Southern Cameroons Crisis: Biya regime torturing Ambazonian detainees in systemic way ⁰

The Biya Francophone regime in Yaoundé has been torturing Southern Cameroons detainees in a methodical and systemic way since it jailed the leader of the Ambazonia Interim Government President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and other senior Southern Cameroons leaders following their abduction in Abuja, Nigeria.

Based on interviews with several Southern Cameroons prisoners of conscience, Barrister Amungwa Tanyi leading advocate for the NERA 10 recently described grim conditions and abuse. His revelations have been backed with testimony from four Cameroon government army soldiers who recently defected and fled the country to Dubai.

The Barrister Amungwa Tanyi Nicodemus investigation provides the most comprehensive look ever since the 88-year-old President Biya declared a war against the English speaking minority in Southern Cameroons.

Cameroon Intelligence Report understands that Barrister Amungwa has withheld the names of most of the Southern Cameroons detainees to protect them from retaliation by members of the Francophone dominated Cameroonian Secret Service.

Some of the Southern Cameroons prisoners contacted in Buea and in Douala-New Bell, said the torture often begins immediately they were arrested on the street or in their houses, and some die even before reaching a detention facility.

The Cameroon government army soldiers from the ruling Beti-Ewondo tribes torture Southern Cameroons detainees, first for revenge and then for information, a spokesperson for Barrister Amungwa Tanyi hinted Cameroon Intelligence Report adding that the Cameroon government military has become even more brutal against Southern Cameroonians.

 “They would torture Southern Cameroonians until they got the answers they wanted. They speak in French, abuse us, saying we are slaves from Nigeria and in most of the times they tell us here at the New Bell, we do not have any laws. We have guns, and we can just kill you and make you disappear if we want to,” an Ambazonian detainee in Douala told this reporter.

 A former army captain confirmed to Cameroon Intelligence Report that Cameroon government military’s use of torture against English speaking Cameroonians has been rampant since the war started.

“In Cameroon today, after arresting an Anglophone unfairly, there is torture, violence and sexual assaults happening constantly against them,” he said. “Even a war captive needs to be treated and taken care of by law. All of that is gone with this Biya regime.”

An aide to a high-ranking army official in the South West region also told our undercover reporter in Buea that Francophone soldiers covered up the deaths of two tortured Southern Cameroons journalists, forcing a military doctor to falsify their autopsy reports.

The Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime has a long history of torture against English speaking Cameroonians and the methods include deprivation of sleep, food, water and relentless beatings with batons.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai