For many years, many Southern Cameroonians knew that Amba fighters were their protectors as the country’s military pounded the two English-speaking regions of the country in a bid to quell an insurgency which has rattled the Yaoundé government.

The country’s English-speaking Diaspora stood firmly behind the poorly trained, undisciplined and under-resourced ragtag group of fighters which has succeeded to give the country’s military a run for its money.

At the beginning of the conflict which pitted the Yaoundé government against its English-speaking minority, Southern Cameroonians abroad thought it was an obligation for them to support the fighters on the ground to enable them stand up to the military considered by Southern Cameroonians as an army of occupation and a bully which needed to be taught a few hard lessons.

And those lessons were actually delivered to many soldiers in a manner that was far from being fair.

Thousands of soldiers were killed, with some being subjected to the worst inhumane treatment. Their heads were chopped off and sometimes their private parts were cut off in a drama designed by the separatists to strike fear in the minds of young French-speaking Cameroonian soldiers who joined the military just to earn a salary.

Thousands of army soldiers have been maimed due to the senseless war in the country’s two English-speaking regions and thousands are also suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from the atrocities they have committed and the death of a comrade in arms or that of an innocent civilian who had nothing to do with the war.

But the damage triggered by Amba fighters is not only human. Many pieces of military equipment have been destroyed by Amba fighters, especially over the last two years when the ragtag military tactics morphed from directly challenging the military into planting unidentified explosive devices on major roads and highways.

Ever since this tactic got thrown into the mix, the military has stopped dispatching many trucks to the region, though it still has a heavy military presence in the two English-speaking regions of the country.

Amba fighters received praises from Southern Cameroonians, especially the Diaspora which has been the source of financing for the fighters.

But the once-upon-a-time heroes have morphed into villains who are doing a great job at kidnapping and killing the people they are supposed to be protecting.

Power, especially gun-enforced power, has gotten into the heads of the young fighters who are permanently alcohol-inflamed and under the influence of banned substances.

The guns, bought with money wired by the Diaspora, have become millstones around the civilian population’s neck, causing the locals to call on the Yaoundé government to protect them against their once admired ‘protectors’.

Instead of fighting army soldiers, Amba fighters are now either fighting against each other or killing Southern Cameroonians on ‘ground zero’ for reasons which cannot be explained by the various interim governments which have worked so hard to weaken the very insurgency they helped to manufacture.

It is almost every month that a new interim government comes to life, with a new president whose unexpressed ambition is to lay hands on money put together by the Diaspora, and the last president installed is called Chris Anu whose faction or interim government has lost its credibility because the president cum Man of God has tainted his own character and reputation. Poverty hardly breeds virtue and even men of God could be vulnerable if they did not have enough resources to have a decent life.

Chris Anu, who has been a member of almost every interim government since the beginning of the insurgency, remains a lightning rod for controversy, making it hard for Southern Cameroonians to sympathize with him when their ‘first lady’, his wife, lost her battle against cancer last week.

But it is on ‘ground zero’ that the disaster manufactured by Amba fighters is taking shape. Summary executions have been stepped up and kidnappings have become the order of the day, causing many Southern Cameroonians to flee the very region they had vowed to protect. What an irony!

Last Saturday, an old man whose name the Cameroon Concord News got as Mr. Ebage, 73, was gunned down in cold blood and in the presence of his children in Muyuka, a town some 10 km from Buea, the capital of the Southwest region.

The young Amba fighters who carried out the execution of this retired hospital nurse did not charge the victim with any crime nor did they give him a chance for him to defend himself against any allegations which might have been made against him.

He had been judged without his knowledge and his execution remains a tough challenge to his family members, many of whom have made up their minds to leave their beloved Southwest for good. The land of promise has become the land of summary executions for many Southern Cameroons.

Southern Cameroons is the only ‘country’ in the world wherein family members of a dead person have to pay thousands of dollars just to bury their dead.

