Southern Cameroons

How long will the CPDM government remain in silence in the face of bestial and nefarious atrocities occurring sporadically in the North West and South West regions that have taken the lives of over 6,000 compatriots?

On March 15, there were reports of the inhuman, demonic, brutish and fiendish burial, alive, of Agbormbouh Prizo, the Chairman of Presbyterian Church in Nchang village of Mamfe Central Subdivision in the South West Region.

Credible media reports pointed out that he was kidnapped, allegedly by separatist fighters, on March 15, with two other persons.

The two others were released the following day while the chairman remained detained by the separatist fighters, who were demanding a ransom of 100,000 FCFA.

The reports noted that security forces clashed with separatist fighters a day before their abduction. At least three separatist fighters are said to have died in the clash.

“While they were working together on a farm, the topic of discussion sprouted about the military-Amba clash,” a source explained, adding that, “Agbormbouh is reported to have expressed the wish for security forces to restore order in the community”.

He is also quoted to have said "the way the Amba fighters are terrorising us within this period, I would have been happy if, during that confrontation, all of them were killed”.

It would appears the Amba boys lurking in the bushes overheard his wish to have them neutralised. He was then kidnapped, “his mouth was tied up to prevent him from talking. They took him to another location where they buried him alive” a source stated.

Just when the civilised world was still in grieve and lamentation over man's inhumanity to man, there were other reports that Cameroonian scholar, Dr Chiabi Emmanuel, was, in the night of Wednesday March 15, shot by gunmen in Bamenda, Mezam Division of the North West Region.

Family sources said the revered historian was shot just as he entered the gate of his residence at New Road in Nkwen, Bamenda III Subdivision, during the evening hours of the fateful day.

The Guardian Post gathered that Dr Chiabi had just returned home after he went out in search of cooking gas. The gunshot that left the academic struggling in a pool of his own blood, drew the attention of his family members and people in the neighbourhood.

He was rushed to a health facility in Nkwen, Bamenda, but later gave up the ghost after losing too much blood. A video of the scene of the heinous crime, which surfaced on social media a day after the academic was shot, showed a bullet shell and stains of the blood.

Dr Chiabi, a Fulbright Scholar, had lectured at the University of Yaounde I and later took up residence in the United State of America. The historian was pioneer president of Afo-a-Kom USA, a cultural and development association grouping Kom sons and daughters, from Boyo Division in the North West Region, resident in the USA.

The association’s current president, Promise Kimeng Yong, in a condolence message, described the late Dr Chiabi as a “baobab that has fallen”.

Human rights advocate, Barrister Felix Nkongho Agbor Balla, in a message published on Friday, condemned the killing, describing it as despicable and unacceptable.

Anti-corruption crusader, lawyer and politician, Barrister Akere Muna, tweeted: “Grief stricken this morning by the brutal murder of Prof Chiabi in Bamenda. A fine gentlemen and pristine academic. I care less about what you are fighting for or even who you claim to be protecting. You do not respect human life? You are nothing but a terrorist”.

Akere implied that Amba Boys, who have so far not claimed responsibility, were the prime suspects.

The two killings are coming after three explosions rocked the Mount Cameroon Race of Hope and injured some 19 and at least one later died in hospital.



There are several other hellish atrocities being committed in the two English-speaking regions that the media radar has not identified. But the high profile cases of burying alive, shooting innocent people as loutish and vile as they have been, have not gnawed on the conscience of the CPDM government and in particular the "elected" officials such as senators, parliamentarians, mayors and councillors of the regions who claim to "represent" their constituents.

How can they pretend to represent their people by remaining in a stone silence of acquiescence when such brutality occurs in their regions? How does a government, whose primordial responsibility should be to protect the lives and properties of its citizens, be so indifferent when innocent people are being buried alive?

Do those who govern, be they elected or appointed, with the purpose to hold sway for good purposes, not feel ashamed in the face of international community that in the android generation prehistoric barbarism of burying people alive, not by accident but as jungle justice, is still practiced in Cameroon, yet no official statement of condemnation is made? The Guardian Post can only pray God should save Cameroon.

The Gaurdian Newspaper

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Ayuk Divine

26.Mar.2023

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Ayuk Divine

21.Mar.2023

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Anglophone separatists in Cameroon have claimed responsibility for an attack Wednesday that killed seven people, including a senior official and a mayor. Cameroon’s military says the officials were on a tour to raise support against the rebels when a homemade bomb hit their car.

The government said the explosive device hit the officials' car in Bekora village in the Ekondo Titi district of Cameroon's English-speaking South-West region. The government says six officials, including Timothee Aboloa, highest government official in Ekondo Titi, Nanji Kenneth, mayor of Ekondo Titi and Ebeku William, the Ekondo Titi president of Cameroon’s ruling Cameroon People's Democratic Movement party, died on the spot.

