By Tang Awambeng
 |
| Rights advocate Terence Akukulong |
Although a civil servant, Mr. Mbatalom found time to strongly advocate the
promotion of human rights and social justice as the minority English Speakers (Anglophones)
have, for decades, complained of marginalization by the majority Francophone led-government.
Mr. Mbatalom taught his son
Terence Akukulong democratic values, hoping that the latter would continue in
his footsteps in the quest for social justice in Cameroon, as the former at the time was critically sick and hospitalized.
But considered as a sharp critic of the government, Mr. Mbatalom repeatedly
ran into problems with state security forces.
According to reports, he was reportedly detained on at two occasions, when
it was established that he was an adherent of Southern Cameroon National Council
(SCNC), a pressure group advocating the independence of British Southern Cameroons
(today’s two English-speaking regions of Cameroon).
The Cameroon government on
January 17, 2017 slammed a ban on the SCNC and the Cameroon Anglophone Civil
Society Consortium (CACSC), which group Mr. Mbatalom also reportedly supported.
Both pressure groups were
identified as prime instigators of the Anglophone crisis, which erupted in 2016
and is escalating.
The January 17, 2017 banning order, signed by then Minister of Territorial
Administration, Rene Sadi stated:
” These groups Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC) and the
Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium (CACSC) are declared null and void
for their purpose and activites,which are contrary to the Constitution and
liable to jeopardize the security of the state, territorial integrity, national
unity and national integration”.
The president of the CACSC Human Rights, Lawyer Felix Agbor Nkongho and
his secretary Dr.Neba Fontem, were arrested and jailed immediately after the
ban of the groups, an act that further radicalized those pressing for the
independence of Anglophones.
As the saying goes “Like father,like son.” Terence Akukulong developed
strong love for rights promotion and humanitarian work just as his father did.
Terence founded in Cameroon an NGO named “One Humanity Charity Organization”,
which helped underprivileged children (street children and orphans) by
providing them with shelter, food and other necessities.
One Humanity Charity organization became popular especially as it also
educated children on human rights and partnered with other NGO’s to offer
assistance to the needy children.
He would later go for further studies in Canada with the intention of
returning home to continue his contributions to nation-building and a just
society.
But while in abroad things turned sour as the Anglophone crisis turned
violent, and has led to the death of
thousands of citizens as government forces and armed separatists engage in
bloody confrontations.
Cameroon government has regularly accused Anglophone activists and
separatist leaders in the Diaspora of sponsoring civil disobedience (ghost towns)
and armed conflicts in the Northwest and Southwest regions and promised to
prosecute perpetrators. With this government threat, many Cameroonians abroad
are scared to come back home especially as allegations are rife that some of
them returning home have been arrested and whisked away by security agents.
Many in this dilemma abroad are said to be applying for asylum, for fear
of arrest and prosecution if they return to Cameroon.
Such may be the case with Terence Akukulong Njah Mbatalom. A close
friend of his told this writer that, Terence is not only worried but
traumatized by reports that his family back home has been a subject to frequent
visits by men in mufti, believed to be
security agents, a situation which has
pushed some of his relations to be living in hiding.
Because of this fear of being tagged as a disguised sponsor or
instigator of the crisis, many Cameroonians in the Europe, the USA and
elsewhere have not bothered to attend even the funerals of their loved ones in
Cameroon.
The crisis has caused the internal displacement of over 500 thousand people
and registered a death toll of over 3000, according to rights groups. More than
40 thousand Cameroonians are seeking refugee status in neighboring
Nigeria;reports say more than 250 houses and villages have been burnt down
and property destroyed is estimated in
billions of Fcfa.
In May 2018, the US Ambassador to Cameroon, Peter Henry Barlerin, in a press statement on the Anglophone
crisis, accused the Government of ”targeted killings, detentions without access
to legal support, family or the Red Cross and burning and looting of villages”
Ambassador Barlerin also blamed separatist fighters for “murders of
gendarmes, kidnappings of government officials and burning of schools”
When the crisis will come to an
end remains uncertain.
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