The Fear of Manyu by Colonial Forces, is the Beginning of Defections

History appears to be repeating itself, as Manyu County in Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia has suddenly become a night mare or no go area to some colonial forces from La Republique du Cameroon (LRC). History tells us that the bloodiest battle of World War 1 was fought in Manyu. No wonder, history still honours the various battle towns up till date. That is why we still hear of those famous names in history in today’s Manyu, such as Agborkem-German, Nsanakang, etc. It is therefore not surprising to hear that some colonial forces sent to Manyu are defecting, while others are being locked up for refusing to go defend La Republique in the battle field. Those defecting soldiers who are Ambazonians, may not only be defecting because they don’t want to engage in a battle aim at killing their own brothers and sisters, but also because they know that going to war with faceless forces in Manyu, equally means they have a date with history.

When Paul Biya, the colonial President of Cameroun, stood in his airport reception parlour and read a scripted declaration of war on invisible Ambazonian restoration forces, he certainly did not know where the war theatre is located. Not even the script writer, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, Jacques Famme Ndongo or Betti Asomo. None of them has ever been to Mamfe or Akwaya, apart from the political delusions they have that Mamfe is a bastion of the CPDM and Akwaya is home to the stubborn enemy of the state, Ayah Paul Abine. The only physical knowledge of the colonial President, Paul Biya, about the Southern Cameroons is Bamenda town and Bongo Square, Buea. To him and his military generals, Manyu was probably one of those Northern Desert terrains where their forces where going to run over a group of purported secessionist terrorists. Unfortunately for them, they missed it.

Manyu County, has a forest is a very difficult terrain, punctuated with many fearful and deep black river waters. Declaring war on invisible forces in such an area, where the indigenous people are alleged to have a very strong culture of apparition (ghosts appearances) is equal to sending innocent student gendarmes, soldiers and BIRs on suicide mission, except such a war is aimed at completely annihilating the entire population of the area.

Below is an extract from a statement purportedly written by one of the colonial forces who defected into Nigeria

“…How could we have been that blind? Shame sir president your extorting military are falling death one after the other like avocados during a strong storm, after all they are your humble servants, they are not from your family or bloodlines, shame to you somewhere somehow a child is made an orphan, a widow is made, a parent mourns a lost child, a friend sobs from the lost of a friend, a brother or a sister will be buried because you declared war on your own people. War is a two way street to declare it is one thing to fight and win it is another. I am one of those soldiers that values my life and will not sacrifice it for your greed and Satanism, I am one of those soldiers who has defected and strayed in to Nigeria, how can you call us soldiers and don’t value our lives? How much do I get paid to get killed because of you?. During the day we were a team but at night there is no hiding place, the boys of this area know where we hide and they have never stopped killing us night after night. There are no roads out in the jungle the rivers are wide and deep no where to cross, the thick forest is scary and a perfect ground for ambush on us. The conditions here are terrible if we continue in this war even doubled the size of our present day military we will not make it alive so I surrender Lord Biya I will rather beg on the streets of Nigeria and I am not alone.

Sir Biya, when you wake up each morning and see Frank, Brenda, Chantal and junior it gives you peace and you are happy it is not the same with the rest of us, those you sent to be killed are not speaking the same language our parents, wives and kids are not sleeping in peace they cry and wonder everyday if they will ever see us again. I will be very honest with you from my experience in the war front before my surrender, we lost 12 of our men in uniforms in two separate attacks by ghosts attackers, in the first case, a military pickup truck was ambushed and 7 killed because it could not run fast on the bad road, the truck left the road in to a narrow trench and whilst trying to save its occupants all 7 were gunned down they tried to surrender but were late. Odeshi or what they call it is so real I saw people shooting in both directions but only the people in uniforms were killed, I don’t know how that was possible. Me and four others took off for safety by the time we reached base another 5 of our soldiers were lying face down in a pool of blood. We couldn’t sleep that night and that is how we planned our great escape in to Nigeria.

Mr. President please stop this killings if you have ever been to Mamfe or to Manyu you will understand what I am saying…”

The above statement purportedly from a defected soldier is telling. Mr. Biya must understand that the success of any military in any combat operation is dependent on the level of collaboration the military forces receive from the local inhabitants or population. As of now, colonial forces are not friends to Ambazonians. At least 80 percent of Ambazonians are “secessionists”. Therefore they are all ” “terrorists” and so potential victims of military brutality.

The casualty figure from Manyu on the part of Mr. Biya’s forces appear to be alarming. But the truth is being hidden by the regime in order not to sent a wrong signal to other forces. Like the defected soldier argued, “the war Mr. Paul has declared on Ambazonians is the same war that will kill him.

The People’s Platform will continue to call on the all Ambaland soldiers within the colonial forces to jump ship and defend their people. As military officers, it is sweet and worthy to die fighting in defense of your fatherland. Your fatherland at this moment of the revolution is not LRC, your fatherland is Ambazonia and you have the moral responsibility to defend it.

Agbor James, BaretaNews Political Analyst.