By SANDRA LUM
A Cameroonian family has fled the country and is reportedly seeking asylum abroad after years of threats, intimidation, and near-fatal encounters linked to the ongoing armed conflict in Cameroon’s North-West Region.
Nyuyfoni Sidney Fonyuy, a senior staff of the Mobile Telephone Network (MTN) in Bamenda fled the country last year as his life and that of his family became uncertain.
The family’s ordeal, traces a steady descent into fear and displacement as violence between armed separatist fighters and government forces intensified in the English-speaking regions.
According to the account, the head of the family, Nyuyfoni Sidney Fonyuy was employed in a managerial role that required frequent movement across rural communities in the North-West. These journeys, once routine, became increasingly dangerous as armed groups imposed “ghost town” days, roadblocks, and violent reprisals against perceived defiance.
At one point, he was reportedly forced to travel nearly 15 miles on foot to avoid ambushes and was repeatedly warned that he was being monitored by armed fighters. Despite transfers to safer urban locations, including Bamenda, insecurity followed him as the conflict expanded into cities, targeting civilians, businesses, and public servants.
The situation worsened after his wife Micheline Timea Scott , a teacher, continued to work in a conflict-affected area where many schools had been abandoned. In April 2022, she narrowly escaped what the family describes as a deadly incident when a vehicle transporting teachers went missing amid clashes between separatists and security forces. Several passengers were reportedly feared dead.
The trauma left her severely shaken, with the family stating that only chance prevented her from becoming another casualty of the crisis.
Our investigation further reveals a series of violent episodes in Bamenda, including shootings of civilians, abductions, and extrajudicial killings that deepened the family’s fear. By 2025, with violence intensifying in the North-West, the family decided they could no longer remain in Cameroon.
With assistance from friends, they reportedly fled the region under cover of darkness, avoiding major checkpoints and hospitals out of fear of arrest or mistaken identity. The family eventually secured temporary refuge and later obtained visas that allowed them to travel to Canada.
The couple is known never to have supported separatist movements or engaged in any criminal activity. Instead, they ordinary citizens trapped between warring sides in a conflict that has displaced hundreds of thousands of Cameroonians since 2016.
Human rights organizations have repeatedly warned that civilians in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions face heightened risks, including targeted killings, kidnappings, and collective punishment, with professionals such as teachers, administrators, and business managers often singled out.
It is hoped that immigration authorities will consider the totality of their experience and grant them protection, allowing them to rebuild their lives in safety.
“We abandoned our jobs, our home, and everything familiar—not because we wanted to leave Cameroon,” they say, “but because staying meant risking death.”