BY ERNESTINE NGUM
There has been outrage in Mbengwi, Momo Division of the North West Region after separatist fighters kidnapped the traditional ruler of Barakwe Clan, Humfred Takum Teghen.
The traditional ruler, who doubles as a legal practitioner and member of the Cameroon Bar Association and staunch militant of the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, CPDM, was kidnapped days back.
Takum was kidnapped after the separatist fighters raided his palace, manhandled him in the presence of his family. The separatist fighters are said to have accused Humfred Takum Teghen of refusing to give financial support to their cause and struggle for the independence of a country which they have named Ambazonia.
The separatist fighters are also reported to have chided Takum for not adhering to the cause of his people, because of his staunch loyalty to the ruling party, Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, CPDM.
Meanwhile, before being whisked to the camp of the Amba fighters, Humfred Takum Teghen was tortured in front of his family. This scenario is said to have seriously caused trauma to his family.
The crisis in the North West and South West regions continues to get ugly with dire repercussions.
It should be recalled that when English-speaking civilians began protesting discriminatory government policies in 2016, government defence and security forces violently cracked down. By 2017, armed separatists began fighting for independence for the territory they refer to as Southern Cameroons, or Ambazonia. Violent conflict, primarily between armed separatists and state security forces, continues to date. Experts have stated that abuses by state security forces and armed separatist groups may amount to crimes against humanity. With more than 6,000 people killed and over 600,000 internally displaced since 2017, civilians in the two English-speaking regions remain at immediate risk of mass atrocities.