SUMMARY
The actor referred to as the Ambazonian insurgents consisted of several different armed groups that had been fighting a conflict over territory against the Cameroonian government. The violence was mostly centered in the North-West and South-West regions of Cameroon, a region dubbed Ambazonia by the insurgents. The violent struggle began in September 2017 after protests seeking increased autonomy for the Anglophone region of Cameroon were brutally suppressed by the country’s security forces.
The conflict over Ambazonia had its roots in the unification of the Francophone and Anglophone regions of modern-day Cameroon upon independence from colonial rule. As the Cameroonian state became more centralized over the years, the constitutional rights of Anglophones were amended. Since independence, the Anglophones have staged several protests against perceived unfair economic and institutional discrimination, marginalization, and inequality in the appointment of public administrators. This often caused a periodic outburst of violence, especially when government forces attempted to repress protesters.
In October 2016, large-scale protests started to take place in the larger cities across the North-West and South-West regions of Cameroon, and mostly centered around the perceived growing marginalization of Anglophone traditions, systems, and population as a whole. Some protesters called for greater autonomy of the Anglophone region and even secession. Despite harsh clampdown from the Government, resulting in civilian deaths and mass arrests, the protests continued and gained wider support.
Dissent had been voiced by Anglophones over the years since the country’s independence, though it had never reached the level of armed force with which the protests culminated in late 2017. Hardliner separatists had embarked on the path to establish an armed front to launch an armed struggle against the government, demanding full autonomy for the Anglophone regions. However, due to various internal problems and leadership tussles, no unified group was formed, and instead numerous smaller groups formed with varying goals and tactics.
Due to the lack of information regarding the specific identity of the separatist group in violent events, the myriad of armed groups in Cameroon’s Anglophone region had been collectively dubbed Ambazonian insurgents in UCDP data. The violence between the Ambazonian insurgents and the Cameroonian government escalated through 2017 and the conflict became active later that year.
The separatist movements in the Anglophone region had been relatively divided, the various organizations and armed militias did not share the same political demands and military tactics. Vague information from organizations working in the region indicated that more than 50 separatist secessionist groups had been operating in 2022. The smaller armed separatists had organized themselves into several groups, mostly on a geographical basis, which had been reflected in their names (Bui Unity Warriors, Mountain Fako Lions, Lebialem Red Dragons, Marine Forces of Bambalang, Buffalos of Bali Nyonga, and so on). Their hierarchy had often been structured around an appointed "general". Some of these groups had reached a significant level of organization and armament, as they had consisted of dozens of heavily armed fighters and had been capable of carrying out deadly guerrilla-style attacks against military positions.
Out of the myriad of smaller local Ambazonian groups, some larger unifying armed groups can be discerned such as; ADF (Ambazonia Defense Forces), ASDC (Ambazonia Self-Defence Council), also known as ARF (Ambazonia Restoration Forces; and SOCADEF (Southern Cameroons Defense Forces. Generally, these larger armed groups had been unified under two political camps, which illustrated the visible schism within the overarching Ambazonian struggle. Both political entities had an armed wing and claimed to be the legitimate government of Ambazonia.
Two main political camps
Most separatists, and the majority of the Anglophones, considered the Interim Government (IG), and their armed wing ASDC/ARF, to be the true political representative of the Ambazonia.
The Interim Government was founded in June 2017 and Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe had been appointed president. In January 2018, several IG members including Sisiku were arrested by Nigerian authorities, and the group had been politically weakened. Sisiku was extradited to Cameroon and later sentenced to life in prison in 2019. Shortly after the arrest, Samuel Ikome Sako took over as acting president - a leadership change that was highly controversial and subsequently laid the grounds for the split of IG. Both Sako and Sisiku claimed to be the president of IG and the leader of Ambazonia.
On 20 March 2018, IG announced the formation of the Ambazonian Self-Defense Council (ASC/ASDC) which then consisted of the Ambazonia Restoration Army (ARA), The Tigers of Ambazonia (TTA), SOCADEF, and Manyu Ghost Warriors. Allegedly, several reports stated that ADF pulled out of this deal at the very last minute due to a leadership tussle. Over the years, several secessionist groups left and joined this coalition. Interestingly, the many militias of this coalition tended to operate under their name rather than in the same ASC/ASDC.
The leadership tussle between Sako and Sisiku continued in 2019 and was the death blow to a united IG, when the imprisoned Sisiku released a memo in which he dissolved the Sako administration, stating that they had lost focus of the goal of restoration. The move was ultimately ignored by Sako which fortified the split of the group into two factions, led by Sisiku and Sako respectively. The split had an impact over all other secessionist groups with some supporting Sako while others joined ASDC and supported Sisiku.
The main political rival to the Interim Government was the Ambazonian Governing Council (AGovC), commanding their armed wing ADF. Founded in 2013, AGovC was considered to be more hardline than IG with its president Ayaba Cho Lucas residing in exile in Norway, making all the political and military decisions alone. The military wing had appeared more organized than its main opponent ASDC, with some smaller groups even mentioning Lucas as their direct leader. The ultimate goal of AGovC had been said to be to make the Anglophone regions ungovernable until the government realized that the costs of fighting the armed militias were greater than the benefits of exploiting the natural resources of the Anglophone regions. Following the leadership tussle within the IG, AGovC had voiced their support for Sisiku and had been critical of Sako’s faction of IG.
On April 9, 2021, the AGC formally allied with the Nigerian separatist movement Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). According to ADF deputy defense chief Daniel Capo, the alliance included joint military operations and training bases, as well as efforts to secure the common border and ensure the free flow of weapons. The alliance was denounced by both the IG and other Biafran separatist groups.
The many groups included under the Ambazonian insurgent's umbrella varied vastly in their size, leadership, affiliation, relation to the Ambazonian diaspora, and tactics and end goals. Infighting between various groups has been prominent ever since the beginning of the armed conflict with the Cameroonian government. Some groups also switched allegiance throughout the conflict, belonging first to one of the bigger umbrella coalition, and then switching allegiance to the other.
Due to the rather fractionate nature of the Ambazonian insurgents, it is difficult to assess a common modus operandi. However, what could be said about the groups is that an overarching tactic was the use of guerilla warfare. The groups often conducted small-scale ambushes against government soldiers on patrol or targeted attacks against police stations or army checkpoints. The Ambazonian insurgents mainly used weapons they had acquired through clashes with government soldiers, often attacking soldiers and then stealing ammunition and weaponry. In their attacks against government soldiers, a few years into the conflict, the Ambazonian insurgents increasingly started to make use of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs).
From 2017 onwards, the Ambazonian insurgents did to varying degrees make use of so-called ‘Ghost town’ operations. The separatists enforce strikes and sit-at-home orders, forcing the civilians in the areas to stay at home. These sit-at-home orders could range from one to five working days but often occurred on Mondays. Sometimes, the insurgents even brutally imposed general lockdowns to block all movements in and out of the Anglophone region. The ‘Ghost towns’ became a permanent feature in the Anglophone conflict context. The insurgents frequently targeted civilians who were not obeying their sit-at-home orders or their lockdowns, accusing them of supporting the government.
The Ambazonian insurgents have been involved in the state-based and one-sided categories of UCDP organized violence.
