More and more Anglophone activists in-country are been arrested and placed under dehumanizing conditions in different detention centres in Cameroon for their involvement in the crisis currently rocking the two English speaking regions of the country, while many abroad have been declared wanted for the same reason. This has made Human Rights Organisations in Cameroon to conclude that the country is no longer safe for activists of Anglophone extraction at home and abroad.

On the strength of this, and untold human rights violations perpetuated by the Cameroon Government, Human Rights Organisations are recommending that people of goodwill accord maximum security to Anglophone activists on the run for fear of government persecution.

As tensions in the North West and South West Regions rage unabated, government has embarked on a protracted mission to fish out activists abroad involved in different protest marches against the government. The Government hold that activists abroad are the ones funding separatist movements in the country and instigating anti-government demonstrations. The Cameroon government is said to have published a list of some Anglophone activists abroad they consider “terrorists” and is bent on prosecuting and persecuting them if they ever set feet on Cameroon, with trumped up charges rebellion, revolution, secession, insurrection etc. levelled against them. Prominent on this list that has been distributed to all the airports and access points into the country are: Tapang Ivo, Mark Bareta, Ashu Kingsley, Ncha Anderson, Neville Nukuna F., Chris Anu, and Eric Tataw.

According to classified sources, Neville Nukuna F. and most other activists resident abroad featured in the Wanted List of the Cameroon Government because of their repeated anti-government utterances, financial contribution to a secessionist movement dubbed “My Trip to Buea” and for repeatedly featuring in protest marches that tarnish the reputation of the country.

The Sun has it from trusted sources that Neville Nukuna F., was particularly spotted in Belgium on Saturday August 5, 2017 during a protest march against the visit of President Paul Biya’s emissary Minister of State, Minster of Justice and Keeper of the Seals, Laurent Esso. Minister Laurent Esso, who was leading a ministerial delegation to explain the thorny issues in regards to the so-called Anglophone problem, had his meeting disrupted by the protesters including Neville Nukuna F.

This, beside other protest demonstrations, was a big blow to the French-dominated Cameroon Government, who is sparing no effort at tracking these activists abroad to “face the heavy arms of the law”.

Since the Anglophone crisis, which started in 2016 with a strike action by Common Law Lawyers and Anglophone Teachers against marginalization morphed into an arm conflict between security forces and separatist fighters, the Cameroon military has intensified crack down on alleged supporters of the fighters. Recent statistics place death toll from the arm conflict and crisis at over 3000 persons with thousands of houses and over 300 villages razed, 530000 persons identified as Internally Displaced persons, and over 35000 as refugees in Nigeria. As at now, it is not clear if Neville Nukuna F., and his likes will ever set feet on Cameroon, and what their fate will be as the Government intensifies crackdown, with no peace in sight.

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Courts in Meme Division still remain ‘paralysed’ despite a communiqué by the Vice President of Meme Lawyers Association, MELA, Barrister Mpacko Jacob Njume on October 11, 2017 declaring that Lawyers have unanimously agreed to suspend their one year long strike action and shall be returning to the courts for the next six months to allow government handle the rest of Common Law lawyers’ grievances.

During a visit to the courts last week, The SUN observed that despite the cause list pasted at the various notice boards for lawyers to enter appearance, no lawyer did so, though a few could be spotted around the court.

Most of the lawyers refused to comment on why they are still to put on their wigs and gowns and enter appearance despite the strike suspension.

However, a lawyer who refused to be named told The Sun that only a well constituted general assembly of MELA as agreed in a September 25, 2017 meeting can call for a strike suspension.

It should be recalled that the Vice President of the MELA, Barrister Mpacko Jacob Njume on October 11, 2017, shortly after a call over at the Meme High Court presided at by the President, Justice Ngute Paul alongside a college of judges, announced the suspension of the Common Law Lawyers strike in Meme Division.

According to Barrister Mpacko, the decision to suspend the strike was taken in consideration to what government has done so far to address some of the ills in the judicial system decried by the advocates and in view of the hardship, suffering and hopelessness many litigants and others users of the services of advocates have gone through for the past twelve months.

Dissenting voices

Following the declaration of the Vice President of MELA, suspending the strike, over 80 lawyers in Meme Division immediately converged and came out with a strongly worded disclaimer, distancing themselves from the decision by the Vice President.

