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.

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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.

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The groundswell in activism that has been shaking the very foundation of Cameroon for the past six years has now reached unprecedented levels with virtually every Cameroonian being a victim. What originally seemed like a passing wind has virtually been transformed into a mighty tornado.

From a seemingly isolated  Common Law Lawyers protest against the overbearing use of the French language in Common Law courts, in 2016  to the shutting down of schools in the English-Speaking regions thanks to a strike action called by all Anglophone  Teachers Trade Unions protesting the Cameroon Government’s blatant disregard of the English sub-system of Education, accompanied by a generalized mass civil society unrest that went beyond professional demands to political demands, touching the on the very form of the state, disobedience, it was clear that the ground is shifting under the feet of the Yaounde regime.

The Anglophone crisis has now turned bloody with reprisals from the military against innocent civilians, who are caught in the web, especially in the restive regions of the North West and South West. Extrajudicial killings, burning of houses and villages, arbitrary arrest, molestation and torture, detention, and incarceration of youths tagged as separatist fighters in inhumane conditions are becoming a new normal as the crisis rages on. Youths, teachers, medical personnel, and other professionals, allegedly considered “terrorists” by Yaounde because of their secessionist tendencies, have restored to leaving the country for haven in distant countries.

Meanwhile, the Government has launched a manhunt for these youths, whose whereabouts remain cloudy,  Separatist fighters on the other hand are accusing them of colluding with the government, reasons why they keep on kidnapping and torturing them for ransom thus causing them to be victims of circumstances and with going underground been the only option.

THE SUN NEWSPAPER has it on record that both the military and separatist fighters have been making impromptu checks on the residence of these suspected  Anglophone activists. The government has listed most anglophones who are abroad as principal sponsors of separatist fighters for arrest anytime they are seen within the national territory.

In the midst of all these, several alleged activists both at home and abroad, have been reportedly earmarked for arrest, with regional and national warrants issued against them. Photos of most of the alleged activists declared “wanted” are said to have been handed to security operatives with names including but not limited to Fomuki Iris Keng, Tinjong Kendry Selvene, Menyele Charles Musima, Acha Munde Joseph and Eva Viviane Njecacal Mony.

These youngsters have been placed under security searchlight, making Cameroon unsafe for them. Cognizant of this, these youngsters have resorted to seeking a haven in distant countries where respect for Human Rights is supreme.

20-year-old  Eva Viviane  Njecacal Mony reports say is one of those anglophones alleged activists found in the crisis rocking the North West and South West Regions which has escalated into a full-blown war remains very pathetic. The victim of circumstances who escaped from persecution and prosecutions in Cameroon to a country where the respect of human rights is prime in January 2023 after having been tagged by the military for siding with separatist fighters and being their spy at the detriment of the regime in power.

The Sun Newspaper gathered that sometime in March 2022, Eva, while on a courtesy visit to her cousin in Muyuka one of the restive towns in the South West Region affected by the crisis, saw herself arrested by the military. She was molested, tortured, raped, and detained under dehumanized harsh conditions alongside many other alleged anglophone activists. Eva, The Sun Newspaper gathered was accused just like her family of being in support of secession, providing separatists with weapons to overthrow the government,  having amorous relationships with separatist fighters, and providing them with state intelligence sensitive information. After a week in detention, Eva Viviane’s family sources hinted that she was granted bail at the state prosecutor’s chambers thanks to intervention from a pro bono Lawyer on condition that she will be making frequent routine checks at the state prosecutor’s chambers.

For fear of the unknown and especially with the brutal killing of her classmate by the military on his way home for allegedly supporting the anglophone crisis, Eva who had relocated to Yaounde had no other option than to escape out of the country. Ever since Eva disappeared from the country under unclear circumstances, the  military have intensive routine impromptu checks around their neighborhood even at Press time as Eva  Viviane  Njecacal Mony has been declared wanted

It Should be noted that Human Rights groups and Non- governmental Organizations, and NGOs have in one voice condemned the extrajudicial killings by both military and armed groups of Innocent civilians, including pregnant women, and the burning of houses.

International organizations and Western powers have called on the government to address the root cause of the crisis through meaningful and sincere dialogue, especially as the outcome of the Major  National Dialogue which took place in Yaounde from  September 30 to October 5, 2019, is still to produce a positive multiplier effect.

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For the past five years following the outbreak of the Anglophone crisis in the North West and South West regions, investigative findings from many human rights groups, non-governmental organisations have in one voice condemned the extrajudicial killings by mostly the military, on innocent civilians including children and pregnant women and burning of houses.

Reports indicate that about 4,000 civilian lives have been claimed by the armed conflict and about 750,000 have been displaced with many living horrible lives in neighbouring Nigeria. The recent killings of civilians by the military in villages across the North West and South West regions of Cameroon have received widespread condemnation across the board including the UN Secretary General, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the European Union, the USA, UK, France, and the Nobel Women’s Initiative and Human Rights Watch.

It should be recalled that Common Law lawyers went to 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 and unfortunately the crisis metamorphosed into an arm conflict.

Youths caught in the web

Many youths in the English-speaking North West and South West regions are reported to be entangled due to the Anglophone crisis that has been raging on since 2016.  Cases abound with a case in point being that Fon Synthia Asandom whose whereabouts since February 2023 still remains cloudy as a man hunt has been launched against her by the military. Family sources have confirmed that their 24-year-old daughter was arrested alongside others on February 10, 2022 in their Bafut residence on the eve of the National Youth Day celebration by some well masked heavily armed uniform officers. They were accused of habouring criminals, secretly supporting separatist fighters, with her being one of those youths promoting and advocating for lockdowns, planning youth’s demonstrations and rallies. Reports say their entire residence was ransacked by the uniform officers and items such as phones, flyers with a caption “Anglophones deserve better” and laptops were confiscated before they were being taken to the police headquarters where the interrogation was vigorous and tense.

While in detention under horrible inhumane condition she was almost raped by the officer who later framed her up for wanting to escape from detention. After about a week in detention they were taken to the Legal Department but unfortunately for her the State Counsel accused her of being a frontline activists and supporter of the Anglophone struggle and movement due to the flyers and other items that the police confiscated in their residence during the raid in Bafut. As if these allegations were not enough, she was equally accused of dating separatist fighters and giving sensitive information about the state.

THE SUN NEWSPAPER gathered that Fon Synthia was caught in the web as she was caused by both the separatists and government especially as her uncle was killed by the separatists in June  2020 for being an informant to the government. Thanks to the intervention of their family Lawyer Fon Synthia Asandom was released on bail on condition that she could be called up at any time to appear before the state Counsel as investigation on her involvement in the Anglophone struggle and her siding with the separatists was still ongoing.  Family sources hinted that it was when   their daughter was hospitalised at the Bafoussam hospital following pains sustained during her detention that they made arrangements for her to leave the country. The killing of one of her best and closest cousins, Victorine, by the military on January 20, 2023 for not providing concrete information about the whereabouts of  Fon Synthia  Asandom and coupled with news of a pending  warrant against her, caused Fon Synthia Asandom  to finally go underground.

At press time family sources confirmed that her whereabouts remains cloudy even though security operatives keep making rounds around their neighbourhood just to apprehend her.

It should be recalled following the recent extrajudicial killings, burning of houses with the increase in the number of Internally Displaced Persons, IDP’s in the North West and South West Regions, the government has re-launched the man hunt of alleged Anglophone activists and many innocent civilians have equally been listed for arrest to be persecuted and face prosecution.

The situation of Maccolins Ewoukap Nfongock, a Microbiology graduate from the University of Buea and a Laboratory Technician of the Kosala Integrated Health Centre, in Kumba II Sub Division of Meme Division one of the restive zones in the ongoing Anglophone crisis before going underground to an unknown destination since March 2019 remains pathetic as government is bent on tracking him.

Reports say at the heat of the crisis in January 2019, elements of the Cameroon Armed Forces, the Rapid Intervention Battalion, BIR, attacked their Mulango, neigbourhood in Fiango, Kumba II Sub Division following a tipoff that his younger brother, a separatist fighter had come to pay him a visit.

The BIR officers, following this information, stormed their residence one evening shortly after Maccolins Ewoukap had returned from work and opened fire in the entire neighbourhood. Family sources hinted that, Maccolins Ewoukap Nfongock, alongside other youths, ran into the bushes for safety.

When Maccolins Ewoukap returned from the bush the following day to go to work, he discovered that the military had killed his younger brother. For fear of the unknown, taking into consideration that he might be tagged as a blackleg by the separatist fighters, for having betrayed them to the military and that the military might go after him for keeping a separatist fighter, and the consequences involved, he decided to relocate to Douala for safety.

The Sun Newspaper gathered that while in Douala a friend who was housing him became so afraid taking into consideration the risk involved in housing someone from the North West and South West Regions where the Anglophone armed conflict is ongoing and is being hunted by the military.

The friend thus assisted Maccolins Ewoukap to leave the country to a country where the respect for human rights is prime. Ever since Maccolins Ewoukap Nfongock disappeared from the country under cloudy circumstances, confrontations between the military and the separatists have intensified, while he still remains a target for the military. Family sources say the military keeps making impromptu checks around their neighbourhood. At press time Maccolins Ewoukap Nfongock had been declared wanted.

The war still rages on and many more killings by the military are still being documented by rights organisations. The government has launched a manhunt for those alleged to be fanning the crisis both at home and abroad. Terrorism charges hang over them if arrested as they have been declared wanted.

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

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The list of families who have lost a member or more is inexhaustible. The case is the same for those whose whereabouts are not known, which is even more stressful to families.

Since the declaration of war by President Paul Biya on separatists fighters attempting to break Southern Cameroons away from the union with la Republic in 2017, many people have died and several others have escaped to neighbouring Nigeria as well as the United States and European countries for safety. Others have simply gone missing.

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

Thirty four-year-old Biankeu Vivien Ulrich, an electrician working with SATOM Construction Company, since 2019, is a victim of circumstances amidst the armed conflict. While as a student, he used to spend most of his holidays with his father, Biankeu Jules, who was then a soldier working in the Anglophone regions. Biankeu’s father went on retirement and settled in Douala and when the crisis in the North West and South West degenerated into an armed conflict, the ex- soldier with the Cameroon military decided to offer his services to separatist fighters popularly known as Amba Boys who took up arms against the regime to fight for the restoration of Independence of the former British Southern Cameroons.

Biankeu Vivien Ulrich’s father took advantage of this as an ex-military officer, offered his services by training the Amba Boys and smuggling fire arms to the separatist fighters to better equip themselves in order to withstand the military might of the regime.

Reports say when the military discovered the activities of Biankeu’s father, they stormed their residence in Douala on Monday April 11, 2022 and killed his father, Biankeu Jules, mother, Djeumou Flore, and elder brother, Biankeu Cyril. Fortunately, on what many described as a “Black Monday” for the Biankeu’s family, Biankeu Vivien Ulrich wasn’t at home on that sad day. He was at his job site and immediately escaped to an unknown destination. At press time time his whereabouts was unknown. But neighbours have confirmed that the military keeps making impromptu patrols around the residence of Biankeu Vivien Ulrich, promising to eliminate the entire family for terrorism offences and failure to report.

Other cases like this abound. It should be recalled that in 2021 another alleged Anglophone activist, Ofelia Kinyuy, got missing after escaping from the Kribi Central Prison and till date her whereabouts still remains cloudy.

Security operatives, as we went to press, have re-launched a manhunt for her to be apprehended, persecuted and prosecuted for her alleged connection with the Southern Cameroons independence struggle.

Reports say 39- year – old Ofelia Kinyuy, brown skin, black hair and brown eyes, 1.65m in height, round and bulky lady escaped from the Kribi Central Prison on Friday June 17, 2021, where she was incarcerated for detailed grilling by the regime, in relation to her alleged connection to the Southern Cameroons independence struggle.

Her family members, parents and friends remain till date in total despair and desperation. They have visited all hospitals, clinics, police and gendarme cells to look for their daughter to no avail and her whereabouts remains cloudy.

By press time, information was in circulation that “anyone with information about her whereabouts should contact the General Delegation for National Security or go to the closest police or gendarmerie post and make a report”.

The North West and South West regions 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 the extrajudicial killings mostly by the military, on innocent civilians including children and pregnant women and the burning of homes.

The government crackdown on Anglophone activists since 2016 when the crisis began has intensified with arbitrary arrests, detention, torture, and extrajudicial killings becoming the new normal, human rights group have said.

Human rights groups and non-governmental organisations have, in one voice, condemned the extrajudicial killings by both non-state armed groups and by military on innocent civilians, including children and pregnant women and burning of houses.

Reports say this situation has caused many to migrate to French spesking regions, while others have fled to neighbouring countries and oversea where they are living as refugees.

According to statistics from hHuman rights groups, over 7,000 persons have been killed, hundreds kidnapped, thousands of houses and over 400 villages razed with over 75,000 persons identified as internally displaced with over 45,000 living as refugees in Nigeria.

Some have been left in constant fear either for the demise of their love ones or because their houses have been razed. These attacks have been so alarming that human rights groups across the board have concluded that Cameroon is no longer safe.

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Cameroon’s military has continued to hunt  persons suspected to have links with armed separatist groups or who support the Ambazonia revolution.  Within the last month, several business persons have been taken into military custody without following due process and charged for conspiracy with armed groups.

In Fundong Sub division, Ndoh Claudia, a teacher and business woman who lives at Fujua in the outskirts of Fundong town where she constructed her family house has been in military detention for a week and half. She was arrested on Friday December 15, by the Company Commander for the Boyo Gendarmerie brigade after armed groups came to her area and mounted a control post 100 Meters from her residence.

Claudia on her part says she was in the kitchen cooking and was not aware that there was an Ambazonia fighters’ control post around. “We only heard gunshots and went into hiding as usual and about 20 minutes later, the military came led by the Company commander and I was arrested. The company commander said I and some of my neighbors were being arrested because we did not call the forces of law and order to inform them that there was a separatist control in our quarter. They asked me to pay FCFA 200,000 as bail” She told The SUN.

Like Claudia, Kekia Daniel Enow, A Cameroonian who was forced to leave Russia along side three of his Cameroonian counterparts due to risk of imprisonment in relation to his religious affiliations was arrested last week in Bamenda where he went to set up his IT shop.

Before now, Daniel had faced threats of arrest in 2017 when he joined hundreds of thousands of English speaking Cameroonians in peaceful protests against the government. Staying away from Cameroon for a couple of years and being convinced that things had gone back to normal. He came back to establish his business. Unfortunately for him, though he felt the threat to his life had subsided and he could quietly carry out his activities in Cameroon, he had continued to be under military surveillance.

He was picked up after haven received kicks and violent slaps from the soldiers that came to arrest him at the Bamenda Commercial Avenue behind the Total Energies fuel station where his IT shop in Bamenda is located.

The technician with whom Daniel was in the shop that day told The SUN Newspaper that “three well armed military officers alighted from a military pickup that slowed down in front of the shop, and made their way into the shop with the one ahead looking at a tablet while moving towards them.  Then told his colleagues in French “c’est ici”, meaning its here, then asked us who among us was Daniel.” The technician said.

