War on Separatists:

Violence on Women Spirals As Conflict Escalates

By Aminateh Nkemngu

Women say no to sexual violence

The Anglophone crisis, as it is now known has evolved from one stage to another .Beginning with grievances of various professional groups to mass arrests, then ghost towns and school boycott culminating in mass street protests on 22 September and 1st October.

            However the turning point in the whole crisis seems to have come on Wednesday 29 and Thursday 30 November 2017.Following the killing of four soldiers and two policemen on by Anglophone secessionists in Cameroon, and an escalation of terror by Anglophone activists agitating for independence, long serving leader, Paul Biya, in a rare televised appearance, called the attackers “terrorists masquerading as secessionists”, and said Cameroon would now defend itself.

“I think things are becoming perfectly clear to everyone,” Mr. Biya said, that Cameroon is under attack from a bunch of “terrorists masquerading as secessionists”.

            The secessionist Ambazonia Defense Forces, the armed wing of the Ambazonia Governing Council, claimed responsibility for the attacks. .

            Promising action, Defence Minister Joseph Beti Assomo said on Saturday 2 December,  that “measures will be taken immediately” to “eradicate this inconvenient situation”, without elaborating further. State radio was blunter. "President Paul Biya has declared war on these terrorists who seek secession,” it announced.

            These declarations have not only been replicated on the ground, they have had far reaching consequences on various segments of the population. Ever since the declaration of this war, protracted fighting between these armed groups and Cameroon government forces has continued with over 20,000 refugees already registered in neighbouring Nigeria as a result of the conflicts. From Manyu Division where fighting started, it has gradually escalated to involved other divisions in the North West and South West Regions notably Meme, Ndian, Kupe Muanenguba, Lebialem and Momo.

Besides the thousands that have moved to Cross River State of neighbouring Nigeria for safety, there is also a rising number of internally displace persons, most of them women and children.

            Unfortunately though, rather than look at the consequences of the fighting on affected communities and  the population, especially women and children, the local media as well as other groups including civil society organisations and even churches are rather focusing on the number of casualties ,either on the side of the separatist fighters or on the side of government forces.

            However, there is growing evidence that the brunt of the fighting is being borne by women, girls and children who have been abandoned to themselves and do not have any individual means to raise their voices on the mayhem they are going through.

During recent mass meeting in Mamfe, organised by The Community Initiative For Development Communication (CODEC),a local organisation, women who opted for anonymity disclosed that very soon ,the first set of children resulting from indiscriminate rape will be born to unknown fathers.

            Quizzed on who the rapists are, the women said both separatist fighters and government soldiers do carry out rape during their invasion of isolated villages. For fear of reprisals, the women said even when they can identify some of the perpetrators, they are afraid to speak out for fear of being targeted by both sides. In this dilemma, most of the women prefer to stay quiet or share the information with other victims.

            Given the frequency of these rape cases, most of the women who are subsistent farmers are now afraid to go to their farms because that is where some of the crimes are committed. The women expressed fears that should this trend continue, there could be significant food shortage in the months ahead given that women who are the major producers of food crops no longer go to their farms.

            Also cases of women being burnt to death in their houses are rampant, with the most shocking being that of a 90 year old woman, Pauline Appih roasted to death during a military invasion of kwa-kwa village in Meme division at the end of January.

            Again, when the village of Kumu-Kumu in Mbonge was razed by soldiers on 20 March, another woman by name Mami Dora was also burnt to death alongside other victims.

            Again,on 28 March ,another woman by name Neng Mercy was kidnapped in Njinikom by unidentified men to an unknown destination allegedly because she voted in the Senate elections of 25 March given that she is a locally elected councillor.

            In a statement issued by Cameroon’s Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji on 9 March, he states that armed men on motorbikes attacked Batibo on 7 March with a view of disrupting the International Women’s Day slated for 8 March. In that same locality, the Minister adds”18 cases of rape of children between the ages of 13 and 18 had already been counted and some of them were already pregnant,” the statement concluded. While most of these victims conceal their ordeal for fear of stigmatisation and reprisals, the situation is the same across the two English Speaking Regions of the country, notably, the North West and the South West.

            National Telegraph, a local tabloid reports that on 28 March “at least four c four civilians, including a breastfeeding mother were killed in a bush path between Mbeme in Upper Banyang, Manyu Division, South West and Kugwe in Batibo Sub-Division, Momo Division”

            The Newspaper continues that “In Efah, still in Batibo Sub-Division, an old woman in her 80s was pulled out of her house and shot to death by soldiers. A 17-year old girl by name Acha Blessing was shot on the neck and is receiving treatment at the Saint John Hospital in Batibo Town. The entire population of Kugwe, Efah, Kulabei, have narrowly escaped into the bushes.”

            Larry Esong , another journalist working in the area notes  that “when I just take a look back at how I saw more than one hundred children, below six months with their mothers miserably lying on tree leaves in thick forests exposed to every ill, with nothing to shed them away from both burning sunrays and acidic rain drops, I tremble”.

            “Disturbingly, nothing is said about these suffering masses. The television channels are very alive when a soldier is unfortunately, killed. Not even in our parliament is mention made of the degenerating situation we have.”

            These dire realities are still ignored and women are still left out in all efforts to build peace in the ongoing conflict. During a meeting to find ways of building peace in local communities in Manyu division, only male local chief, with no single woman were invited for the discussions. And this seems to be a replay of what has happened in other conflict regions.

            Human Rights Watch reports that “throughout history, women and girls have often been targeted in wartime for violence, especially sexual violence.  They have also been excluded from conflict prevention and resolution efforts. Despite increased awareness and mobilization at the local and international levels, women and girls in conflict continue to face multiple challenges. A lack of high-level leadership committed to integrating women’s rights, including in peace talks, means women are often left out.      

            Women’s subordinate status to men in many societies, coupled with a general acceptance of interpersonal violence as a means of resolving conflict, renders women disproportionately vulnerable to violence from all levels of society: individual men, within the family and community, and by the state.”

            On 16 November 2017, Cameroon’s National Action Plan (NAP) on UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 was published. Cameroon made the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (UNSCR 1325) its priority, in order to implement the Women, Peace and Security Agenda according to the recommendations of that Resolution .As part of implementing this action plan local NGOs including CODEC and FIDA are working to empower local women in conflict areas in the English speaking regions of Cameroon to report cases of violence, especially sexual violence and break the spiralling silence surrounding these crimes.