BY TALLA AGHA CHRISTOPHER
Economic operators and top shot business magnets in the English speaking regions of Cameroon are now in danger form separatists advocating for the independence of a state they call Ambazonia – North West and South West regions – as well as from security forces who have since been accused of committing untold atrocities.
While separatists have since been on the throat of Akanji Martin Mbah for him to support their struggle, security forces crumbled his businesses through their arson attacks on villages in Anglophone Cameroon.
Homes, warehouses and shops have been razed down to ashes by soldiers battling separatist in Munyenge, Kwa-Kwa, KukeMboma, Bekora, and Bole in the South West Region, Barrister AgborNkongho has said.
The Human Rights lawyer says over 200 villages have been burnt since the crisis erupted in 2016.
Unfortunately, Akanji Martin Mbah owner of large expanses of Cocoa plantations is among the hardest hit by the crisis. A farmer said to harvest over 20,000 tons of Cocoa according to figures got from Sic Cacao in Douala is said to be on the run. His family members and workers have become targets to both security forces and separatists. It is not known what has become of his children and workers who are no longer safe in the hands of both parties in the armed conflict.
Many companies have been crumbled by the crisis with the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC) and Pamol Plantations having to suspend operations. Several workers of the CDC have been maimed in plantations in Tiko, while others have been kidnapped and killed. Plantations in the restive regions have been abandoned in ruins with no hope in sight.
Soldiers accuse business magnets to be sponsoring the war, while separatists are quick to tag economic operators as blacklegs and enablers.
Common Law Lawyers in Cameroon went on strike in October 2016 to protest government’s attempts to annihilate the Common Law practice in a constitutionally bilingual and bi-jural Cameroon. The strike lasted for over a year.
Anglophone teachers in the country joined the strike on November 21, 2016 to uphold Anglo-Saxon values under threat in Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions. Same day, ManchoBibixy staged a coffin revolution at Liberty Square in Bamenda to protest against the marginalisation and economic deprivation of Anglophones.
Matters came to a head on Thursday, December 8 when the population of Bamenda took to the streets to denounce the politicisation of a strike action they consider genuine and borne of longstanding grievances.
Days of ghost town have since been observed throughout the South West and North West Regions of the country.
On January 17, 2017, Barrister Nkongo Felix AgborBalla and Dr.FontemNeba, leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium (CACSC) were arrested moments after the consortium had been banned along with the SCNC.
SisikuAyukTabe, president of the self-styled state of Ambazonia was arrested in Nigeria on January 5, 2018 along with nine other members of his cabinet including Tassang Wilfred, NforNgalaNfor and Barrister EyambeEbai.
The government crackdown on Anglophone activists has since intensified with arbitrary arrests, detention, torture and extra-judicial killings becoming the new normal.
The fate of many remains precarious as security forces battle separatists. President Paul Biya has since taken a tough position on the crisis in the two-English speaking regions. Guns have since taken the place of dialogue and peace.