The military has reportedly launched a fresh manhunt for a lady, Mary Ambo, who was years back accused of being an informant and sympathizer of the Ambazonia separatist fighters.

It should be recalled that some years back, Ambo had been accused by the military of being an informant and collaborating and sympathizing with separatist fighters. This was after the military had met her in a forest around Mundum in Mezam Division of the North West Region. Separatist fighters are said to have had one of their camps in the said forest.

Meanwhile, after the military had tried to track down Ambo after she fled from Bamenda, in order to extract information from her concerning her alleged links with the separatist fighters, she is said to have vamoosed.

However, recently, Ambo is reported to have resurfaced. Nonetheless, the military is said to have spotted her in a shop in Limbe, Fako Division of the South West Region. But before the soldiers could make a move to arrest her, Ambo mounted a commercial motorbike, which sped away.

Since then the soldiers have been on the lookout for her.

If arrested by the military, Mary Ambo will be tried in a military tribunal, under the 2014 anti-terrorism law, whose maximum punishment is the death sentence. That is if she is not killed outright, like many others who have been victims of extra-judicial killings within the context of the armed conflict in the North West and South West Regions.

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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 sympathizers of the Anglophone cause with the use of defense and security forces.

Government has equally launched a manhunt for alleged activists siding with separatists.

The activists include members of the outlawed Southern Cameroons National Council, SCNC, a pressure group clamouring for the restoration of the independence of the former British Southern Cameroons. Lists bearing the names of these alleged activists are already making rounds in the hands of the military, as they have been placed under military searchlight and declared wanted since they organised several protests and organised fighters living in the bushes to pick up arms to fight against the military and state institutions.

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 both home and abroad has been re-established and those on the list targeted for arrest. More than a hundred names have reportedly been given to intelligence services.

It is against this backdrop that unanswered questions have been raised about the whereabouts of many SCNC and Anglophones activists who have disappeared amidst the ongoing armed conflict rocking the restive North West and South West Regions.

Reports say one of the SCNC activists, Stella Limnyuy Wirsiy, is amongst those who have been declared wanted by the Yaounde regime. It is worth recalling that because of the marginalisation, subjugation, and injustice meted on Anglophone Cameroonians, Stella Limnyuy Wirsiy decided to join SCNC in 2005.

She served the movement through sensitisation of the masses on the already executing agenda of Francophone Cameroon against the people, culture, statehood, legal system, educational system and way of life of Anglophone Cameroon and the need to fight against it. She did this through sharing flyers and calling on students to boycott certain activities.

All these made Stella Limnyuy become a target to the authorities as she suffered a lot of persecution largely because of her political opinion and her SCNC affiliation.

THE SUN gathered that she was arrested several times, first by the policemen in uniform on February 9, 2006 at the Bamenda Commercial Avenue while sharing flyers sensitising students not to participate in the National Youth Day of February 11, 2006, a day considered by Southern Cameroonians regrettably voted to join La Republique du Cameroun in a Plebiscite of February 11, 1961.

Wirsiy was whisked to the police station, molested, tortured and detained in an inhumane, degrading condition for three weeks and released after she signed an undertaking to desist from SCNC activism.

However, Wirsiy didn’t relent her efforts to see to it that the quest for the total independence of the former British Southern Cameroons is achieved.

On May 16, 2006 at the main entrance of the University of Bamenda while distributing SCNC flyers to students, she was arrested by policemen in uniform, detained for eight months under cruel inhumane conditions. She later miraculously escaped from Bamenda Central Prison.

Family sources hinted that Stella Limnyuy Wirsiy relocated to Buea and on January 25, 2009 was arrested during a police raid in the Molyko neighbourhood and was whisked to the police station where she was officially informed that she was declared wanted all over the national territory due to her SCNC activities and her escape from the Bamenda Central Prison in 2007.

After serious negotiations with Police authorities, we learnt, Stella Limnyuy Wirsiy was released after a huge amount of money allegedly exchanged hands and she immediately left the country.

After several years out of the country, and with the hope that her persecution and threat would have been over, Limnyuy came back to Cameroon. But upon her arrival in Yaounde in February 2019 she was arrested and detained at the Kondengui Maximum Security Prison.

THE SUN gathered that Stella Limnyuy Wirsiy put to birth in prison and a senior female penitentiary officer at the Kondengui prison took her to her house to serve as a domestic servant and for her to have the opportunity of taking care of her newborn baby out of prison.

