Muyengue Gendarmerie raids: Act of primitive criminal intimidation and provocation that must not go unchallenged ⁰

The announcement on French Cameroun media that troops loyal to the Biya Francophone regime have confiscated weapons imported by Southern Cameroons militants from Nigeria is raising a lot of dust and for the wrong reasons. Coming at a time tension was already mounting following the killings of Francophone gendarmes and renewed activities of the pro Ambazonia agitators and the massive deployment of soldiers to Southern Cameroons, various interpretations were already being given to the latest move by the French Cameroun Gendarmerie.

From the images aired by the Cameroon Radio and Television, we of this publication think the seizure in Muyenge in the Buea Province of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia is part of the alleged intimidation of the people of Southern Cameroons following the demand for an independent state. We fervently believe also that it is in line with the policy of the ruling CPDM crime syndicate to continue to keep Southern Cameroonians on edge.

As a prelude to the commencement of the Muyenge operation, the Francophone South West governor had already started positioning men and equipment at strategic locations in some of the counties in the zone. The presence of such equipment and soldiers was said to be the cause of the Muyenge clash between soldiers and Southern Cameroons youth, which some people were killed and many others sustained injuries.

Though the French Cameroun gendarmerie announced that the mission to Muyenge and Mutengene were aimed at fighting crime, it is evidently clear that the South West governor and his gang of French Cameroun surrogates wanted to score some political points. The French Cameroun military raided the Muyenge locality, carried out search, erected check points and road blocks in a general show of force.

But the fact that the Yaoundé regime could only show rudimentary weapons used by the farming and hunting communities in Muyenge as prove of equipment imported from the Federal Republic of Nigeria indicates that the Biya regime is indeed taking the last kicks of a dying horse. “It was a plot to kill members of a vibrant Muyenge Youth Association who had declared their unflinching support for the Southern Cameroons Governing Council,” noted our chief correspondent in Fako.

We of the Cameroon Concord News Group think that this act of primitive criminal intimidation and provocation must not go unchallenged by men of good conscience in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. This latest attempt to use the French Cameroun army and gendarmerie in a show of force in Southern Cameroons to deal with legitimate peaceful agitation for self determination is shameful.

If their slogan “Cameroon is one and indivisible” is anything to go by, where on earth is it heard that combat ready troops are deployed within the borders of a country to deal with a non-violent civil matter? Such a thing can only happen in French Cameroun. Biya and his French Cameroun political elites such as Laurent Esso, Amadou Ali, Fame Ndongo have made a mockery of the role of the military and nonsense of the constitution that soldiers can be ordered by one governor, without the permission of the Commander-in-Chief, to kill civilian populations in an area devoid of any conflict.

The interim head of state of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe has made it abundantly clear to the regime in Yaoundé and to the international community that Southern Cameroonians are agitating for self determination in a peaceful manner. They have no arms and will never resort to bearing arms. Biya and his ruling CPDM crime syndicate should rather focus their attention on the Boko Haram-ravaged areas of Maroua, Kolofata, and Mora. Boko Haram is a well armed terrorist organization and it is the one Biya should be facing and not farmers and hunters including market women in Mamfe, Jakiri, Bamenda, Mundemba, Ndop and traders at Ekok and Muyenge. We are a peaceful people by nature, but will not tolerate any molestation or intimidation on our soil.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from Rita Akana and Sama Ernest