I think it’s a good thing that we are able to operate and rebuild quietly to the point of being classified as having abandoned the fight for our own freedom. I cannot speak for all those whose photos appear on that tabloid… The noise and attention was not helping especially coming from our own ranks and from people we had thought were comrades and who truly wanted to see a veritably Free Southern Cameroons. Time and experience has taught us all lessons. Now cannot be a free for all ride as it was in the past…and so whatever we do must be done with tact and a ruthless determination not to let the ball out of our sight again. And because we do not pull the crowd is significant reason to believe that one has abandoned the struggle.

True many who joined the struggle with a lot of enthusiasm have quietly dropped off out of frustration and shock at what people turned out to be. One cannot fault some as we ended up being our own worst enemy. Many came in good faith but could not stand the filth, especially in the realization that some of our brothers were no better than the enemy regime we are fighting against. As a result they have quietly faded away with all their brilliant ideas, experience, expertise and goodwill.

Then there are those who had expected quick gains and positions. Were quick to take short cuts and betray ideals, thinking that Buea was just a stone-throw away. These ones would indulge in all kinds of deceit and mudslinging with the hope that by eliminating perceived rivals, they would have a smooth sail to Buea. They were instrumental in destroying the social cohesion that was being built, creating enemies where we should have made friends. And then realising that this is going to be for the long haul and they have quietly exited. We will have to live with that reality.

And then the group that joined because of the thrill of it, blewbwith every wind regardless of the direction. Saw the struggle as a path to build social capital and fanfare. In fact some demanded salaries as they thought those in charge were making a living off the struggle. But with thrills come exhaustion especially when when you are standing on the stage and realise that the audience has dwindled. Now with a struggle evidently lacking vision, a clear leadership and a concrete action plan, the thrill has died and they have quietly gone back to their day jobs. That’s why one notices an almost dead social media with increasing propaganda coming from sponsors of the regime instead of our own narrative to educate our people.

And finally the third group of people who joined because they. were hungry and angry. My political mentor had taught me one great lesson. He said “Be careful of hungry revolutionaries. They are often very radical, advocate unnecessary violence as a means of showing off their commitment to the revolution. But it is when the hunger goes, and jaws fill out that you can tell if they are truly revolutionaries or hungry mouths that were spewing angry words”. With the struggle, they managed to find new pastures, moved to new countries, got better jobs and started a family…in the process quietly exiting the scene. Their priorities have changed and that is life. All liberation struggle have gone through these.

In the midst of all this chaos and confusion, we must always be reminded that many did not join for positions and for fanfare. As my mentor said, always be on the lookout for people who have achieved everything in life but chose to sacrifice risk those achievements for the greater good. When I look at the newspaper caption, I think it is an embarrassment to have someone like Hon. Wirba in the same sentence as some of the greedy comedians one has come to know over the years (and I’m not saying everyone on there is a greedy comedian. I can identify one or two other comrades for who whom I have a lot of respect). Wirba is someone who could have selected to quietly frolic and have a comfortable life with the regime but chose to stand up and shout when others were still whispering. In the process went on exile and discovered the true face of some of our people in the diaspora. But such are revolutions. You cannot eat omelette unless you break eggs. There is a price to be paid for every decision you make and sometimes that price is being ridiculed and reduced to the same pedestal as those you would normally not share ice cream with. He must take it in his stride.

Anyway whatever the routes we have all taken, my appeal goes out to the true fighters and believers of our liberation struggle. We must never let a few rotten potatoes spoil the whole pack. We cannot afford to walk away completely when we have our comrades in prison who are paying the price on behalf of us all. When we have children who have been deprived of a normal childhood for over 5 years. There are tens of thousands in foreign lands living as refugees and asylum seekers. And now we are having cases of comrades committing suicide because we abandoned them in hunger and frustration. We have boyses who are in the bushes fighting without equipment, with no political education, have received no training and being killed through the greed and selfishness of those who would rule hook or by crook, by pitting them against each other. These are our brothers, our nephews and our sons. We all have relatives among these boys and therefore cannot afford to look the other way.

Finally there are our brothers, sisters, fathers and mothers who have lost their lives as a result of our struggle to live as a free people. That is true sacrifice and no true freedom comes without sacrifice. What would be most painful is to wake up one morning and realise that we made all these sacrifices in vain…and that we quietly resigned ourselves to our SPECIAL STATUS as glorified slaves in a system that clearly has marked us for the democratic and diplomatic abattoir. Whenever we think of giving up, we must remember that this is not another job from which you can just resign and get another job tomorrow. This is not changing the school of your children because you don’t like the face of the teacher. This is not a decision to change your church and become Pentecostal because you think the catholic church preaches boring sermons and offers no prosperity sessions. Given what some of us have been through since the start of this liberation struggle, the easy way out should have been to down our tools and run long ago. But abandon it to where? To what? A new job? A new car, new school?

