Southwest DDR Centre Admits 11 Fresh ‘Ex-Amba Fighters’

By Njodzeka Danhatu

Some 11 men were, Wednesday, November 18, at the Southwest Governor’s Office, presented by authorities as Amba fighters who have dropped their guns.

They were presented to the media alongside guns and other weapons like locally fabricated explosives used in fighting for independence of the British Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia.

The fighters, according to the authorities, are coming from camps in Lebialem, a Division in the Region where warlord, Field Marshall, has been operating and scared away administrative and traditional authorities.

Out of the 11 presented, seven were wearing Green, Red and Yellow T-shirts on which were inscribed the words Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration, DDR.

According to Doctor Mohammadu, Secretary-General at the Southwest Governor’s Office, the ex-fighters, as he referred to them, decided to come and drop their weapons and join the DDR.

“As you can see, we have different weapons of different calibres. I want to seize this opportunity to call on those who are still in the bush to follow this example by dropping their weapons and seize the opportunity given to them by the Head of State,” he said.

The SG added that, at the DDR, the “repentant fighters” will be fed, given medical care and also a future. To him, the DRR has more than eight sectors of different training or employment.

The SG thanked the SDO of Lebialem, the DO of Alou Subdivision and also the security officials for facilitating the process.

Talking to the press, one of the fighters, who called himself Edwin, said he was the one manufacturing some of the weapons presented that day. Edwin, while thanking the administrative officials, lamented that many of them have died in the bush and about six were remaining. Speaking in pidgin, he said he was deceived to take arms against the State.

“War is a dangerous thing, so, that is why I have decided to come out with everything that I have,” he said.

Another fighter, General Tiger, also from Lebialem, said: “… I want to thank the officials for giving us the courage and the sensitisation to come out of the bush.”

He said he thought that it was through payment and connection that people used to drop their arms; little did he know that the Government had opened its hands to embrace them.

“I am giving again the last opportunity to my friends in the bushes; Besali, Yern, Batibo, Bali. You people should come out. The Government is forgiving”

General Tiger said, they used to kill, burn their own houses and kidnap their own people.

“That was a very bad life,” he said.

He cautioned that some fighters need only advice, discussion and persuasion,  maybe through phone call discussion, before they can drop their arms.

When the event was over, this reporter was cautioned by the authorities and some security officers not to reveal the camps where the fighters are coming from in Lebialem, their identities and equally some of the promises they made to the Head of State.