Gun exchanges between Cameroon’s defence forces and the Ambazonia fighters have been the order of the day, and this flared after councilors went to the polls on March 25 to vote senators.

Hundreds of troops have been stationed in Munyenge, in a bid to create a serene atmosphere, following recent attacks from the Ambazonia fighters.

However, this has met with stiff opposition, which heightened on Thursday March 22, after the convoy of the Senior Divisional Officer of neighbouring Lebialem was attacked by the Ambazonian fighters. The SDO, Zakari Ungitoh was shot at, and the regional delegate of Lands killed on the spot, and others seriously wounded. Reports have it that the SDO is currently receiving treatment in Douala.

The entire population of Munyenge vanished into thin air, as the totally deserted area is occupied solely by the military.

Security forces are said to have shot on sight at any person who was found at the villages. Hundreds of houses were razed down, allegedly by the military.

According to one of the villagers, houses of those who were suspected to be activists and family members of known activists abroad were particularly targeted.

He cited the case of one Senge Grace, who before leaving the country was an active member of the then Cameroon Anglophone Student Association, CANSA, and the Southern Cameroon National Council, SCNC.

Senge’s family house in Munyenge was razed to the ground and her grandmother and other family members joined several villagers to escape to the bushes.

Several other villagers escaped to neighbouring Muyuka and Kumba while the village has been transformed into a ghost town.

Our sources hinted that Senge Grace and other SCNC activists were arrested sometime in 2015 while holding a preparatory meeting in Kumba to commemorate the independence of Southern Cameroons on October 1 of that year, they were charged with hostilities against the fatherland, treason, secession and inciting a revolution, charges which were later dropped.

It is believed she was the main target of the raid and subsequent burning of their family residence due to her alleged role in the escalation of the Anglophone crisis.

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TARHYANG ENOWBIKAH TABE

Security forces in Limbe, South West Region, on Monday April 6, arrested six activists of the Southern Cameroons National Council, SCNC.

The detained SCNC activists were arrested during a private meeting and immediately ferried to the Limbe police station where they spent some days before being transferred to the Buea Central prison apparently to await trial. We gathered that their national identity card, mobile phones and other personal belongings were confiscated and are alleged to have been unlawfully detained and tortured during the arrest. The arrested are Mr. Tanga Ndolo Joel – Youth President, SCNC, Limbe chapter, and Entrepreneur by profession.

Mr Theophilus Ndoh Ngah –  Youth Secretary General SCNC Limbe Chapter, Teacher by profession and Mr Paul Foundoung Macaulay – Youth Financial Secretary SCNC Limbe Chapter and Aspiring Lawyer by profession, among others arrested.

The National secretariat of the SCNC has called for their immediate and unconditional release. A well-placed security source who sued for anonymity hinted us that the arrest was as a result of a tip-off from an SCNC insider.

“We were informed of a meeting to be held by some youth officials of SCNC in Limbe in which very radical decisions were to be arrived at. The meeting venue was at new town.” The security source said. He went on to add that when they arrived at the meeting venue, they met “six Young SCNC activists” who were already deliberating in what looked like a meeting of SCNC youth executives.

By press time, the arrested activists have already spent weeks at the Buea central prison where they have been charged with hostility against the fatherland, and holding of an illegal assembly which is punishable under the new anti terrorism law promulgated by the president of the Republic in 2014, to combat boko haram the islamist sect who have been crossing border from neighbouring Nigeria in to Cameroon. Attempts to reach any of the arrested activists were unsuccessful.

However we got to Mola Njoh Litumbe, senior citizen and a well known statesman within the SCNC circle. Litumbe confirmed the arrest of the activists.

He went further to challenge the government of the Republic of Cameroon to respect the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR) No 266/2003 and to stop trying to annihilate the movement. Also reacting to the arrest, Journalism and communication professor Prof Tata Mentan said: Politics by thugs can never be different. Flush out the dictatorship and you can chart your path to unbridled freedom, peace and development.

The Southern Cameroons National Council, SCNC has made it their mission to bring autonomy to the Southern Cameroons nation and to seek restitution for the ongoing persecution at the hands of the Republic of Cameroon.

Exactions by the government of Cameroon against SCNC are numerous and recurrent and often result in Indefinite detention periods and postponed court hearing.

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