Sources say Stella Limnyuy Wirsiy took advantage of this and went underground in 2020.

As we went to press, the military, with firm instruction from government, had launched fresh pursuit for her arrest alongside many others for them to be prosecuted at the Yaounde Military Tribunal on charges of secession, hostility and related offences and her support for the restoration of the independence of the former British Southern Cameroons.

The military keeps making impromptu checks at her Buea and Bamenda residential areas, just to arrest and prosecute her. Family sources have hinted that they are constantly harassed and molested for them to disclose her whereabouts which unfortunately, remains cloudy.

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More and more youths caught in the web of the ongoing armed conflict in the North West and South West are fleeing to safe havens and most especially where the respect of human rights is prime as political witch-hunting and scores-settling have taken centre stage.

Security operatives have been indiscriminately arresting innocent Anglophone youths and suspected activists. Sources say the arrested persons are being detained under deplorable and inhuman conditions. Some have reportedly died in detention.

In the face of all this, youths, activists are bearing the brunt of the unending Anglophone crisis and remain scapegoats. They are at the crossroad between the military and separatist fighters.

They have been considered as dangerous and threats to the public and declared wanted. The population has equally been urged to be vigilant and report to the closest gendarmerie or police stations. Those who have successfully escaped to countries where the respect of Human Rights is prime for protections, their names are still in the military database pending arrest and prosecution.

The case of Sinju Dickson Ngalia, just like many others, is extremely pathetic. Family sources say his whereabouts remains cloudy ever since he went underground in December 2024 and has been declared wanted.

THE SUN learnt that Sinju Dickson Ngalia, a poultry farmer resident in Ekombe, a village in Mbonge Subdivision, Meme Division of the South West Region and a driver plying the Ekondo- Titi – Buea highways is a victim of circumstances amidst the ongoing armed conflict that has cost many lives and many are now Internal Displaced Persons, IDPs.

In an effort to fish out separatist fighters in Mbonge Subdivision who have been causing havoc in the area, the military on May 15, 2024 intercepted Sinju at Ekombe and took his vehicle while he was transporting passengers to Buea from Ekondo –Titi. Sinju, just like any other denizen in the area, only got information that the vehicle was used to go and attack separatist fighters. Reports say on September 29, 2024 on the eve of the celebration of the supposed independence of the former British Southern Cameroons usually celebrated every October 1,  separatist fighters,  at gunpoint intercepted Sinju at Kwa –Kwa, Mbonge, took his vehicle went and attacked the military and abandoned the vehicle along the road.

We learnt that Sinju later on took his vehicle and continued with his daily routine until December 14, 2024 when his wife called him while he was in his farm, telling him that the military had raided their house, molested and torture the entire family including children and in an unfriendly tone are looking him.

For fear of the unknown, Sinju Dickson Ngalia decided to flee the country to an unknown destination. Since December 2024 his name remains the talk of the day within Cameroon Security Operatives. He has been declared wanted by the military and for fear of the unknown his whereabouts remains cloudy and the military keeps making impromptu checks around their neighbourhood in search of him.

As we went to press, the military had launched fresh pursuit for his arrest alongside many others for them to be prosecuted at the Yaounde Military Tribunal on charges of terrorism-related offences.

Reports say the crisis has caused many in the English-speaking regions to migrate to French-speaking towns and the cities in Cameroon, while others have fled to neighbouring countries as refugees. 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 Cameroon Penal Code if arrested Sinju will face charges of acts of terrorism, insurrection, hostilities against the state, and failure to report.

The Anglophone crisis began 2016 with the teachers’ and lawyers’ strikes, which later attracted the people of the two English-speaking regions of the country, as they said their accumulated grievances emanated from marginalisation by the majority French-speaking part of Cameroon, inequality in employment, adulterations of the judicial and sub educational systems.

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The kick off of the 2024/2025 academic year in Cameroon is gathering momentum throughout the national territory. The exact date for schools to open their doors is Monday September 9, 2024.

While the back- to- school bells are already ringing with parents criss- crossing  the various markets  to purchase didactic materials for their  children and carrying on registration in the various schools,  the situation in the restive North West and South West Regions is different. Separatist fighters have called for school boycotts, shutdown and lockdown in these two regions.

Whereas the military is advocating for effective school resumption, the separatist fighters are against. They say effective school resumption will only see the light of day when these two Anglophone Regions will gain full autonomy from La Republique du Cameroun.

