BY Kubu Evelyn
More and more youths caught in the web of the ongoing armed conflict in the North West and South West regions are fleeing to safe havens and most especially where the respect of human rights is prime as political witch-hunting and scores- settling have taken centre stage.
Some of the youths are victims of circumstances. They have been either tagged as blacklegs or declared wanted by separatist fighters because they have rejected their call to join them pick up arms against the state. Meanwhile, while the military, on the other hand, has declared some of the youths wanted for siding and collaborating with the separatist fighters
Suspected activists who have been arrested have been either jailed or killed and their homes razed to the ground and majority of the family relatives killed. Many have gone underground, the whereabouts of many remains cloudy. Homes of suspected activists, who are abroad for fear of the unknown, are constantly being raided as the military keeps on making impromptu visits, thus injecting constant fear. The alleged activists have been considered as 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.
A victim of circumstances amidst the armed conflict in the restive North West and South West Regions is a 23-yeal-old student of the University of Bamenda whose names we gathered as Etta Thierry Nkako. In one of his routine visits to his native Mbakem village in December 2022, reports say he was confronted with a fierce exchange between separatist fighters and government forces with road blockade apparently mounted by separatist fighters just few metres away from their residence.
Eyewitnesses disclosed that about five soldiers were killed in the crossfire and minor causalities recorded on the side of the separatists. With this development, the military raided the village, embarked on extrajudicial killings, destroying properties of innocent civilians, thus causing many to flee to the bush for safety.
Unfortunately for Etta Thierry Nkako, while on running for safety along aside others, they came face to face with soldiers who were taking guard. Nkako and the others were all arrested, tortured, molested in a cruel degrading, inhumane manner and equally accused of having launched the attacked on them, thus concluding that they are separatist fighters.
All attempts by the military to cause Etta Thierry Nkako alongside others to show the hideout of the separatist fighters remain futile. Out of frustration, the military whisked them to Mamfe gendarmerie brigade where they were molested, tortured, and detention under inhumane and harsh conditions.
Reports hold that some of them were killed while the whereabouts of others couldn’t be accounted for.
While in detention, the military raided the family home of Etta Thierry Nkako and others and razed it to the ground on grounds that that they are separatist fighters. Etta Thierry Nkako was later transferred to the Buea after five days in detention in Mamfe.
THE SUN gathered that while on the way to Buea, the military vehicle ferrying them was attacked by the separatist fighters. The fighting was bloody, several soldiers died, some alleged separatist fighters sustained severe injuries while others, including Etta Thierry, succeeded to escape while others were shot dead by the military.
While in his hideout in the bush for safety, Etta Thierry contemplated to return to his native Mbakem village but only got information from family sources that the separatist fighters’ group in the village had launched a manhunt for him and others on grounds that he is an informant of the government, because they made attempts to locate their hideout to the military and in one separatist fighters’ search for him they kidnapped his younger brother. As we went to press, the military had launched fresh pursuit for Nkako’s arrest alongside and many others for them to be prosecuted at the Yaounde Military Tribunal on charges of terrorism-related offences.
The military keeps making impromptu checks at the residential area of Etta Thierry Nkako in Bamenda and Mbakem just to arrest and prosecute him, family sources have hinted.
The case of Ulrich Djiozang Djiatsa
Meanwhile, reports from Kumba, Chief Town of Meme Division, one of the restive zones in the two Anglophone Regions of the North West and South West say 26-year-old Ulrich Djiozang Djiatsa is currently on the run as both the military and separatist fighters have declared him wanted.
Ulrich Djiozang, just like many youths in former British Southern Cameroons, has suffered torture, molestation and detention under cruel, degrading, harsh and inhumane conditions.
Djiozang and his elder brother, a teacher by profession, were both arrested by the military in their Kumba residence following a peaceful demonstration in November 2016. After a week in detention under cruel and degrading condition, they were released but unfortunately Ulrich Djiozang’s elder brother later died in hospital due to the injuries he sustained while in detention.
In 2019, family sources hinted that when Ulrich Djiozang Djiatsa rejected calls from separatist fighters to join them pick up arms against the sate of Cameroon in quest for the independence of former British Southern Cameroons, he was molested by the separatist fighters severally and sexually assaulted more especially as he his Francophone of Bamileke origin and that he had no choice to reject joining them.
After all attempts to cause Ulrich Djiozang to join them, the separatist fighters took his picture and promised to eliminate him next time they come for him. This caused him to flee for his life.
When the military got information that separatist fighters frequently storm the family residence of Ulrich Djiozang, they stormed their residence in search for him on grounds that he is siding and collaborating with separatist fghters and immediately declared him wanted.
It became clear that Ulrich Djiozang Djiatsa is being hunted by both the military and separatist fighters, thus he was not safe on both sides. This is how, for fear of the unknown and considering the fact that he has been declared wanted by both the military and separatist fighters, Ulrich Djiozang Djiatsa, thanks to his father’s arrangement, disappeared into an unknown destination.
As we went to press, the military had launched fresh manhunt for him, alongside many others for them to be prosecuted at the Yaounde Military Tribunal on charges of terrorism-related offences.
The military keeps making impromptu checks at the residential area of Ulrich Djiozang in Kumba just to arrest and prosecute him, family sources have hinted.
Flashback of the crisis
It should be recalled 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 50,000 have fled to neighbouring Nigeria where they are living as refugees.
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.