It is playing out exactly as the French did in the 50s in the UPC led war of independence. French soldiers bombed and burnt villages, beheaded freedom fighters and placed their heads at road junctions in Bamiléké villages. They slaughtered people so horrendously that the Bamilékés learnt the bitter lesson of never taking up arms against their masters. This is hidden away from history books and it is small wonder that many Cameroonians do not know about the atrocious French Secret War in Cameroun.
Houses, animals destroyed
Reputed for her fertile soils and high rate of scholarisation, the town of Bali near Bamenda is on fire. For days, dozens of homes have been burnt in what appears like targeted attacks. Amongst the casualties is the former mayor of Bali, whose family home was set ablaze rendering his wives homeless. Children’s certificates and shops have also been destroyed. Animals like pigs and goats were also shot dead. For many, this is perhaps the worst burning that has taken place in parts of the northwest region in recent times.
A viral video captured by a distressed Bali indigene illustrates the gravity of the destruction. He lays the blame on uniformed men.
“This is the job of the military. See how they have burnt every house on this street. This is DO’s Street,” he says. “See this old man’s house. They have burnt it down. The beat the old man so badly he nearly died. Everyone here has escaped to the bush, parents, children old men. Everything is down. These are pregnant pigs. They have all been shot. Hear the gun shots, they are still shooting.”
Another video shot at night shows pregnant women, children and old men sitting or lying on grass, trying to keep warm from a bonfire.
At the Bali District Hospital, patients curdled under their beds to avoid flying bullets.
Neither the government nor the military has issued a statement on the incidents that has stretched for several days. There have been no reports of a confrontation between the Amba boys and the military.
Now Dr. Ndansi Elvis, the erstwhile NUDP youth leader and now an Obama Scholar has warned that the Cameroun army is dealing a merciless lesson on Anglophones that would cause them never to rise up again against their oppressor. The army he says is fighting against Anglophones not Amba boys.
He points to the reasons why the military is using fire as a weapon, razing villages and dispersing Anglophones into French speaking Cameroun.
As he put it, Cameroon’s Defense and Security Forces are fighting against Anglophones, not amba boys.
Taking to Facebook Sunday, January 19, 2020, the onetime parliamentary candidate claims that the fight against Amba Boys offers an opportunity to destroy the North West and South West Regions. The Obama Scholar wrote the following from New York:
“For those who still think that the military is after the Amba boys, I think there is more truth to be told. They are not totally fighting the Amba boys! They are partly out to destroy Anglophones completely and weaken them in such a way that they will take more than three decades to stabilize and rebuild their villages, towns and cities! And will never rise again against their assimilation plan.
“Proof of it: why do you think they target and burn palaces? – To destroy the base and root of who we are – our culture! That is what keep us strong and bonded.
“Why do you think the burn down villages and homes? Even when they know the Amba boys are in the bushes, they go ahead and burn homes of innocent people. It’s to disperse us and render us wondering so that unity will be destroyed, families will be separated and many will migrate to their land. When you separate families you destroy society.
“Why do you think the take out innocent people men and women from their homes and shoot them at close range even in front of their children? It is to instill fear and terror so that no one should ever dream of rising against them.
“They are not fighting Amba boys! See what they just did in Bali in the 18th of January 2020. They burnt down homes in the heart of the town with cars of innocent people while the Amba boys are in the forest and they know where they are and none of those homes belong to any of the relatives of the so call Amba boys. That is part of the plan:- to destroy the Anglophones completely.
“Now see the outcome that makes them think they are succeeding: we have all migrated to their land for refuge. We now see some cultural associations like Oku cultural and development association building huge cultural assembly halls in Yaounde the wimbum cultural and development association raising funds to build in Douala and importing their jujus and Fons to you come celebrate cultural events in Yaounde that would have been celebrated in their villages. Celebrating and building cultural halls while their homes and villages are no more existing.
“I cry because I see the plan being implemented every day while our brothers and sisters who call themselves elites are there in Yaounde sympathizing with the regime thinking they are fighting Amba boys! They have all bought lands and build homes there and to them, all is well. If you look up to them, then soon we shall have no villages, and place we can call home-: the land of our birth! That place like no other which we call home! That place where even when our time on earth is over, we return to for our soul to Rest in Peace. That is the place they are burning down every day infront of us and we celebrate and say they are fighting Amba boys.
“They are not fighting Amba boys! They are destroying Anglophones so that they should never rise up again.
Root cause = lasting solution.”
Elvis Ndansi
Obama Scholar
New York