The long drawn crisis in the two English-speaking North West and South West regions has already caused a lot of devastation since late 2017 when political differences between the government and separatist groups fighting for independence of the former British Southern Cameroons morphed into an armed conflict.

On January 16, 2023, Human Rights Watch, which has been monitoring the conflict since its start, reported that: “In 2022, armed groups and government forces committed human rights abuses including unlawful killings across Cameroon’s English-speaking regions…”.

It further stated that: “at least 6,000 civilians have been killed by both government forces and armed separatist fighters”.

The atrocities of the armed conflict have affected people, schools, businesses and just everybody or sphere of life. But the most harrowing thing about the crisis, as it persists without any end in sight, is that business persons and their businesses are becoming the unfortunate targets.

On the one hand, government forces have been directing their attacks on business persons on the excuse that some of them are secretly using their money to finance separatist fighters against the state forces. While on the other hand, the separatist fighters have targeted and killed several business persons with their own story being that their targets, though helpless in most cases, have not been supporting their struggle for what they call the liberation of Ambazonia from foreign occupation, being the government of Cameroon.

However, the most prominent excuse by the separatist fighters or Amba boys, as they are also known, has been the fact that those targeted have not been respecting Monday days which they had imposed as a non-working or ‘ghost town’ day.

Monday, in Cameroon, is officially a working day.

Separatists’ imposition of ghost town days

But since the Anglophone crisis degenerated into an armed conflict in 2017, the Anglophone separatists took a very controversial decision by declaring that Mondays, across the two English-speaking regions, be observed unequivocally as non-working or ghost town days.

By this declaration, all businesses on this day are to remain shut, offices and schools all closed as everyone, too, is expected to stay indoors. And it’s been awfully so for the past seven years.

They argued that this was to force the government to capitulate and come for peace talks or negotiations.

But in response, the government has instead been bent on ensuring that the people don’t respect this day as imposed by the separatists. They have argued that it’s killing businesses and putting the government and the economies of these two regions into more hardship.

Thus, those caught in this dilemma are the business persons within the two regions who have either had to be killed, kidnapped or attacked by separatist fighters because they decided to open their businesses on Mondays in disrespect of the said imposed ghost town day. Or be arrested by Government forces on the one hand for respecting this day as well as many others being made to pay huge fines to the government for failing to open their businesses on Mondays. In this dire situation, many have fallen victim to the bullet either shot by the government forces or the separatists.

There is a case as reported on May 29, 2020, by Cameroon News Agency, of one trader at Mulang in Bamenda, North West Region, who happened to have been killed by separatist fighters, apparently for failing to respect ghost towns and for his alleged collaboration with the military.

“Lambert was killed a few days after another civilian popularly known as Fat Joe was murdered in the same neighbourhood…They were both accused of collaborating with security forces,” CNA reported.

The killings, kidnappings and disappearances of businessmen both by separatists and government forces is becoming a real issue in the two regions.

This reporter is privy to information on the case of one Fonjiyang Remi Mumbara, a 29-year-old university graduate, who is said to have been whisked off from his business shop at Mankon, in downtown Bamenda, sometime in November 2023.

He is said to have been picked up by the military at his shop.

He is said to have been running the small provision store for some five years with his cousin named Fonyijang Mofor Harrisson since his graduation from the University in 2017.

Fonjiyang Remi’s uncle, who is said to have been the one who gave him a loan as startup capital for his business, after he left university, spoke to us with deep sadness.

He disclosed that the military came and arrested Remi and ferried him to detention at a gendarmerie brigade, where he was tortured and detained under inhuman conditions.

With tears streaming down his cheeks, he said further that, few day  later after Fonjiyang Remi was taken away from his shop, another patrol team of government soldiers came by, caught his cousin, Mofor Fonjiyang, who was now left in the shop, shot him to death, point blank and set the store ablaze.

Fonjiyang Remi’s uncle said they presume the military killed Mofor and took Remi away on the excuse that they have been colluding with the Amba boys by selling food items to the Amba boys and, therefore, energising them to fight the military.

It’s an excuse that is very unacceptable and a blatant abuse of rights because, it’s difficult for a business person to tell or determine his customers identities, when selling.

But since the Government imposed an anti-terrorism law in Cameroon in 2014, the military has been conducting the war in the North West and South West with reckless abandon. It has, backed by the above said law, been committing a lot of abuses by way of arbitrarily killings, of suspects, burnings of houses or unjustified arrests and so on.

Meantime, on the other hand, the separatist fighters haven’t been any different.

Fonjiyang Remi’s uncle further disclosed that Remi had equally complained to them about threats that he had been getting from the Amba boys. He said he had, before the military arrested him, informed them how the Amba boys had called him on a certain Friday, November 10, 2023, and threatened to come and assassinate him on the excuse that he, Fonjiyang Remi, had been disrespecting their Monday’s ghost town days.

Asked why Remi wasn’t respecting the said imposed ghost town Mondays, his uncle said, Remi, since he opened the business shop, had become the sole bread winner for the family. And given the difficult economic situation in the two English-speaking regions as a consequence of the long drawn armed conflict, most people have been depending but on small businesses for their survival.

