Armed conflict in NW, SW: Many flee as civilians caught between separatist fighters’ atrocities, military clampdown.

Security operatives have been indiscriminately arresting Anglophone activists and suspected activists. Sources say the arrested persons are being detained under deplorable and inhuman conditions. Some have reportedly died in detention. 

This has caused many to flee into hiding while the whereabouts of many is not known. 

Meanwhile, as the gun battles between the military and separatist fighters increase, some villagers in some communities have been forced to escape into the forest, for fear of being caught in the crossfire. 

The separatist fighters have also been kidnapping, torturing and killing those whom they suspect are giving information about them to the military. Some of those kidnapped by the separatist fighters have only gained their freedom after paying ransom amounting to huge sums of money.

One of those who have been caught between the Ambazonia separatist fighters and the military is Naptali Angyie Aghaindum. Separatist fighters in Tinekoh village in Momo Division of the North West Region, had accused Naptali Angyie Aghaindum of collaborating with the military and giving the military information about the activities and hideouts of separatists. The separatist fighters thus declared Angyie as a blackleg and marked him for death.

Sometime in December 2023, we gathered, the separatist fighters stormed Angyie’s family compound looking for him. Not finding him, they kidnapped his wife, Vargorh Keyenyen Judith, and his child, Aghaindum Miracle Wisdom.

Angyie’s wife, whom the separatists also accused of collaborating with the military, and child, are said to have been taken to a separatist fighters’ hideout. The separatist fighters are said to have asked her to disclose the whereabouts of her husband, whom they had accused of being a spy and informant of the military, or else she and her child will be killed. 

However, Vargorh Keyenyen Judith and Aghaindum Miracle Wisdom where later released by the separatist fighters after a ransom of 500, 000 FCFA was paid. The person who is said to have mediated for the ransom to be paid to the separatist fighters is one Pastor Roger Ngwa.

However, Naptali Angyie Aghaindum’s ordeal was far from over. We gathered that when the military learnt that he had paid money to the separatist fighters, they accused him of being a separatist sympathiser and of financing the activities of the fighters. The military is said to have launched a manhunt for Angyie.

Since then, both the separatist fighters and the military are said to have been constantly raiding Angyie’s family compound in search of him. This is said to have forced his brother and other relatives to run away for fear of being killed.

Naptali Angyie Aghaindum has since gone underground, and his whereabouts is not known. 

It is feared that if the separatist fighters lay hands on him, Angyie will certainly be killed, like many others who have suffered from atrocities committed by separatist fighters. 

Meanwhile, if arrested by the defence and security forces, Naptali Angyie Aghaindum will be tried in a military tribunal, under the anti-terrorism law, whose maximum punishment is death penalty. That is if he is not killed outright, like many others who have been victims of extra-judicial killings.

At the time of running this story, we gathered that the whereabouts of Angyie’s wife and child, Vargorh Keyenyen Judith and Aghaindum Miracle Wisdom, respectively, is also not known. 

Origin of crisis

It is also worth recalling that the Anglophone crisis, something that pundits say had been brewing for several years, boiled over recently, when Common Law Lawyers in the North West and South West regions went on strike. They were demanding for the return of the federal system of government, redeployment of Civil Law Magistrates back to Civil Law Courts in French Cameroon, among other grievances. Not long after, teachers in the North West and South West regions also went on strike, demanding for the redress of several issues concerning the English system of education. 

Things, however, got worst when Anglophones in both regions, who had been fed up with the unfavourable political and economic situation of the country, the use of French as the dominant and official language, and the marginalisation of the Anglophones, joined the strike. 

The crisis has left thousands, both civilians and security and defence forces dead, others internally displaced with some living in bushes while over 50,000 have fled to neighbouring Nigeria where they are living as refugees.

Many houses, and even whole villages, have been burnt down in the crisis-hit regions. 

The separatist leader of the self-declared Republic of Ambazonia, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, and eight other close associates of his, who were arrested in Nigeria and extradited to Cameroon, are currently serving life sentences at the Kondengui maximum security prison in Yaounde. Many Anglophone other activists such as Mancho Bibixy, Penn Terrence, Tsi Conrad, among others, are also serving jail terms at the Kondengui prison.

While the Anglophone crisis continues to escalate, international organisations and other western powers have called on the government to address the root cause through genuine and inclusive dialogue.