By Akih Celine
As the crisis that has been rocking the North West and South West regions, which has spiraled into an armed conflict, rages on, the government has stepped up its crackdown on all those suspected to be activists or sympathisers to the Anglophone cause.
In this light, security operatives have been indiscriminately arresting Anglophone activists and suspected activists. This has caused many of them to flee into hiding and the whereabouts of many is not known.
Sources say those arrested are being tortured and detained under horrendous and inhuman conditions. Some have reportedly died in detention.
A case of an activist, whose whereabouts is no known is that of 30- year-old Mamfe-based Pastor Ekah Ekah. He is said to have gone missing since december 2016.
Reports say Pastor Ekah Ekah and his friend, Oru Thomas, took part in a protest march organised by the Social Democratic Front, SDF, in Buea in 2016. The strike was to support the teachers and lawyers who had gone on strike.
We gathered that after returning to Mamfe, after taking part in the strike in Buea, Pastor Ekah Ekah and Oru Thomas were arrested by security forces. They were accused of rebelling against father land”, tortured and detained under inhuman conditions.
However, it was later reported that Pastor Ekah Ekah escaped from detention under circumstances that remain shrouded in uncertainty. He is alleged to have escaped to Nigeria, though we could not independently confirm this.
Pastor Ekah Ekah has since then been declared wanted as security and defence forces have launched a manhunt for him. If arrested, he will be tried in a military tribunal, under the anti-terrorism law, whose maximum punishment is the death sentence. That is if he is not killed outright, like many others who have suffered extrajudicial killing.
Meanwhile, another case of an activist who is also wanted by security forces is that of Ntemgwa Constance Ngossong. Security operatives are said to have been searching for him since April 2018.
Family sources say Ntemgwa Constance Ngossong was apprehended and detained in Kumba, Meme Division South West Region on September 22, 2017. This was while returning from work following a peaceful demonstration that took place across the North West and South West regions. The protesters were calling for peace and dialogue in the worsening crisis that has rocked the two English-speaking regions.
We learned that Ntemgwa Constance was among those who were detained at the police station. They were later ferried to Buea and detained incommunicado and under dehumanising conditions.
Nonetheless, after six months in detention during which they had no access to their family members and lawyers, Ntemgwa Constance and others were released conditional on bail.
Since the release, for fear of his life, Ntemgwa Constance Ngossong is reported to have gone into hiding and his whereabouts is not known.
As the crisis persist many young men and women in the North West and South West regions are bearing the brunt.
Origin of Anglophone crisis
It is worth recalling that the Anglophone crisis, something that pundits say had been brewing for several years, boiled over in 2016, 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, over 500,000 others internally displaced with some living in bushes. Meanwhile, over 30,000 persons 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.
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.