But the growing attacks and threats on the business persons in Bamenda, especially, has made it such that these persons have become more or less endangered species.

Meanwhile, we gathered that after being detained by the military for about  a week at  Kondengui Maximum Security Prison in Yaounde, Fonjiyang Remi is said to have escaped from detention under circumstances that remain unclear. Since then, his whereabouts is not known.

The military is said to have launched a manhunt for him, and constantly storms their family house looking for him.

If re-arrested, Fonjiyang Remi Mumbara will be tried in a military tribunal under the anti-terrorism law, whose maximum punishment is the death sentence. That is if he is not killed outright, like many others who have been victims of extrajudicial killings, within the context of the armed conflict in North West and South West Regions.

Many businessmen fleeing

It should be noted that the situation in the crisis-hit regions has forced many business persons, of late, to flee for their own safety; some fleeing even out of Cameroon to other safer countries around the world.

International human right groups have already reported of thousands who have already left Cameroon and are seeking protection in foreign countries owing to the crisis in the North West and South West regions. Besides, there is a general air of violence across the country as politicians are, currently, already jostling to see who will replace Cameroon’s 91-year-old head of state, Paul Biya, who has held power for over 41 years.

Thus, the months ahead could spark even a direr situation across Cameroon as opposition leaders are fighting tooth and nail to replace the 91-year-old incumbent by 2025 when elections are expected. But his supporters are battling to maintain him on seat so as to protect their interests. But many don’t just want to have another seven years under a leader who is considered already long overdue in a country where people retire at 60.

Thus, the general atmosphere in Cameroon doesn’t promise to be stable anytime soon.

The post Military, separatists targeting businessmen as armed conflict in NW, SW rages appeared first on THE SUN NEWSPAPER CAMEROON.

There is no denying the fact that the Cameroon military has continued to kill children and rape young girls. These crimes are heart-breaking.

As a Human Rights Activists with a keen interest in Child Protection Rights, after serious investigations amidst ongoing armed conflict in the North West and South West Regions, with the death toll increasing as the days go by, keeping children vulnerable following the brutal extrajudicial killings of their parents by the military, it is my humble opinion that the military must be investigated. Those found wanting, should be prosecuted to serve as deterrent to avoid future brutal killings of innocent Anglophone Cameroonians.

The cases of these extrajudicial killings by the military as narrated by victims abound.

When I visited Monica on 3 September 2021, Monica, was just 20 at the time. Opon asking her questions, she said she was afraid when she saw the Cameroon military arrived in her village, Ngie in Momo Division of the North West Region of Cameroon, and began attacking homes in retaliation for the killing of one of their soldiers by separatist fighter earlier that day. She explained to me how she grabbed her child and ran to hide in the house, but the soldiers forced the door open. They ordered her husband to lie on the floor, and told her to leave her daughter to one side. One of soldiers then raped Monica. As her husband attempted to defend her, they shot him three times: in his head.

After about an hour, they took Monica and her child outside and their house was set ablaze. They drove them to an army camp, where they were held with ten others. The youngest of them was just 13 years old.

Each day, they raped them one after the other. They were only released after spending 75 days in detention, when one of the soldiers agreed to help them and informed his commanding officer about what was happening in the camp. But by that time, two of the girls were already dead.

Narrating her ordeal, Monica told me that because of the rape, she later gave birth to twins.

Anizette is another girl whom I spoke with from Batibo still from the North West Region of Cameroon of a disgusting and heartbreaking incident that happened to her. At the time of my interview with her, she was still panicking and suffering from trauma.

She told me that she while she was having dinner with her grandparents in 2021 when the Cameroon military men suddenly entered their home, killed her grandparents and raped her.

The girl child in Cameroon remains a victim of this senseless war. When will this war end?

As an activist, I have spoken to members of government and military officials, who have consistently maintained that their troops have not committed these crimes. However, contrary evidence shows otherwise.

Despite the repeated threats on my life, I will stop at nothing to ensure that the perpetrators of these atrocities against Anie, Monica and other girls, are brought to Justice.

The post Why the Cameroon military must be investigated? appeared first on THE SUN NEWSPAPER CAMEROON.

Since the declaration of war by President Paul Biya on separatist forces attempting to break Southern Cameroons away from the Union with La Republique du Cameroun, in 2017, many people have died and several others have escaped to either neigbouring  Nigeria which hosts over thousands immigrants, or to other unknown destinations.

The war, which started with striking teachers and lawyers demanding for some reforms in both sectors, finally degenerated to an armed conflict between the government forces and armed groups fighting for the restoration of the state of Southern Cameroons.

31-year-old Nkengafac Julius is one of the victims of this drawn-out conflagration which has claimed thousands of lives, and thousands more missing, maimed and homeless.

Nkengafac’s ordeal

Nkengafac Julius’s ordeal started in October 2023. He was among others who were seriously tortured because they took part in the October 1^st march  pass organised by separatist fighters in Bafia-Muyuka. After the march, they were rounded-up, seriously tortured and later whisked off to the Regional capital, Buea  and detained at the Central Police station on October 5th, 2023 in very inhumane conditions.