The separatist fighters have engaged in their usual tactics of visiting schools that have already opened their doors for registration in preparation of the start of the school year that seems promising. They constantly visit the schools and demand for financial support.

Reports say their constant visit to some of these schools asking for financial support at gunpoint and harassing staff members has of recent attracted military attention, causing them to accuse the school authorities and staff members of siding and supporting separatist fighters who have taken up arms against them. These allegations from the military have caused many innocent school authorities and their support staff to be arrested, tortured, molested, and detained in very cruel, degrading and inhumane detention conditions by the military.  Many have been declared wanted by the military and the whereabouts of some remains cloudy.

The situation of Takwa Nadine Mali, Personal Administrative Assistant to the Proprietor of Ebenezer Higher Institute of Science and Technology in Bamenda is worrisome. Her whereabouts at press time remained a misery.

Reports say she has suffered constant threats and molestation from the Ambazonia Defense forces, and unfortunately has been placed under government security searchlight for not only siding with separatists but supporting them financially.

The separatist fighters often, at gun point, reportedly demanded her financial support for defying their school boycott and shutdown orders. Takwa Nadine Mali at one point gave FCFA 50,000 to the separatist fighters for them to spare her live when separatist fighters took advantage of an unfortunate incident that occurred on August 7, 2024 and stormed their school.

Eyewitnesses say a motorbike rider was killed by a truck driver, thus causing the bikers to stage a protest and the separatist fighters took advantage of incident and stormed the institution.

The military, according to what we gathered, got hint of the incident and how money exchanged hands between the separatist fighters and the Personal Assistant of the school proprietor and immediately placed her under security searchlight.

Takwa Nadine, according to sources, under pressure from the military, accepted that she had been giving money to the separatist just to spare her life especially when the separatists usually threatened her at gunpoint.

This confession from Takwa Nadine triggered the military to launch a manhunt for her as information circulated that an arrest warrant has been issued for her. She had no other option than to escape out of the country, taking into consideration that she is caught in the web of the separatists and the military.

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 sub 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 50,000 have fled to neighbouring Nigeria, where they are living as refugees. Houses, as well as villages, have been razed to the ground with extrajudicial killings being regular occurrences.

School boycotts, shutdowns and perpetual lockdowns have been the order of the day since the crisis metamorphosed into an armed conflict.

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The protracted crisis in the North West and South West regions, which escalated into an armedconflict since 2017 with the Ambazonian or separatist fighters on one side against the defence and security, has in recent years, taken a new turn.

Today, innocent civilians continue to be victims of atrocities perpetrated by the Ambazonia fighters on the one side, and bloody measures by Government forces against those they think have an affiliation with separatists or simply sympathise with the Anglophone cause.

Defence and security forces have been arresting, without due process, pro-independence Anglophone activists and anyone suspected of having any sympathy to the Anglophone cause. The Separatist groups have been agitating for an independent state made up of the two English-speaking regions, which they call Ambazonia.

Several human rights and news organisations believe that the majority of those arrested in connection to the Anglophone separatists’ cause have either died in detention as a result of torture or extreme inhuman conditions. Many are still in detention today; the likes of the Nera Ten separatist leaders, arrested in Nigeria and brought to Cameroon, amongst them, the Ambazonian leader, Sesseko Ayuk Tabe​, are currently serving life sentences at the Kondengui Maximum Security Prison in Yaounde.

For fear of the arrests and killings, many have fled to other relatively safe parts of the country while thousands have escaped Cameroon to neighbouring countries like Nigeria or to the USA and other Western countries where they are currently living as refugees.

The US President, Joe Biden had in April 2022, granted over 12,000 Cameroonian immigrants in the US Temporary Protected Status, TPS, because of the war in the two regions of Cameroon. This TPS was renewed in October 2023, providing thousands of Cameroonians another 18 months of relief since the war in the two English-speaking Regions of Cameroon is still ongoing. With many still killed, others taken hostage and the rest nursing either their wounds or trying to survive the hardships imposed by the crisis.

And while the conflict continues, the Government forces are committed to their campaign which is focused on locating and destroying with extreme prejudice the fighters to the last man. On the other hand, the separatist fighters have also not been showing any sign of withdrawal from their battle against the Government.

Civilians caught in-between!

