Why Soldiers from La Republique du Cameroun Resort to Looting and Arson
Since the official declaration of war against Ambazonia by President Paul Biya of La Republique du Cameroun late in November 2017, the war that was expected to be an easy capture of Ambazonia Restoration Forces is now into its second month with very little progress made.
Anger and frustration
The first battleground was in Mamfe and surrounding villages in Manyu where Ambazonia Restoration Forces withstood their grounds, fighting in the jungles and launching sporadic attacks on armed forces flown in from Yaoundé and other parts of La Republique du Cameroun. Casualties on both sides were in alarming numbers as residents fled to neighboring Nigeria leaving soldiers with deserted villages and towns. In anger and frustration, many soldiers craving to go home for year-end festivities with their families began to destroy property and loot. The anger and frustration of fighting an enemy that cannot be clearly identified has been the biggest problem for La Republique du Cameroun. Ambazonia Restoration Forces are not conventional soldiers. Ambazonia doesn’t have a conventional army neither do they have standard weaponry. They are mainly self-defense groups made up of locals who have been radicalized in the course of the uprising that started in November 2016. They have no permanent base or camp. Their commanders are not known, talk less of the training they have. They operate in a disorganized way using whatever means they can afford including the supernatural. For La Republique du Cameroun’s well-trained conventional army, it is a huge embarrassment to lose their professionals to such an unprofessional opponent and in a war that makes no sense, hence the anger, the frustration, the destruction and the looting.
The destruction of property began with the ransacking of houses under the pretext of finding and capturing members of the Ambazonia Restoration Forces. This yielded very little as most of the boys had fled either to neighboring Nigeria or to hideouts they best knew in the tropical forests that dominate the Manyu area. Then soldiers from La Republique du Cameroun started setting houses on fire as a way to make sure that residents don’t have reason to come back to the area. When arson started, massive looting followed. Valuable items like household appliances, machinery, farming materials, farm produce, livestock and money were all taken away when found and what could not be taken away was burnt down. Large quantities of fuel in stock – a popular commodity for local traders – were confiscated and used to facilitate the burning down of property. In fact the entire main market of Mamfe, the main commercial center of the area was razed by fire on the night of December 11th 2017 bringing to an end the last hopes for residents that would have perhaps returned to carry on with their economic activities.
Throughout the month of December 2017, Mamfe was the epicenter of the war. While the area remains heavily militarized by soldiers of La Republique du Cameroun and deserted by its inhabitants, the battleground has shifted to new areas. Efforts by agents sent by the government of La Republique du Cameroun to convince villagers to return to their villages have so far been futile. Not only do most of them have no houses to return to, trust in any person or anything with links to La Republique du Cameroun has been completely lost and it will take years, if not decades to rebuild that trust if ever there is the need.
The war will last very long
The year 2018 came with very little hope to an end to the war. In their addresses to the people on New Year’s Eve, while president Paul Biya of La Republique du Cameroun swore that his armed forces would fight on, president Sissiku Ayuk Tabe of the interim government of Ambazonia equally swore that his people would resist until the last man standing was captured. Ironically, both leaders also wished for dialogue. This kind of war can last decades because both sides have incompatible terms of negotiation. La Republique du Cameroun’s idea of dialogue is completely different from Ambazonia’s. Both sides know that they are in for a long war. Ambazonians think they will continue to resist forces of La Republique du Cameroun until they will decide to back off from their territory. On the other hand La Republique du Cameroun thinks they will continue to intimidate, arrest, torture, kill as many as they can until Ambazonians succumb. This is why the war is going to be very long and soldiers of La Republique du Cameroun are setting entire villages ablaze and looting all they can as an added strategy to boost their strength while weakening the resistance from units of Restoration Forces by leaving them with no source of livelihood.
As the dust from the 2018 New Year celebrations settled, the world woke up on January 5th to the shocking news of the abduction of president Sissiku Ayuk Tabe of the interim government of Ambazonia, some of his cabinet members and close associates by the Nigerian Secret Service in a hotel in Abuja while they were in a session to deliberate on the ever growing number of Ambazonian refugees in Nigeria. This news immediately refueled the war on the ground as fury swept through the land. Most Ambazonians don’t buy any official reasons that have so far been given for the abduction. They believe that agents sent by president Paul Biya or his department of defense are directly or indirectly involved in the January 5th abduction. Hence, their resolve is to continue resisting soldiers from La Republique du Cameroun while calling for the release of their leaders.
