Transfer of Southern Cameroons Activists to LRC Prisons Intensifies

By Martin Fon Yembe

            La Republique du Cameroun And that Slap on Face of AU

Targeted Activists on the Run, One Arrested

In 2003, a case was filed by Dr. Kevin Ngwang Gumne and Others against La Republique du Camerou (LRC) code-named Communication 266/2003 at the Africaan Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights at Banjul, The Gambia. It took the courage of some thirteen valiant Southern Cameroons activists to move to Abuja and squeeze the arms of the Commission to come out with the Verdict. Amongst these were Chief Ayamba (SCNC Chair), Pa Ndangam ( SCAPO Vice Chiar), Mr. Arrey ( SCNC SG), Martin Yembe ( SCAPO SG), Kongso Stephen (SCNC Bui), Pa Taku Sylvester ( SCNC Meme) etc.

The said verdict had remained frozen for nine years, in spite of the fact that it turned out to be a travesty of justice, a high-profile miscarriage of justice, deeply flawed and pushing Southern Cameroonians to seek alternative means of redress, it had two points that stand out clear- that Southern Cameroonians are “A People”, and that on no occasion should a Southern Cameroonian activist be tried or detained in the courts and cells of LRC.

THE OCTOBER 1 ORDEALS IN BUEA.

In prelude to the 50^th anniversary of the hijacked independence of the British Southern Cameroons, the people thronged Buea on October 1, 2010, to commemorate this day and prepare for the 50^th anniversary that was due in 2011. Wword soon sneaked out to the organizers that LRC forces of repression were already arresting activists at Mile 17, Buea. As such, top activists like Maxwell Oben, Martin Yembe and Mbuli Renez sought a way out and led over one hundred activists to the Nigerian consulate where they took refuge for two days. The trio, Maxwell Oben, Mbuli REnez and Martin Yembe succeeded in dribbling the forces of La Republlique du Cameroun. The news soon went round and it became a diplomatic blow to the regime of Yaounde. Soon after, the regime landed on a certain Ngalim Felix who was very vocal and open in the struggle. Ngalim spent over a year at Kondengui and was later transferred to Bamenda prison. The search for Maxwell Oben, MBuli Renez and Martin Yembe did not stop there.

At the 50^th anniversary proper, while in a church service at Small Soppo Buea, the police stormed the church, rounded everyone, and immediately recognized Martin Yembe, but wanted to get the trio…Maxwell Oben, Mbuli Renez and Martin Yembe together. To Make up, they rounded up a Nigerian journalist along with Martin Yembe, mistaking the Nigerian for Renez. It was thanks to the fact that Maxwell Oben was resident in YAounde and Mbuli Renez in Douala, where he was schooling and always shuttled to Buea to encourage the students who are victims of the LRC attempts to bury the Anglo-Saxon educational system. Both were being accused for masterminding the numerous uprisings at the Buea Anglo-Saxon University.

Worse so, the Yaounde regime had put in place a securitymechanism to have a “claen” Buea, free from any :risks” before President Biya landed in Buea, the historic town to cement the colonization of the entire Southern Cameroons. It was during this “risky and hot” period that Maxwell Oben and Mbuli rRenez were spotted in the vicinity of Buea, and finally Maxwell fell and the net. Mbuli Renez escaped narrowly, accused of having been one of those who had masterminded rumors that a police officer had turned into a python at Etta Hotel, opposite the entrance into the Buea University, and swallowed up a student. The fear was that Mbuli Renez had come up with this to cause an uprising at the campus and scare Biya from visiting Buea. Thus, the search for him intensified and is ongoing.

As we write, Maxwell Oben was transferred from Buea prison to the Maximum Priso in Yaounde, famously known as Kondengui, where over a hundred Southern Cameroons activists were imprisoned in March 1997 and many died silently. Of course, learning of the plight of Maxwell, Mbuli Renez disappeared. Maxwell Oben has been charged for “illegally possessing fire arms “ and will thus face the military tribunal. Of course, in Cameroon, only Fon Gorji Dinka, one time Batonnier, had ever won the case against the state in that military tribunal.

It is obvious that Mbuli Renez has taken refuge somewhere out of Cameroon, praying for the liberation of his country, the Southern Cameroons. Many like him, including the Southern Cameroons Youth League Chairman, who escaped from the Kondengui prison in 2002, having spent five years in very deplorable conditions, are now still alive thanks to the international community that understands the plight of victims of colonization. It is the prayer of all peace loving and justice inclined citizens to protect these freedom fighters and help Southern Cameroons attain her independence.

When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)