And in the middle of this bloody war are the innocent civilians whom the Government, on one hand, blames for not assisting the state security forces with information on the whereabouts of the separatists. In contrast, the separatists, who have been abducting, murdering and abusing civilians themselves have been blaming them for not supporting their cause or for acting as an informants to the Government forces. So, due to this insecure environment, most civilians have fled Cameroon over the years to other countries, in order to be secure.

For women and girls, the story has been more alarming since a majority have been raped either by government forces or by Ambazonian separatist fighters.

Amongst those who unfortunately fell in-between the crossfire of the Ambazonia fighters and the military, as our investigations uncovered recently, is Nsocka Besong Comfort.

Comfort was once, herself, abducted and taken to the forest for several days by suspected separatists where she was allegedly sexually abused. Her father, Nsocka Dieudonne, unfortunately died during the crisis on November 28, 2019.

Comfort’s father, a worker with the National Railway Corporation (CAMRAIL) in Douala, was reportedly shot pointblank in his car by suspected separatist fighters.

As per the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), Human Rights Watch and other international agencies, the war has now claimed more than 6,000 lives in which many persons have lost their lives in a similarly gruesome manner.

Caught in-between the crossfire of the Ambazonia fighters and the military

The Nsocka family fell into distraught when Comfort’s father was killed, and threats from both the separatists and Government forces were now being directed towards Mr Nsocka’s wife, a police officer, and their children. Due to the hostile conditions of her day, Mrs Elisabeth Enow Nsocka, who was serving as a Complaints Reception Officer at the Tinto Police Station, Manyu Division of the South West Region, was forced to flee into hiding as well.

The conflict had forced many in the village areas where Mrs Elisabeth Nsocka was working to flee for safety. Comfort’smother, a police officer in war-torn Tinto, was being accused by the separatists of being state security officer for the Cameroon Government which they were fighting against as their enemy.

This, therefore, forced Mrs Elisabeth Nsocka, Comfort, and all to flee their war-torn village. Comfort’s mother reportedly ran off with her granddaughter, Fongwa Dieudonne, who is Confort’s daughter.

This reporter found out that Comfort abandoned the daughter with her mother and also had to leave Cameroon after she and one of the sisters could no longer bear the pains after having been kidnapped by the separatists and subjected to sexual abuse.

As this reporter gathered, Comfort, like thousands of other Cameroonians fled the country after a lucky escape for further studies in Europe.

Pleas for dialogue rebuffed

Various governments including Canada and Switzerland, and some local citizens in Cameroon, have continuously called for an inclusive dialogue by the Cameroon Government. But the Government maintains that it cannot negotiate with the separatists who it accuses of being terrorists.

The crisis began in November 2016 when teachers and lawyers protested the marginalisation of Anglophones and the need for reforms in the educational system. The government responded with a heavy hand that erupted into an outright civil war by 2017. Until date, the war is still raging.

So as for the two English-speaking regions, the situation is still very unsafe for Cameroonians who fled to return.

The US Government as well, in the same line of thought, renewed the Temporary Protected Status for well over 12,000 Cameroonians in 2023. The TPS was first granted to fleeing Cameroonians who got to the US back in April, 2022, owing to the continuing insecurity in the two Anglophone regions.

Human Rights Watch 2024 World Report titled: “Cameroon Events of 2023”  states clearly that: “Continued clashes between armed groups and Government forces across Cameroon’s Anglophone and Far North Regions had a devastating impact on civilians, with reports of unlawful killings, abductions, and raids on villages rising in the second half of the year.”

The Report went on to state: “Civilians in the Anglophone regions are still subjected to abuses by various parties to the ongoing crisis, including sexual and gender based violence”.

The North West and South West remain in crisis and unsafe for anyone to return home because the killings and abductions are still near-weekly or monthly occurrences.

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As the Anglophone crisis, which has metamorphosed into an armed conflict rages on, the government, through her military is currently targeting Anglophones alleged to be activists and have consequently launched a manhunt for them for not only siding with separatists, but offering them substantial financial assistance.

In the face of all these, security operatives have not stop raping women, molesting, torturing killing innocent Anglophones and burning their houses and properties. They have established both search and arrest warrants for the apprehension of many alleged Anglophone activists all over the national territory, suspected to be siding with separatist fighters as the ongoing armed conflict that started about seven years ago rages on.

The alleged activists both home and abroad have been considered as dangerous and threats to the public and declared wanted. The population has equally been urged to be vigilant and report to the closest gendarmerie or police stations.