In La Republique du Cameroun, government sponsored propaganda media celebrates the fact that the abduction is a milestone and a sign that the military is about to win the war against Ambazonia. However, ordinary citizens believe that there is nothing to celebrate given that each new day there are more and more reports of skirmishes, sporadic attacks and counter attacks between units of the Ambazonia Restoration Forces and soldiers from La Republique du Cameroun in different areas of the regions. The areas of Ndian, Meme and Menchum have registered heavy casualties on both sides. Arson and looting have started exactly in the same way it happened in Mamfe – Manyu in December. Many buildings including the commercial center of KwaKwa town were completely burnt down to ashes after a two-day gunfight that left many dead.
Declaring a war is easy. Ending it is not. As it stands, this war might only end soon if one side succumbs. As for which side it will be, it’s hard to say for now. However, if looting and arson are two new war strategies professionally trained soldiers of La Republique du Cameroun are introducing, so be it. Tit for tat is the language of war. Let us speak it.
Food for thought
If one day someone invaded your home, arrested some of your family members, tortured some, killed some, sent you fleeing for your dear life, took whatever was left behind and burnt down the rest what would you do?
Would you go and stand on the street and complain about what he has done to you hoping that neighbors and passers-by can give you a home or punish the invader?
Would you go and hide in the bushes and start building a new home?
Would you go and pay him back in his own coin?
Would you leave everything in God’s control hoping for the best?
“We do not seek to hurt any man, but if any man seeks to hurt us, may he break his neck.” Chinua Achebe in No Longer At Ease.
Ndoh Emmanuel
For Bareta News
9 comments
Wonderful analysis Mr. Ndoh. You always make very salient points in your articles. I look out for your articles but you don’t write often. Your food for thought at the end is something the IG should consider seriously if not this struggle will die.
Respect is earned it is not demanded. To imagine that Biya and his thuggish clansmen are acting as if we owe them something is to me totally unacceptable. At this juncture, we must fight fire with fire.
Things are only going to get worst for the government of LRC and its starving BIR.
I’m very pleased at how our military Heroes are dealing with those BIR’s.
The same mistake that they made with us politically is happening again military.
The beauty of the situation is that finally as a people, we have mature mentally
and psychologically to the point that we are not afraid to attack and kill those
who want to eliminate us. In the past we have always run away from this, NO more.
As time goes on, thing only play into our hands. I really proud of how far we
have come.
I agree that we have the will and the determination to resist now but so does LRC. Who has the resources to resist longer is the deciding factor. I worry about whether Ambazonians are able to resist for long judging on how committed we are now just one year into the battle.
I agree with you Pa Dee. The winner in this war will be the side with enough resources to sustain the war.
One of the reasons why LRC soldiers are burning down houses and market centers is to deplete the resources of their enemies and win a greater advantage.
LRC cannot give up because they also have diplomatic support to defend the territorial integrity of a United Cameroon including Ambaland Whether we like it or not, those with the power to make things happen on the global stage have decided that way. All the permanent security council members are for a United Cameroon. So Ambazonia has a great diplomatic disadvantage.
It is well understood. But we decide our future. Neither UN nor France, Britain. If we as a people want to survive we have to fight. We should not be deceived by the diplomacy we see. Behind the curtain things look quite different. North American and most European governments despise Biya and his regime.
Ni Jack, the way forward is for our strategists to rethink our strategies based on how the revolution is evolving. We can’t stick with the same strategies we had right at the beginning of the revolution and expect different results.
Truth be spoken: We have never really hit the enemy where it really hurts. That’s why this war is still a kind of fun game to Paul Biya.
I must disagree Pa Dee. For Biya and his regime that is definitely no fun game. In reality they are desperate. Look at the measurements taken.
1. Militarization of Ambazonia
2. Internet shutdown
3. Extradition request / bribe to get IG
4. Applying patronage system to distract the population.
5. Using its own media and press to distract us.
6. …
George, when we hit them where it really hurts you might not see any of the above points you mentioned bro. It will be scary and they will be running helter-skelter. They will start thinking about the problem differently. The problem is still considered by most people in LRC as a distant problem, not really their problem. They enjoy reading news headlines of buildings and villages razed by fire in Ambazonia while having a nice family time with their loved ones. What is worse is that many Ambazonians are now living in LRC in deplorable conditions as a result of the war, patching up as servants in households to go to schools, etc. LRC has actually enjoyed a lot of cheap / free labor from Ambazonians who fled to their towns. When the war gets to their doorsteps the game will be different.