After spending weeks at the Central  Police Station, the police  authorities decided to transfer all the detainees linked to the separatist activities to Yaounde.

On October 30, 2023 while on their way to the nation’s capital, Yaounde, were they were expected to be detained at the notorious Kondengui Maximum Security Prisons, the separistist fighters who had gotten wind of the transfer attacked the convoy carrying detainees from Buea.

Mr Nkengafac Julius, with many other detainees, allegedly linked to separatist activities, took advantage of the confusion provoked by the separatists’ attack on the convoy to  escape.

The incident reportedly occurred along the Buea -Yaounde Highway Road and Mr Nkengafac Julius fled for safety.

The post Crisis in the North-West and South West Regions: Escaping to safety; more and more Anglophones on the run appeared first on THE SUN NEWSPAPER CAMEROON.

Since the onset of the armed conflict in 2017 between the military and the armed Separartist fighters, commonly referred to as “Amba” fighters, in the two English-speaking regions of the country, there has been an upsurge of the most grievous human rights abuses.

There has been heightened level of unlawful killings, arbitrary arrests, detentions, and torture allegedly committed by the military. Meanwhile, separatist fighters are also accused of been perpetrating acts of killings, torture, kidnappings for ransom, among others. These have forced many, especially young people from the North West and South West Regions of Cameroon, to flee the country.

Amnesty International reported in its 2024 Report on Cameroon that: “In the two Anglophone regions, real or suspected armed separatists continued to carry out murders, hostage takings for ransom and extortion, targeting of defence and security forces, political and administrative officers, civil servants and other civilians they accused of not respecting their rules of lockdowns and a liberation tax.”

The Report also stated that, “defence and security forces were accused of unlawful killings of people suspected of collaborating with separatist groups.”

The Report added that, “the Government did not report to accusations of unlawful killings.”

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch, in its 2023 Report added that: “At least 6,000 civilians have been killed by both government forces and separatist fighters since the violence started in late 2016”.

The above situation has forced many within these two regions, especially those being pursued by the government forces as suspected armed fighters or collaborators to flee the country for their safety.

The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, in its August 24th Reported noted that, “according to US Country Report 2017, there continued to be reports of arrests and disappearances of individuals by security forces in Anglophone Cameroon.”

The case of Pekins Nwachukwe Ayuk

On the ground investigations equally revealed that, as a result of the life-threatening situation in the North West and South West Regions, many such as one staff of the Government Regional Hospital in Buea had to flee Cameroon.

His case is that which some Anglophones have had to be arrested, tortured, detained by Government forces, simply on the excuse that one or two of their names have a slight resemblance to the name of one or any of the prominent separatist leaders detained in Cameroon or living abroad.

There is the case of Pekins Nwachukwe Ayuk, who worked as a Data and Disease Surveillance Administrative Assistant with the Government-run Buea Regional Hospital in Buea.

One of the prominent leaders of the Ambazonia Movement, which has been fighting for the independence of the two Anglophone regions and who is presently being detained by the Government, is Sisisiku Ayuk Tabe.

Thus, one of the reasons that Pekins Ayuk, who happens to have suffered multiple arrests by Government forces is being pursued is simply that, he has the same name as the detained separatist leader, Ayuk Tabe.

We gathered on May 20th, 2023 defence and security forces raided the vicinity of Buea because of the separatist fighters imposed lockdowns each time the Government prepares to celebrate the country’s national day on May 20th. For fear of being brutalised by the separatist fighters, Pekins Ayuk, on May 20th, 2023, opted to stay indoors. But soon, soldiers of the elite force Rapid Intervention Battalion, BIR, soon encircled Pekins Ayuk’s residential quarters and asked all of them to come out. As soon as they were out, they were ordered to lie prostrate as the soldiers started torturing them on the excuse that they had refused to go out for the National Day celebrations.

The soldiers, we gathered, are said to have intensified the torture when they found out that Pekins bore the name Ayuk.

To the BIR soldiers, the name Ayuk was already enough reason for Pekins to be battered and even killed as he was judged as being a separatist and knows the whereabouts of the other separatists hiding in the bush, simply by virtue of the coincidence of his name to the jailed separatist leader, Ayuk Tabe.

State workers targeted

Meanwhile, the separatist fighters have also been targeting state workers in the North West and South West regions, assaulting, abducting and killing many.

The policy of the separatist fighters has been that any Anglophone working for the state, either in the two regions or in the other parts of the country, must contribute regular finances to support them for their said struggle to liberate the two regions from the “Francophone domination and marginalisation of the Anglophones.” No matter their position and status in the institution they serve.

Thus, anyone who hesitates becomes a target.

This is how Pekins Ayuk, a state employee with the Buea Regional Hospital, was abducted by separatist fighters on February 26th, 2022. He happened to have been returning from a part-time work as a voluntary agent following Cameroon Government’s hosting of the January – February, 2022, African Nations Cup that took place in Cameroon.

The suspected separatist kidnappers, who took him to one of their hideout in the Buea Subdivision, accused him of having failed to obey their lockdowns and orders for the boycott of the tournament.

