**6.1 The consequences of the war**

## *6.1.1 Arbitrary arrests and detentions*

The Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa [44] reports that in early January 2017, the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium (Consortium

or CACSC) agreed to meet with the government about the release of protesters arrested during a 2016 demonstration in Bamenda. The Consortium accused the government for shooting four unarmed youth and proceeded to declare "Ghost Towns" on January 16 and 17. The reports equally state that, "in response, the government cut the Internet and banned the activities of two groups: the Southern Cameroon National Council (SCNC) and the Consortium on January 17, 2017. The same day, two prominent Anglophone civil society activists who headed the Consortium: Dr Felix Agbor NKongho and Dr Fontem Neba were arrested".

On January 9, 2017, armed soldiers forcibly entered the home of Mr Mancho Bibixy, a journalist and Newscaster of "Abakwa" (a local radio program reporting on the rights of the Anglophone minority), and arrested him, along with six other activists. He was taken to a vehicle with neither shoes nor identification papers and was arbitrarily detained for 18 months and his hearings were postponed for more than 14 times.

On May 25, 2018, Bibixy and his co-accused were sentenced to between 10 and 15 years of prison each by a military court, for acts of terrorism, secession, hostilities against the state, propagation of false information, revolution, insurrection, contempt of public bodies and public servants, resistance, depredation by band, and non-possession of national identity card. He was being held in an overcrowded cell at the Kondengui Central Prison, a maximum-security prison in Yaoundé.

Between September 22 and October 17, 2017, 500 people were arrested, with witnesses describing the detainees as being packed into jails in the South West region. In December 2017, a group of about 70 heavily armed Cameroonian soldiers and BIR sealed the village of Dadi and arrested 23 people returning from their farm or were in front of their homes.

On January 5, 2018, 47 separatist activists, including Sisiku Ayuk Tabe of the proclaimed Interim Government of Ambazonia, were arrested and detained by Nigeria authorities in Abuja. The detainees were repatriated afterwards and imprisoned in Yaoundé incommunicado for 6 months awaiting trials. They were not given access to their lawyers nor charged with any offense.

Mass arrests and detentions have caused harsh and often life-threatening prison conditions in Cameroon, including gross overcrowding, lack of access to water and medical care, and deplorable hygiene and sanitation. Prisoners are transferred out of the region to other more secure areas.

#### *6.1.2 Internally displaced persons (IDPS)*

Several hundred thousand persons abandoned their homes in some localities of the Northwest and Southwest Regions because of the socio-political unrest. Estimate of IDPs varied depending on the source, with the government estimating 74,994 IDPs as of June, while the United Nations estimated 350,000 IDPs from the Northwest and Southwest as of September.

On December 2017, the Senior Divisional Officer for Manyu: Oum II Joseph asked the population of Manyu residents in Akwanga, Eyumojock, and Mamfe sub-division to relocate or they would be considered accomplices or perpetrators of ongoing criminal occurrences registered on security and defense forces [45].

By the end of December 2018, the crisis had forced mass displacement of the population in the North West and South West regions, with estimates of between 450,000 and 550,000 displaced persons. This represents more than 10% of the region's population. Cameroon now has the sixth largest displaced population in the world. Many are fleeing violence as a result of raids on villages and surrendering areas. They take refuge in the forests where they lack hygiene,

**159**

**Figure 4.**

*Uprising and Human Rights Abuses in Southern Cameroon-Ambazonia*

health services, sanitation, shelter and food. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian assistance estimates that approximately 32,000 Cameroonians are registered refugees in Nigeria. More than 200 villages have been partly or completely destroyed, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee. The rate of attacks has increased steadily, usually causing significant damage. An additionally 30,000 to 35,000 people have sought asylum in neighboring

Separatist activists who seek an independent state for the country's Englishspeaking regions began to set fire on schools and attack teachers and students to enforce a boycott they had declared on local schools. In June 2018, UNICEF reported that at least 58 schools had been damaged since the beginning of the crisis in 2016. Human Rights Watch documented 19 threats or attacks on schools, and 10

Most children in the two regions have been deprived of the right to an education, with 30, 000–40,000 children affected. As of June 2018, armed separatists

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.91053*

*6.1.3 Destruction of schools and villages*

threats or attacks on education personnel (**Figure 3**).

*Government soldiers supervising the burning of a school and a burnt school [46].*

*Genocide in Ambazonia, burning of villages and IDPs [45].*

countries.

**Figure 3.**

*Uprising and Human Rights Abuses in Southern Cameroon-Ambazonia DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.91053*

health services, sanitation, shelter and food. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian assistance estimates that approximately 32,000 Cameroonians are registered refugees in Nigeria. More than 200 villages have been partly or completely destroyed, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee. The rate of attacks has increased steadily, usually causing significant damage. An additionally 30,000 to 35,000 people have sought asylum in neighboring countries.
