Soldiers deployed to Manyu Division in the Southwest Region of Cameroon have threatened ordinary citizens in Mkpot, Mbatop and Ebam with death if they do not reveal where the tough Southern Cameroonian fighters known as Amba boys are hiding.

The sex-starved, alcohol-inflamed and trigger-happy soldiers on Monday, January 13, 2020, stormed several villages in the highly volatile region of Manyu Division, threatening innocent civilians they would burn their villages the next time they returned to those villages if the whereabouts of the Amba fighters were not revealed.

The frustrated and scared soldiers hold that civilians are sympathizing with the fighters and if they can succeed to strike fear in the minds of the villagers, they will be able to put the Amba boys out of business before the fake twin elections scheduled for February 9, 2020.

The Yaounde government has, since January 2019, been using armed militiamen to do its dirty job in Southern Cameroons.

Some of the armed militiamen are also wear army uniforms, though they have not been trained accordingly.

It is being alleged that the armed militiamen are from President Paul Biya’s South Region and the whole idea of using militiamen to wreak havoc in Southern Cameroons is an idea engineered by defense minister, Joseph Beti Assomo, and higher education minister, Jacques Fame Ndongo, both of whom hail from the South Region.

The country’s territorial administration minister, Paul Atanga Nji, an ex-convict, has also trained his own militiamen and released them on the population of the two English-speaking regions of the country where they are running amok.

Regarding the threats issued in Manyu Division by wreckless soldiers, unconfirmed sources say the Cameroon military is being aided in the commission of its atrocities by the Mkpot Chief, Nchong Thomas Nkongho, who many consider as a black leg.

It is also alleged that the Mkpot chief now dresses up in military fatigue and bears an AK47 and a pistol for self-protection, as he is in the crosshairs of Amba boys who hold that he has been betraying them and the Southern Cameroons cause for total independence.

Residents of Mkpot hold that Mr. Nchong Thomas brought the military to Mkpot and aided and abetted the trigger-happy soldiers in their slaughtering of a Mkpot resident, Best Joe. The soldiers are also being accused of setting many homes in Mkpot ablaze, an incident that has left many homeless and desperate.

It should be recalled that since the commencement of the Southern Cameroons crisis, the country’s military has burnt down more than 250 villages, with many mentally ill and old people roasted in the process.

The atrocities of the country’s military have been well document by human rights organizations like the International Crisis Group and Amnesty International which have undercover agents in the two English-speaking regions of the country.

It should be recalled in 2017, Manyu Division was the epicenter of the Southern Cameroons crisis when four irresponsible and corrupt gendarm officers where killed in Agborkem German where they had seized the money and goods of some Nigerian traders.

The military spinned the story and reported that the corrupt and lawless gendarm officers were killed by Southern Cameroonians who were protesting against the government.

The country’s out-of-touch president, Paul Biya, who was in Abidjan, Cote d’ivoire, at the time the corrupt gendarm officers were killed, bought the fake report hook, line and sinker, and declared war on Southern Cameroonians who were only complaining about the marginalization they had suffered for 60 years.

Since then, more than 5,000 Cameroonians have been killed as a result of the conflict, including some 2,000 army soldiers.

Despite calls by the international community for an inclusive dialogue whose objective will be to seek solutions to the issues that have triggered the conflict, the Yaounde government has tone deaf and it has continued mowing down its own people while paying very attention to the international community’s repeated calls.

The conflict, which started as protests by teachers and lawyers, is into its fourth year and there is no end in sight.

Currently, the United Nations is providing humanitarian assistance to internally displaced people in the two English-speaking regions of the country while Doctors without Borders are on the ground, providing medical assistance to victims of the fighting.

Kingsley Betek in Cameroon

A group of Southern Cameroonians resident in Maryland, U.S.A. has been working with the Prime Minister’s Office of the Republic of Cameroon to prove that the Yaounde government is still popular among Cameroonians living abroad. The objective of this scheme is help change America’s perspective of the situation in Cameroon.

As Southern Cameroonians demonstrate across North America to prove that the Yaoundé government is dictatorial and has been rejected by its citizens, the Prime Minister’s Office in Yaoundé has quietly contacted some dubious Southern Cameroonians in Maryland for them to organize rallies and demonstrations that will enable American Congressmen to change their perspective of what is happening in Cameroon.

Demonstrations were supposed to have been organized in Washington D.C. and Boston where even homeless Americans had to be lured into the demonstrations with food and promises of money. T-shirts for the event had been produced and handed to supporters of the ailing and aging government in Yaoundé in an event that was unfortunately not captured on camera as the elected photographer, Joe Mombang, turned out to be ineffective. Indeed, Mr. Momband of Maryland is simply not tech-savvy and could not produce pictures that had to be sent to the Prime Minister’s Office for payment.

