Following is a list of militant groups fighting for the independence of Ambazonia , commonly referred to locally as "Amba Boys", in the Anglophone Crisis. It should be recalled that there are other groups involved but their tactics remain nonviolent. Due to the obscure nature of many of the smaller groups, this list will remain incomplete until more information becomes available.
Many Ambazonian rebel groups and their commanders take symbolic names which reference animals or specific personal traits; these are used to evoke fear and respect. [1]
Name of group | Part of (if applicable) | Political allegiance (if applicable) | Commander(s) | Strength |
---|---|---|---|---|
Alou Guerilla Fighters [2] | ? | ? | "General Ayekeah" † [2] [3] | ? |
Al-Qaeda Squad of Meme [4] | ? | ? | "Field Marshall Lucifer" [4] | ? |
Ambaland Forces [5] | N/A | ? | ? | 10–30 (by 2018) [6] |
Ambaland Quifor [7] | ? | ? | Silas Zama [7] | 200 (by 2019) [7] |
Ambazonia Dark Forces [8] | ? | ? | Capo Daniel [8] | ? |
Ambazonia Defence Forces (ADF) [9] | N/A | Ambazonia Governing Council (in turn allied with the Ayuk Tabe loyalist faction of the Interim Government since 2020) [10] | Ayaba Cho Lucas [11] Benedict Nwana Kuah [11] [7] Ivo Mbah † [12] "General Efang" ("Big Number") [13] Capo Daniel [14] (formerly) "Major General King Commando" [15] "General Manboy" [15] "General Cross and Die" † [16] "Colonel John" † [17] "General Rasta" † [17] Orock Valentine aka "General Mbula" † [18] "General Abakwa" † [19] "General Sumanguru" [20] "General Weapon" † [21] | 200–500 (by 2019) [7] |
Ambazonia Intelligence Forces [22] | Ambazonia Self-Defence Council | ? | ? | ? |
Ambazonia Revolutionary Guards [23] [24] | Ambazonia Self-Defence Council [25] | ? | Clement Mbashie aka "General No Pity" [26] (General No Pity also leads the Bambalang Marine Forces and Bui Unity Warriors) | ? |
Ambazonia Restoration Army [27] [28] | Ambazonia Self-Defence Council | Southern Cameroons Liberation Council (Interim Government) | Paxson Agbor [29] | a few dozen (by 2019) [7] |
Ambazonia State Army (ASA) [20] | ? | Interim Government of Ambazonia (Sako faction) [30] | "General Talk and Do" [20] | ? |
Bambalang Marine Forces [31] | Ambazonia Self-Defence Council [25] | ? | Clement Mbashie aka "General No Pity" [32] (General No Pity also leads the Ambazonia Revolutionary Guards and Bui Unity Warriors) Sylvester Mbashie aka "General Shina Rambo" [33] | ? |
Asawana [34] | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Black Cats [1] | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Black Hearts of Banga Bakundu [35] | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Black Lions of Bamali [36] | ? | ? | "General Kolambo" [36] | ? |
Black Mambas [1] | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Black Shoes of Oku [22] | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Banso Resistance Army [37] | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Buffaloes of Bali [38] | ? | Unclear, but fought against ADF militia of "Big Number" [39] | ? | ? |
Bui Unity Warriors [40] | Unclear [a] | ? | Clement Mbashie aka "General No Pity" [40] (General No Pity also leads the Ambazonia Revolutionary Guards and Bambalang Marine Forces) "General Mad Dog of Bui" [40] | ? |
Bui Warriors [41] | Ambazonia Self-Defence Council [42] Southern Cameroons Restoration Forces (General Insobu was General Chacha's successor; [40] Chacha was aligned with the SCRF [43] ) | ? | "General Insobu" † [40] "General Thunder" † [19] | ? |
Dongang Mantung self defense group [7] (or "Donga and Mantung liberation forces") [37] | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Expendables 100 [44] | ? | ? | "General Ten Kobo" [45] | ? |