He went on to explain, “When they asked, Daniel said he was the one and they showed him his picture from their phone telling him they have been looking for him. The next thing I saw was violent slaps and kicks that landed Daniel on the ground calling him a terrorist. Afraid for my life, I immediately fell to the floor on my stomach with my hands raised up. After kicking and slapping him and accusing him of sponsoring terrorism from Europe, they dragged him like a bag of thrash and dumped him in their pickup then drove off.” The technician ended.

Daniel’s Lawyer told The SUN Newspaper that his client was taken to a hidden torture center in the Mile 8 neighborhood in Bamenda and tortured for hours before being allowed to call someone to ask for help and that was when he called him. “When Daniel called and was speaking like someone who was in deep pain and about to die very soon, I knew there was serious trouble and that I could not go alone. I showed up with an official from the National Human Rights Commission. Our intervention enabled Daniel to be released immediately but with caution.” His lawyer said.

Talking to The SUN Newspaper on phone, Daniel said, “before my lawyer arrived, the soldiers had extorted a bribe of FCFA 500,000 from me. Since I was setting up my shop, I had some money on me. It was the money that they asked me to pay before they could release me or they would take me to prison UP station from where I would be tried in the military tribunal for terrorism and that I risked going to Kondengui prison in Yaounde. I had no choice than to beg them and pay with all the money I had on me. For fear of my life and that of my lawyer I could not talk about the money they extorted from me when my lawyer came, especially because we were not in an official military station” He said. “My lawyer immediately asked me to get into the car, telling me, “we must leave Bamenda immediately.” We drove out of Bamenda in my lawyer’s car” he added.

Haven paid a substantial amount for his freedom; he was told he could be taken in for questioning at any time.

Like many young Cameroonians who have faced his fate, Daniel, if arrested may appear before the military tribunal in Yaounde and risks being transferred to the Yaounde central prison where most Ambazonia sympathizers are locked up since 2017.

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Reports hold that the lives of many alleged Anglophone activists including their relatives both at home and abroad remain a misery ever since the Anglophone crisis, which later on escalated into an armed conflict, started.

Many of them have been accused by the government of siding, aiding and abetting with separatist fighters to have picked up arms against the state, demanding for the restoration of the independence of former British Southern Cameroons or the creation of a new country known as the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

Suspected activists who have been arrested have been either jailed or killed and their homes razed to the ground and majority of their family relatives killed. Many have gone underground, the whereabouts of many remains cloudy. Homes of suspected activists who are abroad for fear of the unknown are constantly being investigated as the military keeps on making impromptu visits, thus injecting constant fear. The government has earmarked many activists both at home and abroad for arrest. They have already been tagged as terrorists and those masterminding and supporting the crisis from their hideouts abroad, thus declaring them wanted. Majority of the activists have even been attacked abroad by suspected pro-government activists.

The crisis has been on now for closed to six years.

Origin of crisis

It should be recalled that Common Law Lawyers went to 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 in November 21, 2016 to uphold Anglo-Saxon values of educational system under threat in Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions.

The government crackdown on Anglophone activists has since intensified with arbitrary arrests, detention, torture and extra-judicial killings becoming the new normal, human rights groups have said. Investigative findings from many human rights groups and nongovernmental organisations have in one voice condemned the extra-judicial killings by mostly the military on innocent civilians including children and pregnant women and burning of houses. Due to this confusion, and fear of the unknown, many youths and businessmen continue to go underground and those abroad have been declared wanted.

According to statistics from human rights groups, over 7,000 persons have been killed, hundreds kidnapped, thousands of houses and over 400 villages razed with over 75,000 persons identified as Internally Displaced, with over 45,000 as refugees in Nigeria. These attacks have been so alarming that human rights groups across the board have concluded that Cameroon is no longer safe.

Youths caught in the web

Many youths in the English-speaking North West and South West regions are reported to be entangled due to the Anglophone crisis.

Many cases abound and Cameroon is no longer a safer place for them. Even though 23-year-old Nsoh Karl Chi’s whereabouts still remains cloudy since September 2022, a manhunt has been launched for him by the military. Family sources disclosed that his aunt, whose name we got as Bih Comfort, was killed by the police for not providing information regarding his whereabouts.

It should be recalled that Nsoh, considered as a victim of circumstance amidst the ongoing armed conflict rocking the North West and South West Regions, was arrested amongst other family relatives by the police on April 11, 2021 in their Ntarikon – Bamenda residence for siding with separatist fighters. The police equally accused him of being a spy and influencing other teachers to respect ghost town and school boycotts.

Reports hold that Nsoh, like many other youths who have been accused of siding with separatists, pleaded innocent to all the allegations from the police, but continued to receive death threats. Nsoh was detained under inhumane detention conditions for several days.

The Police Commissioner, according to reports, accused his family of many terrorism offences including secession, masterminding and supporting the Anglophone movement from their hideouts abroad and that his uncle, who just returned from abroad, was in possession of dangerous weapons. Thanks to the intervention of their family lawyer, Nsoh Karl was granted bail.

For fear of the unknown, taking into consideration that his name was on the security database as a spy, his family made all arrangements for Nsoh to leave the country, especially as his closest cousin, Che Gilbert, was killed by the military on his way back from attending a youth rally. His cousin, family sources say, was tagged a spy and a frontline supporter of the Anglophone movement.

Another victim of circumstance amidst the ongoing Anglophone crisis is Nganda Mekumba Maurice. The holder of a Masters Degree in International Trade from the IAE NICE Graduate School of Management, University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, France, will face the wrath of the law if seen anywhere within the national territory. Ever since he organised some activists and they staged a protest march in Muyuka, Fako Division, South West Region, that ended with the hoisting of the flag of Southern Cameroons National Council, SCNC, a movement clamouring for the independence of former British Southern Cameroons, his name has remained on the database of the security and the military has been hunting for him since then. Though he escaped to a nearby village, he was molested for two months. Family sources hinted that he only escaped from the hands of the security while in hospital for treatment.

Nganda Mekumba Maurice was smuggled out of the country thanks to the assistance of some Southern Cameroons sympathisers in May 2018 though his residence was constantly being raided by the police, according to his wife.

As if this was not enough, the homes of his mother and sister were razed to the ground in Big Ngwandi village in Meme Division. Family sources have hinted that Nganda didn’t relent while abroad and joined other Anglophone activists living in total fear. They have lost many love ones and their homes razed to the ground just because he is a victim of circumstances in the ongoing armed conflict in former British Southern Cameroons. Nganda Mekumba Maurice has been declared wanted by the regime and the police keep raiding their neighbourhood in Muyuka just to apprehend him and his wife, The Sun gathered.

The ongoing socio-political impasse in Cameroon especially in the restive North West and South West regions, the United States Department of States Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour published a 45-page report on Cameroon’s human rights situation in 2018, wherein they highlighted the worsening human rights Situation in Cameroon. It stated that about 3,000 civilian lives have been lost due to the armed conflict, and about 730,000 displaced with many living horrible lives in neigbouring Nigeria.

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As the crisis that has been rocking the North West and South West regions, which has spiraled into an armed conflict, rages on, the government, as a means to crackdown on all those suspected to be activists or sympathisers to the Anglophone cause, has been targeting the family members of Anglophone activists who are based in the diaspora.

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

Sources say those arrested are being tortured and detained under horrendous and inhuman conditions.

It should be recalled that on Tuesday April 24, 2018, Agbor Ruth Ayuk, the mother of Anglophone activist, Mark Bareta, based in Belgium was arrested by police in Buea. She was taken to the police station for questioning.

Police reportedly asked Agbor Ruth Ayuk to produce her son, Mark Bareta, whom government has labeled a terrorist. She was also accused of sponsoring the rise of the Anglophone crisis with money sent by Mark Bareta.

Reacting on his Facebook page then, Mark Bareta, onetime interim leader of Anglophone Civil Society Consortium, said his mother was innocent and has never controlled his actions.

“Like every parent, you give birth to a child. You don’t give birth to his or her heart/mind, or control their actions. As a strong Catholic Women’s Association, CWA, member, she believes in justice and lives her own small life going to bed every day worried to death, wondering whether I am safe or not. She has numerous times over the years requested that I slow down but came to the conclusion that I am responsible for my own actions,” Bareta had written.

Chris Anu’s mother, sister arrested

Meanwhile, Grace Anu and Beza Berist, mother and sister respectively of Chris Anu, onetime Secretary of Communication of the Ambazonia Interim Government, who last month became Interim President of one of the factions of the Interim Government, were on August 2, 2019 picked up from their home in Yaounde by plain clothes security men.

Chris Anu’s 80-year-old mother and sister were detained incommunicado at the Secretariat of State for Defence, SED, before being transferred to the Yaounde Kondengui maximum security prison.

The security forces are said to have searched their home in Obobogo, Yaounde and discovered 1.6 million FCFA. Barrister Christopher Ndong had confided to the press that the security officers effected the search following suspicion that Anu’s mother and sister were keeping proceeds raised from ransoms in the North West and South West regions.

Grace Anu and Beza Berist later appeared at the Mfoundi High Court in Yaounde to defend themselves against several charges which included support to secession and terrorism.

It should be noted that separatist fighters’ kingpin in Lebialem division of the South West region, Oliver Lekeaka, who was killed on July 12, 2022, was also a brother of Chris Anu.

The case of Adolf Oben’s family

Another separatist supporter whose family members are being targeted is Adolf Oben, who is currently seeking asylum in the United States of America. On August 17, 2022, Adolf Oben took part in a demonstration organised by separatist supporters in front of the Cameroon embassy in Washington led by the renowned Elvis Kometa, Vice President of the North America branch of the Southern Cameroons National Council, SCNC. The demonstrators were calling for the unconditional release of all Anglophone political activists from the Kondengui maximum security prison and all over the national territory.

On several occasions security operatives have been storming the residences of Adolf Oben’s family members, harassing, torturing and demanding them to release the whereabouts of him. For fear of their lives, some of them have gone into hiding.

It should also be recalled that in October 2021, Antoinette Kongnso, ex-girlfriend of dreaded separatist fighter, popularly known as ‘General’ No Pity, was arrested in Buea. She was detained at the gendarmerie legion and later transferred to the Buea central prison. She has been attending trial at the Buea Court of Appeal. The case has suffered several adjournments.

Though Antoinette Kongnso is now a nursing mother, after having given birth while in detention, pleas by her lawyers for her to be released on bail have been rejected by the court.

It is believed that government’s actions to target family members of separatists is to cause them to pipe down.

Origin of Anglophone crisis

It is 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 in January 2018, are currently at the Kondengui maximum security prison in Yaounde, serving life sentences.

Many other activists such as Mancho Bibixy, Penn Terrence, Tsi Conrad, among others, are also serving lengthy sentences 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.

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The trouble in the North West and South West Regions began in October 2016, when Lawyers and Teachers led protests calling for a  two- state federation to preserve the Anglophone legal and education systems.

They felt these were being encroached upon by the francophone- led central government.

The military’s heavy- handed response to peaceful calls for greater autonomy prompted Anglophones to form militias popularly known as Ambazonia Defense Forces, leading to armed conflict the following year.

Since  2017, the fighting has claimed over 6,000 lives in the Anglophone regions and displaced nearly 800,000 people, majority of whom are refugees in neighbouring Nigeria.

Some have been left in constant tears either for the demise of their loved ones or because their homes have been razed. These attacks have been so alarming that human rights groups across the board have concluded that Cameroon is no longer safe.

For over the years now the government of Cameroon has been battling to resolve the situation but tensions continue to intensify with civilian populations in the two restive regions of the North West end South West in peril, panic and  pandemonium.