They equally said he had failed as a state employee to financially support their fight.

But luck is reported to have fell on Pekins, as he beat an escape from the separatists’ hideout after several days of living through brutal torture and abuse.

After having suffered two unlawful arrests by soldiers; first one being on October 1, 2021, his arrest on May 20th, 2023, a brutish stay in separatists’ captivity in February 2022, Pekins Ayuk vamoosed from public view and his whereabouts since then is not known.

His fleeing, however, hasn’t let his family in peace as his family has continued to be persecuted and threatened by both defence and security forces and the separatists to reveal his whereabout.

If rearrested by the defence and security forces, Pekins Nwachukwe Ayuk will be tried in a military tribunal, under the 2014 anti-terrorism law, whose maximum punishment is the death sentence. That is if he is not killed outright, like many others who have been victims of extra-judicial killings.

Meanwhile, if the separatist fighters lay hands on him, Pekins Ayuk will certainly be killed, like many others who have suffered from atrocities committed by separatist fighters.

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 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.

The crisis has left thousands of civilians,  security and defence forces dead. While others are internally displaced with some living in bushes while over 30,000 have fled to neighbouring Nigeria where they are living as refugees.

Many houses and villages, have been burnt down in the crisis-hit regions.

The separatist leader of the self-declared Republic of Ambazonia, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, and eight other close associates of his, who were arrested in Nigeria and extradited to Cameroon, are currently serving life sentences at the Kondengui maximum security prison in Yaounde.

Many other activists such as Mancho Bibixy, Penn Terrence, Tsi Conrad, among others, are also serving jail terms at the Kondengui prison.

While the Anglophone crisis continues to escalate, international organisations and other western powers have called on the government to address the root cause through genuine and inclusive dialogue.

The post Killings, arrests, kidnappings in NW, SW force many to flee abroad appeared first on THE SUN NEWSPAPER CAMEROON.

Since the onset of the armed conflict in 2017 between the military and the armed Separartist fighters, commonly referred to as “Amba” fighters, in the two English-speaking regions of the country, there has been an upsurge of the most grievous human rights abuses.

There has been heightened level of unlawful killings, arbitrary arrests, detentions, and torture allegedly committed by the military. Meanwhile, separatist fighters are also accused of been perpetrating acts of killings, torture, kidnappings for ransom, among others. These have forced many, especially young people, to flee the country.

Amnesty International reported in its 2024 Report on Cameroon that: “In the two Anglophone regions, real or suspected armed separatists continued to carry out murders, hostage takings for ransom and extortion, targeting of defence and security forces, political and administrative officers, civil servants and other civilians they accused of not respecting their rules of lockdowns and a ‘liberation’ tax”.

The Report also stated that, “defence and security forces were accused of unlawful killings of people suspected of collaborating with separatist groups”.

The Report added that, “the Government did not report to accusations of unlawful killings”.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch, in its 2023 Report added that: “At least 6,000 civilians have been killed by both government forces and separatist fighters since the violence started in late 2016”.

The above situation has forced many within these two regions, especially those being pursued by the government forces as suspected armed fighters or collaborators to flee the country for their safety.

The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, in its August 24th Reported noted that, “according to US Country Report 2017, there continued to be reports of arrests and disappearances of individuals by security forces in Anglophone Cameroon”.

The case of Pekins Nwachukwe Ayuk

On the ground investigations equally revealed that, as a result of the life-threatening situation in the North West and South West Regions, many such as one staff of the Government hospital in Buea had to flee Cameroon.

His case is that which some Anglophones have had to be arrested, tortured, detained by Government forces, simply on the excuse that one or two of their names have a slight resemblance to the name of one or any of the prominent separatist leaders detained in Cameroon or living abroad.

There is the case of Pekins Nwachukwe Ayuk, who worked as a Data and Disease Surveillance Administrative Assistant with the Government-run Buea Regional Hospital in Buea.

One of the prominent leaders of the Ambazonia Movement, which has been fighting for the independence of the two Anglophone regions and who is presently being detained by the Government, is Sisisiku Ayuk Tabe.

Thus, one of the reasons that Pekins Ayuk, who happens to have suffered multiple arrests by Government forces, is being pursued is simply that he has the same name as the detained separatist leader, Ayuk Tabe.

We gathered on May 20th, 2023 defence and security forces raided the vicinity of Buea. Because of the separatist fighters imposed lockdowns each time the Government prepares to celebrate the country’s national on May 20th, for fear of being brutalised by the separatist fighters, Pekins Ayuk, on May 20th, 2023, opted to stay indoors. But soon, soldiers of the elite force Rapid Intervention Battalion, BIR, soon encircled Pekins Ayuk’s residential quarters and asked all of them to come out. As soon as they were out, they were ordered to lie prostrate as the soldiers started torturing them on the excuse that they had refused to go out for the National Day celebrations.

The soldiers, we gathered, are said to have intensified the torture when they found out that Pekins bore the name Ayuk.

To the BIR soldiers, the name Ayuk was already enough reason for Pekins to be battered and even killed as he was judged as being a separatist simply by virtue of the coincidence of his name to the jailed separatist leader, Ayuk Tabe.

State workers targeted

Meanwhile, the separatist fighters have also been targeting state workers in the North West and South West regions, assaulting, abducting and killing many.

The policy of the separatist fighters has been that any Anglophone working as a state employee, either in the two regions or in the other parts of the country, must contribute regular finances to support them for their said struggle to liberate the two regions from the “Francophone domination and marginalisation of the Anglophones”.

Thus, anyone who hesitates becomes a target.

This is how Pekins Ayuk, a state employee with the Buea Regional Hospital, was abducted by separatist fighters on February 26th, 2022. He happened to have been returning from a part-time work as a voluntary agent following Cameroon Government’s hosting of the January – February, 2022, African Nations Cup that took place in Cameroon.

The suspected separatist kidnappers, who took him to their hideout in Tole, Buea Subdivision, accused him of having failed to obey their lockdowns and orders for the boycott of the tournament.

They equally said he had failed as a state employee to financially support their fight.

But luck is reported to have fell on Pekins, as he beat an escape from the separatists’ hideout after several days of living through brutal torture and abuse.

After having suffered two unlawful arrests by soldiers; first one being on October 1, 2021, his arrest on May 20th, 2023, and release and a brutish stay in separatists’ captivity in February 2022, Pekins Ayuk vamoosed from public view and his whereabouts since then is not known.

His fleeing, however, hasn’t let his family in peace as his family has continued to be persecuted by both defence and security forces and the separatists.

If rearrested by the defence and security forces, Pekins Nwachukwe Ayuk will be tried in a military tribunal, under the 2014 anti-terrorism law, whose maximum punishment if the death sentence. That is if she is not killed outright, like many others who have been victims of extra-judicial killings.

Meanwhile, if the separatist fighters lay hands on her, Ayuk Arrey will certainly be killed, like many others who have suffered from atrocities committed by separatist fighters.

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 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.

The crisis has left thousands, both civilians and security and defence forces dead, others internally displaced with some living in bushes while over 30,000 have fled to neighbouring Nigeria where they are living as refugees.

Many houses, and even whole villages, have been burnt down in the crisis-hit regions.

The separatist leader of the self-declared Republic of Ambazonia, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, and eight other close associates of his, who were arrested in Nigeria and extradited to Cameroon, are currently serving life sentences at the Kondengui maximum security prison in Yaounde.

Many other activists such as Mancho Bibixy, Penn Terrence, Tsi Conrad, among others, are also serving jail terms at the Kondengui prison.

While the Anglophone crisis continues to escalate, international organisations and other western powers have called on the government to address the root cause through genuine and inclusive dialogue.

The post Killings, arrests, kidnappings in NW, SW force many to flee abroad appeared first on THE SUN NEWSPAPER CAMEROON.

As an armed conflict digs in into the fabric of Cameroon’s North-West and South-West Regions, government appears to be at a loss for solution.

After the Major National Dialogue that took place in Yaounde from September 30 to October 2019 to resolve the Anglophone crisis that has been rocking the North West and South West regions for over five years and counting, things seem to have fallen on deaf ears. Arm conflicts between the separatist fighters and the defense forces still rage on with multiple deaths still recorded on both sides, houses razed to the ground, villages burnt down with impunity, and Internal Displaced Persons, IDPs,  on the increase as the government is sparing no effort at tracking down those she considers agents of destruction. Despite repeated calls for all protagonists to embrace peace for a better and new Cameroon. Cameroon which was once internationally praised as one of the most peaceful countries in the world is now struggling to cope with untold causalities from what many qualify as an unrelenting and insidious conflict.

Reports say more and more businessmen within the crisis-stricken Anglophone regions of Cameroon have restored to going underground after surviving arrest, torture, and harsh detention conditions from the military for allegedly siding and collaborating with separatist fighters, commonly known as ‘Amba Boys’ who have picked up arms against the State of Cameroon in request for separation and the restoration of the Independence of the statehood of former British Southern Cameroon termed Ambazonia. Apart from businessmen other Anglophone activists including those of other professions like Teaching, Medical Personnel, Journalists, Drivers, and Technicians have equally gone underground for fear of military reprisals.