The alleged activists include Yvonne Ayamba Ayuk, Nji Alfred Ndifor Ni Mbone, Bolivan Enow Ako, Mbanwei John, Mbelle Franklin Etonge and Charlette Nkwa Mbiaya.

At press time THE SUN gathered that the case of Yvonne Ayamba Ayuk, a worker with a Non Governmental Organisation, Rising Hope Foundation for Change, RHFC, charged for bringing hope, happiness and smiles to the least privileged youths, orphans, Internally Displaced persons, street children, girl child and physically challenged individuals affected by the ongoing armed conflict, has been described as pure witch-hunting.  In the line of duties, reports say Ayamba is a victim of circumstances amidst the crisis and declared wanted targeted by the military.

She is reported to have been molested blindfolded, handcuffed by a mixed patrol of security operatives at Banso Quarters in Mamfe, Manu Division of the South West Regin and detained on grounds that she is a frontline of the Anglophone struggle.

Sources say despite her release, she was still determined in her function and the military saw it as a challenge and took upon themselves to puncture all her moves on behalf of RHFC, especially unearthing the atrocities of the military in Manyu Division where she worked. The military arrested and placed her under degrading inhumane detention condition until she miraculously escaped from detention to an unknown destination. Family sources say her whereabouts remains cloudy since January 2024, leaving them traumatized, especially with the brutal killing of her cousin by the military.

The government crackdown on alleged Anglophone activists and politicians more especially youths has since intensified with arbitrary arrests, detention, and torture and extra-judicial killings becoming the new normal, human rights groups have said.

Government forces have engaged in extrajudicial killings, random looting, shooting, torture, molestation using disproportionate and discriminating force, abusing and arresting protesters, burning more than 300 villages, 600 houses, displacing hundreds of thousands of civilians, attacking hospitals beating and raping women and girls. The inhumane treatment meted on innocent civilians amidst the crisis is alarming and the international bodies have been called upon to intervene and mount pressure on the government to solve the situation and assist all those who have escaped the armed conflict.

With the armed conflictstill rages on and many more killings by the military and separatist fighters are still been documented by rights organisations, the government has launched a man hunt for those alleged to be fanning the crisis both at home and. abroad. Terrorism charges hang on them if arrested as they have been declared wanted.

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The North West and South West regions of Cameroon have remained restive since the outbreak of the Anglophone crisis in 2017. Investigative findings and reports from many human rights groups and non-governmental organisations have condemned extrajudicial killings, by mostly the military on innocent civilians including children and pregnant women.

As the crisis that has morphed into an armed conflict rages, reports say hundreds have been kidnapped, thousands of houses razed, over 750,000 persons identified as internally displaced, with over 45,000 living horrible lives as refuges in neighbouring Nigeria.

Burning of houses, villages, ghost towns and civil disobedience, school lockdown and boycott, kidnapping for ransom by the separatists, constant harassment, intimidation and death threats are now the order of the day.

Many  innocent civilians have been arrested, tortured and detained under cruel and horrible conditions by government forces, for not only siding with the separatists by financing them in their atrocities, but also for allegedly picking up arms against the government.

As we went to press, the government of Cameroon, through the military and the courts, had launched fresh pursuits to arrest and persecute innocent alleged Anglophone activists both home and abroad. They are suspected to be siding with separatist fighters as the ongoing armed conflict that started about seven years rages on. The alleged activists have been considered dangerous and threats to the public and declared wanted. The population has equally been urged to be vigilant and report to the closest gendarmerie or police stations.

The case of Akanji Kizito is very much pathetic and is the talk in every lip. The buoyant farmer of Muyenge, Fako Division, South West Region of Cameroon saw himself entangled by the armed conflict rocking the two Anglophone Regions. His whereabouts remains cloudy since March 2024 as the military is bent on prosecuting him amongst other innocent civilians allegedly linked to the crisis. Search and arrest warrants are in circulation for his arrest and some members of his family all over the national territory. He is being falsely accused of being separatist fighter, a deadly accusation in Cameroon

Reports say Akanji Kizito became a scapegoat amidst the armed conflict in the early years of the crisis in 2017. Sources say when the military raided the village of Muyenge sometimes in November 2017 with gunshots and burning of houses, Akanji and family alongside hundreds of denizens ran to the forest for fear of the unknown while others were arrested, whisked to Buea and later to Kondengui maximum security prison in Yaounde.

Sources say Akanji and others lived miserable lives in the forest for several weeks following frequent crossfire between the government forces and separatist armed groups.  Akanji narrated that when he took the risk to go to the village he discovered that their house had been razed to the ground and thus he had no choice than to return to the forest until after three years.

As the crisis rages on, Akanji Kizito, alongside other farmers who were returning from their cocoa fram, were arrested, molested and tortured by   government security forces on grounds that they are separatist fighters and immediately whisked to Buea where he was detained under cruel, degrading and inhumane conditions. During interrogation while in detention, he was accused of fighting for the independence of the Anglophone part of the country, thus causing the conflict.

The military equally threatened to kill him if he doesn’t confesss and undertake to never fight against the government forces as well as to disclose the whereabouts of the separatist fighters operating in Muyenge and the surrounding areas.

THE SUN gathered that Akanji was released thanks to the intervention of one of his uncle after huge amount of money exchanged hands with the authorities.

Things again went soar for Akanji following a clash that occurred between   separatist fighters and government forces in Muyenge village in January 2024, which ended with the death of some government forces. The   forces raided the village, arrested Akanji alongside other farmers, molested them and whisked them to Buea where they were subjected to inhumane treatment while in detention for one week, on grounds that Akanji is a separatist fighter and fighting against the government. Akanji Kizito was later miraculously released from detention thanks to serious negotiation between his uncle and the authorities.

Since then government forces have multiplied impromptu patrols in Akanji’s neighbourhood in Muyenge to arrest and jail him. His family is constantly being harassed for them to disclose the whereabouts of Akanji.

The country is now considered unsafe by many Anglophones in the diaspora who fear arrest or death if they return to the country.

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. Also, prominent Anglophone lawyer and human rights activist, Barrister Nkongho Felix Agbor Balla, has called on the Government to dialogue, and to release all Anglophones unlawfully detained and imprisoned.

Recently French President Emmanuel Macron promised to exert “maximum pressure” on President Paul Biya to end Cameroon’s intolerable human rights violations.

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Reports from across the two restive Regions of the North West and South West Regions say many are caught in the web of the crisis. They are either kidnapped by separatist fighters for ransom on one hand or are arrested by the military on grounds that they are siding and collaborating with separatist fighters and to a greater extent financing the separatist fighters, especially those living abroad.

Majority have been forced to drop out from school for fear of their lives  as the two restive regions have been the battle ground between separatist fighters and the Cameroon Defense Forces with frequent sporadic gun exchange being the order of the day.

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.

Schools, houses and villages have been razed to the ground by both the military and separatist fighters. Ghost towns and lockdowns imposed by the separatist fighters, and the frequent calls from the separatist fighters for school boycotts is the order of the day across the two regions.

In the face of all these, youths and innocent civilians are the ones bearing the brunt of the unending crisis. Many have been declared wanted. The military and other security operatives have established both search and arrest warrants for the apprehension of many alleged Anglophone activists all over the national territory, suspected to be siding with separatist fighters as the ongoing armed conflict rages on.

The alleged activists have been considered dangerous and threat to the public and declared wanted. The population has equally been urged to be vigilant and report to the closest gendarmerie or police stations is the have information about those declared wanted.

Those who have successfully escaped to countries where the respect of human rights is prime for protections, their names are still in the military database pending arrest and prosecution, while their names equally future in the blackleg list of the separatists.

The case of Marinus Enow Mayu Anja, just as many others, is extremely pathetic. Family sources say his whereabouts remains cloudy ever since he went underground in February 2023 and has been declared wanted.

As we went to press, the military keeps making impromptu checks at their residential area in Mamfe, Manyu Division of the South West Region, to arrest and prosecute him. Family sources have hinted that they are constantly harassed and molested for them to disclose his whereabouts, which, unfortunately, remains cloudy.

It should be recalled that Marinus Enow Mayu Anja’s first bitter encounter with government forces was in October 2014 as a fresh university student in Buea. He was arrested alongside many other students by the police, during a peaceful demonstration against the Biya government. They were incarcerated and treated inhumanely and Marinus was released after money allegedly exchanged hands with the police authorities. He immediately relocated to Mamfe to join his uncle, Simon, to work for him in his store.

Both Marinus and his uncle have faced constant threats from the Ambazonia fighters and the Biya regime from 2013 to 2021. While the government agents are suspecting him and his uncle, Simon, for siding and collaborating with separatist fighters, separatist fighters, on the other hand, are accusing them for not supporting the secessionist movement, especially as Anglophones, thus placing their lives in danger.