According them, the meeting of September 25, 2017 was adjourned to October 11, 2017 to set modalities for the suspension of the strike in a MELA General Assembly. The lawyers said they were taken aback when on October 11, 2017, the Vice President and some senior lawyers converged during a court session that lasted on 17 minutes to call off the strike without the knowledge of the entire Meme Lawyers.

Even though they had opted for the suspension of the strike, the Lawyers declared that the manner in which the suspension was done is a pointer to bad faith by the Vice President and the other colleagues.

The disgruntled lawyers are nursing suspicion that the palms of their senior colleagues may have been greased by government to warrant such a unilateral action and thus vowed not to resume work despite the call over.

According to them, only the presidents of the four constituent assemblies of MELA, FAKLA, NOWELA and MALA, who endorsed the decision of a strike action are competent to call off or suspend the strike.

The dissenting faction equally called for the safe return of all those lawyers who have either left the country or gone underground for fear of arrest.

They also called for the safe return of other SCNC activists who marched alongside the lawyers who are now being hunted by the police.

Amongst them is Mouozie Olivier, a prominent SCNC activist said to be the leader of Kosala East, Kumba who is on the run after police declared him wanted for taking part in the October 1 and September 22 demonstrations that turned deadly.

The lawyers vowed that the can not, in good conscience return to court when their colleagues and those who stood by them are still at large and being hunted like criminals.

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Ayuk Irene Ayuk, cousin to the President of the self-proclaimed state of Ambazonia who was arrested a few months ago has jumped detention, The SUN has learnt. A trusted security source who pleaded for anonymity says the cousin of Sisiku Ayuk Tabe Julius was nabbed on April 4, 2017 in Tiko on board a public transport vehicle but would later jump detention under unclear circumstances.
“It will appear they are a family that is bent on destroying this country. That Ayuk Irene Ayuk girl was actually overheard receiving instructions from Ayuk Tabe Julius. She even had secessionist propaganda tracks in her possession. We discovered that she had disappeared on April 7, 2017. All the officers on guard when she escaped are under detention as we speak. They will pay for this betrayal of the security of the state,” our source said.
Our independent investigations suggest that the said Ayuk Irene Ayuk was spotted in Yaounde sometime in July, though we are still digging into the story. A family source in Mile 16 told security officers in September that the accused, Ayuk Irene had left the country.

With assistance from her daughter, security officers were able to meet her husband somewhere in Ekona, we learnt.
Parallel sources suggest that her husband and one other relation might have been among those killed in Ekona, an area that has since been hostile against the state. In fact, on September 22, 2017, thousands of Ekona locals flooded the streets in a pro-separatist march.
It is unclear what will happen to the security officers under detention if the said Ayuk Irene is not found. But with the alarming corruption in the country, it would not be unimaginable that the officers on duty were bribes to free the suspect.

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More and more youths are increasingly being victimised by the Cameroon defence forces as tension heightens in the two restive English speaking regions of Cameroon, for allegedly supporting or sponsoring separatists’ agenda. Reports are becoming very prevalent of youths who are either molested, flogged, detained or killed, without any fair hearing.
The Anglophone crisis, which started as a strike action, November 2016, by lawyers and teachers in the North West and South West regions to decry government’s attempt to assimilate the educational system, has metamorphosed into serious conflict and clashes between the Cameroon defence forces and those seeking “the restoration of the statehood of former British Southern Cameroons”.
Reports from national and international media indicate that several persons have been killed, hundreds arrested and several others escaping into neighbouring Nigeria or bushes in search of refuge. Despite these, the Cameroon Government has not yielded to calls from the United Nations, European Union, La Francophonie, the Common Wealth, African Union and other Western Nations for an inclusive and frank dialogue to resolve the crisis.
The incessant arrests, molestation, killing and inhumane treatment of youths for allegedly siting with the separatists by the Cameroon defence forces, is forcing many Cameroonians from North West and South West regions to vacate the Country for fear of being victimised.
One of the victims of the prevailing victimisation of those allegedly supporting separatists, whose where-about remains unknown, is a Muyuka-based youth, Nakoko Ikoe Watkins Mukete, staff a road construction survey company, Makia LTD.
According to media reports, he was part of a team carrying out survey for the construction of a road in Mundemba when all of a sudden, a group of irate youths stormed the environment and assaulted them for “disrespecting the laws of the land”. Mr. Nakoko, managed to escape only to get information from the proprietor of the company that two of his colleagues were killed during the attack.
The Sun gathered from family sources that he was later accused for working with the pro-separatist irate youths who attacked the team and killed his colleagues. Military men stormed their residence the following day in Muyuka and carted him away to the Muyuka Gendarmerie post where he was flogged mercilessly before being detained under dehumanising conditions. He was bailed about five days after by the proprietor of Makia LTD, who advised him to escape because the late colleagues’ family were after his life, a family source hinted.

