Muyuka: A woman faces deepened difficulties after her husband’s death at the hands of government forces

By Wilson Musa

Sitchet Nkenda Ornella has reportedly been living in hiding for more than five years after government forces arrested her husband, Tabi Valentine for his alleged involvement in Separatist activities in Muyuka, a separatist stronghold in the South West region. Tabi was taken out of his home on October 15, 2019, to an unknown destination, forcing his wife to flee after she was accused of being an accomplice for failing to alert authorities that her husband was an active member of Separatist armed groups fighting to restore the independence of the former British Southern Cameroons.

Arresting family members of Separatist fighters has been a modus operandi of the government who believe that the fighters cannot smoothly operate without their family members being part of such operations such as offering shelter or working an informant.

Five years later, the situation of Sitchet Nkenda Ornella has further complicated when the lifeless body of her husband, Tabi Valentine was found on February 3, 2024, dumped by a river in Muyuka town, CNA learned. The news angered surrounding Separatist fighters who accused the wife of being an accomplice to the government forces. Since she is a Francophone, they opine that all Francophones in Cameroon do not like the idea of separating with Anglophones.

Yesterday, two weeks after Tabi’s corpse was discovered, the family residence of Sitchet was set on fire on February 18, 2024. CNA obtained a video where someone who went to the site of the incident said, Ornella this is your home that was burned down and since then your family, they are nowhere to be found”.

Such targeted killings and burning of properties by the Separatists have taken place on several occasions in the restive regions.

In Nacho, North West region, some persons majority Francophones were bunded and shot at close range by alleged Separatists. Investigation: How Nacho killings unfolded, ADF alleged involvement – Cameroon News Agency

Ornella’s situation is critical, and despite calls by South West-North West Women Task Force for peace, for the government to allow women be drivers of peace and reconciliation in the Cameroon armed conflict, several women have instead been government targets, including reporters like Mimi Mefo Takambou who fled to Germany after an imprisonment November 2018.

Also Read: Arrest of Mimi Mefo: Journalist Trade Union Calls For 10 Days Boycott – Cameroon News Agency

While some of these victims relocate to other African countries, history has proven that these areas are not safe for them after Cameroon collaborated with Nigeria to extradite Separatists leaders in January 2018.