Fruits of continuous sensitisation: 32 Amba fighters surrender in Ndian within one month!.

In just one month, 32 youngsters, brainwashed at the start of the crisis in the North West and South West Regions, to pick up arms against the state, have heed the peace call of the Head of State, Paul Biya.

The hardened gunmen, who had since the crisis in the two Regions, morphed into an armed conflict, been terrorising the population of Ndian Division, have dropped their weapons and come out of the bushes. 

The fresh batch of the dreaded fighters, who had been wreaking havoc on the population, dropped their weapons Saturday June 10. 

The fighters were received by defence and security forces in Mundemba. Their surrender comes barely three weeks after two dreaded self-styled Amba ‘Generals’ and 16 of their fighters, had also surrendered in the Division. 

The move, which has brought about renewed hope and new lease of life in the area, is championed on the ground by the First Deputy Mayor of Mundemba Council, Sake Esono Louis Besinga. 

In a telephone chat with this reporter yesterday, the municipal authority confirmed that a total of 12 Amba fighters surrendered their weapons. 

“We struggled to remove 12 persons. This makes a total of about 32 in a month,” Sake disclosed.

He further disclosed that eight of the 12 fighters are those who had been terrorising the population around Apkasang, while four others had pitched their camp in Erat village. 

Sake said the fresh batch of repentant fighters are still to be taken to the DDR Centre in Buea. He added that they had arrived late in the evening and are still to undergo registration procedure through the Senior Divisional Officer for Ndian.

“They came late, but I am sure before Wednesday, they will be taken to Buea,” Sake assured. 

Visit to those in DDR Centre 

Sake, who has been the brain behind the convincing of the fighters to drop their arms, over the weekend, also visited those from Ndian already at the DDR Centre in Buea. 

“I was there to encourage them to be patient in the centre, while government’s procedure is being followed,” he said.

Sake pointed out that the visit comes at a time some people are trying to convince the fighters to leave the centre and regain normal life without passing through the laid down procedure. 

“…other people are encouraging them to leave the centres and go back to their various areas and be doing their activities…so, I told them that to be successful, they should stay there and follow the procedure at the Centre,” he said.

Staying at the DDR centre to follow the normal procedure, Sake said, will enable some of the ex-fighters who have skills in other fields to “improve their capacities in their different specialties”.

The visit to DDR Centre, Sake added, also enabled him to listen to the worries of the ex-fighters from Ndian. 

“I told them to be patient because the challenges they raised were not major things,” Sake said, noting that adapting the lifestyle they lived in the bushes to normal life is a difficult process. 

Sake used the opportunity to urge all those still in the bushes to “come and join us to meet up with the President Biya’s initiative”.

He called on elite of Ndian Division also wishing to join the initiative to convince those in the bushes to join him and his team and not embark on other moves that might rather scare them. 

Two ‘Generals’, 16 fighters at DDR

It should be recalled that last May 16, two dreaded self-styled Amba ‘Generals’ and 16 of their fighters dropped their weapons in Mundemba. They were presented to the Senior Divisional Officer, SDO, of Ndian, Gilbert Guibai Baldena.

The two self-styled separatist ‘Generals’, David Dibo alias Baron and Ekpe Jerome alias JB, were reported to have been operating in Iloh, Ikassa and Irah villages in the Division. 

‘General’ Baron operated within Mundemba Subdivision while ‘General’ JB is believed to have mounted his camp in the Bakassi area. 

The SDO enjoined them to embrace the peace call of the Head of State, Paul Biya. 

The ex-fighters hailed the First Deputy Mayor for efforts to convince them to leave the bushes and pledged to join forces to work to ensure their other peers still in the bushes drop their weapons and join the peace and development train. 

All-Ndian confab paying off

The continuous surrendering of weapons in Ndian has been hailed by keen observers as fruits of the “All-Ndian Peace and Development Conference” which held April 21-23, 2022, in Mundemba.

The event was under the patronage of the Prime Minister, Head of Government, Chief Dr Joseph Dion Ngute, who is also traditional ruler and son of Ndian.

Sons and daughters of the Division had used the gathering to brainstorm on common solutions to challenges facing the administrative unit within the context of the armed conflict in the two Anglophone Regions.

They had then also mapped strategies to put a permanent end to the destruction, continuous killings and untold sufferings that have befallen Ndian since the crisis erupted in 2016. 

Since the staging of the confab, a new lease of life has been sweeping across Ndian Division. With the continuous surrendering of arms by Amba fighters, keen observers are unanimous that development projects earmarked for the Division can effectively takeoff. 

Fresh surrendering across NW, SW

Aside Ndian Division, more fighters have, in the last two weeks, also dropped their arms in different parts of the North West Region. 

Last week, two hardened fighters dropped their weapons in Boyo Division of the North West Region. They were Felix Kibam aka ‘General’ Show of Mbessa and Bernard Kuh cum Oga Landlord. They surrendered at the Fundong Gendarmerie Brigade. 

Their surrender came after Ferdinand Mbashie aka ‘General’ Shina Rambo also surrendered in Ngoketunjia Division. Few months back, ‘General’ Shankiki and Grand Pa of Awing, also dropped their guns.