BY SANDRA LUM
The North West and South West regions of Cameroon have remained restive since the outbreak of the Anglophone crisis in 2017. Investigative findings and reports from many human rights groups and non-governmental organisations have condemned extrajudicial killings, by mostly the military on innocent civilians including children and pregnant women.
As the crisis that has morphed into an armed conflict rages, reports say hundreds have been kidnapped, thousands of houses razed, over 750,000 persons identified as internally displaced, with over 45,000 living horrible lives as refuges in neighbouring Nigeria.
Burning of houses, villages, ghost towns and civil disobedience, school lockdown and boycott, kidnapping for ransom by the separatists, constant harassment, intimidation and death threats are now the order of the day.
Many innocent civilians have been arrested, tortured and detained under cruel and horrible conditions by government forces, for not only siding with the separatists by financing them in their atrocities, but also for allegedly picking up arms against the government.
As we went to press, the government of Cameroon, through the military and the courts, had launched fresh pursuits to arrest and persecute innocent alleged Anglophone activists both home and abroad. They are suspected to be siding with separatist fighters as the ongoing armed conflict that started about seven years rages on. 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.
The case of Akanji Kizito is very much pathetic and is the talk in every lip. The buoyant farmer of Muyenge, Fako Division, South West Region of Cameroon saw himself entangled by the armed conflict rocking the two Anglophone Regions. His whereabouts remains cloudy since March 2024 as the military is bent on prosecuting him amongst other innocent civilians allegedly linked to the crisis. Search and arrest warrants are in circulation for his arrest and some members of his family all over the national territory. He is being falsely accused of being separatist fighter, a deadly accusation in Cameroon
Reports say Akanji Kizito became a scapegoat amidst the armed conflict in the early years of the crisis in 2017. Sources say when the military raided the village of Muyenge sometimes in November 2017 with gunshots and burning of houses, Akanji and family alongside hundreds of denizens ran to the forest for fear of the unknown while others were arrested, whisked to Buea and later to Kondengui maximum security prison in Yaounde.
Sources say Akanji and others lived miserable lives in the forest for several weeks following frequent crossfire between the government forces and separatist armed groups. Akanji narrated that when he took the risk to go to the village he discovered that their house had been razed to the ground and thus he had no choice than to return to the forest until after three years.
As the crisis rages on, Akanji Kizito, alongside other farmers who were returning from their cocoa fram, were arrested, molested and tortured by government security forces on grounds that they are separatist fighters and immediately whisked to Buea where he was detained under cruel, degrading and inhumane conditions. During interrogation while in detention, he was accused of fighting for the independence of the Anglophone part of the country, thus causing the conflict.
The military equally threatened to kill him if he doesn’t confesss and undertake to never fight against the government forces as well as to disclose the whereabouts of the separatist fighters operating in Muyenge and the surrounding areas.
THE SUN gathered that Akanji was released thanks to the intervention of one of his uncle after huge amount of money exchanged hands with the authorities.
Things again went soar for Akanji following a clash that occurred between separatist fighters and government forces in Muyenge village in January 2024, which ended with the death of some government forces. The forces raided the village, arrested Akanji alongside other farmers, molested them and whisked them to Buea where they were subjected to inhumane treatment while in detention for one week, on grounds that Akanji is a separatist fighter and fighting against the government. Akanji Kizito was later miraculously released from detention thanks to serious negotiation between his uncle and the authorities.
Since then government forces have multiplied impromptu patrols in Akanji’s neighbourhood in Muyenge to arrest and jail him. His family is constantly being harassed for them to disclose the whereabouts of Akanji.
The country is now considered unsafe by many Anglophones in the diaspora who fear arrest or death if they return to the country.
While the Anglophone crisis continues to escalate, international organisations and other western powers have called on the Government to address the root cause of the crisis through dialogue. Also, prominent Anglophone lawyer and human rights activist, Barrister Nkongho Felix Agbor Balla, has called on the Government to dialogue, and to release all Anglophones unlawfully detained and imprisoned.
Recently French President Emmanuel Macron promised to exert “maximum pressure” on President Paul Biya to end Cameroon’s intolerable human rights violations.