Anglophone Crisis in Cameroon PDF

THE ANGLOPHONE CRISIS IN THE REPUBLIC OF CAMEROON My name is Kwende Mbopda Cedrick and I come from Cameroon. I came to the UK on March 8th 2024 for safety. I fled my country due to persecution and false allegations that I was part of the separatist movement. In Cameroon, I was an English...

THE ANGLOPHONE CRISIS IN THE REPUBLIC OF CAMEROON My name is Kwende Mbopda Cedrick and I come from Cameroon. I came to the UK on March 8th 2024 for safety. I fled my country due to persecution and false allegations that I was part of the separatist movement. In Cameroon, I was an English and Graphic Design teacher at Laurate Business College, Bamenda from the year 2015 – mid 2017. I taught English to students who came from Equatorial Guinea. By 2017, Lawyers and Teachers began protesting on how we (the English speaking minority/part of Cameroon) were being marginalized. Then there was a series of marching protest. I marched for the rights of teachers and English-speaking Cameroonians. We received very little salaries. As an Anglophone, it would be very difficult to get integrated into the teaching system. We got very little assistance from the government. There were no opportunities for us Anglophones; you have to speak French to at least get a moderate job in any sector. I often get pushed out of offices, mocked at, and at times left by myself to the attention of no one. Even when the government decides to help, the said help in the form of finance will never reach us. I got arrested three times by the Gendarmes and Police, one time in 2017 and two times in 2018. I was also kidnapped thrice by the separatist in 2018. During these times, the police and soldiers beat us up, we were locked up and our finger prints taken. The separatist didn’t want us to teach. They wanted us to join them, fight against ‘La Republic’ (French Cameroon as they commonly call them till today) and gain independence. I just had my daughter, she was two years old already. She needed a future. I tried searching for jobs in different cities to no avail. Just anything i could do to make some money to feed my ever needy family. I was falsely arrested on several occasions, tortured for days in the hands of the military. It was thanks to the help of some humanitarian lawyers (Special thanks to Felix Agbor Mballa) that I was released. The government forced teachers to teach while the separatists told teachers they would be targeted if they taught. As a teacher, our duty is to help students. Make them better people tomorrow. My very close colleague (Agbor Norris, RIP) was shot dead by the Cameroon military before my own eyes while we protested in 2018. Bodies littered on the streets are generally picked up by the military and taken away to an unknown destination. Your family might be lucky enough if your body returns for burial. I said to myself, if they did that to him they are capable of doing it to me as well. I was considered ‘l’ennemi dans la maison” as they often call us which translates to “the enemy in the house.” In Cameroon, teachers are caught between the military and the separatists. I got kidnapped by the separatists because they taught I had something to do with the military. I don’t know who gave them that piece of information. The military during their usual patrols will ask for information and at times interrogate everyone in a way to gather every piece of information to track down ‘separatist fighters’. They will walk from house to house and ask questions. At times, there will be arrest if they find anything suspicious in your home or phone. Separatist fighters will forcefully take people away to the bushes and ask for ransoms before letting them go. They took me away together with others while we were returning home from work into the bushes. My family paid the sum of 800.000 FRS and I was released. They forced us to march with placards boldly written”la republic must go” (The French government must go). I refused, they hit me hard on my chest with a rifle. I have been to the hospital severally but the doctors usually say there is nothing wrong. This pain started immediately one of the fighters hit me hard with his rifle. Often, I hear certain noise (cracks) from my chest. They prepared charms, forced us to put it on and said it will protect us from the military. ”Nothing no go do you” (Nothing will happen to you) they said, we were very scared. It’s an in human and inexplicable experience to tell someone. In 2018, i was (we were) cut with a razor blade on both hands and on the forehead, and put a substance in it as a symbol of togetherness. If your family can’t pay the ransom, they either want to make you a part of them; if they find that you are physically apt to fight, or they kill you. My dad paid huge sums of money and also some animals to these people just so I could be freed. I was quickly rushed to the hospital because we were all scared it was a poisonous substance that was put in my body. This practices still happen today. Before I was targeted, I knew teachers whose fingers were cut off or beheaded with their heads hung on trees for teaching. I have problems with my chest till today. I have done several x-ray test in hospitals. I