As Amba fighters clash with vigilante group: Four killed, communities razed in Akwaya.

The deadly clashes occurred between sunset Friday 11 breaking Saturday 12 August. According to accounts from locals, the deadly clashes were the outcome of a separatist-imposed tax drive that the local population opted to put an end to.

Accounts hold that two gangs of gunmen, answerable to different self-styled Amba kingpins, invaded the communities and overpowered the local vigilante group members. 

Reports attributed to a certain Lakon Dieudonne indicated that the separatist fighters invaded the communities killing some locals, wounding others and setting entire communities on fire.

Three of those killed during the clashes are said to be aged persons who could not escape in the wake of the fighting. The fourth victim, whose identity The Guardian Post got as Take Elias Abang, is said to have been slaughtered in his cocoa farm.

The marauding gun-toting youngsters, who identified themselves as foot agents of the separatist movement blamed for the chaos in the North West and South West Regions, are said to have been armed to the teeth. 

There are fears that more persons may have been killed in the deadly clashes. Sources disclosed that villages targeted in the attack were: Kekukesim I, Kekukesim II and other communities under the Boki Clan. Self-proclaimed separatist lords, known as Commander Etta and Commander Ako Giant, are said to have directed the attacks.

Vigilante group’s mission to end exploitation turns sour

At the origin of the deadly clashes, The Guardian Post gathered, is a move by youth of the affected communities to end the Amba exploitation. 

The separatist fighters are said to have for long time been collecting huge sums of money from the local population under the guise of ‘taxes’ to fund their independence dream.

The Guardian Post gathered that the forceful tax recovery, which is not new to the gang of separatist fighters operating across the two English-speaking Regions, had been on in the affected communities for a while. 

Unable to continue paying, given that most of the locals are peasants, youngsters opted to constitute themselves into a vigilante group. With the seeming stop in the flow of cash and the putting in place of the vigilante group to resist their activities, the self-styled Commanders are said to have mobilised their agents and raided the communities.

Locals hiding in bushes 

Close to a week after the clashes, scores of persons in the concerned communities, who escaped into the bushes, are said to still be in the wild. Many are said to be still battling with the shock of having seen their homes razed alongside their foodstuffs. 

Like in other deadly clashes in the area since the Anglophone crisis, there has been no immediate succor for especially women, children and the elderly caught in the clashes.   

Locals curse, accuse gov’t of neglect 

In what has come to be known of narratives regarding the enclave nature of Akwaya Subdivision, several locals have been blaming the government. 

Some argue that unlike in some towns in the North West and South West Regions, where vigilante groups have been created with the backing of government, nothing has been given to those in the attacked villages.

There are those who are quoted as having claimed that if they had the backing of the authorities, especially security forces, they would have been able to stand up to the attacks of the Amba lords.

Given the porous borders between Cameroon and Nigeria, sources said the Amba fighters operating across Akwaya, have access to automatic war rifles which they use to attack communities and put communities in perpetual fear.

Akwaya cut off, atrocities under reported

Akwaya Subdivision is not recording its first gory episode in the armed conflict that has troubled Cameroon’s English-speaking Regions.

It is an administrative unit largely cut off from the rest of the country without roads and basic social services. 

There is no communication network in the area. This justifies why the recent deadly clashes in the interiors of the Subdivision are only coming to the public space close to a week after it happened. 

The Member of Parliament, MP, for Akwaya, Aka Martin Tyoga, voted on the platform of the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, CPDM, party has been clear about the carnage going on in the area.

The MP has repeatedly appealed for humanitarian support, the creation of new administrative units and the setting up of military bases to guarantee the security of the local population.

All such desperate pleas, however, have fallen on Biya regime’s ears.