The SUN has it on good record that, as a result of the threat, he escaped with his family to Nigeria but life was too hard for him in Nigeria and he returned to Cameroon. Unfortunately for him, the hunt for him had not subsided. Reports have it that he was again picked up by the military, dragged in the mud, beaten to the extent that he collapsed, for supporting pro-separatist agenda.
According to a reliable family source, Mr. Nakoko Ikoe, was later taken to a local clinic (name withheld for security reasons), where he gained consciousness. A nurse at the clinic, knowing that the military was waiting to detain him, helped Nakoko to sneak through the back door and escape. Since then, the military have been looking for him but his where about remains a conjecture. Meanwhile, his wife is said to have escaped to the bush for fear of the unknown.
It should be noted that any one arrested in connection with Anglophone crisis, whether guilty or not, is immediately termed a “terrorist” with the propensity of being tried in a military court. The cry of many is that the Cameroon Government harkens to call for dialogue so the crisis can be resolved and things return to normalcy within the Anglophone regions of Cameroon.

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By Simon Kalla

As the crisis that has been rocking the North West and South west region rages on, government has stepped up its crackdown on all those suspected to be activists of the Anglophone cause or sympathizers to the cause.

In this light, security operatives have been indiscriminately arresting Anglophone activists and suspected activists. This has caused many of them to flee into hiding and the whereabouts of many is not known.

It would be recalled that in January 2017 the Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation, Emmanuel Rene Sadi, had banned the Southern Cameroons National Council, SCNC, and the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium, CACSC. Some of the leaders of the Consortium such as Barrister Felix Agbor Nkongho and Dr. Fontem Niba were immediately arrested while others like Barrister Bobga Harmony and Tassang Wilfred fled into hiding.

Sources say the arrested activists are being tortured and detained under horrendous and inhuman conditions. Some have reportedly died in detention.

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, paralyzing the courts. They were demanding for a return to the federal system of government, redeployment of Civil Law Magistrates back to Civil Law Courts 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 sub-system of education.

Things got worse when concerned citizens in the North West and South West region, who had been fed up with the unfavorable political and especially economic stagnation of Cameroon at large, but more importantly in these regions, joined the strike.

After what has now been termed the Coffin Revolution in Bamenda, when a certain Mancho Bibixy appeared in the street with a coffin denouncing the bad state of roads in Bamenda, the population came out en mass, marched along the streets. When the police and gendarmes tried to disperse the crowd, there was an exchange with the security operatives, leading to several people shot dead and many others injured. Many more were arrested.

Paramount amongst their grievances was the retrograding economic drift in the North West and South West regions owing to dilapidating road network, unequipped medical facilities, the imposition of a policy of using the French language almost exclusively in the military and administrative bureaus in the Anglophone regions, not leaving out schools and courts. These are on a people who have had a purely Anglo-Saxon upbringing, thereby limiting their chances of obtaining fair justice, entry into public schools and consequently streamlining the number of Anglophones into administrative positions and other benefits of the state, hence making the already difficult life style of these people simply unbearable.

Unfortunately, the results of this peaceful strike action were the random arrests, detention of the Coffin Revolution leader Mancho Bibixy.  Barrister Felix Agbor Nkongho and Dr Fontem Neba, leaders of the Anglophone Consortium and even a Supreme Court judge Ayah Paul were also later arrested. They have been charged with terrorism and secession.

But as the crackdown on the activist escalates, several cases have been reported. One of the cases is that have Taniform Nwana Junior, who was arrested on 22 February 2017 in Bamenda during a police raid. He was arrested with others including Ngwa Terence, Fuh Eric, Nji Pascal, Che Frederick. They were accused of promoting or sponsoring the activities of Mancho Bibixy. They also face charges of terrorism and secession.

A car spare parts businessman in Nkwen Bamenda and father of three children, Taniform Nwana Junior was detained for five months and on 27 July 2017 a convoy of military trucks is reported to have arrived at their detention centre to take them away to an unknown destination. It was while being transported to this new location that Taniform Nwana Junior is said to have escaped.

Since then the whereabouts Taniform Nwana Junior is not known. But sources within his family say they have been harassed severally by security operatives to declare his whereabouts.

It would be noted that Taniform Nwana Junior and other Anglophone activists both genuine and suspected have been accused of terrorism, secession, aggression against the state among other crimes. If arrested, tried and found guilty, Taniform Nwana Junior will face the death sentence according to the anti-terrorism law which was promulgated a few years back.

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Following the ongoing crisis that have been rocking the two Anglophones Regions in Cameroon for several months now and the indiscriminate arrest, abduction and detention of Anglophones, the Minister of Communication, Issa Tchiroma Bakary who double as the Government Spokesperson have said all arrested and those on the run must face justice. Speaking recently in Yaounde during a press conference, the minister said those who were arrested and escaped from the hands of security forces have instead made their case more complicated because the government has put in place a special commission and network to trace their where about.

It should be noted that according to security statistics out of the eight escapees six have been apprehended and two are still on the run and the government is carrying out rigorous investigation concerning their where about. Reports from the security services indicate that one of them is a Journalist who goes by the name Quidia Eshu Thadius. The said journalist is said to have been apprehended on the line of his duties as he was gathering information and taking pictures pertaining to the uprising. According to another source, it is reported that the said journalist has also made Newspaper publications on the on-going crisis.

During a press conference in Yaounde recently, some journalists quizzed the Minister of Communication on the fate of journalist detained at the Yaounde Central Prison in Kondengui and he said all perpetrators of violence arraigned during the crisis must face the heavy hand of the law. He went further to explain that some of the “so called Journalists” were not on duty when they were apprehended by the police, claiming that ‘no one is above the law”. He was also questioned why arrested civilians should be tried in the Military Tribunal in Yaounde even when the said ‘crimes’ were allegedly committed in the far away North West and South West Regions, the minister said it is the decision of the government to decide where to judge the suspected criminals

It should be noted that Quidia Eshu Thadius and others were arrested on December 19, 2016 at the Misselele check point on his way from Douala by the Mobile Intervention Unit of the Police and taken to Limbe National gardamerie for interrogation where he was locked up for weeks under inhuman conditions and was transferred to Buea Central Prison due to pressure from some local journalism association and the population where they were transported to Yaounde by night. Since then his where about is not known as our sources says he jumped out from the military truck and vamoosed into the forest on the Douala-Yaounde highway though in poor health condition.

Many critics and Human Rights organizations have condemned government’s crackdown on the Anglophones and even media men and women who have dared to report on the crisis still ongoing in the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon.

It should be noted that hundred of southern Cameroonians have lost their lives while others like Justice Ayah Paul Abine ,Dr Fontem, Barrister Balla, Mancho Bibisi and twenty five others are lavishing behind bars at the Yaounde Central Prison for charges such as secession, treason, act of terrorism, false information amongst others.

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As the Anglophone crisis, which has now spiraled into an armed struggle, worsens in the North West and South West regions of Cameroon, the government has intensified its efforts to crack down on activists of the Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC) and other activists both within and without the country.

The government has always accused SCNC members and other Anglophone secessionists in the diaspora of propelling the Anglophone crisis; which the government has labelled as “terrorism”. The Minister of Communication, IssaTchiromaBakari, earlier emphasised that, the government will not dialogue or negotiate with terrorists. Sources have revealed that, the government is using its diplomatic networks to ensure that SCNC members and other Anglophone activists abroad are tracked down and extradited for prosecution

Most of the activists who have been arrested are being detained under horrendous and inhuman conditions. Some have died in detention.

It would be noted that many Anglophone activists including NforNgalaNfor Chairman of the SCNC, Sessekou Ayuk Julius Tabe, the Nigeria-based president of the Southern Cameroons Governing Council, Mark Bara Bareta, Eric Tataw, Ayaba Cho Lucas, Gilbert Nkenganyi Azenganyi and Tapang Ivo Tanku among several others have been declared wanted by the Cameroon government.

After releasing a list of Anglophone activists in the Diaspora, who were targeted for arrest some time ago, sources say a fresh list of SCNC members and other activists abroad has been re-established for arrest; more than a hundred names have reportedly been given to intelligence services.