 Strangely, these family members never receive a receipt for the payments they make and they cannot even protest when things go wrong. This has made many people to view the insurgency as a scam engineered to rob the people of their scarce resources.

Those who manufactured the insurgency had pompously told the world that Southern Cameroons would be the land of the free, but from every indication, freedom does not exist in that part of the world.

There is no freedom of speech as anybody who criticizes Amba fighters is rapidly deleted from the face of the earth and those who believe in federalism have been branded as blacklegs and death penalties are hanging over their heads like the Swords of Damocles.

The Southern Cameroonian population is really caught between the deep blue sea and devil. Amba fighters have issued a code of silence in the supposedly “the land of the free” and army soldiers are also implementing their own law.

The military enforced brutality is usually reduced once you get accused and hauled to the nearest jail where you are required to acknowledge a crime you never committed which, of course, would end up with you paying at least USD 500 for you to be released.

But Amba fighters have gone beyond peanuts. Once you get kidnapped by Amba fighters, know that your family will have to cough up thousands of dollars for you to come out alive from their “green jails”.

The insurgency has become a business and Amba fighters are outdoing the military when it comes to ransoms. The insurgency has created a new economy and the people are paying dearly for the pseudo-protection they are enjoying from people they do not know.

Those who bought weapons for the fighters are now paying ransoms and many now dread that phone call which might remind them of their mistakes.

Currently, some five priests are reflecting on their fate in unknown Amba jails for no crimes committed. They were whisked off some two weeks ago and Amba fighters, who have become experts at kidnapping, are asking for USD 100,000 which the Catholic church has clearly stated that it would not pay due to lack of funds.

The priests have now been left to their own devices and they do not know any fate Amba fighters have reserved for them.

The insurgency, designed to make things better for Southern Cameroonians, has become a massive nightmare to the population and there is no end in sight, as the region is awash with weapons.

Amba fighters have become the new masters, especially in rural areas. They are magistrates, lawyers, engineers, teachers, Men of God, local chiefs and councilors. One would think it takes time to train to become a lawyer or engineer, but the Amba training schools have reduced the London-based Rapid Results College to a child’s play as they are producing engineers and lawyers in weeks.

They may soon be producing medical doctors as the population’s health situation deteriorates and as the military bars government hospitals from treating wounded Amba fighters.

If Southern Cameroons must be that real land of promise, then those in control of Amba fighters must come up with new and innovative ways of controlling those fighters who are discrediting the insurgency. The protector has clearly become the villain and this is hurting.

Dr. Joachim Arrey in Canada

This is the sixth year since an insurgency in Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions hit the global stage and the killings and the resistance put up by separatist fighters has proven that the government cannot win this fight through military violence.

An ill-equipped, poorly armed, and badly organized group known as Amba fighters has been frustrating the government’s seasoned military for over five years and this should be a warning to the government. Military action alone will not always address all the issues which will come the government’s way.

Of the ten thousand people who have lost their lives in this uncalled-for conflict, four thousand have been government forces which are supposedly well-trained and well-equipped. Nobody had thought that the government would be losing sleep over a war wherein the enemy was little known and poorly equipped.

But due to the show put up by the ragtag group known as Amba fighters, Cameroon government officials have not had a good night’s sleep for more than five years. Soldiers who get sent to the warfront are permanently scared and constantly have butterflies in their stomachs. The Yaoundé hastily trained soldiers spend most of their time praying instead of seeking to challenge the real fighters who have, for more than five years, been comfortably living in the bushes and sometimes even head to Nigeria to enjoy their small but significant victories. 

Videos and pictures of soldiers kidnapped, ambushed and even beheaded are online today, underscoring that Amba fighters can take on the country’s military which has been enjoying French military support for decades. 

If after six years and after having spent millions of dollars in a war whose end is not in sight, it is obvious that only a negotiated peace settlement can deliver the results the world is looking forward to. Time and experience have proven that military action never addresses any issues. On the contrary, it only makes a bad situation worse, and it generates brand new problems.

