Scores of Cameroon government army soldiers have reportedly received messages via the WhatsApp text messaging service advising them to stop serving the Biya Beti Ewondo regime or get killed in action in Southern Cameroons.

Cameroon Intelligence Report sources in Yaoundé citing a secret correspondence to defense Minister Beti Assomo reported that French language messages from a source linked to the Southern Cameroons Interim Government had reached soldiers from several combat brigades in the Cameroon government army, and they were strongly believed to have been sent by the communications department of Vice President Dabney Yerima.

“Amba fighters can reach you and drop explosives at the area where your camps are located. Biya and his corrupt gang have abandoned you, so why should you die? You have your whole life ahead of you. Do not seek adventurism, or else death is your destiny,” the messages read.

At the heart of the crisis, which started in 2016, was a strike by teachers and lawyers, in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon. The professionals, supported by citizens of their areas, protested the unfair use of the French language and unjustified appointments of French speakers in their territories. Cameroon is passing for a bilingual country.

By 2017, the situation had spiralled out of control and developed into a fully-fledged separatist war. Both government forces and separatists are now bogged down in a conflict that observers say, can only be resolved through dialogue.

By Rita Akana in Yaounde