BY ERNESTINE NGUM
The Cameroon Government is having sleepless nights following the kidnapping six divisional delegate for Ndian Division, one of the restive areas in the South West Region. The divisional delegates were kidnapped June 15, 2021,by alleged separatist fighters, commonly referred to as Amba Boys, according to government sources. Theses delegates include; Mabia John Modika, of Economy, Planning and Regional Development who unfortunately was slain by the Amba Boys, Mambe Elvis Ebaku of State Property, Felicia Ndong of Housing and Urban Development, Elad Emmanuel of Water and Energy, Mbida Armand Christian of Small and Medium Size Enterprises and Agbor Stephen Nyenti, the Chief of Service for Survey.
The kidnaping and killing of one the delegates by separatist fighters has caused panic within the government circle, given that the killing of about seven pupils of Mother Francisca International Bilingual Academy Fiango-Kumba, South West Region by amba Boys is still fresh. It is against this backdrop that the Government has intensified hunt for separatist fighters home and abroad for terrorism related offences such as hostilities against the fatherland, secession, revolution, propagation of false news, and Rape.
Many Anglophone youths who were suspected and tagged as secessionist have been arrested, tortured detained under inhumane condition, and their Rights given a deaf ear by government forces. Most of these youths are human rights activists who have been very vocal about Government’s handling of the 5-year-old Anglophone crisis rocking the North West and South West Regions.
34 year- old Evaritus Ngetsop Takafor is one of the few youths who have suffered the highest in the hands of the Cameroon Government as they intensify search. The Litigation Officer of the Center for Human Rights and Peace Advocacy in Cameroon, HURIDAC, and a member of the Southern Cameroon National Council, SCNC, was arrested following his participation on a debate programme on Equinox TV wherein he blamed government for mishandling the crisis in the two regions that has metamorphosed into an arm conflict. Reports say Evaritus Ngetsop Takafor, was only released after about two weeks of torture and molestation under inhumane detention condition when he endorsed an undertaking to stop any form of sensitisation.
Not long Evaritus Ngetsop Takafor couldn’t resist the temptation of been mute as mentioned in the undertaking as summary killings, arrests detention and gross violation of Human Rights was the order of the day as the arm conflict raged on. Family sources hinted that Evaritus Ngetsop Takafor sent out information on the atrocities of the military on Anglophones to many media houses both in and out of Cameroon. He was arrested and for going against the undertaking, he endorsed. After several months of detention, torture and molestations by the military, he was tagged alongside other youths who were in detention for aiding secessionist activities in Cameroon and will be charged in the Mfoundi High court for terrorism related offences.
Despite all attempts to secure his release, Evaritus Ngetsop Takafor, and other youths linked to the Anglophone crisis were only granted bail when news filtered that some Human Rights Organisations and International Red Cross Society were to visit various detention centers in Yaounde. This was because the Government never wanted the international community to uncover the Human Rights abuses meted on
Anglophones innocent youths in detention. This is how Evaritus Ngetsop Takafor alongside other youths who were granted bail from the dreaded detention prisons sneaked himself out of the country to an unknown destination.
It should be noted that those arrested in connection with the Anglophone crisis are tried in the military tribunal and high courts under the terrorism law whose maximum sentence is death penalty. The case of the Ambazonia Leaders that is Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, Barrister Eyambe Elias Ebai, Tassang Wilfred, and 5 others and many other Anglophones is still fresh.
It should be recalled that Human Rights groups have in one voice condemned the extrajudicial killings by mostly on innocent civilians, including pregnant women and burning of houses and villages. Reports indicate that the about 4000 civilians’ lives have been claimed by the arm conflict and about 750000 person displaced, with many living in horrible conditions in neighboring Nigeria.
International organisations and Western powers have called on the government to address the root cause of the crisis through dialogue. French President Emmanuel Macron have recently promised to exert “maximum pressure” on the President Paul Biya of Cameroon, to end Cameroon’s intolerable Human Rights Violations. Many however, hold that Cameroon is unsafe for anglophone activists home and abroad.