By Elah Geofrey Mbongale
Several alleged separatist supporters are being held at various dreadful detention centres across Cameroon, and others on the run following the mass arrest of protesters, who stormed the streets of North West and South West regions, January 8 to 10, 2018, requesting the immediate release of separatist leaders, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, Nfor Ngalla and seven others arrested in Nigeria.
Sisiku Ayuk and colleagues were arrested, January 6, 2018 at a hotel in Nigeria in connection to the Anglophone crisis, which started as a strike action in November 2016, by Common Law lawyers and teachers in the North West and South West regions protesting government’s attempt to assimilate the educational and judicial systems. This later metamorphosed into serious deadly clashes between the Cameroon defence forces and those seeking “the restoration of the statehood of former British Southern Cameroons”.
Disgruntled by the arrest of their leaders, Anglophone separatists launched a three-day ghost town and strike action, from January 8 to 10, 2018, requesting the immediate release of Sisiku Ayuk and others. This civil disobedient was observed in most cities in the North West and South West regions, and other parts of the world. In Bamenda, several shops, banks, and schools were reportedly closed, while in Buea and Limbe, the strike was less widely observed.
As days went by, steam gathered amongst pro-separatists, most especially members of the Southern Cameroon National Council, SCNC. This culminated in a street protest in towns like Buea, Limbe and others in the South West Region, which resulted in deadly clashes between protesters and security forces deployed by the government to halt the street protest. Several youths were brutalized, some shot and several others arrested and ferried to different detention centers across the country.
Detail information about those arrested, shot and or brutalized remains a conjecture but the SUN got it on good record that a certain Mr. Ayuk, was shot in the stomach around the Limbe Community Stadium. According to family sources, he was immediately taken to a hospital (name withheld for security reasons), from where he escaped to an unknown destination, shortly after gaining strength.
Meanwhile, the Senior Divisional Officer for Fako, has declared leaders of the strike action “wanted”. It is clear that if any of these leaders are caught, they will be brought before the military tribunal and slammed heavy jail terms at Kondengui maximum security prison, like the case of Mancho Bibixy, Tsi Conrad, and Penn Terence, who were arrested in January 2017.
Tension is escalating in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon, most especially between government forces and separatist fighters, better known as Amba Boys, since October, when secessionists unilaterally proclaimed independence for the envisage state of Ambazonia (former state of British Southern Cameroons). The ongoing unrest has prompted the US Embassy in Yaoundé to issue an advisory to its citizens and embassy staff to exercise caution when traveling to the two regions. Similarly, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has released a travel warning advising against all travel to the Southwest Region’s Bakassi Peninsula, and all nonessential travel to Bamenda in the Northwest Region