Anglophone Conflict:

Cameroonian Runs for His Life, Seeks Asylum Abroad

According to sources, Mr. Wokomia Mokonde Paul has fled from his native Munyenge-Muyuka in the SW region and is now living at the mercy of friends and the Church, in Italy, where he is seeking protection from the Italian government

By Maurice Mbutaka in Muyuka

Over one million people have been displaced by the conflict in Southern Cameroon

Muyuka-based civil society activist and businessman, Wokomia Mokonde Paul, aged about 50, is presently seeking asylum in Italy, where he is said to have sought safe sanctuary, after fleeing the conflict in Cameroon.

                According to sources, the father of one was left with no option than to abandon his business and escape. He first escaped to safer areas in Cameroon, but was forced to leave the country when Anglophone separatist fighters threatened to come after him.

                The fighters had since 2017, engaged a war of secession against the majority Francophone government in Yaounde, in what they say is a determined effort to create a separate state from Cameroon which they call Ambazonia. They wanted Mokonde Paul, who was a prominent figure in the area, to join their ranks and give needed support to the secessionist struggle. They put a price on his head when Paul would not heed their request.

Confirmed reports say Mokonde Paul was kidnapped several times by the fighters and was only released after paying huge sums as ransom. When he could no longer bear the persecution and threats to his life and that of his family, Mokonde Paul was left with no option than to flee, abandoning his business and other activities.

                His wife who stayed behind when Paul fled, also later escaped, and this was after the separatists fighters kept persecuting and torturing her, asking her to indicate where her husband was hiding. Today, she is living as an internally displaced person, IDP, with their lone child, in a yet unknown destination in Cameroon. Sources say she might have escaped into the bushes to join thousands others who have also fled their homes, as the conflict in NW and SW Cameroon rages on.

                As for Wokomia Mokonde Paul, he fears that if he returns home with the conflict still ongoing, he might be killed like the over 5.000 persons who have lost their lives since the start of the conflict in 2017.

                Paul Mokonde’s native Munyenge-Muyuka has been a hotspot for hostilities between separatist fighters and government forces ever since the unset of the conflict. Most of the populations of the region have fled to the bushes, and to safer regions, abandoning their homes, some of which have been burned as a result of the conflict.

                Mokonde Paul’s mother, old and unable to bear the hard conditions of the war, died two years ago. She could not be buried by her son, who had fled the war.

We learned that Paul is presently living at the mercy of friends in Italy. He also counts on the mercy of the essentially religious community in Italy, and on some humanitarian associations.

                Paul laments that he cannot continue begging for a livelihood. He is praying that the democratic government of Italy grants him asylum so that he can work and help his miserable family back in Cameroon.

                Mokonde Paul had lived in Italy before, between 2002 and 2010. He was later repatriated for reasons we could not independently confirm. But he has promised to be God-fearing and law-abiding if he is given another opportunity to stay in Italy.

                According to United Nation statistics, about 5000 Cameroonians have lost their lives since the conflict started in Anglophone Cameroon. About 697.000 others have been internally displaced, while over 60.000 have crossed over to neighboring Nigeria where they are living as refugees.

                Peaceful protests by lawyers and teachers in the NW and SW regions of Cameroon, in November 2016, later morphed into violent street protests. Brutal reprisals by the majority Francophone military pushed the minority Anglophone protesters to resort to an armed struggle in 2017.

                The armed conflict that ensued has been on since over three years now. And there are no indications the conflict would end anytime soon. Efforts by the government in Yaounde to engage dialogue with the secessionist leaders have been in vain.

                Today, entire communities in the restive NW and SW regions are without their populations, most or all of whom have fled to the bushes or to safer destinations.