Staged Kidnappings by La Republique du Cameroun – The new low!

If you thought you had seen it all as far as amateurism and hypocrisy are concerned, here is the new low from the soldiers of La Republique du Cameroun. Desperate to win some support from their international allies, they have now resorted to staging kidnappings and liberation operations to convince the world that they are doing something meaningful.

In an effort to conceal horrendous acts like beheading, arson, rape, torture and looting, which have exposed the evil nature of La Republique du Cameroun against the people of Ambazonia, the government is desperate for moves that show some goodwill on their part. Staging a kidnap and a liberation now serve as the easiest way to prove to the rest of the world that they are fighting a good cause and at the same time tell the world that the people of Ambazonia are the ones to blame. This strategy is not being used for the first time in La Republique du Cameroun. It has been used before in the crisis involving the terrorist group Boko Haram. High-profile corrupt civil servants in La Republique du Cameroun like Ministers in several instances have staged burglaries of their own offices in an effort to get rid of evidence of corruption.

Most media outlets in La Republique du Cameroun have been banned from reporting news about the current crisis popularly known as “The Anglophone Crisis.” Minister of communications Issa Tchiroma personally threatened a TV hostess live on air not to report on the crisis or face a complete shut down of the company. However, from time to time the same media outlets report on the crisis when the government wants to promote what it considers a win or a big move. Recently, Ambazonia Restoration Forces in good faith released a high-profile Anglophone Leke Tambo. La Republique du Cameroun coerced media outlets to report the story and called upon one of their governors to announce the release of the hostage as part of government efforts towards resolving the crisis – all fake of course! That is how bad the relationship between the media and the government has been since this phase of the crisis started. The media in La Republique du Cameroun is at an all time low, corrupt and manipulated.

Now that renown international media outlets like the BBC have joined the show in reporting La Republique du Cameroun’s staged acts, the so called Anglophone Crisis can now truly be referred to as an international conspiracy to smother the people of Southern Cameroons – Ambazonia. A few months ago, it was the turn of TV5Monde Afrique to report the forceful deportation of the abducted president of Ambazonia and his cabinet to La Republique du Cameroun to the surprise of the whole world. Until date, nobody knows whether what the French TV channel reported was true or fake news because there has never been any proof of life to follow up on the story. Was it fake news, staged news or simple conspiracy? Time will tell.

Pro-independence fighters in Ambazonia are not a conventional army. They are not professionally trained. They are simply community self-defense groups trying to protect their families, properties and communities from soldiers sent on mission to wreck havoc in the community, shoot to kill, loot and burn whatever they find. However, They know one or two right things; they at least make an effort to claim responsibility for acts that involve them like shootings and hostage taking. Unlike La Republique du Cameroun that doesn’t announce their operations except staged ones, Ambazonia restoration forces usually send out press releases describing operations that involved their elements and the number of casualties. This is why the purported news of soldiers of La Republique du Cameroun having freed citizens of European countries taken hostage by Ambazonia pro-independence fighters is just a farce to the people of Ambazonia because it is crystal clear that the act, if it did take place, never involved any group of independence restoration forces in Ambazonia. It is a staged operation by La Republique du Cameroun aimed at discrediting Ambazonia Restoration Forces and at the same time fool the masses in La Republique du Cameroun that their military is up to some good work.

This incident should add to the learning curve Ambazonians already have in this crisis and also help them see how far the enemy can go to turn the tide against them. Wars are fought on the media before they are fought on the ground. If Ambazonians lose in media warfare, it will be difficult for them to win on the battleground.

Ndoh Emmanuel
For
Bareta News