Separatist fighters have kidnapped 10 villagers in Cameroon’s restive Anglophone region of Northwest, accusing them of working with government forces to fight the rebels, according to local and security sources.

On Thursday, the fighters released a video on social media of the kidnapped civilians, including six elderly women, three middle-aged women, and one man in the Oku locality of the region.

The fighters said they “will be treated accordingly” for their “crime”.

Since Monday, civilians in some villages in Cameroon’s troubled English-speaking regions of Northwest and Southwest have been staging protest demonstrations to denounce atrocities by the separatist fighters on civilians.

On Tuesday, villagers in Mbalangi locality of Southwest killed three separatist fighters after they attempted to disrupt a football game.

Villagers are increasingly forming self-defense groups to protect homes and families from the separatist fighters in the regions, according to security reports.

Separatist fighters started clashing with government forces in 2017 in a bid to create an independent nation they called “Ambazonia” in the two Anglophone regions.

Source: Xinhuanet

Two Cameroon government special forces were killed and another seriously injured late on Wednesday in an hour-long gunfight after being ambushed on the main road linking Bamenda to Wum.

The area is a notorious Amba fighter’s sanctuary in Mezam Division, North West Region.

The attack was one of four major gun battles that erupted across the North West, underscoring the dangers facing the Francophone army soldiers and other Southern Cameroons troops still loyal to the Biya regime in Yaoundé as they aim to curb the Ambazonia resurgence.

The soldiers from the Special Service Unit in Bamenda were returning from a patrol when Ambazonia fighters hit their vehicle.  Some of the soldiers left the vehicle and two died in the ensuing battle. The injuries to the third were described last night as serious and life-threatening.

The troops reportedly called in a quick reaction force from Bamenda which also came under Amba fire.

By Fon Lawrence in Bamenda

The last five years have been really tough for English speaking Cameroonians. The Biya Francophone war, the daunting Covid-19 pandemic and the Ambazonia Interim Government “kontry Sunday” lockdowns-all these means  living under unbearable conditions and restrictions and far away from family and friends.

This is for good reason. It is five years since the Biya regime made a huge and costly mistake by thinking that all political issues must only be addressed through repression and oppression. After close to five years of fighting, Paul Biya and his Beti Ewondo gang have transformed Southern Cameroons into a massive killing field.

The Southern Cameroons communities in Meme Division in the South West Region were disproportionately affected by the Biya war, the Kontry Sundays and the Covid-19 pandemic.  So keeping safe is at the forefront of all in the city of Kumba.

But a recent outing by the Senior Divisional Officer for Meme has once again demonstrated how Biya and his French Cameroun immoral political elites see the people of British Southern Cameroons.

Ambazonia fighters in Manyu Division have killed at least 10 soldiers in three attacks on army checkpoints in Ebam, Bakwele and Ekok.

Cameroon government security officials in Mamfe said a further 15 servicemen were injured. They said other attacks on army checkpoints in Eyumojock Sub Division wounded several army soldiers.

Cameroon Concord News gathered that the Ambazonia fighters may have taken some soldiers hostage when they raided the checkpoint in Ebam.

Vice President Dabney Yerima of the Ambazonia Interim Government announced recently that Amba fighters all over Southern Cameroons will be launching a series of complex attacks and ambushes despite the large-scale military campaign to suppress the British Southern Cameroons uprising.

Sunday’s attack mirrored past Amba raids in Ekok bordering the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Dabney Yerima said the new Amba attacks will mainly target Francophone soldiers and administrative officers loyal to the Biya Francophone regime.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from Kingsley Betek in Mamfe

Now that the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) party is over and the continent’s spotlight is no longer on Cameroon, many realities of its citizens’ daily lives are hitting them hard, including escalating food prices. President Paul Biya’s government might have spent billions in a blatant attempt to appease a frustrated youth and improve his dwindling support, but the Afcon failed as a public relations exercise. 

The Olembé Stadium stampede that claimed the lives of eight people on 24 January had already put a damper on the festivities of the tournament. And the Indomitable Lions’ failure to win the Afcon, instead settling for bronze, didn’t help the situation.  

“Since February we haven’t had three meals a day in our home,” says Stephanie Mebenga, a resident of Yaoundé, as she shops for food in the large Mokolo market. “My children and I have been forced to skip meals to survive since the cost of living is extremely high.” 

Mebenga, a widow in her late fifties and mother of three, was forced to move to the capital from Boumnyebel, a village about 120km from Yaoundé. She used to sell locally made plantain chips as a street vendor but moved about a year ago in search of a better life. Though she has a new job in the wholesale trade, things haven’t changed much.

