English speakers obliged, forced to finance secession war in Cameroon
– Several nationals of Cameroon’s English-speaking North-West and South-West regions have told APA that they live under constant pressure from armed secessionist militias who are demanding money transfers in order to support the war against the federal government.
With a big directory, the secessionists contact their victims by telephone, indicating the amount to be sent electronically with an injunction to keep the transaction secret, under threat of reprisals if they don’t.
“No one escapes their blackmail, and those who do not comply with the deadlines must expect to see their houses burned down in their fiefdom, or family members taken hostage for ransom, sometimes even executing the captives,” said Fidelis N., a used tyre salesman in Mvog-Ada, Yaoundé.
He added that “even the wielders of power are forced, in the greatest secrecy, to finance the armed struggle being waged by the militias of the self-proclaimed republic of Ambazonia.”
Many natives like him, living in the conflict areas had to spirit their families to safety outside Cameroon.
This is a precautionary measure, far from sparing them the incessant requests for remittances.
The President of the main opposition Social Democratic Front (SDF), John Fru Ndi confirmed, at the end of June, this campaign of blackmail to which the elites and anonymous people are subjected.
“They kidnapped me twice. They kidnapped my brother twice, my sister once. They burned my car, set fire to one of my parcels of land. They do all this because they accuse me of not backing them, and they also want me to remove my from the Cameroonian Parliament.”
“The English-speaking cause has been hijacked by bandits. They ask me to finance the fighting, I won’t pay a cent,” he vowed.
Apart from these contributions allegedly made under duress, secessionists, according to sources, also enjoy the active financial backing of Cameroon’s English-speaking diaspora in Europe and the United States.
FCEB/cat/lb/as/APA