Last week the world witnessed a horrendous video showing apparent military of La Republique Cameroun (The official army of the state of Cameroon) and / or affiliated militia, executing unarmed women and children in the Northern state of Cameroon.
This hideous act shocked the world and that might be the silver lining on a dark cloud looming over this Central African country. This video finally made its way to the international media, unlike a lot of other videos and footage recently shot from the English speaking Northwest and Southwest Provinces in Cameroon. There, the Cameroun army also is witnessed committing crimes against humanity and over the past years, the atmosphere in this part of Cameroon has gradually fallen into a civil-war like status. A good part of this English speaking population is no longer accepting being ruled by the French speaking majority in this country, and have called for the installation of an independent nation, they call Ambazonia.
The English speaking opposition in these two provinces have for log been oppressed and chased by the official Government of Cameroon, headed by long ruling president Paul Biya, who recently announced wanting to extend his reign for another 5 years in this years election.
Yesterday, the French celebrated Quatorze Juilliet, its National Holiday commemorating the storming of the Bastille which is by the French seen as the birthday of the Nation in its current form.
Many Ambazonians consider France to be an accomplice in these atrocities, either actively through supply of military equipment and assistance (even in the form of French Military being deployed in Cameroon) but at least passively by not openly condemning the atrocities. Truth is that many French news outlets have focussed on the official communication of the French Speaking Cameroon government, who accuse the English speaking part of the country to kill its military and police officers ( https://www.ouest-france.fr/monde/cameroun/crise-au-cameroun-81-militaires-et-policiers-tues-dans-les-regions-anglophones-5836236 ) and hardly spent a word on the opposite side of the story, its age long oppression and marginalisation of the English speaking community.
Ambazonians have taken the opportunity of the French National Holiday to start a political cleansing of its own, enforcing a deadline on all political representatives from the Anglophone regions to officially resign their positions or on refusal of this, being seen as a terrorist against the state of Ambazonia. (https://www.facebook.com/100002251434436/posts/1752023348216029/ ).
As much as such a request was expected, and one can see the reasoning behind it, the sheer wording of it brings possibilities which can be compared to abhorrent historical events where cleansing of certain groups of people were made subject to any form of violence apparently condoned by the institutions. We are as we speak still tracing down its origin and legitimacy. UPDATE: we received official response from the Interim Government that this post is NOT endorsed by them; “This is not official, No official information from any of the liberation movements, it happens to be one of those random posts.” However, it is also acknowledged: “some guerrilla commanders met in Kumba and issued this ultimatum“.
Looking forward, one can only fear what will happen in the coming weeks. Will this call for action be followed by all MP’s and Senators? And if not what will happen to those not complying? One thing is sure, this action, if supported by the shadow government of Ambazonia, is definitely making any political and diplomatic solution harder. There will after this ultimatum, no longer be any political representation of Ambazonia in the Cameroon government. Bloodshed will likely intensify, and the possible execution of their own political representatives only obfuscates an already (for foreighn observers) very diffuse situation. This will give the Cameroon official government even more ammunition to throw accusations to the Ambazonians, which in the short term not help their cause. A more diplomatic approach to this situation would have been way more preferable, but diplomacy seems to have left Cameroon already for some time.
Update: This post seems to be the work of someone independent and not speaking on behalf of the Interim Government of Ambazonia. This is good news, since it at least does not show any sign of violent and escalating approach from the Interim Government itself. However, this post quickly made its way through different networks and therefor its destructive power is not any less. People can act simply believing this is a true statement from an authority, leading to further escalations. It would be good if the Interim Government could therefor quickly disarm such posts by denying their support.
The Anglophone Crisis Monitoring Project 
Marcel those Ambazonian MPs and senators by not marching out of the assembly in September 2017 gave plenty room for the regime of Paul Biya to declare war against this people. They are partly responsible for all the killings,raping, looting and other crimes against their very own people. Why they never walked out? Simply said we have a system of patronage in Cameroon. The MPs do not represent their people but obey their party leaders. In case of SDF it is Fru Ndi who made a deal with the government. Paul Biya pays him money and they have to play opposition. That is the reality. We do not endorse attacking of any of those MPs. But at least they should leave their ancestral soil and go to exile to French Cameroun. That shall be their punishment.
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The system of patronage and being paid to “play opposition” as you call it is something you find elsewhere as well and not just in Cameroon. It is good that you are not endorsing attacking any politicians, but is this the perception of the people reading the statement? Hardly. Any retributions will look negative on the Southern Cameroons from an international perspective and is therefor in my opinion not helpful. In fact, Biya’s regime will surely spin it as “uncontrolled militia turning on its own people” further giving him legitimacy to deploy his troops.
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