There are more than four thousand Southern Cameroonians (Ambazonians) illegally detained in concentration camps around French Cameroun. Ambazonia President, Sisiku AyukTabe and his leadership team currently being detained illegally in Kondengui Prison Principal, Cameroun, engaged on a hunger strike to highlight the plight of their fellow detainees from the 31st of July 2019. This eleven-day action brought pressure on the French Cameroun regime and they are taking some minimal provisional decisions to appease the international community.

Of the measures being implemented, on the 2nd of August 2019, five Southern Cameroonian (Ambazonian) detainees were released by the military court in Yaoundé. Their names are Abantelle Victor, Njufack Flavio, Otu Princely, Eban Felix, Akum Aloysius. As a nation, Ambazonia is happy for the release of the above mentioned comrades but we reiterate our position that they and all others still in Colonial French Cameroon’s concentration camps shouldn’t have been incarcerated in the first place.

The miscarriage of justice and disregard for life and international law by the Cameroun regime is stunning and shameless. Last week, in the so-called trial of the abducted Ambazonian leaders, a certain Barrister Julius Achu representing the French Cameroun regime was heard shouting in court that the Cameroun regime doesn’t care about international norms and conventions. He is correct. On the 22nd of July 2019, Ambazonian Prisoners of Conscience organised a peaceful protest in their detention center in Kondengui to highlight their awful living conditions, continuous detention without charge and the actions needed to be taken for school resumption in September 2019. They were met with a vicious clampdown by the French Cameroun regime. Many were brutally tortured and moved to SED which Human Rights Watch described in a May 6, 2019, report as a major site for torture, incommunicado detention, and enforced disappearances.

Forty-three Ambazonian detainees were identified on the 6th of August 2019 at the Yaoundé Kangaroo Court of First Instance in Ekounou. They are charged with Collective Resistance, Attempted Escape and Destruction. The forty-three comrades are:

Ambazonian Political Prisoners undergoing manufactured charges:

1.Wirdzienyuy Leonard

2.Yongo Colins

3. Yuven Cyril
4. Ziengeh Hilary Chia
5. Salah Edmond
6. Kum Nestor
7. Ntanji Isidore AKO
8. BUH Mbi Roger
9. Kanouo Gildas
10. Ambantele Victor
11. Ambah Rahul
12. Newu Isaac
13. Abanda Louis Enowntai
14. Achesit Hamlet
15. Achu Divine
16. Achu Joseph
17. Adonis Martin
18. Agbor Taku Joseph
19. Aghen Norbert
20. Akembom Divine NFOR
21. Akom Alloysius Akom
22. Akwo Platini Anga
23. Alobwede Van Kingsley
24. Amadou Assad
25. Ambesse Divine
26. Amei Benjamen
27. Amos Bitar
28. Anifata Kiven
29. Anyam Jin Austin
30. Aselatcha Martin
31. Bame Emmanuel
32. Benjamin Tembang TANTOH
33. Bundi Nsah Godgive
34. Chi Emmanuel
35. Tse Noel Wangang
36. Chu Ettia Frank
37. Eban Felix38. Edwin Dubela
38. Effia Gideon Nji
39. Elvis Fonyuy
40. Embason Newton
41. EWANE Olivier
42. Fonkam Pierre

From the list above, Akwo Platini, has lost two teeth after being attacked by a French Camerounian detainee. We have reliable intelligence that French Cameroun detainees have been instructed by the prison authorities to assault Ambazonians. Also, Chu Ettia Frank has a broken leg and passes urine with blood from the torture he endured at SED. Benjamin Tembang TANTOH currently has a blood clot on the left eye resulting from his beatings. Amei Benjamen has a spinal problem and can’t stand for long. This is sad, sickening and unacceptable. These comrades need immediate medical attention which we are currently liaising with our teams on the ground to provide them the assistance required.

From our perspective as government, our legal team has counselled that the Ambazonian political detainees were severely tortured and are threatened by the prison authorities and other French Cameroun inmates. Therefore, filing a cross penal action is a suitable option. We have instructed them to go ahead with this course of action.

It’s worrying that four comrades; Apang Ronny Donald, Che Gilbert, Effru Francis, Efut Armstrong didn’t appear in court last week as expected. Our legal teams are still working hard to trace their whereabouts and the reasons for non-attendance. All detainee mattresses have been confiscated by the prison officers in order to make life unbearable for our comrades. Ambazonian political detainees have gone through anguish and are subjected to the worst forms of cruelty. The big positive is their resolve and belief in the struggle is profound.

Two comrades, Harris Boseme and Engang Joel, appeared in court unclothed. This was somehow acceptable to a judge in the twenty-first century in a country which is signatory to multiple international conventions. Our legal team used this opportunity to draw the attention of the Judge to the cruelties they endured at SED and at the Kondengui Central Prison. Our legal team asked the Court to take a recess to enable lawyers to get them respectable clothes. The judge surprisingly granted the request. The matters are adjourned to today the 13th of August 2019.

In Buea, the legal process has been slow and challenging. Our team of lawyers continues to face harassment from the Cameroon regime. During the peaceful prison protests of 23rd July 2019, the doors of the prison were opened by the authorities for the military to enter and kill. Upon entering the prison, they shot at political prisoners killing four and wounding over seventy-five. Despite the challenging conditions, our lawyers will continue their fight to see that the wounded political detainees and the corpses of our three massacred comrades Njie Gerald, Amougou Franck Joel and Eny Effiong are identified as three of the four killed in the prison in Buea.The body of Njie Gerald, a man over sixty years of age, is lying at the Buea regional hospital mortuary while the corpses of three others have not been seen.

Our thoughts and prayers are with all our comrades going through inhumane and degrading treatment in dungeons in French Cameroun. We take strength from their courage and fortitude. The days of being intimidated are over. Despite all this brutality, we shall continue to fight with bravery and determination. We will never give up. The more savagery we face, the more determined we become. The freedom of homeland Ambazonia is non-negotiable. It is Total Independence or Resistance Forever.

Short Live The Revolution

Long Live the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

Sincerely,

Milton Taka

Secretary of State

Department of Communication & Information Technology

Interim Government Spokesperson