“For some time now life has been very expensive. I find it difficult to feed my children and myself. The money I receive isn’t enough to pay for all our needs. We have rent, tuition fees, electricity and transportation to pay. The rest of the money is very little. But with the way food is expensive we really cannot cope. I don’t know if I can hold on for too long anymore.”

Mebenga isn’t the only one struggling. “I have a neighbour whose conditions are worse than mine and I am sad. I live with constant fear. I don’t know what can happen tomorrow. Just look around you,” she says, pointing at the stalls, “and see how goods get bad because there is no one to buy. People can’t eat. You can’t feed yourself and your family. And you don’t know when it will end.”

Going up and up

Most Cameroonians are going through the same ordeal daily. The cost of living has dramatically increased and families are struggling because of skyrocketing prices in the markets nationwide. The prevailing situation has forced them into hardship, especially those with only one source of income. 

For instance, the price of 1 litre of oil has risen from 1 150 Central African francs to 1 300 francs (R33). A tray of 30 eggs has gone from 1 500 to 24 000 francs (R604). A 50kg bag of rice that usually cost 13 000 francs is now 15 000 (R380) and the price of 1kg of fish now stands at 2 000 francs (R50) rather than 1 300.

Douala in the Littoral region is the Cameroonian city with the largest population at more than 2.77 million people. It is also the economic hub of the country and arguably among the most expensive of the 10 regions to live in.

The city has its own perennial challenges such as high crime rates, water shortages, traffic congestion and power failures. The region, in particular Douala, had the highest number of cases during the recent cholera outbreak, with only the Southwest region recording more. Medical experts have declared cholera endemic in areas like Makepe Missoke in Doula and advised people to avoid drinking water, fruit and vegetables obtained from there.

“The situation is catastrophic in Douala,” says resident Peldrine Blanche. “There’s no electricity, there is no water and there is no food. After Afcon many of us were not expecting this. We expected to see the economy boom. None of us thought things could get worse. We are still dealing with Covid-19 and now we have the cholera outbreak.”

The government budgeted 13 billion francs for the organisation of the tournament, just half of what the minister of sport initially wanted. “The stadiums couldn’t bring enough money to the country. The organisers were obliged to give tickets to fans to fill the stadiums. If not, only a few people would be able to pay for tickets,” says Kakdeu Louis-Marie, an economist and senior lecturer at the University of Maroua in the Far North region. 

Louis-Marie believes the main issue now in terms of the infrastructure built for the Afcon is how to improve it and make it profitable for the country. “It is not only in the stadium that you make money during the Afcon. You also have the audiovisual fees. This is where we had to invest and we didn’t. That’s why we had low income from the Afcon for our economy.”

Interventions needed

Cameroon can change things around if it starts producing more staple foods domestically, says Louis-Marie. “When we import we can’t influence decisions in suppliers’ countries. Now that wheat and flour are expensive, there’s no way we can control things because 100% of the wheat we have in Cameroon is imported. We need the political will to solve this problem.

He also points to the violence and human rights abuses that have plagued Cameroon as the government fights separatist groups in the Anglophone regions. “Six of our 10 regions aren’t stable. Living standards in some regions are not acceptable. There is no other solution than to promote national production to be sure that people should not die of starvation.”

Cameroon’s post-Afcon struggles have been felt across the board, including among teachers. Ten teachers’ associations and unions announced a strike in late February and resolved not to teach until the government pays their salaries in full as well as allowances and bonuses that have been in arrears for years. Some teachers haven’t been paid their full salary in as long as a decade. 

Teacher Wanjah Mercy says she has to teach private classes “no matter how cheaply” to make a living wage. “It is greatly affecting my family because we no longer eat the way we used to eat. We aren’t able to add fish or meat [to our diet]. Even the corn fufu that we use to complement meals won’t be rich [in nutritional value]. You just have to manage things.”

Bambot Valentine, a resident of Buea, the capital of the Southwest region, says he started experiencing the rise in the prices of basic commodities after the Afcon. “I went to the store on a usual morning to get bread for breakfast and the owner told me she doesn’t have bread. It was strange because she always had bread. She told me she no longer orders bread because the price has gone up and customers don’t understand.

“It was very strange so I moved to the next store. But most of the stores in my area had stopped selling bread because of the increase in price. Local bread that we used to have for 300 francs now costs 400 francs,” says Valentine.

“It is greatly affecting my family and me because the cost of living has gone up.  We cannot buy in bulk like we used to. Our expenditures have been limited. We can only get half of what we used to get so it must last longer. We used to get a bag of rice since we live in a large home and consume it for two to three weeks. But right now we can only get half a bag of rice.”

This article was first published by New Frame