Anglophone crisis: President Biya vows to hunt down secessionists

By Tache Fuhlem.

Samuel Ikome Sako,President ,Ambazonia

As calls by President Paul Biya for separatist fighters to drop their weapons seem to be falling on deaf ears, the Cameroonian leader has made public his resolve to hunt them down, wherever they are hiding. The Cameroon government had convened, from September 30 to October 4, 2019 in Yaounde, what it termed the Major National Dialogue (MND), intended to seek solutions to the escalating Anglophone crisis. 

Common Law lawyers’ and Anglophone teachers’ protests over corporate demands had sparked off in 2016 what is today known as the Anglophone Crisis. 

The recommendations of the MND failed to satisfy the expectations of separatist leaders who had hoped and pressed for an independent state for English Speakers in Cameroon.

 After the MND, deadly clashes between Government forces and Separatist fighters have continued in the Northwest and Southwest regions of the country, otherwise known Anglophone Cameroon.

 In his 2021 New Year message to the nation, delivered on December 31, 2020, President Paul Biya admitted that the insecurity now prevailing in the Northwest and Southwest regions provoked by the Anglophone Crisis was causing untold damage to country.

 “All the perpetrators will be hunted down relentlessly and brought to justice”, vowed the President who likened these so-called ‘secessionists’ to murderers. President Paul Biya , who has ruled Cameroon since November 1982, has insisted that Cameroon remains “one and indivisible.” 

In May 2018 while launching Government Emergency Humanitarian Plan to mitigate the effects of the Anglophone Crisis, then Prime Minister Yang Philemon, blamed the separatist leaders and extremists in the Diaspora and their local networks for moving away from socio-professional grievances to secessionist plans and for ultimately forming armed groups and embarking on “terrorist attacks against the authorities and civilian populations in a futile attempt to concretize their pipe dream of partitioning Cameroon.” 

Cameroon Government in 2018 accused separatist leaders abroad such as Mark Bareta , Ayaba Cho Lucas , Tapang Ivo Tanku and Akwanga Ebenezer of inciting the population to hatred and violence . 

The arrest , prosecution and imprisonment of many separatists back home and Government’s threats to hunt for activists abroad believed to be instigating the fight for Anglophone independence have continued to scare activists wishing to return to the country.. 

Security forces have raided neighborhoods suspected to be hideouts for separatist fighters in the two English-speaking regions, and such raids have resulted to the killing of allegedly innocent people.

 For example, in June 2018, a military raid in Maumu village, in the Southwest region resulted in the shooting of one woman, Nalova Sophie, but who fortunately did not die. Nalova Sophie is said to be the sister of Mafani Emmanuel Kaisa, an ardent SCNC activist/advocate of the independence of English-speakers in Cameroon living in Europe, but was said to have sneaked into Maumu, prompting the raid.

 Mafani Emmanuel Kaisa is said to be among Anglophone rights activists abroad suspected by the Government of sponsoring the fight for a separate state for Northwest and Southwest regions, formerly known as UN British Southern Cameroons.

 Even his uncle, Mola Mbame Ngando’s right hand was chopped off by unknown armed men in the heat of the Anglophone crisis. In July, 2018 at Sandpit -Bakweri town Buea, several young men were shot dead in broad day light by the military on suspicion that they were secessionists planning violent attacks. 

That massacre forced many young men of the locality to flee for safety, fearing a repeat of the incident. Among victims of the Sandpit massacre, were a popular young man Esambe Roland Ndune and one Monono Emmanuel Evakise 

Over 4000 people-both civilians and security forces have been killed as Government forces and armed separatist continue to engage in deadly clashes. According to the United Nations, over forty thousand Cameroonians are seeking asylum in Nigeria and about half a million are internally Displaced people (IDPs). 

Thousands of others are hiding in bushes as the military has reportedly burnt down their houses and villages, searching for separatist fighters, who have become very violent and bloody in their attacks . In 2017 Cameroon government outlawed Southern Cameroons National Council, (SCNC) ,which was created in 1994 to facilitate the restoration of the independence of Southern Cameroons, a former UN British trust territory, which gained independence on October 1,1961 by joining La Republique of Cameroun, a former French colony.

 The then Minister of Territorial Administration, René Sadi, in his January 17, 2017 banning order, stated: “Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC) and the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium (CACSC) are declared null and void for their purpose and activities, which are contrary to the Constitution and liable to jeopardize the security of the state, territorial integrity, national unity and national integration” 

The SCNC and CACSC ban was followed with the arrest of CACSC president Barrister Felix Agbor Nkongho and and his secretary Dr.Neba Fontem . 

Less than one week ,Supreme Court’s Deputy Attorney-General, Ayah Paul Abine, perceived by Cameroon government to be an advocate of a separate state for Anglophones was arrested and jailed for eight months. 

Seseku Ayuk Tabe, pioneer President of the Interim Government of Ambazonia,the name separatists intend to call their own state upon attaining independence, was arrested, prosecuted and sentenced to life imprisonment by the Yaounde Military Tribunal .

 Dr. Samuel Sako Ikome is the President the Interim Government of Ambazonia.