BY ALICE NJI
Government has launched a fresh pursuit for alleged activists siding with separatists and 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 organised several peaceful demonstration, protests and organised fighters living in the bushes to pick up arms to fight against the military and institutions.
As we went to press, we gathered that both search and arrest warrants for their apprehension all over the national territory have established. The alleged activists have been considered dangerous and threats to the public and declared wanted. The population has equally been urged to be vigilant and report to the closest gendarmerie or police stations. Those who have successfully escaped to countries where the respect of human rights is prime for protections, their names are still in the military database pending arrest and prosecution.
It is against this backdrop that unanswered questions have been raised about the whereabouts of many these Anglophone activists who have disappeared amidst the ongoing armed conflict rocking the restive North West and South West Regions.
Amongst these alleged Anglophone activists is Awa Marie Laine Precious, a teacher in Guzang Village, Momo Division of the North West Region. Reports from the North West Regional Capital, Bamenda say the teacher happens to be a victim of circumstances amidst the close to nine years ongoing armed conflict. Reports say the last time Precious was spotted in Bamenda was in January 2025, when she was intercepted at a military checkpoint in Matazem-Bamenda, and upon her identification it was discovered that she was a teacher. The military immediately accused her of being a terrorist and one of those instigating the Southern Cameroons crisis.
THE SUN gathered that Precious was molested, tortured and whisked to the military detention centre at Up–Station in Bamenda and after intense intervention and negotiation with the authorities of the detention centre, Awa Marie Laine Precious was released with firm instructions from the military boss for her to leave the country with immediate effect. As we went to press, reports said her whereabouts remains cloudy and the military keeps making impromptu check in their neighbourhood with search and arrest warrants just to apprehend her since she has been declared wanted.
It should be noted that this is not the first time Precious is undergoing such complicated instances ever since the Anglophone crisis erupted. In 2017 when she joined lawyers in a peaceful demonstration in Bamenda and returned to Guzang and continue teaching she received threats from Ambazonia fighters.
Sometimes in February 2024, her child was kidnapped by armed separatist fighters and only freed from captivity after huge amount of money was paid as ransom. In December 2024 Precious was kidnapped by armed separatist fighters while in school. While in captivity reports say she was molested, tortured and raped for ten days and was miraculously freed from captivity thanks to the intervention of a Good Samaritan who was equally in captivity.
The crisis in a nut shell
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 razed to the ground with extrajudicial killings being a regular occurrence.
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.