When Fon Yakum Kelvin was elected in 2020 as the first pioneer president of the Northwest House of Chiefs and as Vice President of the Northwest regional assembly, he could not have imagined separatists would come close to him, talking less of kidnapping him, being one of the most popular traditional rulers in Anglophone Cameroon.
But in 2022, he fell into the hands of separatists despite his military protection and became a captive until July 2023, when he was released.
Peers Unlucky
Fon Kevin, traditional ruler of Bambalang did get his liberty from separatist captivity, but his peers who experienced that same situation were not lucky.
Since the crisis in the Northwest and Southwest escalated into an armed conflict in 2017, more than nine traditional rulers have been killed.
The latest of such incidents is the killing of Obon Ekpoh Philip Nkwoi, Chief of Erat village in Mundemba, Ndian Division, of the South West region.
The amba fighters did not only kill; they took away the life of his wife, Akwai Ambang Mburu.
Aside from just killing them, their bodies were burnt to ashes. This happened on September 10.
The killing of the Erat chief added to the number of those chiefs who have lost their lives as a result of the ongoing armed conflict in English Cameroon.
According to findings by MMI, at least nine chiefs have been killed by separatist fighters, government soldiers, and Fulani herders since the conflict escalated in 2017.
Two were from the Northwest region, and the remaining seven were residents in the Southwest region.
Southwest Highly Targeted
The first traditional ruler to be killed in the conflict was Chief William Nji Mbanda of Lysoka Moliwe Village in Buea Subdivision. He was among eight chiefs kidnapped by separatist fighters in Fako in 2018. He died in captivity on July 27, 2018, and his body was later found at his palace.
Two weeks later, on August 12, 2018, Chief Motia Ofonda Esoh Itoh, Paramount ruler of the Balondo people and traditional ruler of Ekondo Titi in Ndian Division, was killed. Armed men abducted him from a church and shot him.
Then two years later, the killings resumed. On November 6, 2020, unknown gunmen attacked Liwu La-Malale, a village near Buea, and killed Chief Francis Molinga.
Still, in 2020, the separatists kidnapped some three chiefs of Mile 16, 15, and 14 during an occasion in Buea. While in captivity, Chief Ekome Ngale of Mile 14 died.
Meanwhile, in Lebialem, three chiefs from Essoh-Attah were publicly executed on February 13, 2021, by self-proclaimed separatist commander Oliver Lekeaka, also known as “Field Marshall.” Their crimes were that they participated in government-organised elections. Their bodies were later disposed of in a river.
In the Northwest region, the situation is the same.
Two Killed in Northwest
In March 2022, Fon Kum Achou Kawzuh Albert Chi, ruler of Esu in Menchum, was killed while returning from the installation of a new Fon in Weh. Armed Fulani herdsmen were suspected to have carried out the attack.
That did not last long; another traditional ruler in the region was killed. In July 2023, government soldiers reportedly stormed Mejang in Belo, Boyo Division, killing the Queen Mother of the local community and burning several houses.
Most of these chiefs were killed because they found themselves in a situation of choosing between the government and Amba fighters.
Survivors Now IDPs
For those who survived the killings, they are now internally displaced persons in French-speaking regions.
When Chief Johnson Njombe of Wokaka village in Buea was released from Amba captivity, he immediately left the palace. Now he is an internally displaced person in Kribi.
The same thing happened to the Fon of Nso, who now spends most of his time in Yaounde because he disagrees with Amba fighters.
The attacks on traditional institutions since the crisis broke out in 2016 are alarming. Aside from traditional institutions being targets, ordinary citizens have felt the damage too.
Official figures of the United Nations put the death toll at over 6,000 with enormous property destruction and human displacement.
In June this year, the Norwegian Refugee Council ranked Camroonn as the second most neglected crisis in the world after Burkina Faso.
What is now a conflict in the quest for independence started as a crisis in 2016 when teachers and lawyers decided to strike because of Anglophone marginalisation. But in 2017, it had escalated into an armed conflict, and separatists wanted to create an independent nation called Ambazonia.
Edited by Mimi Mefo Takambou and D. Daniel
