Mamfe massacre: Sisiku Ayuk Tabe calls for moment of reckoning

The leader of the Ambazonia Interim Government, said the killing in his Division, is painful and unreasonable. While at the Kondengui principal prison in Cameroon’s political capital, the man who was arrested in Nigeria on January 5, 2018, alongside nine others, said, ” What happened in Egbekaw is unconscionable and barbaric and there is no justification for it.”

These killings and atrocities ultimately and eventually are attributable to the Yaounde regime that declared this senseless war in November 2017. The government of La Republique du Cameroun should be compelled to return to the negotiating table to bring an end to this crisis because these killings are directly and inextricably tied to the question of the lack of political and moral will by the Yaoundé administration to engage in frank talks to address the root causes of this completely senseless and avoidable war that is raging in Southern Cameroons.

Sisiku Ayuk Tabe 2023

Full outing

My fellow country people, the images of families mourning, of bodies being pulled from the burning houses and wrapped in loins in Egbekaw village this past weekend must force a moment of reckoning on us all. What happened in Egbekaw is unconscionable and barbaric and there is no justification for it.

On behalf of the leadership team, I want to extend our deepest condolences to the families of our fallen family members and call on the Ambazonian people to observe a moment of silence wherever they are for the repose of the souls of our departed people. Our deepest gratitude to the valorous people of Egbekaw and the surrounding localities who have remained resolute in the face of this carnage and provided support to those wounded and scared by this despicable and inhumane massacre. We remember that the people of Egbekaw’s neighbouring village of Esagem were among the first to be ordered to leave within 24 hours and driven out of their homes in 2017 by the LRC Senior Divisional Officer in Mamfe.

Some will say that it is hard to be hopeful and impossible to be dispassionate seeing the horrific images coming from the scene, but the world and the regime in Yaounde must understand that all this is taking place against the backdrop of decades of failure to address the root causes of the conflict to achieve a durable peace for both La Republic du Cameroun and the people of Southern Cameroons, now known as Ambazonia. A resolution of this crisis is based on a recognition of the rights of Southern Cameroonians to a viable state, justice, and an end to the recolonization of its territory.

If the world and the regime ever want to solve this problem, then there is the obligation to know the whole truth and address the root cause of the problem.
This is decades-old penned-up anger within the people of Southern Cameroons against the recolonization of their land and the way they have been treated in the contraption called Cameroun and this certainly has raised strong emotions against the declaration of war on our communities by the regime in Yaounde.

Social media sloganeering provocative diatribes and blaming Ambazonian self-defenders for the bloodbath and carnage are not going to resolve this crisis and anecdotal evidence shows that for the past 6-7 years, the half measures and ridiculous solutions applied by the regime in Yaounde have not worked. No name-calling or finger-pointing will change the indestructible power of the truth. We remain resolute on the truth.
We are at an inflection point in this crisis with both sides dug in and without international mediation, unfortunately, we will not stop those innocent babies, women, men, the old and the disabled from dying.

I am appealing and calling on the international community to constitute a broad base investigation into these senseless and endless killings and hold the perpetrators and their accomplices accountable. We made this call after the Mamfe hospital killings. We made this call after the massacres in Ngarbuh. Every time that these atrocities have happened, we have made this call.
These killings and atrocities ultimately and eventually are attributable to the Yaounde regime that declared this senseless war in November 2017. The government of La Republique du Cameroun should be compelled to return to the negotiating table to bring an end to this crisis because these killings are directly and inextricably tied to the question of the lack of political and moral will by the Yaoundé administration to engage in frank talks to address the root causes of this completely senseless and avoidable war that is raging in Southern Cameroons.

Sisiku AyukTabe
Kondengui prison principale Yaoundé (KPPY) – 7th November 2023