can’t let them do this to me again. After days spent in the bushes, we were released to our various families. ”We go come back small time, make no man no run because we go daso find wona” (We will come back pretty soon, don’t try to run because we will know where you are). We started receiving threat messages from the separatists saying they’ll kill me if I didn’t join them. The cut on the forehead and some parts of my body which I still have the scars meant I was a part of them. My family pleaded by offering goods and money. They collected them but insisted I become a part of them if not they’ll kill my daughter. We all got scared. She was just a little girl and I would love to watch her grow and educate her in the best possible ways I can. I quickly rushed her to Buea town from Bamenda town so she could live with her maternal grandparents. Furthermore, I moved to the capital Yaoundé in April 2019 and applied for a passport. My parents decided I must leave the country at all cost. I had no one in the capital to live with neither did I have in neighboring countries such as Nigeria, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Congo. I had admission into Stuttgart Media University, Germany. I applied for a visa but I got the visa denied. The reason was that there was no money in my student bank account to sustain myself while Germany. Then a friend of mine (Langha Kum Bryan, presently in the USA) who also fled from the crisis asked me to come join him in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. It’s a visa free country with Cameroon. I applied for a Master’s program and I travelled on the 18 th of October 2019. I obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Graphic Design and a Master of Science in Computer Engineering within a four year period. I couldn’t have a good job in Northern Cyprus. All students had were little hotel jobs in hotels that came periodically. It’s a peaceful country but there is some level or racism. We Africans feel left out but there’s nothing we can do. Even while in Northern Cyprus, my family usually informed me that they were still after me and they received information that I travelled out of the country. My grand mum was kidnapped while returning from the farm. My parents called me and informed my Grandma was kidnapped on her way home returning from the farm. They said I was out of the country and I should send money for ‘groundnut’ (bullets) and she would be released. I barely survived in North Cyprus and couldn’t even fed. I slept on the couch in a living room for 4 years while in North Cyprus. I barely worked because there were not enough student jobs for everyone. Just because my family couldn’t pay the ransom my grandma was shot and killed. Her demise with that of others were littered on the streets of Bamenda. I began to fear for my daughter’s life who is now 7 years old. I had not seen her in 4 years. I just graduated from school and there were no job opportunities in North Cyprus. A couple of friends and I planned to cross the border from North Cyprus into the Republic of Cyprus where we could seek asylum. But we got intercepted twice and pushed back to the North. Only a few friends made it. This was during winter in 2022. There is limited police patrol during the winter due to the cold. I received a letter of invitation to attend a conference in the UK. I told my parents about it and they said it would be a better opportunity. Was the risk worth taking? I ‘can’t return home now’, I said to myself. I would go and to the UK. I could not cross from North Cyprus to the Republic of Cyprus. It would be trespassing on another territory and if caught, I could be jailed and repatriated to Cameroon where I could be killed. What I love about the UK is the calmness and peace. This gives me hope. There is a system of government because the whole system is built on integrity and this goes a long way to molding the people. For me, the environment I am now in promotes positive values. Each day brings me a renewed sense of hope because I am driven by what I love to see. I feel great being in a new environment where I can be a better me. I sold all the little property I could sell and with the help of few friends (Collins Mukong, Nnoko Terrence, Vifansi Ronald), I raised money for a one way ticket back home. I travelled back home in hiding on the 25 th of September 2023 and obtained my visa to the UK on the 12th of October 2023. I didn’t have money to travel at that period. I was living in fear thinking I could hear a knock on the door. Are they here to hurt me or kill me? News spread that I was hiding in our house. I couldn’t go to live with my uncles or aunties because they thought my dad had something to do with the separatists or military so they preferred to keep their distance. I had nowhere else to live. I put myself at risk again. It was the only choice I had at the moment. In the night of the 18th of Dec 2023, the separatists came to our house and I ran to hide up in the ceiling. They started firing gun shots and it hit my cousin. I managed to escape via the roof top after I forced it open. I jumped unto some banana stems and landed unto the ground. There was no time to take whatsoever. I