THIS IS ABOUT MY EXISTENCE, MY IDENTITY, HOMELAND There are things you cannot abandon. You push on until you succeed. We will triumph or Die trying!

Millan Atam

As the world seeks to make sense of the chaos playing out in Kabul, Afghanistan, Southern Cameroonian fighters are also thinking that victory in their fight against the Yaoundé government is in sight.

The Southern Cameroonian fighters, who have over the last two months posted some significant results, have now been emboldened by the victory of the Taliban who have always fought to be in total control of their country.

In a recorded message sent to the Cameroon Concord News Group’s London Office, a Southern Cameroonian commander speaking in pidgin, the language widely spoken by Southern Cameroonians, said victory was in sight, adding that if America could be defeated, then La Republique, the derogatory name Southern Cameroonians use to describe the Republic of Cameroon, can be defeated in Southern Cameroons.

 “The situation in Afghanistan is talking to us. The Taliban have proven that it is possible to beat even the most sophisticated military in the world. If America can be humiliated in Afghanistan, then we can humiliate La Republique in our own territory. We can replicate what has happened in Afghanistan right here,” the commander said.

“Over the last two months, we have proven that we can inflict a lot of pain and damage on the Cameroonian army which thought it would just come here to kill our people and walk away. They have already killed more than 5,000 civilians, but we have also dealt them some deadly blows and they now know that nobody has the monopoly to kill others with impunity,” he added.

“The time when we had outdated weapons is long gone. We have migrated from machetes to IEDs, and this has struck fear into the minds of the soldiers. We have proven to them that fighting our boys is not a walk in the park. We have delivered results which the government did not expect us to deliver. We are no longer scared of the military. With our new weapons and experience gained over the last five years, we are capable of getting to Buea a lot sooner than expected. Many Cameroonian soldiers are scared of us. Many have fled to neighboring countries and they no longer want to be part of a military that is poorly paid and is organized along tribal lines,” the commander said.

“We hear many people say the government wants to negotiate, but we have not seen any moves that convince us that the government is sincere and serious. We are going to continue rolling these forces of occupation out of our territory until the government sees the need for negotiations. The government is always saying that it has no people to discuss with, but our leaders are in their jails. Mandela negotiated while in jail. Nkrumah negotiated when he was in jail. Patrice Lumumba negotiated his country’s independence while in jail. Why does the government think that President Julius Ayuk Tabe and his colleagues who are in jail in Yaoundé cannot negotiate with the government? We are talking here about negotiations for our independence. We cannot continue to be with Francophones. Their ways are different, and we have come to the conclusion that we have to go our separate ways,” the commander stressed.

“We hope that now that the President of La Republique, Paul Biya, is back from his long sick leave, he will be able to understand that his soldiers cannot win this war. The soldiers have been crippled by fear just as age and diseases have crippled Mr. Biya and his Senate President, Marcel Niat Njipenji. We will never down our weapons until all foreign forces on our land leave. We don’t want to hear of federalism. Anybody who discusses federalism with Yaoundé will be doing so at his own risk. We have gone beyond federalism. We are now working for the total liberation of our land,” the angry commander said.

Meanwhile, the fighting in the two English-speaking regions of the country continues. While the military has been demoralized, Southern Cameroonians fighters, for their part, are motivated and they have succeeded to impose their law in many parts of Southern Cameroons where the military is scared of going to. Cameroon army soldiers do not want to get into any confrontation with the fighters because they understand that Southern Cameroonian fighters now have more sophisticated weapons and are capable of killing them.

Army soldiers have been beaten in the rural parts of Southern Cameroons, and the humiliation that has been inflicted on the soldiers captured has struck fear in many soldiers who prefer to quit the military or feign an illness just because they want to be out of the killing fields of Southern Cameroons. 

While the soldiers are being killed in Southern Cameroons, the politicians, especially those of the ruling party, are doing their best to line their pockets. Many of them see the killings in Southern Cameroons as an opportunity to make money to feather their nests.

Like their president, the ministers who are directly involved in this war, hardly visit the two English-speaking regions but have constantly misinformed the president about the progress of the war.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai