ADF PARTNERS WITH LRC IN EXTORTING FROM AMBAZONIANS
ADF IMPOSES 5000 FRS AND 10,000 FRS TAX ON WOMEN AND MEN RESPECTIVELY IN BATIBO
The people of Ambazonia are having two principal enemies amongst their lists of enemies. These enemies are the Ambazonia Defense Forces - ADF and La Republique du CameroUn - LRC. The people of Batibo are convinced by the actions on the ground that ADF is a subsection of LRC. They camouflage to be protecting the people of Southern Cameroons, Ambazonia meanwhile their goal is to side with LRC and increase the pain of Ambazonians. The people of Batibo have suffered a lot from the ongoing war in Ambazonia, yet the Ambazonia Defense Forces have imposed a tax of 5000 FRS on every woman and 10,000 FRS on every man.
How can the ADF increase the pain of the people with such a tax? People living in Batibo, Momo County of the restive Southern Cameroons, have said the Ambazonia Defence Forces (ADF), a faction of Separatist Fighters under AGovC — operating in the area, are making life unbearable for them. A victim of what has been described as an ADF extortion scheme explained that the fighters have levied compulsory taxes on them, and have made life more complicated amid general economic hardship. “All men are forced to pay 10,000frs and women 5,000frs each year to the ADF as tax,” a resident of Batibo and victim of the exploitative scheme explained.
“These are people who say they are fighting for us. Just recently at Kugwe, ADF fighters evaluated all foodstuffs like cooking oil, plantains, and other crops and taxes paid to ADF before they could be sold,” the victim said. He noted that the separatists abuse and victimize the population just about two kilometers from Ambo, a village in Batibo where a military post is located. “We strongly believe that at this juncture, the separatists could be conspiring with the Cameroon military to milk the population,” said one of the locals.
Kugwe and Ewae villages in Batibo LGA have remained strongholds of the Ambazonia Defence Forces during the past five years of the ongoing conflict in the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon. In the past, the group has extended some of its attacks to Wabane LGA in Lebialem County, where they are said to have killed many people suspected of working with the LRC military. In August last year, soldiers launched an assault on the ADF camp in Batibo where they killed at least 10 fighters and dispersed some.
