Armed conflict in NW, SW: Gov’t re-launches fresh pursuit for SCNC, Anglophone activists home and abroad

BY ANNIE CELINE

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 sympathizers of the Anglophone cause with the use of defense and security forces.

Government has equally launched a manhunt for alleged activists siding with separatists. The activists include members of the outlawed Southern Cameroons National Council, SCNC, a pressure group clamouring for the restoration of the independence of the former British Southern Cameroons. A list bearing the names of these alleged activists is already making rounds in the hands of the military. The activists have been placed under military searchlight and declared wanted since they organized several protests and organized fighters living in the bushes to pick up arms to fight against the military and state institutions.

After releasing a list of Anglophone activists in the Diaspora, who were targeted for arrest some time ago, sources say a fresh list of SCNC members and other activists both home and abroad has been re-established for arrest. More than a hundred names have reportedly been given to intelligence services.

It is against this backdrop, that unanswered questions have been raised about the whereabouts of many SCNC and Anglophones activists who have disappeared amidst the ongoing armed conflict rocking the restive North West and South West Regions.

Wilfred Tembe Ndum, SCNC activists listed for arrest ,declared wanted for participating in peaceful demonstration

One of such is Wilfred Tembe Ndum. Reports from Buea say his whereabouts remains cloudy since he fled the country in December 2016.

As we went to press, family sources hinted that Tembe’s 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 his case is even more complicated due to his frontline role within the ranks of the SCNC.

The member of the Sam Soya Center for Democracy and Human, reports say, returned to Cameroon in October 2016 for a family visit, from South Africa where he was into business. On November 2016, due to the injustices he suffered in the hands of the Biya regime while seeking for employment in the public service, he decided to participate in a peaceful protest in Buea alongside thousands of others from the various English – speaking Regions.

The peaceful demonstration was led by lawyers and teachers, to condemn the gross discrimination of Anglophones by the regime of President Paul Biya. Reports say the protesters were faced with military reprisals as the police flooded the streets and opened fire on the unarmed civilians and targeted many individuals including Wilfred Tembe Ndum.

THE SUN gathered few days after the peaceful demonstration that turned bloody, that elements of the national gendarmerie raided the Great Soppo neighbourhood in Buea in the night of November 15, 2016, forcibly entered Wilfred Tembe Ndum’s residence and arrested him. Eyewitness accounts narrate that Wilfred Tembe Ndum was molested, tortured, assaulted and later whisked to the gendarmerie station where he was detained in a cruel, inhumane and degrading detention condition.

Family sources hinted that Wilfred Tembe Ndum was immediately accused of terrorism, vandalism, and secessionist activities. After serious legal negotiation, reports say Wilfred Tembe was released on December 5, 2016 but to subsequently appear before the Buea High Court on December 15, 2016.

Wilfred Tembe Ndum THE SUN gathered later disappeared from the hospital while on medical examination following the security brutality on him when he was arrested and detained

As we went to press, the military had launched fresh pursuit for his arrest alongside many others for them to be prosecuted at the Yaounde Military Tribunal on charges of secession, hostility against the state and related offences and his support for the restoration of the Independence of the former British Southern Cameroons.

The military keeps making impromptu checks at his Buea-Great Sopo residential area just to arrest and prosecute him. Family sources have hinted that they are constantly harassed and molested for them to disclose Tembe’s whereabouts which unfortunately, remains cloudy.

 

Flashback of the 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.

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, have been razed to the ground with extrajudicial killings being a regular occurrences.

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.

 

 

 

 

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *