima
As the crisis in the North West and South West regions, which has morphed into an armed conflict, rages on, residents in some localities in the conflict-hit regions have been 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.
Government has equally launched a manhunt for alleged activists siding with separatists. The activists abound and a list bearing the names of these alleged activists are already making rounds in the hands of the military as they have been placed under military searchlight and declared wanted.
It is against this backdrop that unanswered questions have been raised about the whereabouts of many Anglophones who have disappeared amidst the ongoing armed conflict.
One of such is Bryan Teka Woleza, a resident of Muea a small community within Buea, Fako Division, and South West Region of Cameroon. Reports say his whereabouts remains cloudy since he fled the country, sometimes in 2019.
As we went to press, family sources hinted that his name has featured in the list of those to be arrested and prosecuted anywhere he is found within the National Territory. THE SUN gathered that as the armed conflict rages on within the restive North West and South West Regions, Bryan Teka Woleza’s family was affected as the military shot death two of his cousins, Nkeng William and Atabong Nkemasong Thomas, including his mother Efuengwo Rebecca, in Buea. This provoked Bryan Teka to join the separatist fighters, also known as Amba Boys in assisting them with documentations, and educating other Anglophone youths on the benefits of joining the separatist movement for a complete independence of the Former British Southern Cameroons.
As part of his functions within the separatist movement, Bryan Teka Woleza produced flyers, appeal letters for support from sympathisers and T-shirts whenever there was the celebration of the supposed independence day of the Former British Southern Cameroons, celebrated every October 1st.
Bryan Teka’s activities within the separatist movement, we learnt, gained grounds and he became a target of the military and security operatives. He was arrested in Muea in April 2019 by the military but he managed to escape from the military vehicle stationed on the street while the soldiers were still arresting other alleged separatist fighters within Muea.
Ever since the disappearance of Bryan Teka Woleza, family sources say they continue to face threats, harassments and arbitrary arrest and detention by the military and other security operatives, all in a bid for them to disclose the whereabouts of Bryan Teka Woleza. He has been declared wanted and an arrest warrant issued against him.
Flashback of the crisis
It is 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 30,000 have fled to neighbouring Nigeria where they are living as refugees, houses as well as villages razed to the ground with extrajudicial killings being a regular occurance.
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.