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

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

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

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

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

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

Monday, in Cameroon, is officially a working day.

Separatists’ imposition of ghost town days

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Many businessmen fleeing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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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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 mostly by the military, on innocent civilians including children and pregnant women, and the burning of houses.

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

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.

Human rights groups and non-governmental organisations have in one voice condemned the extra-judicial killings mostly by the military on innocent civilians including children and pregnant women and burning of houses.

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

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 living as refugees in Nigeria. Some have been left in constant fears 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.

The Cameroon Government has, for over five years now, been battling to arrest the situation but tensions continue to intensify with civilian population in the North West and South West Regions in peril, panic and pandemonium. Due to this confusion, and fear of the unknown, many youths and businessmen continue to go underground.

The whereabouts of a Kumba-based businessman, Mr Taleh Azeseng Gilbert, for example, remains unknown since September 2022. The diehard advocate for the greater autonomy of Southern Cameroons since in his university days is a victim a circumstances.

Because of his opinion, his house was razed to the ground by the military in 2018 at the heat of the Anglophone crisis. After having spent some time abroad,he decided to return to his country since the government keeps talking of national dialogue, reconciliation and reconstruction, family sources hinted.

The crisis intensified and Taleh Azeseng Gilbert couldn’t withstand the heat, taking into consideration that the government retaliated on activists who intensified their fighting from the period to October, the month Southern Cameroonians claim to have had independence from Britain.

The situation was worsened as government once again went out for massive arrest crackdown characterised with looting, destructions and killings. Amidst all these, the shop of Taleh Azeseng Gilbert was razed to the ground by the military. As we went to press, family sources disclosed that the Taleh Azeseng, just like many alleged activists, remains a target on government list for arrest and persecution if found anywhere within the national territory.

Another unfortunate case is that of Ebot Witney Tarh. Her pathetic situation equally started in her university days. Considered as one of the student leaders who always roseto protest against the marginalisation of English-speaking students in the university and the systematic transformation of the University of Buea by allowing lectures to be taught in French contrary to the school policy, reports say she has been arrested several times by the military and detained under inhumane conditions.

These numerous manhandling by the military on Ebot Witney Tarh, caused her to relocate to the village to meet her mother. Reports hold that the military stormed their village and discovered that her father, a retired police officer, was a staunch Southern Cameroons National Council, SCNC, member and that he was leaking state secrets to his community who were all considered as Ambazonia fighters.

This led the military concluding that her family members were staunch supporters of Ambazonia fighters.

During the village raid by the military, Ebot Witney Tarh, like many other youths in the village, had gone underground to the bushes, but the military carried out search in their residence and carried away her documents including her SCNC membership card. The military also took her picture and razed their residence.

For fear of the unknown, Ebot Witney Tarh went to Kumba under cover and continued with her political activism. She struggled and completed her studies.

She was declared wanted by the military and on several occasion kidnapped, tortured, raped and abandoned at various neighbourhoods by unknown men.

With the continuous search for Ebot Witney Tarh by military, due to her political opinion and attachment to the ideals of the SCNC, she decided to leave the country to where the respect of human rights is prime. Since September 2022 family sources have hinted thather whereabouts remains cloudy and reports say the military has intensified search for her.

The ongoing socio-political impasse in Cameroon, especially in the restive North West and South West Regions, escalating, the United States Department of States Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour published a 45-page document on Cameroon 2018 Human Rights Report wherein they highlighted the worseninghuman rights situation in Cameroon as about 3,000 civilian lives have been claimed,  by the armed conflict, and about 730,000 displaced  with many living horrible lives in neigbouring Nigeria.

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