*6.1.3 Destruction of schools and villages*

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

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

#### **Figure 3.**

*Education, Human Rights and Peace in Sustainable Development*

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

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

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

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

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

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,

**158**

than 14 times.

were in front of their homes.

access to their lawyers nor charged with any offense.

of the region to other more secure areas.

*6.1.2 Internally displaced persons (IDPS)*

Northwest and Southwest as of September.

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

**Figure 4.** *Genocide in Ambazonia, burning of villages and IDPs [45].*

had reportedly attacked 42 schools, at least 36 of which were burnt down; the Cameroonian's figure indicated that they had burnt at least 120 schools. Rural areas are especially affected.

Anglophone villages suspected of harboring separatists or arms have been burned and pillaged in both the South West and North West regions. Homes have been burned to ashes, sometimes with their inhabitants. About 206 settlements have been raided and partially destroyed by state defense forces during attempts to crack down on armed separatists. Several villages in Mbonge and Konye subdivision have been completely emptied of their population. Civilian witnesses say that army attacks are routinely followed by the ransacking of houses and shops, the destruction of food stocks, and the rounding up and mistreatment or killing of civilians, often as reprisals for their killing of a member of the defense and security forces (**Figure 4**).

#### **7. Discussions**

One of the key ways social movements engage in cultural resistance is by means of the production and dissemination of multiple forms of media in order to mobilize support, to reach out for supports beyond those already in agreement with movement claims, and to increase the legitimacy of their claims and demands. Social movements operate at a considerable disadvantage when trying to influence news portrayals of issues than do their better-funded opposing groups and organization.

Anglophones or Ambazonians who are defending themselves from the Cameroon security forces that kill them are presented in the state television and other media as "terrorists" and never as those fighting for a just course, whereas as seen above, they did not start the war; it was declared on them. The main stream media equally promoted hate speech and incitement to violence, which radicalized separatist groups the more. Government officials refer to protesters in dehumanizing or incendiary terms, such as "dogs" and "terrorists" in the main stream media. When the security agents who terrorize the population are presented in mainstream media, they are considered as valiant and patriotic agents of the republic who protect the population. Did they really protect the population when they tortured them, arbitrarily arrested them, and burned their houses as seen above?

Therefore, media serve to propagandize and serve the interests of the powerful that control and finance them. The propaganda model shows that media function to represent the agendas of the dominant social, economic and political groups that exercise power nationally and globally. Therefore, social movements face difficulties in their attempts to transmit their claims and to traverse the gap between their intended messages and their target audiences.

Activists in the Ambazonian crisis created a strategy that Mattoni [47] considered as alternatives that are the creation of their own independent media or public forums of communication in order to communicate for a lack of interest or bias by established media. Alternatively, in the Ambazonian crisis, many videos were produced that facilitated the mobilization and production of a counter-narrative to the 'official story,' which indicates that there is no Anglophone problem in Cameroon and the professionalism of the security forces. The Internet makes the process of sharing easier and faster and with a potentially larger audience than ever before. These messages in the videos from the alternative media environment have made their ways into mainstream mass media like the various reports carried by BBC, France 24, TV5 Monde, etc.

**161**

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

The Ambazonia crisis was triggered by the Southern Cameroonians' attempt to break the dominant Francophone cultural hegemony. They came into union with them from a weaker position with a population numerically smaller. As a result, La République du Cameroon has been making efforts not just to dominate them but to absorb them into the broader Francophone cultural system. They silently destroyed the dignity and statehood of Anglophones-not by the French-speaking community at large, but by the government that was led and dominated by Francophones. Toward the end of 2016, the two Anglophone regions were rocked by demonstrations and strikes, initially led by lawyers, teachers, and students and eventually involving a wider section of the population. They protested against what they viewed as the growing marginalization of the Anglophone linguistic, cultural, educational traditions and systems in various sectors such as the failure to use the Common Law in courts and Standard English in classrooms, as well as the improve-

Many videos were produced showing their repressive response of the government, which were opposed to the official narratives produced by the main stream media. We collected 30 of them because they provide information that cannot be provided by other types of data. They are used as 'proofs of facts.' The videos show appalling images not just of how French-speaking soldiers tortured Anglophones but also their inability to communicate with them adequately although they share

The government response to the demonstration led to the violation of the following rights: the right to life, liberty, and security of persons; the right to be free from torture or cruel, degrading and unusual treatment; the right to be free from arbitrary arrest and detention; the right to association and peaceful assembly; the right to equality before and equal protection of the law; the right to take part in the conduct of public affairs; the right to have criminal charges and rights determined by a competent, impartial and independent tribunal (and in the case of civilians, a civilian court); the right to a fair trial, representation by a lawyer of choice, and (where the defendant does not have means to pay for legal representation) legal aid; the right to prompt, detailed notice of charges in a language understood by the defendant and adequate time and facilities to prepare a defense against them and communicate with counsel; the right to an interpreter where required; the right to appeal; the right not to be persecuted for any act or omission that was not a crime

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

ment of their representation in politics.

when committed; and the right to self-determination.

**8. Conclusion**

the same country.
