BY Lucy Lima
Reports across Cameroon’s North West and South West regions say many youths have gone underground for fear of reprisals from authorities as witch-hunting, scores-settling and extra-judicial killings take center stage.
Government repression, manhunt for alleged activists has intensified as the Anglophone Crisis deepens. The crisis that started in 2016 has since metamorphosed to an armed conflict.
Since the outbreak of the Anglophone Crisis in the North West and South West regions in 2016, human rights groups and non-governmental organizations have condemned the extrajudicial killings championed by state forces against unarmed civilians including children and pregnant women, burning of houses.
Reports indicate that about 5,000 civilians’ lives have been claimed by the arm conflict and about 750,000 have been displaced with many living horrible lives in neighboring Nigeria. The recent killings of civilians by the military in villages across the North West and South West regions of Cameroon have received widespread condemnation across the board including from the UN Secretary General, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the European Union, the USA, UK, France, and the Nobel Women’s Initiative and Human Rights Watch. Many youths in the English-speaking North West and South West regions are reported to be entangled due to the Anglophone crisis.
Suspected activists who have been arrested have been either jailed or killed and their homes razed to the ground and majority of their family relatives killed. Many have gone underground; the whereabouts of many others remain cloudy. Homes of suspected activists, who are abroad for fear of the unknown, are constantly being investigated as the military keep on making impromptu visits thus injecting constant fear.
The government has earmarked many activists both at home and abroad for arrest. They have already been tagged as terrorists and those masterminding and supporting the crisis from their hideouts abroad, thus declaring them wanted. Rights groups have to continue to plea for the protection of these alleged activists who have been earmarked for persecution and prosecution if found in Cameroon. The Rights group concludes that Cameroon can only be a safe haven when the crisis must have been put to rest after a frank, honest, transparent and genuine dialogue.
Ndifon Elvis Forkwa of the restive Bai Big Grass village in Mbonge Sub-Division, Meme Division of the South West Region of Cameroon is a victim of circumstance amidst the armed conflict in the Anglophone regions. Sources have hinted that since he went underground in 2018, his whereabout remains a mystery. The Seafarer, Ndifon Elvis Forkwa suffered from the frequent crossfire between the military and separatist fFighters which unfortunately caused the killing of his mother from an alleged military targeted bullet. For fear of the unknown just like many other innocent youths who were fleeing to more safe areas, Ndifon Elvis and his siblings embarked on an escape journey to neighbouring Nigeria to embrace the refugee status but his dream was short-lived as he was arrested alongside others while his siblings narrowly escaped. Ndifor Elvis, reports say, amongst others who were apprehended was molested, tortured, and immediately tagged as separatist reasons why they were whisked to the Douala New Bell Prison and detained under inhumane and harsh detention conditions for 44 days.
THE SUN gathered that majority of the prisoners considered as separatists detained at the Douala Prisons were to be transferred to the dreaded Yaoundé prison to stand trial for terrorism offences, which usually ends with life imprisonment jail term. Some of the prisoners narrowly escaped including Ndifon Elvis Forkwa.
Reliable sources say, Ndifor Elvis Forkwa, from his hideout in a suburb in Douala, family members and sympathizers assisted him to flee out of the country considering the fact that there was a pending arrest warrant against him circulating in the national territory. As we went to Press, reports say the government have included his name in a list of those to be arrested both at home and abroad considered as separatists and those fanning the crisis. The military has placed him under security searchlight and have equally multiply impromptu checks around their neighborhoods.
The war still rages on and many more killings by the military are still being documented by Rights organizations. The government has launched a man hunt for those alleged to be fanning the crisis both at home and abroad. Terrorism charges hang on them if arrested as they have been declared wanted.