By Simon Ndive Kalla
Many activists of the Southern Cameroons National Council, SCNC, and supporters of other pro-independence movements are still in detention following widespread arrests and killings in the North West and South West regions as thousands thronged the streets on October 1, 2017 to proclaim what they termed the independence of Southern Cameroons which they now call Ambazonia.
The long-lingering Anglophone crisis took a turn for the worst last week when activists operating under the aegis of the Southern Cameroons Ambazonia Governing Council called for public demonstrations. The mass protests were scheduled to culminate in celebrations on October 1, 2017 the day activists had hoped to declare the independence of Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia, a country they clamour to create. They consider October 1 as the independence day of the self-proclaimed Republic of Ambazonia.
Following up on clashes on September 22, protesters again poured out on the streets on October 1 in villages and towns across the North West and South West regions. Their attempts to hoist blue-white flags of Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia as a sign of independence were met with stiff resistance by armed forces deployed to the troubled regions.
Amnesty International confirmed up to 17 people being killed by security forces during protests in some Anglophone towns. Security forces opened fire on protesters in Bamenda, Buea and several other towns. The killings took place despite a call for restraint made by the UN secretary general.
Many people were rounded up by security forces and flung into detention cells where they are said to be held under inhuman conditions. Many others, who slipped through the police dragnet, have been fleeing as government has stepped a manhunt for them.
A case is Ngwa Fidelis Azefor, Elizabeth Namomdo Lyonga, Fru Pius, Ngufor Cornelius Ticha, Teke Asonganyi Nalova Justine, Peter Che Nji, Martha Ngam Chia, members of the SCNC, who took part in the march that was staged in Buea on that fateful day, October 1, 2017. The protesters in Buea, over 600 of them among whom was Teke Asonganyi Nalova Justine, began marching from Mile 17 towards the governor’s office and had as destination the Prime Minister’s lodge. They carried peace plants and placards with messages denouncing the government of Cameroon for marginalising Anglophones. Some of the messages read; “leadership is accountability”, “we need equal treatment to both Anglophones and Francophones” “We are tired of marginalisation”, “we want separation”, among others.
However, somewhere around Molyko, the protesters were intercepted by gendarmes and policemen who shot into the crowd and sprayed teargas to disperse the marchers. While some were killed, many arrested, others escaped.
The whereabouts of Teke Asonganyi Nalova Justine and other ringleaders of the Buea protest are not known, but if apprehended she and her accomplices will be tried under the anti-terrorism law whose maximum sentence is the death penalty.
Origin of crisis
It is also worth recalling that the Anglophone crisis, something that pundits say had been brewing for several years, boiled over in November 2016, when Common Law Lawyers in the North West and South West regions went on strike. They were demanding for the return of the federal system of government, redeployment of Civil Law Magistrates back to Civil Law Courts in French Cameroon, among other grievances. Not long after, teachers in the North West and South West regions also went on strike, demanding for the redress of several issues concerning the English system of education.
Things, however, got worst when Anglophones in both regions, who had been fed up with the unfavourable political and economic situation of the country, the use of French as the dominant and official language, and the marginalisation of the Anglophones, joined the strike.
While the Anglophone crisis continues to escalate, International Organisations and other Western powers have called on the Government to address the root cause of the crisis through dialogue.