The team of unpatriotic Southern Cameroonians was in Cameroon during the festive period to get payment for their job, a job that was poorly done, but did not have the pictures to demonstrate their malicious actions against Southern Cameroonians who have been challenging the Yaoundé government for more than three years, charging it with marginalization and corruption.

The anger and frustration of the team leader, whose name has been withheld, boiled over while they were having lunch in a restaurant Yaoundé in which the Cameroon Concord News Group West and Central African Bureau Chief, Kingsley Betek, was also eating lunch. He could overhear the desperate government supporters arguing at the top of their voices, with the team leader regretting that if he had properly captured the event on camera, he would have been sure of netting more than CFAF 10 million at the end of the day.

Mr. Mombang was tongue-lashed for his ineptitude by the team leader who sounded so desperate and who was trying to think up news of scamming the Yaoundé government that is also very desperate to clean up its image around the world, especially in the United States where the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Tibor Nagy, has been mounting enormous pressure on the crumbling Yaoundé government.

The Trump White House is breathing down the neck of the Yaoundé government and it is starving the disintegrating government of some vital resources that have helped keep the regime a float for a long time.

 The Trump Administration has been castigating the Yaoundé government for flagrant human rights abuses in the two English-speaking regions of the country and, recently, it has disconnected the cash-strapped Yaoundé government from AGOA, an economic arrangement that has helped Cameroonian businesses to have access to the lucrative American market for years.

This decision has cut the government off vital economic opportunities that have been bringing in millions of dollars to the country’s treasury. The decision, which became effective in January 2019, has already begun biting and senior government officials have already started complaining, with some secretly calling on the Yaoundé government to negotiate with the Trump Administration which has been calling for an inclusive dialogue that will help bring about peace in Cameroon.

The U.S. Department of State is already mulling targeted sanctions against some senior Cameroon government officials such as Joseph Beti Assomo, Jacques Fame Ndongo, Laurent Esso, Issa Tchiroma and Paul Atanga Nji who are considered by Americans as those responsible for the escalation of violence and human rights violations in the two English-speaking regions of the country.

The Southern Cameroons crisis, which started in 2016, has already resulted in the deaths of more than 5,000 Cameroonians, including some 2,000 soldiers, most of whom are from the center and south regions which are the regions still supporting a moribund, corrupt and inefficient government led by Paul Biya.

Besides the human cost of the conflict, the country’s economy has also taken a blow to the liver, with state-owned corporations in the two English-speaking regions of the country going under. CDC, PAMOL and SONARA have also been victims of the conflict and the Yaoundé government is currently and frantically looking for resources to rebuild these state-owned corporations that have been significant and useful revenue streams to a government that is not emotionally attached to its people.

For some three years now, children in rural areas of the English-speaking regions have not been going to school due to government-orchestrated violence that is playing out in that part of the country. Today, government soldiers have transformed themselves into kidnappers and they are wreaking havoc on the helpless population.

Last week, some five government army soldiers kidnapped a man in Buea, a city located on the foot of Mount Cameroon, and asked the relatives of the victim to pay in CFAF 2 million before he could be released. Security forces followed the trail of the money transfer and arrested the soldiers who have operating in this way for months. Cameroon’s army soldiers have become more of a problem to the population they are supposed to protect.

In many parts of Southern Cameroons, armed groups, including those formed by the country’s Territorial Administration minister, Paul Atanga Nji, are running wild, and intimidating the local population that has been left homeless due to extreme government actions aimed at overcoming tough Southern Cameroonian fighters who have given government forces a run for their money.

Some 250 villages have been burnt down by government troops in the two English-speaking regions. Kwakwa, Kembong, Ossing and others are yet to recover from the massive inferno government troops created in these towns. Many mentally ill and old people were burnt alive in their homes, as government troop went on a rampage in a bid to turn the local population against armed fighters who mostly operate from the jungles.

The killings are still going on and instead of addressing the main issues; the Yaoundé government has adopted an approach wherein it has been papering over the cracks. Its cosmetic solutions have not addressed any issues and more violence is in the menu, as parliamentary and municipal elections are in the offing.

Southern Cameroonian fighters have vowed to disrupt the elections and the Yaoundé government, which is wont to violence, has already dispatched some 1,000 special forces to the two English-speaking regions of the country where they are expected to rape women and kill children.

Despite this show of muscles by the government, Southern Cameroonian fighters are still winning some critical battles, especially as some government troops are defecting and carrying with them arms and secrets to the armed groups.

The world should be bracing for more bloodshed and the greatest victims will surely be women, children and the old who, in many cases, do not have where to turn to. The days ahead do not hold any promise for the ordinary Southern Cameroonian and the fear of the unknown is gradually driving many innocent citizens out of their towns and cities before the real violent battles start.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai in the United Kingdom