BY Sanda Agbor
The ongoing armed-conflict in the two English Speaking Regions of Cameroon has been raging now for the past seven years since late 2016 with no end in sight.
Human Rights Organisations, such as Human Rights Watch, have published reports of late highlighting the worsening human rights situation in these two regions of Cameroon where over 6000 are known to have been killed; a majority of them being the youths. About 730,000 others are estimated to have been displaced, many of them internally. There are over 150,000 others said to have fled to Nigeria and are living under very difficult conditions in refugee camps in the Cross River state.
The present state of killings and burning down of houses in the two said regions makes it pretty unsafe for the lives of the civilian population. Many can only hope to be safe again in this country when Southern Cameroons, as it was once called during the British colonial era, shall have its statehood restored or whenever President Paul Biya decides to call for a ceasefire or a new round of dialogue to end the protracted war. Without which, many persons, especially the youths within the two regions, will continue to feel threatened because many of those who have been caught or arrested at random by the military in the course of war, have, over the years, been standing trial before the military tribunal in Yaounde on trumped up charges on terrorism, secession, propagation of false information, among others.
There is the case of Mancho Bibixy Tse and Tse Conrad, civilian youths who arrested in Bamenda in 2017, taken to Yaounde, tried in the military tribunal and jailed for 25 years.
On February 22, 2023, the Buea based Center for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa, CHRDA, of Barrister Agbor Balla strongly condemned the use of excessive force by the military during a raid at Ekona, a locality in Buea, Southwest Region. This raid resulted in the death of one and arrest of over 100 youths who were jailed on grounds that they were suspected Separatist fighters.
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 organizations have condemned extrajudicial killings, burning down houses or villages, looting of local business places; crimes oftentimes committed by the military on innocent civilians. These innocent ones are most often made of children and women; some of them expectant mothers.
The Cameroon Government has, for over seven years now, been battling to arrest the situation but tensions continue to intensify with the civilian population in the North West and South West Regions living in peril and constant panic.
Due to this confusion and fear of the unknown, many of the youths and businessmen within these two regions continue to go underground or flee for their own safety. Meantime, the Cameroon Government has equally launched a manhunt for those it alleges are activists siding with the Separatist fighters.
The said activists abound and a list bearing the names of these alleged activists, it is reported, have already been making the rounds in the hands of the military. The military is said to have already placed them under their searchlight and declared them wanted.
It is against this backdrop that unanswered questions have been raised about the whereabouts of many Anglophones who have disappeared amidst the ongoing armed-conflict rocking the restive North West and South West Regions. For there are many who happened to have been arrested, whisked off to Yaounde and kept incommunicado without any information relayed to the families or relation. There is the case of a Buea-based Journalist, Wazizi who was picked up at his Buea residence in 2021, taken to the military legion in Buea. The family fought hard to see him. But the military only reported he died as soon as he was moved from Buea to Yaounde. But until date, his corpse, as the government claimed he died, has never been released back to the family. Thus, many families in Cameroon’s two English Speaking regions continue to search for their loved ones in vain.
One of such cases here is one Tabi Valentine.
Who is behind the death of Tabi Valentine?
According to reports, Tabi Valentine, husband to one Sitchet Nkenda Ornella Geradine , who is of Francophone extraction, whose whereabouts is not known ,is alleged to have fled the country.
Tabi Valentine, sources say, was arrested from his house on October 15, 2019 by elements of the Cameroon military, and there after his wife Sitchet Nkenda Ornella Geradine, was declared wanted for failing to report, that the husband was a member of the non – state armed group otherwise known as Amba boys or Separatist fighters. To further compound the issue, the “Amba Boys” or armed fighters, on their part, declared that, Sitchet Nkenda Ornella Geradine was a blackleg (sellout) meanwhile she, on the other hand, was hunted by the Cameroon military as a traitor. Sources hinted that on February 3, 2024, the lifeless body of Tabi Valentine was found on the banks of the Muyuka river and on February 18, 2024, the family residence of Sitchet Nkenda Ornella Geradine was razed, an act widely believed to be handiwork of the Amba Boys supposedly in revenge for their brother, Tabi Valentine, whom they believe must have been eliminated by the military.
When the lifeless body of Tabi Valentine was found, there were visible signs of torture, poor feeding and poor medical care.
As we went to press, reports say there is a search and arrest warrant for Sitchet Nkenda Ornella Geradine and many across the board are wondering for how long will this crisis that has already claimed too many innocent lives continue to rage before it finally comes to an end.
Cameroon is now considered to be very unsafe bye many Anglophones in the Diaspora who fear arrest or death if they do 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 or other peaceful means to no avail. Prominent Anglophone lawyer and Human Rights Activist, Barrister Nkongho Felix Agbor Balla, has called on the Government to try and dialogue with the Separatist leaders, release all Anglophones unlawfully detained and or imprisoned. Government is yet to do any of the above.
And as the Government is taking its time, the war continues to rage as many more killings, mostly by the military are still been documented by Rights Organisations.
Meanwhile, of late, the government has instead launched a manhunt, through some hired lawyers and its assigns, for those alleged to be fanning the crisis as activists both at home and abroad.