Hunt for Separatists Persists after Major National Dialogue.

By Charlie Tanji

Cameroon’s Major National Dialogue, convened by President Paul Biya and chaired by Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute, held in Yaounde from September 30 to October 4, 2019. The conference’s objective was to seek lasting solutions to the three-year plus bloody and deadly Anglophone Crisis. And after five days of deliberations, the conference ended on a relatively positive note. 

 The conference’s recommendations included the reconstruction of property vandalized in the course of the crisis and the granting of “Special Status” to the Northwest and Southwest regions, the English parts of the country which provoked the crisis. 

But separatists, fighting for the independence of the English-speakers (former UN-British Southern Cameroonians) and who boycotted the talks- even as they duly were invited by the Cameroon government, dismissed the Major National Dialogue as a non-event; they insisted that only a separate state for Anglophones  was the answer to the crisis.

 The Anglophone crisis  erupted in October 2016  as a result of corporate demands by Common law lawyers and Anglophone teachers, before morphing into an armed conflict between Cameroon security forces and separatists, who want an independent state   Anglophones, which they have already named as Ambazonia. But the Biya administration insists that Cameroon remains “One and indivisible.”

Over 2000 people including soldiers have lost their lives because of the crisis .Also; the burning of more than 200 villages and the destruction of public & private property worth billions of Fcfa   are some of the negative effects of the crisis.

The crisis has forced, and is forcing Anglophone activists to flee the country and seek for safety broad.

According to the UN, over 30 thousand Cameroonians fleeing the crisis are in neighboring Nigeria seeking asylum.

Even after the Major National Dialogue, clashes between Cameroon forces and separatist fighters have continued to make headline news; but the fighting is not as fierce as in the past two years. 

Separatist leaders such as Dr. Sako Samuel Ikome who is the  Interim President of  the Republic of Ambazonia,(after his predecessor Sisiku Julius Ayuk tabe and associates were arrested and jailed in Yaounde), continue to instigate clashes back home regardless of the fact the Cameroon government has repeatedly accused them of  sponsoring insurrection and terrorism in Cameroon.

In his End-of-Year Message to the Cameroonian nation,on December 31,2019  President Biya vowed  to suppress the “criminal activities” of separatist fighters in the crisis-stricken North West and South West regions.

According to President Biya in the year-end message, “The criminal activities of armed groups continue to disrupt public, economic, and social life in these regions, yet various measures have been taken in recent months to reason with these youths, most of who have been brainwashed. They have been called upon to lay down their weapons, and social reintegration prospects have been offered them.

“For those who persist in going down the wrong road and continue to use violence, we will have no other choice than to combat them...

“Our Defence and Security Forces will, once again, perform their duty with restraint, but without weakness.” Paul Biya warned separatist fighters.”

 Many Anglophone activists, labeled as secessionists by the Cameroon Government, have tortured, prosecuted and jailed, according to rights groups. Many others have fled the country for protection abroad, where they lash out at the Biya regime for violation of minority rights.

Cameroon has reportedly requested   that its citizens abroad instigating the division of the country should be extradited. The list of rights extremists abroad that Cameroon wants repatriated includes but is not limited:  Journalist John Mbah Akuroh,Tapang Ivo, Mark Berata, Cho Ayaba, Chris Anu,and Eric Tataw.

Complaints of human rights abuses inflicted on families by forces have been reported every now and then. Many people have reported the disappearance of their loved ones under mysterious circumstances; reports of torture, kidnapping, arbitrary detentions, and activists escaping into  hiding for  fear of being arrested are rife.

Fresh reports ,for example,  in early  January(2020), said  one Ekiti Nnoko Omarion, born on August 8,1990,in Tombel, but residing in Buea, narrowly escaped being arrested by a squad of security agents in mufti, having been  suspected being  a  radical  advocate of a separate state for Anglophones. Ekiti, reportedly a university graduate, is said to have been instigating some youth to rise up against the Major National Dialogue, which Cameroon convened last October to look for solutions to the Anglophone crisis. His escape has prompted security agents to visit their family residence, on several occasions, in search of him, according to relatives.

Cameroon accuses its citizens in the Diaspora especially in the USA and Europe of bankrolling separatist fighters in Cameroon. It has also accused them of using the social media to mobilize protests against the leadership of President Biya, 86, who has ruled Cameroon since 1982.

The convening of the Major National Dialogue had given hope to many that its    recommendations would appease separatists; but separatists have continued to press for an independent state for the minority English-speakers. With no consensus yet between the Government and the separatists, it is feared that the crisis could in the long run turn into a civil war. When will the crisis end ? No-one can tell with assurance.