For fear of the unknown, since the situation was so tense, Marinus’ uncle decided to send him out of the country to complete his studies in September 2021 and he returned to the country in January 2023 and joined his uncle in his store.

Reports say a customer placed a command for the supply of 300 T-shirts which they did and after delivery, their store was raided by security operatives and immediately accused his uncle for siding with separatist fighters, and when he resisted arrest he was shot and killed.

The military then arrested Marinus and his friend and whisked them to Mamfe Police Station and detained them in a deplorable condition. While in detention, they were informed that the T-shirts were supplied to Ambazonia supporters.

They were later transferred to Buea and Marinus was finally released on February 2, 2023 after having signed an undertaking to avoid supporting the Ambazonian Movement. Reports say Marinus, after his release, returned to Mamfe and discovered that the military was watching him from a distance and during a raid by the military in their neighbourhood Marinus immediately went underground and finally went to an unknown destination.

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The crisis in the North West and South West regions, which has morphed into an armed conflict has been taking new twists with residents in some localities in the conflict-hit regions being 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 suspects. Sources say the arrested persons are being tortured and detained under deplorable and inhumane conditions. Some have reportedly died in detention.

This has caused many of them to flee into hiding and the whereabouts of many is not known.

The separatist fighters have also been torturing and killing those whom they suspect are not sympathetic to and not supporting their independence cause. Some of those who do not collaborate with the separatist fighters have been abducted and only released after ransom is paid. Others have been killed, with some beheaded.

One of those who have been caught between the Ambazonia fighters and the military is Humfred Takum Teghen, traditional ruler of Barakwe Clan in Mbengwi Subdivision, Momo Division in the North West Region. He is also a member of the Cameroon Bar Association, supporter of the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, CPDM, and a member of the North West Regional Assembly.

Takum’s ordeal began in January 2020 when he was accused by Ambazonia separatist fighters of not financially supporting their cause, and because he is a supporter of the CPDM regime, which the separatist consider as their enemy.

The separatist kidnapped him from his palace in front of his family members. Takum was whisked away to one of the camps of the fighters, where he is said to have been tortured and threatened to be killed. He is said to have been freed by the fighters days later, after a ransom is reported to have been paid.

Meanwhile, in 2020 when the Regional Assembly was created in the North West and South West Regions and Regional Councils in the eight other French-speaking regions, Humfred Takum Teghen ran for the regional election that was held in December 6, 2020 and was elected into the North West Regional Assembly.

However, this did not go down well with the separatist fighters, who swore to kill him if they laid hands on him.

Sometime in April 2023, Takum is said to have disappeared from public view, apparently for fear of his life. During this time, there were clashes in Momo Division between defence and security forces and separatist fighters, which led to the death of some fighters and defence and security officers. Both the separatist fighters and soldiers are said to have stormed Takum’s palace in search of him. Not finding him, the palace was vandalised.

Nonetheless, in December 2023 Takum resurfaced. But his ordeal was far from over. The separatist fighters are said to have attempted to kidnap him, accusing him of having disclosed their hideouts to the military, which attacked them. He missed being kidnapped when the fighters stormed a hotel where he was staying.

On December 17, 2023, Takum was arrested by defence and security forces in Douala, Littoral region and detained at the Bonaberi Police station. He was accused of financing Ambazonia separatist fighters, failing to disclose their hideouts in his community and advocating for a Federal system of government, which is contrary to the unitary state stipulated by the constitution.

He was, on December 19, 2023, released on bail after the intervention of the president of the Bar Association and Takum’s lawyer colleagues and traditional ruler peers.

However, days later, Takum jumped bail and vamoosed. Since then his whereabouts is not known. Security and defence forces are said to have been storming his palace in Mbengwi in search of him.

We gathered that in February 2024, defence and security forces raided

Takum’s palace, arrested many people, tortured and ordered them to disclose the hideout of separatist fighters, whom, they claimed, were taking refuge in the palace.

An arrest warrant is said to have been issued for Humfred Takum Teghen. If rearrested by the defence and security forces, 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 extra-judicial killings within the context of the armed conflict in North West and South West Regions.

On the other hand, if the separatist fighters lay hands on him, Humfred Takum Teghen 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 sub 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 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 serving life sentences at the Kondengui maximum security prison in Yaounde. They were sentenced in August 2019 by the Yaounde military tribunal on charges including terrorism and secession.

