By Elah Geofrey Mbongale
More and more Anglophone activists in-country are been arrested and placed under dehumanizing conditions in different detention centres in Cameroon for their involvement in the crisis currently rocking the two English speaking regions of the country, while many abroad have been declared wanted for the same reason. This has made Human Rights Organisations in Cameroon to conclude that the country is no longer safe for activists of Anglophone extraction at home and abroad.
On the strength of this, and untold human rights violations perpetuated by the Cameroon Government, Human Rights Organisations are recommending that people of goodwill accord maximum security to Anglophone activists on the run for fear of government persecution.
As tensions in the North West and South West Regions rage unabated, government has embarked on a protracted mission to fish out activists abroad involved in different protest marches against the government. The Government hold that activists abroad are the ones funding separatist movements in the country and instigating anti-government demonstrations. The Cameroon government is said to have published a list of some Anglophone activists abroad they consider “terrorists” and is bent on prosecuting and persecuting them if they ever set feet on Cameroon, with trumped up charges rebellion, revolution, secession, insurrection etc. levelled against them. Prominent on this list that has been distributed to all the airports and access points into the country are: Tapang Ivo, Mark Bareta, Ashu Kingsley, Ncha Anderson, Neville Nukuna F., Chris Anu, and Eric Tataw.
According to classified sources, Neville Nukuna F. and most other activists resident abroad featured in the Wanted List of the Cameroon Government because of their repeated anti-government utterances, financial contribution to a secessionist movement dubbed “My Trip to Buea” and for repeatedly featuring in protest marches that tarnish the reputation of the country.
The Sun has it from trusted sources that Neville Nukuna F., was particularly spotted in Belgium on Saturday August 5, 2017 during a protest march against the visit of President Paul Biya’s emissary Minister of State, Minster of Justice and Keeper of the Seals, Laurent Esso. Minister Laurent Esso, who was leading a ministerial delegation to explain the thorny issues in regards to the so-called Anglophone problem, had his meeting disrupted by the protesters including Neville Nukuna F.
This, beside other protest demonstrations, was a big blow to the French-dominated Cameroon Government, who is sparing no effort at tracking these activists abroad to “face the heavy arms of the law”.
Since the Anglophone crisis, which started in 2016 with a strike action by Common Law Lawyers and Anglophone Teachers against marginalization morphed into an arm conflict between security forces and separatist fighters, the Cameroon military has intensified crack down on alleged supporters of the fighters. Recent statistics place death toll from the arm conflict and crisis at over 3000 persons with thousands of houses and over 300 villages razed, 530000 persons identified as Internally Displaced persons, and over 35000 as refugees in Nigeria. As at now, it is not clear if Neville Nukuna F., and his likes will ever set feet on Cameroon, and what their fate will be as the Government intensifies crackdown, with no peace in sight.