ran all night into the bushes. I ran all night from Bamenda town and found a vehicle to Awing. There were so many of us and we had to squeeze ourselves until we reached Awing town. Another car passed by road at about 12:30am and I ran towards it and waived by the hand, it stopped. I entered and it took me straight to Buea, the South West Region of Cameroon. I lived on the streets a couple of days and ate food from the Presbyterian Church in Buea. I managed to call my dad using a church member’s phone and he said my cousin had died from the bullet wounds sustained. How many people will get injured or die because of me? My visa for the UK was still very valid (Expires on April 12 2024). I had to find a way to escape. It took my family and almost 4 months to raise 481.000FRS which I used to pay my flight and come over to the UK. Even though my daughter lived in Buea, I was unable to see her. I didn’t want to endanger her life. I took a bus from Buea to Douala but unfortunately we were attacked. The driver of our vehicle was shot multiple times and our bus fell on one side. We were all stranded and didn’t know where to go to. We waited for another bus to come but it never came. I had to take a boat from Buea to Douala where I was able to fly to the UK. We sailed for 4 days before reaching Douala. Elections are around the corner in Cameroon. Our president has been ruling for over 41 years now. In 2025 there will be the election of a new President that will lead the country to a better future. That will give hope to the younger generations. Separatist fighters are already recruiting and mobilizing. They are arresting any man they can lay hands on. They want to fight against the military, they don’t want citizens to vote in the North West and South West Regions of Cameroon. They want to separate and become a country on its own, with its own money and government. I don’t want to be a part of this. If they find out that I am in the country, they’ll come for me because they’ve always had informants. They’ll force me to be a part of them again. I really fear for this time. I don’t want to keep people under my custody neither will I wish to force them do certain things against humanity. I don’t want to be the reason a citizen in his/her own country is unable to vote. I don’t want to extort them either. Monday is considered ghost town in the regions of the North West and South West in Cameroon. You could hear the sound of a fly buzzing. Citizens forced by the separatist fighters not to go about their daily activities. Just stay home doing nothing. If we dare go out to work, open our shops or carry out any activities, we would be killed. So many people hav e lost their lives just because of this act. This practice goes on till today and the government has done nothing about it till this present day. After arriving Heathrow airport with 80 pounds, I didn’t know where to go or start. Someone (a Ghanaian who just came back from holidays in Ghana) advised me to go a shelter home (The Passage – located in Vitoria). On reaching there, they referred me to Home Office located in Craydon. I took a train and on reaching it was closed. I slept at the Croydon subway from Friday evening till Monday. Early morning, i visited Home office where I was received and registered. I was offered accommodation as well. The warm reception, accommodation and food I received gave me great relief and comfort. Having my basic human needs met in such an organized and coordinated way gave me a sense of hope. A hope that came from having trust and confidence in a government that wouldn’t let me go to sleep hungry. The little they offer is what I take. I have no choice till things get better for in the future. In my country, it felt like chaos. I felt I had no control over anything in my life. People were dying - my family and friends. I was hurting so much. When I was leaving my home country, I was confused, perplexed and hopeless with no direction. You never know what will happen next. In Cameroon, all the time we are worried. When you leave your house you worry – will I come back? When you sleep at night you worry that someone will knock on your door. You worry that police will arrest you for no reason and when you ask why, they don’t know either. In Buea town for example, the Police will move around checking phones on the street, hairstyles for both men and women. They even check faces as well and if something doesn’t sound right, you’ll be picked up and put in the police cell. I have found peace here. I hope with my absence my family will be able to find peace as well. I have hurt them in so many ways I wish I hadn’t. I miss my daughter (I haven’t seen her in almost 5 years) and family so much. I hope to see her someday. Cameroon was not safe for me. It is not safe for my family neither is it safe for the younger generation. The rich get richer and the poor only get poorer. Many of my Cameroonian brothers and sisters who I have met that managed to escape share the same feeling. We would rather die here than be deported back to a horrendous death at the hands of the vicious, brutal Cameroonian military and separatists. I, therefore, plead with Home Office to hear my cry, to help me.