BY SANDRA LUM
The crisis in the North West and South West regions, which has morphed into an armed conflict has been taking new twists with residents in some localities in the conflict-hit regions being caught between atrocities committed by Ambazonia separatist fighters and government’s clampdown on suspected separatists and sympathisers of the Anglophone cause with the use of defence and security forces.
Security operatives have been indiscriminately arresting suspects. Sources say the arrested persons are being tortured and detained under deplorable and inhumane conditions. Some have reportedly died in detention.
This has caused many of them to flee into hiding and the whereabouts of many is not known.
The separatist fighters have also been torturing and killing those whom they suspect are not sympathetic to and not supporting their independence cause. Some of those who do not collaborate with the separatist fighters have been abducted and only released after ransom is paid. Others have been killed, with some beheaded.
One of those who have been caught between the Ambazonia fighters and the military is Humfred Takum Teghen, traditional ruler of Barakwe Clan in Mbengwi Subdivision, Momo Division in the North West Region. He is also a member of the Cameroon Bar Association, supporter of the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, CPDM, and a member of the North West Regional Assembly.
Takum’s ordeal began in January 2020 when he was accused by Ambazonia separatist fighters of not financially supporting their cause, and because he is a supporter of the CPDM regime, which the separatist consider as their enemy.
The separatist kidnapped him from his palace in front of his family members. Takum was whisked away to one of the camps of the fighters, where he is said to have been tortured and threatened to be killed. He is said to have been freed by the fighters days later, after a ransom is reported to have been paid.
Meanwhile, in 2020 when the Regional Assembly was created in the North West and South West Regions and Regional Councils in the eight other French-speaking regions, Humfred Takum Teghen ran for the regional election that was held in December 6, 2020 and was elected into the North West Regional Assembly.
However, this did not go down well with the separatist fighters, who swore to kill him if they laid hands on him.
Sometime in April 2023, Takum is said to have disappeared from public view, apparently for fear of his life. During this time, there were clashes in Momo Division between defence and security forces and separatist fighters, which led to the death of some fighters and defence and security officers. Both the separatist fighters and soldiers are said to have stormed Takum’s palace in search of him. Not finding him, the palace was vandalised.
Nonetheless, in December 2023 Takum resurfaced. But his ordeal was far from over. The separatist fighters are said to have attempted to kidnap him, accusing him of having disclosed their hideouts to the military, which attacked them. He missed being kidnapped when the fighters stormed a hotel where he was staying.
On December 17, 2023, Takum was arrested by defence and security forces in Douala, Littoral region and detained at the Bonaberi Police station. He was accused of financing Ambazonia separatist fighters, failing to disclose their hideouts in his community and advocating for a Federal system of government, which is contrary to the unitary state stipulated by the constitution.
He was, on December 19, 2023, released on bail after the intervention of the president of the Bar Association and Takum’s lawyer colleagues and traditional ruler peers.
However, days later, Takum jumped bail and vamoosed. Since then his whereabouts is not known. Security and defence forces are said to have been storming his palace in Mbengwi in search of him.
We gathered that in February 2024, defence and security forces raided
Takum’s palace, arrested many people, tortured and ordered them to disclose the hideout of separatist fighters, whom, they claimed, were taking refuge in the palace.
An arrest warrant is said to have been issued for Humfred Takum Teghen. If rearrested by the defence and security forces, he will be tried in a military tribunal, under the 2014 anti-terrorism law, whose maximum punishment is the death sentence. That is if he is not killed outright, like many others who have been victims of extra-judicial killings within the context of the armed conflict in North West and South West Regions.
On the other hand, if the separatist fighters lay hands on him, Humfred Takum Teghen will certainly be killed, like many others who have suffered from atrocities committed by separatist fighters.
Origin of crisis
It is also worth recalling that the Anglophone crisis, something that pundits say had been brewing for several years, boiled over in 2016, 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 sub 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.
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. They were sentenced in August 2019 by the Yaounde military tribunal on charges including terrorism and secession.
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 rages on, international organisations and other western powers have called on the government to address the root cause through genuine and inclusive dialogue.