The Cameroon government’s penchant for military brutality has not addressed the issues its English-speaking minority had submitted to it. On the contrary, military brutality has worsened relations between the government and the two English-speaking regions of the country. 

Today, many English-speaking Cameroonians hold that they are being treated like second-class citizens in their own country. They are constantly being harassed by Francophone soldiers who have been sent to the two English-speaking regions to oppress the civilian population.

The soldiers and police officers are now using the chaos in those two regions to enrich themselves. Once arrested on mere suspicion, an English-speaking Cameroonian is made to pay over USD 500 for him to be released even when he has not committed any crime. All these crimes against humanity are being committed with the approval and assistance of senior military and police officers who take the lion’s share of the booty their subordinates bring to them.

Sometimes, innocent civilians are tortured and thrown in jail for months without any justification. Rights groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have documented many of these abuses, hoping that their reports might push the government into complying with its international obligations.

Unfortunately, their messages have all fallen on deaf ears, as the government still believes that only military action can bring about peace in a country that is already imploding.

In the past, it was just a feeling, but government actions and policies over the last six years have confirmed what many thought was simply a case of negligence and inadvertence. The marginalization of Cameroon’s English-speaking minority is real!

This feeling is buttressed by evidence on the ground. Instead of withdrawing Francophone teachers and magistrates from the two English-speaking regions of the country as requested, the government has been doubling down, hoping that time will address its issues on its behalf.

The government’s indifference to the suffering of the people in the two English-speaking regions and its mishandling of the situation are causing the conflict to protract. Its recent withdrawal from the Swiss Talks speaks to its arrogance and believe that time is on its side.

While the killings in the two English-speaking regions have reduced and some towns and cities in the regions are enjoying relative calm, there is abundant evidence that the storm is not yet over. 

Last week, some Roman Catholic priests were kidnapped in Nchang, a small town some five kilometers from Mamfe town, the headquarters of Manyu Division. The little town’s church was set ablaze before the criminals left the location, and the priests are still being kept in Ambazonian “green jails”. A king’s ransom has been requested by the kidnappers, but the Catholic Church, which is also struggling financially, has said that it will not be able to pay USD 100,00 for the five kidnapped priests. The captives are therefore on their own. 

The government, which is supposed to provide security for all those living within the geo-political entity known as Cameroon, is clearly missing in action. Indeed, the Yaoundé government is not in control of many parts of its territory, and this has made it possible for separatist fighters to operate freely in the rural areas of the two English-speaking regions of the country.

For more than five years, schools have been closed in those rural areas and the government has been unable to ensure that the rural kid goes to school like his counterpart in the towns and cities of Southern Cameroons. Many young girls have been impregnated by many predators, sometimes by the separatist fighters who claim they are fighting to protect the population. 

There is no other place in the world where impregnating young and desperate girls can be seen as protection. Amba fighters are clearly providing a new meaning to the word protection. The country’s future, just like that of the rural kid, is clearly being compromised and this is not a major concern to the government and its officials who are too busy with feathering their nest at the expense of the ordinary Cameroonian. 

In civilized environments, the government would be bending over backwards just to ensure its young and fragile citizens return to school as a means of ensuring that the country’s future is guaranteed.

If the government had to think beyond its own interest, it would find a reason to return to the negotiating table. Quitting the Swiss talks does not speak well of the Yaounde government which is known for its arrogance and ineptitude.

The government is clearly being deceived by the relative calm in the two English-speaking regions of the country. However, this could be the calm before a massive storm. There is no light at the end of the tunnel and even if there is some light, especially as life in the towns of Southern Cameroons is returning to normal, the light might be that of an oncoming train which might be bringing bad news to the entire country. 

Going back to the negotiating table is the ideal way of dealing with this conflict which has lasted for too long and has not been neglected by the Yaounde government and the international community. Continuous dialogue and negotiations will surely bail the country out of its quagmire while indifference will only make matters worse. A word to the wise is enough! 

By Dr. Joachim Arrey