We learnt from informants that after several meetings held in Yaounde in a bid to seek ways to neutralise the growing Anglophone activism both within and without the country, a bigwig of the regime was sent on a mission abroad to lobby his way in causing the UN and other diplomatic services to frustrate the Anglophone struggle by neutralising those in the Diaspora via their arrest and extradition.

As the Cameroon government continues on its scheme to clamp down on the Anglophone activists, many of them have been fleeing the country while those in the diaspora now fear for their lives.

One of them is Gilbert Nkenganyi Azenganyi, a member of the SCNC and leader of the youth wing, who has escaped out of the country since May 29, 2013.

On March 3, 2017 he took part in a mass protest of Anglophone Cameroonians. The mass demonstration which took place in New York, had the protesters calling on the United States government to put pressure on the Yaounde regime and bring an end to what they termed genocide going on in the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon.

It was Azenganyi’s participation in the protest that caused him to be blacklisted by the regime as being among those who want to destabilise Cameroon. The Cameroon government thus published a list of some of those, including Gilbert NkenganyiAzenganyi, who participated in the demonstration, declaring them wanted.

If Gilbert Nkenganyi Azenganyi is arrested by the Cameroonian security forces, he will be tried under the anti-terrorism law, whose maximum punishment is the death penalty.

Origin of crisis

It is 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

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The Bamunka Community in the North West region has greatly suffered the effects of this aggressive oppression.

After a tour to the field, our reporters can confirm beyond reasonable doubt that there has been a general regression by the government, Local authorities and local auxiliaries on the civilian uprising based on marginalization.

This has lead to the escape of many youths to unknown destinations for fear of the unknown or to serve huge jail sentences under the anti terrorism law.

Reports from Bamunka confirm key elements of what has been said so far regarding the events in Bamunka, Ndop.

It is said that local Ndop youths went and burnt down a classroom in a Franco phone school where some students had been struggling to defy the strike and attend classes.

In response the Bamunka Fon went around the community pointing out those he considered guilty to be arrested by the gendarmes

It is widely believed that he took the opportunity to punish families with whom he had pre existing disputes by falsely pointing out their children as guilty.

Another twist is the destruction of cyber cafes that are believed to be promoting the uprising by the printing and distribution of tracts.

Many cyber operators are in detention, others molested, some are declared missing after a recent raid, they are implicated in the printing of flyers and strike materials.

A case in point is that of a cyber owned by a certain Fonyuy Etienne and Managed by Yuven Frankline which was destroyed by security officers and leaving the team to disappear in to thin air.

Others who are also reported to have fled included Zama Cletus, Sama Samuel Sama and Gemouh Dobgima.

Security officials claim cyber café operators help to proliferate the burning down of the French school in Bamunka.

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Eden Newspaper’s Limbe City Reporter, Quindia Eshu Thadius is currently in gendarmerie custody after his arrest by armed police officers last December 19, 2016.

Security officials claim that the Limbe-based journalist has been fanning the flames to the crisis that has since enveloped Cameroon’s North West and South West Regions.

Quindia was whisked off into a police van on his way to Limbe from Douala where he had gone to print newspapers. He is said to have been very passionate in reporting about the marginalisation of Anglophones in a French dominated Cameroon. He is also accused of taking a tough stance against government during radio debates.

The policemen at the Missellele security checkpoint quickly identified him and ferried him to the Limbe Gendarmerie Post where he has since been held incommunicado. A gendarmerie source hinted that the torture meted out on the journalist is in a bid to deter others from supporting the activities of the Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC) and other separatist groups.

Pressure from local journalism groupings and human rights lawyers led to the transfer of Quindia to Yaoundé. He is said to have been aided by an Anglophone officer to escape while on transit.

If caught, Quindia will have to face the death penalty in accordance with the December 2014 law on the suppression of acts of terrorism. Quindia’s whereabouts remains in doubt as security officers widen their dragnet to catch him.

He is among the many journalists who had been threatened by local administrative and security officials through anonymous calls and texts.

Common Law Lawyers have been on strike to protest government’s attempts to annihilate the Common Law practice in a constitutionally bilingual and bi-jural Cameroon. The strike has been on Since October 11.

Anglophone teachers in the country joined the strike last November 21 to uphold Anglo-Saxon values under threat in Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions.

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.

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