BY Esther Ekema
The Cameroon military defense forces and other security operatives have established both search and arrest warrants against many alleged Anglophone activists all over the national territory suspected to be siding with separatist fighters as the ongoing armed conflict that started about six years ago rages on. The alleged activists have been considered a danger and threat to the public and declared wanted. The population has equally been urged to be vigilant and report to the closest gendarmerie or police stations any suspects.
Amongst them is 24-year-old Emat Ebontap Rita holder of a Higher National Diploma, HND, in Project Management. Reports say she relocated to Muyuka from Kumba, Meme Division amidst the ongoing armed conflict and joined her uncle. Unfortunately in Muyuka, reports say the military raided their residence and arrested them with instructions from the military high command.
Molested and tortured, they were accused of collaborating and dishing out information to separatist fighters to achieve their mission in the separation of Cameroon and that her uncle owned dangerous weapons. Emat Ebontap Rita, her uncle, his wife, and two children Samang Calvin and Ebontap Clinton were whisked to the police station and detained under horrifying and degrading inhumane conditions. They were taken to the State Counsel’s chambers for further interrogations about their links with separatist Fighters. The finding from the State Counsel according to sources was that they are siding and harboring terrorists in an attempt to overthrow the government.
However thanks to the intervention of their Attorney, they were granted bail pending investigations on condition that they will be subpoenaed at any time to appear before the State Counsel. A few months later news went viral that a warrant of arrest had been issued against her and other family members such as her uncle Ebontap Marcelline’s wife and children Samang Calvin and Ebontap Clinton including many others. Sources hinted that for fear of the unknown taking into consideration what has been happening to other alleged Anglophone activists, Emat Ebontap Rita’s family considering her age made arrangements for her to leave the country. By Press time security operatives keep making constant impromptu checks in search of Emat. Security Operatives sources insist that she and others are a danger and threat to the public and have declared her and others wanted.
It should be recalled that another alleged activist Nofondo Benham Nofondo, a holder of a Higher National Diploma, HND, in Logistics from the Landmark University in Buea Cameroon is equally under security operatives searchlights. Nofondo Benham is reported to be the brother of the late dreaded Ambazonian pseudo “General” Sam of the Ambazonian Defence Force, ADF. Nofondo whose whereabouts remained cloudy since February 2023, THE SUN gathered that, he was not a separatist fighter but technically assisting them through his brother “General” Sam who was neutralized by the military. He usually assists the separatists in facilitating their Mobile Money transactions since they had no possibility because the military will track their hideout through their phones. Reports say Nofondo is a liaison between the separatist fighters and Anglophone activists in Europe and America championing the ongoing “Anglophone Struggle”. His name according to sources is reported to have gone viral he is amongst those drafting and circulating messages for separatist fighters bearing Lockdown calls. He mastered the hideouts of Amba settlements and played a leading role in his late brother’s successes in the armed struggle. According to the Penal Code if arrested he will face charges of acts of terrorism, insurrection, hostility against the state, armed trafficking, and failure to report.
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 the return of the federal system of government and, the 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 the redress of several issues concerning the English system of education.
Things, however, got worse when Anglophones in both regions, who had been fed up with the unfavorable political and economic situation of the country, the use of French as the dominant and official language, and the marginalization of the Anglophones, joined the strike.
The crisis has left thousands, both civilians and security and defense 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.
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, and Tsi Conrad, among others, are also serving jail terms at the Kondengui prison.
While the Anglophone crisis continues to escalate, international organizations and other Western powers have called on the government to address the root cause through genuine and inclusive dialogue.