Villagers in Cameroon’s volatile northwest region are fleeing separatist violence ahead of February 9 local and parliamentary elections to neighboring Nigeria.  The rebels have vowed to stop the elections and are clashing with the military while civilians are caught up in the fighting. 

Christians at True Faith Ministries, in the Nigerian border village of Atta, sing for God to protect them.   

Pastor Innocent Okoli, 47,  says more than 70 of them are Cameroonians who fled increased violence ahead of February 9 elections.

He says they crossed the border, about 40 kilometers (29 miles) away, in the past two weeks to escape clashes between Cameroon’s military and rebels.

“These are Christians with very different experiences.  You have Christians who are yet to trace their loved ones, you have many separated children in church,” he said. “You have so many unaccompanied children.  You know, you cannot just minister to them without helping them to get food to eat and then find something to do.”

A majority of the Cameroonians are women and children.

Regina Shey Najela, 18, says she and her younger brother joined a group of women to flee from Cameroon’s border village of Ngarum after security clashed with rebels, known as Amba boys.

“The Amba boys entered the quarter [our village] so, the policemen came shooting all over,” she said.  “We ran, we slept in the bush.  My mother said that she will look for a way [for us to escape].  I am here with my junior brother.  Before we left, they burned our house.”

Aid group Positive Youth Africa has been providing relief material to Cameroonians fleeing the fighting to Atta.

Aid worker Franka Ma-ih Sulem Yong says it is difficult to estimate how many people have crossed from Cameroon to Nigeria in recent weeks because border villages are difficult to access.

But Ibrahima Mustapha, a community leader of the Mambilas ethnic group in Nigeria’s Taraba state, says they have received over 300 Cameroonians in the past two weeks.  

The latest violence comes as Cameroon authorities try to hold local council and parliamentary elections in the troubled Northwest and Southwest regions.

President Paul Biya has insisted the elections will take place and ordered the military to kill all rebels who refuse to surrender.  

Unrest broke out in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions in 2016, when teachers and lawyers protested the dominance of the French language and French-speaking officials.

Rebels took up arms a year later, demanding a separate English-speaking state they call “Ambazonia.”    

The conflict with Cameroon’s military since then has killed about 3,000 people, many of them villagers caught up in the fighting.  The United Nations reports that at least 50,000 Cameroonians have fled the fighting to Nigeria.

Culled from VOA

The Southern Cameroons Interim Government on Monday condemned French Cameroun troops’ killing of senior Ambazonia self defense commanders including General Chacha and General Efang. In a telephone conversation with our European political affairs correspondent, Chi Prudence Asong, the Ambazonia Vice President Dabney Yerima also called for reactivating the armed attacks against French Cameroun.

The exiled Southern Cameroons leader observed that “the killing of prominent Ambazonia self defense commanders is purely a crime that urges all Southern Cameroons factions to come together and reactivate armed resistance against the occupation forces.”

He slammed Minister Paul Atanga Nji, and his French Cameroun sponsored militia for the atrocities going on in Southern Cameroons adding that “the French Cameroun gendarmerie and militias are carrying out daily arrests against Ambazonia activists and militants, while the French Cameroun army is continuing with its genocidal campaign in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.”

The current Biya Francophone regime military escalation against the people of Southern Cameroons was launched in a bid to guarantee security for the so-called twin poll this February.

It is vital to include in this report that the French Cameroun military success comes amid infighting among Ambazonia groups.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from Chi Prudence Asong

Cameroon’s police are on high alert over possible separatist attacks in the capital, Yaounde, a senior police officer said on Monday.

Cameroon police chief Martin Mbarga Nguelle said security forces have been on high alert since receiving relevant intelligence reports.

He urged the police to adopt a higher level of vigilance in “sensitive posts” and to report any suspicious activities.

Nguelle warned that the attackers mainly use motorcycles to undertake their operations.

Police sources said some of the “wanted and notorious” armed separatists have already made contacts with “their friends” as they plan to sneak into the capital and other urban centers to launch attacks.

Armed separatists want the Northwest and Southwest English-speaking regions to secede from the majority French-speaking Cameroon and form a new country known as “Ambazonia.” They have been clashing with government forces since 2017.

Last Friday, Cameroonian president Paul Biya said on last Friday, although the security situation in the regions has improved, “few (separatist) groups” continue to commit atrocities and to destroy the property of citizens.

Source: Xinhaunet

The renowned Ambazonia  General Chacha leader of a Southern Cameroons Restoration Force popularly known as the Bui Warriors, was killed on Sunday January 26, 2020 during a French  Cameroun military operation in Bui County.

The Francophone dominated Cameroon government army reportedly launched a surprise attack late in the night in the camp that was harbouring the brave Southern Cameroons fighter and twenty of his combatants in Kikaikom in the Kumbo district.

French Cameroun army  general Valère Nka, commander of the 5th military region who made the news public also said the security situation in Bui County was heading back to normal.

General Chacha is the second prominent Ambazonia Self Defense chief to be killed within a week, after General Efang .

Since the beginning of the 2020, the Biya Francophone regime has announced significant military reinforcements in Southern Cameroons, in preparation for the parliamentary and municipal elections on February 9.

By Rita Akana