The case of Odette Feter Kongnyuy is a serious cause for concern.  She has been under security searchlights ever since she went underground in 2022 and has been declared wanted by the regime, shortly after she was recruited by Integrated Circuit Co.LTD Tokyo. The Law graduate attached to Crown Law Chambers in Bamenda sources say had tough times with security operatives. As Executive Officer of Cameroon Relief Organisation a Kumba-based Non-Governmental organization, working in the domain of providing medical and financial assistance to Internally Displaced Persons for both those living in refugee camps in Nigeria and the bushes in Cameroon affected by the current Anglophone armed conflict, her situation was more complicated because this initiative didn’t go down well with government and consequently attracted frequent attacks on her and her institution by the military. In January 2022, THE SUN gathered that following the brutal killing of a military officer in Bamenda, by a separatist fighter, the military raided their Bamenda residential area, after a tip-off that the separatist fighter was hiding there. The military stormed their residence and accused her family of siding with separatists by providing them with financial and medical assistance. In the course of the military raid, Odette who fortunately had stepped out, but her mother-in-law and two cousins were severely beaten by the military until they went unconscious. As if this wasn’t enough following the brutal killing of a businessman whose name we got as Joe Esua at Market Street Bamenda on February 15, 2022, the military in retaliation stormed the entire neighborhood and arrested many innocent civilians. The military we gathered without a warrant but with instructions from above stormed the Law Office where Odette Feter Kongnyuy was undertaking her pupilage, that the office was sponsoring the Anglophone movement, instigating violence and separation thus she was seriously molested as she struggled to resist the activity of the military in their office. Despite a complaint she addressed to the Legal Department about the military atrocities in their office and on her person, the Legal Department gave a deaf ear to it. Family sources told THE SUN that Odette Kongnyuy was finally a victim of circumstance amidst the ongoing armed conflict in the two Anglophone restive regions. On March 8 2022 while returning with some friends from the celebration of International Women’s Day she was rough-handled by two plain cloth security operatives until she was rushed to the hospital.  Recalling that sometime on August 20, 2018, Barrister Forkwang Norbert was attacked and wounded in front of his chambers by the military for respecting lockdowns declared by the separatist fighters Odette became so concerned about her safety and that of her family. At Press time, the family compound of Odette in Bamenda had been razed to the ground by the military for backing the struggle with accusing fingers pointing at Odette for financing from her hideouts abroad and her cousin Tardzenyuy had been shot to death by the military for being a  spy for the Separatist fighters.

It should be recalled that Common Law Lawyers went on strike in October 2016 to protest government 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.

Government forces have engaged in extrajudicial killings, random looting, shooting, torture, molestation using disproportionate and discriminating force, abusing and arresting protesters, burning more than 200 villages, 500 houses, displacing hundreds of thousands of civilians, attacking hospitals beating and raping women and girls.

According to the International Crisis Group, Amnesty International, in 2019 about 3,000 people died, at least 500000 were declared Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, and about 40000 were refugees in neighboring Nigeria with close to 700000 children deprived of schooling. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported in July 2019 that about 1.3 million people in Anglophone Regions urgently needed humanitarian aid.

The post Businessmen, activists bear brunt of unending Anglophone crisis appeared first on THE SUN NEWSPAPER CAMEROON.

As the crisis in the North West and South West regions, which has escalated into an armed conflict, rages on, many people including businessmen and women, have been bearing the brunt.

These businessmen and women have found themselves caught between accusations from the defence and security forces and the Ambazonia separatist fighters.

Some of the businessmen and women who are accused by the military of sympathising with separatists are arrested, tortured and detained under deplorable conditions. Some have reported died in detention under unclear circumstances. Meanwhile, those who are accused by the separatist fighters have been killed by the Amba boys.

One of such who has gone through the ordeal is Alobwede Donald Ebong, a university graduate who had engaged in business.

After obtaining a degree in Banking and Finance, Alobwede began a petty business in his village in Kupe-Muanenguba Division of the South West Region. He bought items in Loum, Moungo Division of the Littoral Region, which he then sold in Kupe-Muanenguba Division to make profit and earn a living.

Alobwede and other businessmen and women often bribed their way through checkpoints mounted by both the military and Ambazonia fighters along the road to and from Loum.

However, sometime after, the military along the Loum-Tombel road began accusing Alobwede and other businessmen and women of acting as spies for the separatist fighters, questioning how they went along the road with their goods and money without being abducted by the separatist fighters.

When separatist fighters launched an attack on October 1, 2021, Alobwede is said to have been traveling along that stretch of road. He and other business persons were arrested by soldiers. They were tortured and whisked to Loum, where they were detained under deplorable conditions. The businessmen and women, including Alobwede Donald Ebong, were accused of having been supporting separatist fighters financially and providing them information on military movements.

Nonetheless, Alobwede was later released under conditions that remain unclear.

But for fear of his life, Alobwede, shortly after, went underground. The military is said to have been searching for him. A summons is reported to have been sent to his father’s house, calling on him to report at the gendarmerie brigade for interrogation.

Meanwhile, on August 10, 2023, soldiers are said to have stormed his father’s house, looking for him. The soldiers are said to have said Alobwede is being accused of having been providing information and financial support to separatist fighters.

If arrested Alobwede Donald Ebong will be tried in a military tribunal under the anti-terrorism law, whose maximum punishment is the death sentence. That is if he is not killed outright, like many others who have been victims of extrajudicial killings.

It should be recalled that in September 2017 a businessman in Belo Sub-division, Boyo Division of the North West Region, popularly known as Sam Sawyer, who was crippled and on a wheelchair, was killed after the military stormed his premises. He had been accused of having separatist fighters at his shop.

The lifeless body of Sam Sawyer was later seen, beheaded, in videos and pictures that went viral on social media.

Meanwhile, on November 4, 2021 a businessman and contractor, Wara Eric, and two others had been killed in Bamenda by gunmen suspected to be Ambazonia fighters. The heavily armed gunmen had attacked and killed the businessman including two other people.