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 rages on, international organisations and other western powers have called on the government to address the root cause through genuine and inclusive dialogue.

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The lives of humanitarian and health workers in the North West and South West regions are continuously in danger as armed conflict persists in the crisis-hit areas.

The humanitarian and health workers have been caught between the Ambazonia separatist fighters and government defence and security forces. While the secessionist fighters have sometimes kidnapped and also killed some humanitarian and health workers, defence and security forces have, on their part, been arresting any humanitarian and health worker accused of having links with separatists or treating wounded separatist fighters, providing healthcare and humanitarian assistance to persons internally displaced by the armed conflict.

The arrested humanitarian and health workers are being detained under horrible conditions. Some have reportedly died in detention. It is in this light that many of them have fled into hiding.

One such humanitarian worker who has borne the brunt of the armed conflict is Emerencia Ngwo Endoh, who was working with St. Jude Apostolate Cameroon League, providing support and care to underprivileged persons in her community. Saint Jude Apostolate Cameroon League is a Roman Catholic movement with key activities being prayers and helping homeless people, especially giving care and support to less privileged people who have been victims of the armed conflict in the English-speaking regions.

On October 3, 2021, while undergoing her charitable activities, visiting and supporting the less privileged and victims of the armed conflict, the military accused Ngwo of helping Ambazonia separatist fighters with supplies. She was arrested and whisked away to the military camp, where she was tortured, allegedly raped and detained under inhumane conditions.

Days later, Ngwo was discovered abandoned on the road and taken to the hospital, where she was hospitalized to be treated for the injuries she incurred and the trauma she suffered.

But her ordeal with the military was far from over. On June 4, 2022, her brother, whose name we got as Valentine Endoh, was found dead in the bush after fleeing military torture and severe beatings.

For fear of her life, Emerencia Ngwo vamoosed, and since then, her whereabouts have not been known.

However, sometime in September 2023, the military stormed their residence in search of her. Not finding her, they took her brother, George Endoh, and tortured him, and he later died because of the injuries he incurred from the torture.

Suspicious of Ngwo’s humanitarian activities, the military has launched a manhunt for her. If rearrested by the military, Emerencia Ngwo Endoh will be tried in a military tribunal under the anti-terrorism law, whose maximum punishment is the death penalty. That is, if she 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.

 Other victims galore

It should be recalled that in August 2018, Nancy Azah and her husband, Njong Paddisco, nurses who ran separate clinics in Mbengwi, Momo Division of the North West Region, were reported to have been shot by the military while on their way to attend to people wounded in the armed conflict.

The couple’s deaths provoked outrage among medical staff who said both sides of the conflict were threatening them: government security forces accuse them of treating armed fighters and hiding some in hospitals, while the armed separatists accuse medical staff of disclosing their identities to the military.

Elvis Ndansi of the Cameroon Trade Union of Nurses had said: “The military comes, chase them out of the hospital, brutalize them, beat them. As medical personnel, we all stand to condemn these acts and say they are very wrong”.

“Medical personnel are supposed to be protected in times of war. They are there to take care of all casualties, be they from the military, be they Ambazonia fighters or secessionists. Their role is to save lives,” Ndansi had added.

Meanwhile, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders had it rough with the government and separatist fighters before ending its operations in the North West and South West regions.

In the early hours of February 4, 2021, a Doctors Without Borders ambulance was fired on by armed men while responding to a call in Muyuka, Fako Division of the South West Region. The ambulance was hit, and the accompanying nurse was injured.

Doctors Without Borders was forced, in August 2021, to withdraw its teams from the North West Region after its programmes were suspended by government authorities almost eight months earlier. The suspension came after a series of allegations accusing Doctors Without Borders of supporting local armed groups, which the organization consistently denied.

In May 2022, Doctors Without Borders also suspended its activities in the South West Region.

Meanwhile, in December 2022, five of the organization’s staff, who had been detained for a year on charges of helping separatists, were released. The staff, four of them Cameroonians and one Indian, were tried in a military tribunal in Buea but acquitted.

The military arrested two of the staff in December 2021 in Nguti, Kupe-Muanenguba Division of the South West Region, while they were transporting a patient with a gunshot wound to a hospital. The military said the patient was a separatist, and the next month arrested two more Doctors Without Borders staff members, accusing them of collaboration.

Despite the dropped charges, Doctors Without Borders’ Operations Manager for Central Africa, Sylvain Groulx, said they cannot yet resume the needed aid work.

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