By Jonas Lima

Heads may roll within the ranks of security forces in Buea following investigations into the circumstances that led to the disappearance of a suspected Anglophone activist who was being held in detention.

A top security source who pleaded for anonymity for fear of reprisals told The SUN that a certain Akumengwa Neba Ntohnwi jumped detention Thursday, April 25, 2019 hours before he was to be sent to Yaounde.

“Some of the officers who were on duty have been put behind bars. Investigations have been opened. The high command is embarrassed at what happened and has given firm instructions as to how business will be conducted henceforth,” our source said.

The commander of the gendarmerie brigade where the suspect was detained is said to have been grilled by judicial police officers, given that a prison break is not likely to have taken place. Allegations are rife that the escape must have been an inside plot.

Akumengwa Neba Ntohnwi was dozens arrested by security forces following routine raids within the city of Buea to fish out suspected separatists believed to have infiltrated the area. We learnt soldiers were in the chase for separatist fighters who have since been fighting to restore a self-proclaimed state of Ambazonia, the territorial space of Cameroon’s English-speaking North West and South West Regions.

According to reliable information, the said Akumengwa Neba Ntohnwi was arrested on Friday, April 19, 2019 at the Mile 16 checkpoint. Sources at the judicial police say the suspect is a nurse who is believed to have been treating local fighters seeking a breakaway state.

Though our source said the evidence linking Akumengwa Neba Ntohnwi to the Ambazonia revolution remains sketchy, he said assorted information concerning the activities of the outlawed group were found in his phone and gadgets.

After the escape, locals say security forces masked and forced their way into homes, hostels and rooms in two targeted locations in Buea, dragging and beating their occupants.

Those arrested were transported in trucks to the gendarmerie legion, eyewitnesses said. It is not known the number of persons who were arrested, but judicial sources say they were being investigated for involvement in the separatist movement that has since turned into a militia. The escapee Akumengwa Neba Ntohnwi was unfortunately not among those recently taken into custody, a security source regretted.

Political tensions over cultural rights and identity have been growing in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions since 2016 when English-speaking lawyers, students and teachers began protesting against their under-representation and cultural marginalization by the Francophone-dominated government. Violent repression by the security forces resulted in arbitrary arrests, sexual violence, and the killing of several protesters.

Anglophone and Francophone Cameroon were unified in 1961, but there have been long-term disputes over the extent to which government resources and access to employment have been controlled by the French-speaking majority. Although the Anglophone minority constitutes 20 percent of the population of Cameroon, they are concentrated in the Northwest and Southwest regions. President Paul Biya has held power in Cameroon since 1982.

The recent crisis in Cameroon deepened after Anglophone separatists organized large-scale protests from 22 September to 1 October 2017 and symbolically proclaimed independence, establishing a state of “Ambazonia.” During the protests security forces responded with disproportionate and deadly force, leading to at least 40 deaths. Since then, violence between security forces and armed separatists has escalated. Government forces have arbitrarily arrested and tortured detainees, and destroyed a number of villages in the Anglophone regions.

Separatist forces have also killed at least 300 military personnel and attacked teachers for not participating in a separatist boycott. At least 40 schools in the Anglophone region have been burned down. Some armed separatist groups have kidnapped state officials and sought to make the Anglophone areas “ungovernable.” According to the UN, more than 500,000 people have fled their homes as a result of the ongoing violence with more than 50,000 others seeking refuge out of Cameroon.

The post Heads to roll in Buea as suspected Ambazonia activist jumps jail under unclear circumstances appeared first on THE SUN NEWSPAPER CAMEROON.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The post Anglophone Crisis “All Actors Must Face Justice” -Communication Minister appeared first on THE SUN NEWSPAPER CAMEROON.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Matters came to a head on Thursday, December 8 when the population of Bamenda took to the streets to denounce the politicisation of a strike action they consider genuine and borne of longstanding grievances.

Days of ghost town have since been observed throughout the South West and North West Regions of the country.

The post Death Penalty Hands Over Limbe Journalist appeared first on THE SUN NEWSPAPER CAMEROON.