It was around midday when the gunmen stopped a car Wara and the others were in at Mbingfibie neighbourhood in Bamenda, fired bullets, ripping three of its occupants.

Wara Eric was the contractor who had just won a contract at the Bamenda II council. He also owned a bar in Bamenda.

“He had been warned several times by non-state armed groups to discontinue the contract and stop selling brewery products from Les Brasseries du Cameroun,” a source had been quoted as having said.

Another witness said, “no one can say for sure who shot them, but speculation is that they were killed by separatist fighters”.

Wara Eric was in the car with his younger brother and two others. His brother allegedly escaped with a bullet wound on his hand. Two others, one identified as welder, died. They are said to have gone to the Council to carry out estimates.

However, another source was quoted as having claimed: “Seeing what happened the last time in Below Foncha, it is believed that Government forces dressed in mufti carried out the attack. We know their modus operandi when an oncoming car approaches. But then we are all confused here in Bamenda. The situation is terrible”.

As the armed conflict continues, the populations of the two crisis-hit regions have been decrying atrocities reportedly committed by both the military and separatist fighters. International organisations and other western powers have called on the government to address the root cause through genuine and inclusive dialogue.

The post Businessmen, women bearing brunt of armed conflict in NW, SW appeared first on THE SUN NEWSPAPER CAMEROON.

As the crisis in the North West and South West regions, which has morphed into an armed conflict, rages on, residents in some localities in the conflict-hit regions have been caught between atrocities committed by Ambazonia separatist fighters and government’s clampdown on suspected separatists and sympathisers of the Anglophone cause with the use of defence and security forces.

Security operatives have been indiscriminately arresting Anglophone activists and suspected activists while innocent youths are bearing the brunt of the unending armed struggle in the hands of both military and separatist fighters. These innocent youths are usually caught in the web of military officers and separatist fighters. They are either kidnapped for ransom by separatist fighters, taken to their respective camps, molested, tortured in an inhumane manner, while the military are involved in extrajudicial killings of innocent youths.

Lockdowns and ghost towns being the order of the day causing, there is untold hardship as places at times remain closed for several weeks, making it difficult for people to purchase food stuff for the family.

In the face of all these, the defence and security forces have established both search and arrest warrants for the apprehension against many youths and alleged Anglophone activists all over the national territory, suspected to be siding with separatist fighters as the armed conflict rages on.

These alleged activists are being considered dangerous and threats to the public and have been declared wanted. The population has equally been urged to be vigilant and report them to the closest gendarmerie or police stations.

It is against this backdrop that unanswered questions have been raised about the whereabouts of many Anglophones who have disappeared amidst the ongoing armed conflict.

One of such is Allen Enoh Bate, whose whereabouts since the month of June 2017 is unknown. He has been declared wanted and the arrest warrant against him is still enforceable.

As we went to press, military sources hinted that Allen Enoh Bata’s name, amongst other youths, has appeared in the list of those to be prosecuted if arrested as they have been declared wanted.

THE SUN gathered that due to the lockdowns and ghost towns calls by separatist fighters leading to scarcity of food stuff in Enoh Bata’s Bunduma–Buea neighbourhood, he decided to muster courage to go and purchase food from a grocery. Sources say upon his return from the grocery, he, along other,s were intercepted by military officers who tortured and whisked them to their station where they were detained incommunicado for a week. This was on grounds that they were Ambazonia fighters who have taken up arms against the state. Allen Enoh Bate miraculously escaped from detention and immediately went underground.

Flashback of the crisis

It is also worth recalling that the Anglophone crisis, something that pundits say had been brewing for several years, boiled over in 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.

The crisis has left thousands, both civilians and security and defence forces dead, others internally displaced with some living in bushes, while over 40,000 have fled to neighbouring Nigeria where they are living as refugees, houses as well as villages  razed to the ground with extrajudicial killings being a regular occurrence.

While the Anglophone crisis continues to escalate, international organisations and other western powers have called on the government to address the root cause through genuine and inclusive dialogue.

The post Youths bear brunt of unending crisis as armed conflict rages in NW, SW appeared first on THE SUN NEWSPAPER CAMEROON.

The crisis in the North West and South West Regions, which long escalated into an armed conflict continues to take new twists, the government, through the defence and security forces, has intensified its pursuit for those suspected to be separatist activists, others accused of supporting and collaborating with the Ambazonia separatist fighters and those who are sympathetic to the separatist cause.

The military has also intensified its crackdown on members of the now outlawed Southern Cameroons National Council, SCNC.

In this light, security and defence forces have been indiscriminately arresting all those suspected to be Ambazonia activists, collaborators and sympathisers and also persons suspected to have been taking part in activities organised by the SCNC.

Sources say the arrested persons are being tortured and detained under inhumane conditions. Some are reported to have died in detention.

For fear of their lives, many have fled and their whereabouts is not known. One case is that of Mbah Brandon Njang, who is a member of the SCNC and is being hunted by defence and security forces. Mbah is said to have been active in distributing SCNC T-shirts and other propaganda gadgets such as flyers, posters, banners, and other documents.

