Ambazonia, which in the beginning had avoided being sucked into the civil war that is slowly but surely developing in Cameroon, has now become the site of the biggest humanitarian disaster in the over one year crisis.

The Manyu County – home to about 2 million residents – has been subjected to a near ceaseless military campaign in recent weeks by Cameroon armed forces.  Cameroon Concord News London bureau chief, Asu Isong traveled home in December to observe the determination of Ambazonians in building Africa’s newest democracy.

The people of the Ossing Kingdom knighted him as a Sessekou in a historic ceremony.  Sessekou Ashu Isong covered the onslaught in Egbekaw village and the attacks on a Gendarmerie Post in Mamfe.

He says Cameroon government forces have killed hundreds of Ambazonian civilians in the last three weeks alone. As more talks for dialogue get underway in Abuja-Nigeria where the leadership of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia is being held and Southern Cameroons teeters on the brink of being totally annihilated, we take a look at what’s on Sesseku Asu Isong’s dairy.

In December 2017, I made a three weeks trip to Ambaland for family and municipal purposes. If ever my commitment to help liberate and build The Federal Republic of Ambazonia was in doubt, this trip quenched that indecision. As I arrived at the ugly obscenity which is flippantly called Douala International Airport, my repulsion at the place turned to resentment. The structure is anything but an international airport.

In the twenty-first century, it is acceptable that there is no bureau de change, only men whistling at you and gesturing that they have local and foreign currency to peddle and purchase. The shops are prehistoric and half empty with vendors wearing facial expressions of people who have never been trained in dealing with the public and don’t really want to be there.

As we waited for our luggage to arrive, I dashed down to the little boy’s room and was in for the mother of all shocks. I went in and visited all the cubicles much to my bewilderment, there weren’t any toilet papers. As I left the indignity to take the long drive to Buea in pain, I noticed a young lady outside the door rationing the little toilet rolls the Biya regime could offer. It was shameful and disgusting and I said to myself never say you have seen it all.

The thought matured that the place wasn’t fit for purpose. Whilst waiting for my luggage, it dawned on me that many of the so-called leaders in La Republique du Cameroun where I had landed had studied and lived in the developed world. Many of them frequently visit other countries that have invested in people and infrastructure to enjoy good facilities. But with all the material wealth that the country possesses, only destitution and insufficiency are engraved on the faces of the people and their surroundings.

As we collected our bags and headed to Buea, I asked myself how we, as a people from Ambazonia, have accepted for fifty-seven years this marriage of inconvenience. I asked myself how and why people in this country under this insanity called a government have come to accept the intolerable. During that long drive, I kept pondering and deliberating with myself how a country so rich with natural resources and intellectuals can be so underdeveloped and unacceptably backward.

As I went to bed that night, I came to the decision that these people have been sold falsehoods for too long that they couldn’t do anything about their situation. They have been lied to for too long that things just have to be a certain way. The mindset of the people has been programmed to accept inaccuracies about their destinies.

As I crisscrossed Ambaland during my stay and saw the misery that has been perpetrated on my people by our political partners in French Cameroun, I agreed with many that the time for change has come.

Above all, what pleased me was the fact that the MINDSET of the people in Ambaland has changed. Our people back home now believe that if it’s to be, it’s up to them and that bequeathed me an enchanted satisfaction that no matter the obstacles we are going to face over the coming years, we will prevail, and our dream will one day be a reality in Buea.

Sessekou Asu Isong

Next on the Sessekou’s dairy is his encounter with two Gendarme officers in the Manyu County who instead of controlling his car documents at a checkpoint, begged for money to buy food.