Due to this confusion and fear of the unknown, many youth and businessmen, professionals of all walks of life continue to go underground.

The whereabouts of 19- year- old Fonjock Asonganyi Neri, for example, remains cloudy since mid August 2022, according to family sources.

Reports say following a police raid on October 3, 2021 at Mulango Street, Fiango, Kumba, Meme Division of the South West Region, Fonjock was arrested  alongside other youth including his father, Forcha Peter, and immediately whisked to the police station. Fonjock was molested, tortured and placed under inhumane condition and was incommunicado for about 12 days while his father and others were released two days after detention.

When investigation on Fonjock’s case was opened, it was discovered that he was sharing separatist propaganda and was immediately accused of siding with separatists. He was thus charged with sponsoring secessionist movements, revolution, uprising, and terrorism even though he denied all the allegations but that he was fighting against the marginalisation of Anglophone Cameroon.

THE SUN gathered that Fonjock was finally granted bail after 15 days in detention thanks to the intervention of his attorney at law after he put pen on paper on an undertaking to constantly report to the State Counsel’s Chambers.

After some medical attention Fonjock left for Bonaberi in Douala Littoral Region, but unfortunately he and four others were picked up at a police checkpoint and whisked to police station  to be later ferried to the dreaded New Bell Prison in Douala to stand trial at the military Tribunal where in he could have faced extra-judicial killing.

Thanks to the intervention of a senior police officer, the information got to Fonjock’s family and a huge amount of money was raised to oil the lips of the Police Commissioner, and Fonjock  was smuggled out of detention to an unknown destination.

As we went to press, family sources hinted that his family is constantly under threats, and pressure from security operatives to disclose the whereabouts of Fonjock Asonganyi Neri or else they will be arrested and tortured. Reports say his family relatives have been assaulted, maimed and his mother raped just because they could not disclose  the whereabouts of Fonjock.

As the crisis continues, to deepen,  reports of a survey released by a group of Human Rights Organisations in Cameroon indicates that the government is sparing no effort in tracking down those it considers “agents of destruction”.

Even those abroad, considered as activists and preaching against the marginalisation of Southern Cameroons by the Yaounde, have equally been declared enemies of the State of Cameroon and have been tagged for persecution.

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Following the arson on the Mamfe District Hospital in Manyu division of the South West region on June 8, 2022, an electrician, Tambe Paul Agbor, who was working at the hospital when the incident happened, is on the run after having being accused of being one of the Ambazonia fighters who committed the act.

There have been conflicting claims as to who burnt down the Mamfe District Hospital. While the military accuses separatist fighters of having burnt the hospital, separatist fighters say the act was carried out by the military.

However, eyewitness disclosed that the hospital in Mamfe was not burnt down by suspected separatist fighters, but the military.

In the early hours of June 8, 2022, Tambe Paul Agbor was installing some air conditioners in the hospital when there were gunshots within the hospital. It’s believed that the military had been reliably informed that separatist fighters had taken hold of the hospital. The military then stormed the hospital, and upon arrival, opened fire.

The gun exchanges led to the death of one Enow Lawrence, who was a colleague of Tambe Paul Agbor. In an attempt to entrap the separatist fighters, the military allegedly set part of the hospital on fire, which led to a more significant part of the hospital being brought down by flames.

After the incident at the hospital, Tambe is said to have ran for his life.

The defence as security forces have launched a manhunt for Tambe Paul Agbor as he has been termed one of the separatist fighters, all in an attempt to get him disclose the whereabouts of the other suspected secessionist fighters.

We gathered that Tambe’s workshop was later burnt down, allegedly by the military.

Tambe Paul Agbor has gone underground and his whereabouts is unknown even to his family members. If arrested, Tambe 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 suffered extra-judicial killings.

It should be recalled that since the Anglophone crisis sparked in 2016, several establishments including schools, hospital and whole villages have been burnt down by either the military or separatist fighters.

Origin of Anglophone 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.

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