Mbah’s ordeal started sometime in January 2023 when he attended an SCNC meeting in Bamenda in the North West Region. The meeting, we gathered, was to protest against the celebration of Youth Day on February 11, 2023.

The police stormed the venue of the meeting while it was ongoing and arrested all those in attendance, including Mbah. The arrested persons were accused of being terrorists and attempting to split the country. They were whisked away to the Bamenda police station, tortured and detained under deplorable conditions.

However, on January 12, 2023, Mbah was released after he is said to have signed an undertaking to desist from SCNC activism.

Nonetheless, he still continued with SCNC activities. It was apparently for this that he was again arrested on February 14, 2023 at a military checkpoint in Bambili, Tubah Subdivision, Mezam Division of the North West Region. The defence and security officers who arrested Mbah found SCNC t-shirts and other materials in his possession.

He was tortured and ferried to the Bamenda police station where he was detained.

Meanwhile, on February 20, 2023, a group of Ambazonia fighters raided the police station where Mbah was detained, killing many security officers. In the process, Mbah and other detainees escaped.

Since then, Mbah’s whereabouts is not known. But shortly after he escaped from detention, the military raided his uncle’s residence in Bamenda, looking for him. After discovering SCNC materials in Mbah’s uncle’s house, he was shot dead and the house burnt down.

A warrant of arrest is reported to have been issued for Brandon Njang Mbah. If rearrested he will be tried in a military tribunal, under the 2014 anti-terrorism law, whose maximum punishment is the death sentence. That is if he is not killed outright, like many others who have been victims of extrajudicial killings within the context of the armed conflict in the North West and South West Regions.

Flashback on origin of crisis

It should be recalled that the Anglophone crisis, something that pundits say had been brewing for several years, boiled over in 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.

The crisis has left thousands, both civilians and security and defence forces dead, some 400,000 displaced with some living in bushes while over 50,000 have fled to neighbouring Nigeria, where they are living as refugees.

Many houses, and even whole villages, have been burnt down in the crisis-hit regions.

The separatist leader of the self-declared Republic of Ambazonia, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, and eight other close associates of his, who were arrested in Nigeria and extradited to Cameroon, are currently at the Kondengui maximum security prison where they are serving life sentences. They were sentenced by the Yaounde military tribunal in August 2019 on charges including terrorism and secession.

Many other activists such as Mancho Bibixy, Penn Terrence, Tsi Conrad, among others, are serving jail terms at the Kondengui prison.

While the Anglophone crisis continues to escalate, international organisations and other western powers have called on the government to address the root cause through genuine and inclusive dialogue.

The post Armed conflict in NW, SW: Gov’t fast-tracks pursuit for SCNC activists, suspected separatists, sympathizers appeared first on THE SUN NEWSPAPER CAMEROON.

When on the 17th of January 2017 English speaking Cameroon lawyers, activists and teachers protested peacefully against the exactions of the regime of President Biya, they were met with brutality, arbitrary killing from the Cameroon government through  its  military and/or  forces of law and order.

Since then hell broke loose in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon. Each passing week or month ejects a fresh name on the ever-growing list of those who have gone missing. Men, women, girls, boys even children. The list is inexhaustible. The most recent missing case brought to the attention of The SUN newspaper is Akwo Glen Eyong.

Akwo Glen was born in Buea and is about 27 years old now. Akwo Glen was caught in the web of sympathy with the struggle. Having understood the genuine protest of the English Speaking lawyers and teachers , he was forced to sympathize with the struggle for a political change in the country and to put an end to marginalization of the Anglophone population.

He had been member of the SCNC (Southern Cameroons National Council)since2015 in the Mamfe County, where he operated in the Youth Wing in the position of Youth Coordinator.

Akwo first face-to-face encounter with the military was on October 01, 2022 while holding a meeting in Mamfe in a house in Satom quarters while they were holding a meeting. They however escaped through the windows. Unfortunately, in the course of their escape, Akwo and one of the youths fell into the hands of the French-speaking military. They were dragged and punched on the faces, taken to a green-colored parked gendarmerie van with no number plate. They were taken to the Mamfe Gendarmerie Brigade. Upon arrival at the brigade- Mamfe, they were detained in separate cells. Akwo’s legs were chained as well as his hands and forced to lie down with his head faced down on a wet and filthy floor in the detention room. He underwent serious torture.

His mother would then seek the legal services of one Lawyer for his release to no avail. He was expecting his lawyer to file a case for his release when on Thursday October 06th 2022, he was taken out of the torture room in a semi-conscious state.

He woke up to realise he was in a Government hospital bed in the Mamfe general hospital with infusions on his hand/drip with a Uniform Officer seated and watching over him. On Sunday October 9, 2022,he was smuggled out of the hospital. Since then Akwo Glen has gone into hiding.

Like Akwo, Nkodem Mathiews Tentinu is also missing. Many Anglophone families are hurting and are in serious pain of not knowing where their sons, daughters, fathers and mothers are.

The post Conflict in North West, South West Regions of Cameroon: Missing “army of Anglophones” appeared first on THE SUN NEWSPAPER CAMEROON.