One of the ringleaders of the Separatist movement in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions, Christopher Anu, has condemned as “pure wickedness”, the public execution of two men by members of the Ambazonia Defence Forces (ADF) in Guzang.
Separatist Fighters under the Ambazonia Governing Council (AGovC), headed by diaspora-based Lucas Ayaba Cho, took the two men to a market square on Wednesday and shot them.
The fighters accused them of being “blacklegs”, a tag Separatists have often used to describe people perceived to be working against their cause.
Chris Anu, who has been among those fueling the conflict in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions, denounced fighters who conducted the execution.
He said, “They are not working for the freedom or independence of Ambazonia.”
Anu had once declared himself president of the unrecognized Ambazonia Republic, which they have been fighting to carve out of the Anglophone Regions since 2016.
“The people who executed those two people must be condemned,” Anu said in a voice message circulated on social media on Thursday.
“I don’t care whether they were blacklegs, white legs, or red legs, enablers, whatever name you give them. You do not take free people… Put them in front of the population and shoot them,” he added.
“We cannot be fighting for our people’s freedom, for their independence, and we’re treating them like the way we’ve seen in this video footage. The interim government distances itself from it, and we condemn it in the strongest terms.”
One of those the fighters executed, Mbanyamsig Hansel Ndi, was the brother of the traditional ruler of Guzang, HRH Fon Gwan Mbanyamsig III.
Like many traditional rulers in the North West and South West Regions, the Fon had left the village due to separatist threats.
The second victim, Aburo Cletus Njohgo, was a petit trader at the Guzang Market.
The Senior Divisional Officer for Momo, Fouda Etaba Benoit Narcaise, who is the most senior government official in the area, condemned the act, describing it as “barbaric.”
He said it was “perpetrated in utter violation of human rights” by people he described as “outlaws” and “criminal terrorists.”
He solicited the population’s support in countering armed separatists in the area.
Mr. Fouda asked the fighters to surrender and join the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) centres the government created to re-orientate repentant fighters.
The attack in Guzang added to a catalogue of gruesome attacks separatists and the Cameroonian military have been accused of committing in the English-speaking regions.
Glimpses of peace in some areas of the two regions caused many, including government officials, to believe the crisis was subsiding. But recent events have told a different story.
In September, MMI reported several cases of armed attacks that caused the deaths of civilians in Buea, Kumba, Lebialem, Boyo, Mamfe, and other areas.
