The leader of Cameroon’s Ambazonia separatists, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, has asked separatists to quit relying on international bodies for independence. Ayuk Tabe is currently serving a life sentence in Yaounde.
In a Christmas message dispatched from his Kondengui prison cell, Sisiku said Ambazonians should run the independence cause rather than trusting external forces.
“Note that the international community is saddled, plagued, and distracted by a mirage of global challenges. We cannot entrust our fate to external organisations,” he wrote.
“We must make our struggle our priority and do all that it takes to move it forward.”
Despite his pessimism about international support for separatists, Ayuk Tabe believes recent happenings on the international scene give them hope.
“The re-election of President Donald Trump in the United States of America provides a sobering reminder of the importance of engagement on the global stage. We remember that his first term in office paid attention to our plight. His re-election rekindles our hope for renewed international attention to our cause,” he said.
He noted that recent military coups in Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso have awakened a pan-African spirit that they must emulate.
Sisiku’s shift of attention from the international community re-echoes perspectives of notable figures like Tibor Nagy.
The former US Assistant Secretary for Africa Affairs, who has been a regular commentator on the Anglophone Crisis, said in a 2023 interview that the international community cannot help separatists to achieve independence.
He said “the world doesn’t care”.
He added that no country or international organization would pressure the Cameroon Government into granting independence to “Ambazonia”.
International Community’s Inattention
In reality, the international community has paid very little attention to the Anglophone Crisis since it began in 2016.
In 2019, the crisis topped the Norwegian Refugee Council’s list of most neglected crises in the world.
The NRC also ranked the Anglophone conflict as the second most neglected displacement crisis in the world in 2023.
This neglect reflects through lack of funding, low international media attention and lack of diplomatic efforts.
Key separatist leaders like Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, who had earlier been soliciting support from the United States, UN, and other international stakeholders, appear to have realized that international support for independence may never come.
In fact some members of the international community have been working against the Ambazonia cause since its early days.
Sisiku Ayuk Tabe’s arrest resulted from international collaboration between Nigeria and Cameroon.
He was part of a group of 10 top separatist leaders whom Nigerian authorities arrested in Abuja in 2018 and handed over to the Cameroon government.
The Yaounde military court “hastily” tried and handed them life jail sentences for their quest for independence.
After six years in prison, Sisiku’s resolve appears unbroken.
He further said separatists “must redouble our efforts at solidifying our unity of purpose and staying focused on the prize at the foot of the mountain.”
He added that supporters of the separatist movement “must continue the resistance that will show the international community that our resolve cannot be broken.”
Mimi Mefo Info