Cameroon's military said after the device exploded, separatist fighters hiding in a nearby bush started shooting.

Bernard Okalia Bilai is the governor of the South-West region. Bilai said several government troops sustained injuries, and a military official died while being rushed to a local hospital by the military. Bilai spoke during a press conference broadcast by local media including Cameroon state broadcaster CRTV.

"All the six occupants of the car died. The other forces of law and order [military] who were in the pickup following the [officials'] car was wounded. One young officer, a lieutenant, was wounded, and he too passed away. So, in that attack we have lost seven persons,” he said.

Bilai said the officials were on a meet-the-people tour of Ekondo Titi. He said during the tour, the officials were expected to educate civilians on braving separatists and relaunch economic activities in their towns and villages. Bilai said the officials were also asking civilians to report suspected fighters hiding in their towns and villages.

Cameroon’s military on Thursday said troops were deployed to Ekondo Titi shortly after the explosion. The military said the troops will track and arrest or kill the fighters should government troops face any resistance from the rebels.

Capo Daniel is the deputy defense chief of staff for the Ambazonia Defense Forces, said to be the largest separatist group in Cameroon.

Capo said separatists regret that one fighter has been missing since Wednesday’s attack. He said no fighter was wounded and none were killed by government troops in the Ekondo Titi attack, as reported by Cameroon military. Capo spoke to VOA via a messaging app.

“This operation is part of our liberation operations to end the Cameroon occupation and rule of Ambazonia territory. The divisional officer is in charge of coordinating Cameroon’s military operations and Cameroon’s occupation of Ambazonia territory. We will continue to battle and resist Cameroon rule of Ambazonia until the last Cameroon military is booted out of our territory,” he said.

Cameroon separatists have been fighting since 2017 to carve out an independent English-speaking state in the majority French-speaking Cameroon. The separatists say their state will be called Ambazonia.

Fighters have vowed to attack any worker sent by the central government in Yaounde to the English-speaking western regions. The separatists say they will continue attacking government offices and staff until the central government withdraws its troops from the troubled Anglophone regions.

The United Nations says the conflict has left more than 3,500 people dead and 750,000 displaced.

VOA

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Ayuk Divine

04.Mar.2022

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Cameroon's women and children have suffered disproportionately in the country's five-year separatist conflict. But a report by the International Crisis Group says the role of women has expanded from just being victims to being rebels and peacemakers.

The anglophone separatist conflict in the country’s western regions has severely impacted women and put them at greater risk of violence.

Brussels-based think tank the International Crisis Group (ICG), in a report released Wednesday, says women have suffered more than the region’s men since armed conflict broke out in 2017.

"Some of the violence women have suffered include kidnaping, rape, torture and execution," said Arrey Elvis Ntui, the ICG’s senior consulting analyst for Cameroon. "The conflict has destroyed critical medical infrastructure thereby depriving women of access to health. It has further exposed them to other ills like trafficking and sexual exploitation. The authorities should persecute those who are responsible for crimes and include women in the peace process. Separatists must ensure an effective end to the school sabotage and stop the practice of requiring women to serve them in their camps."

Cameroon’s separatist groups deny abusing women — and say that some women have joined their forces freely.

Capo Daniel is deputy defense chief of the Ambazonia Defense Forces (ADF), one of the biggest rebel groups in Cameroon.

"It is unfortunate that the Crisis Group will target the Ambazonian forces for something that is not substantiated. There have been no circumstances where women have been seen in our camps against their will. There are members within our forces who are women, who are volunteers," he said.

Rights activists accuse government troops of abusing women too, though officials deny it.

Marie-Thérèse Abena Ondoa, Cameroon's minister of Women's Empowerment and the Family, says Cameroon is working with female peace campaigners in initiatives to end the conflict.

"The Ministry of Women's Empowerment and the Family along with women leaders stepped up to express their indignation on the murder of their sisters and children by secessionists in the North West and South West regions. The government has made the promotion of human rights of its citizens a major concern," she said.

More than a thousand Cameroonian women converged in Yaounde last August for a first-ever peace convention to try to end the conflict.

They asked rebels and government troops to lay down their guns so peace could return to the restive regions, but fighting has continued.

Violence erupted in Cameroon’s western regions in 2017 after English-speaking teachers and lawyers protested against discrimination by the country's French-speaking majority. The military responded with a crackdown and separatists took up arms.

The United Nations says about 3,500 people have been killed and at least 700,000 displaced, with women and children the most affected.

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Ayuk Divine

24.Feb.2022

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