Fako Action Forces [46] | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Fako-Meme Black Tar Council [47] | ? | ? | Augustine Ambe ("General Above the Law") † [47] | ? |
Fako Mountain Lions [48] | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Ground Zero [49] | ? | ? | Success Nkongho [49] | ? |
Gorilla Fighters [50] | ? | ? | "General Ayeke" † [51] | ? |
Jaguars of Bamessing [52] | ? | ? | "General Sagard" [52] | ? |
Menchum Fall Warriors [7] | ? | ? | ? | a few dozen (by 2019) [7] |
Manyu Ghost Warriors [53] | Ambazonia Self-Defence Council | Southern Cameroons Liberation Council (Interim Government) | Martin Ashu [7] | 500 (by 2019) [7] |
Ngoketundjia Defence Council [54] | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Nso Liberation Army [28] | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Only Bro [55] | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Pythons of Boyo [56] | ? | ? | "General Nyih" [56] | ? |
Red Dragon [27] | Ambazonia Self-Defence Council [57] "Lebialem Defence Force" [28] | Southern Cameroons Liberation Council (Interim Government) | "Field Marshall" Lekeaka Oliver † [58] "General Ayekeah" † [3] (also head of Alou Guerilla Fighters) [2] | 200 (by 2019) [7] |
Ribbons of Ambazonia [59] | ? | ? | Desmond Koa ("General Mad Dog" of Ndian and Meme) † [60] "General Millepede" [59] | ? |
Seven Karta [27] | Ambazonia Self-Defence Council | Southern Cameroons Liberation Council (Interim Government) | "General Alhaji" † [61] "General Peace Plant" † [61] "One Blood" † [62] | 200 (by 2019) [7] |
Southern Cameroons Defence Forces (SOCADEF) [5] | Aligned with, but not officially part of, the Ambazonia Self-Defence Council | Southern Cameroons Liberation Council (APLM) | Ebenezer Akwanga [11] Andrew Ngoe † [63] "General Opopo" [64] "General Jason" [64] | 400 (by 2019) [7] |
Southern Cameroons Restoration Forces (also known as "Southern Cameroons Defence Forces," SCDF) [7] | Ambazonia Self-Defence Council [57] | Southern Cameroons Liberation Council (Interim Government) | Nso Foncha Nkem [11] "General RK" [7] "General Chacha" † [43] | 100 (by 2019) [7] |
Team Retina [65] | ? | ? | "General Massacre" [65] | ? |
Ten Cobo [38] | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Ten-Ten [7] | ? | ? | "General Ten-Ten" | 50 (by 2019) [7] |
The Mountain Lions [38] | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Tigers of Ambazonia [27] [11] (also known as "Manyu Tigers" [7] [66] or "Tigers of Manyu") [28] | Ambazonia Self-Defence Council | Southern Cameroons Liberation Council (Interim Government) | ? | c. 500 (by 2019) [7] |
The Sword of Ambazonia (TSOA) [7] | ? | ? | ? | 200 (by 2019) [7] |
Vipers [5] [1] | N/A | ? | ? | a few dozen (by 2019) [7] |
White Tigers [7] | ? | ? | ? | 50 (by 2019) [7] |
Warriors of Nso [7] | ? | ? | ? | 100 (by 2019) [7] |
One Touch [11] | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Isakabas [11] | ? | ? | ? | ? |
More than 20 unnamed militias as of 2019 [7] | ? | ? | For individual leaders whose affiliation could not be verified, see list of Ambazonian commanders in the Anglophone Crisis. | Hundreds, split into dozens of groups (by 2019) [7] |
Ambazonia, alternatively the Federal Republic of Ambazonia or State of Ambazonia, is a political entity proclaimed by Anglophone separatists who are seeking independence from Cameroon. The separatists claim that Ambazonia should consist of the Northwest Region and Southwest Region of Cameroon. Since 2017, Ambazonian rebels have engaged in armed conflict with the Cameroonian military, in what is known as the Anglophone Crisis, and have attempted to set up governments-in-exile, and supportive militias have exerted control over parts of the claimed territory. No country has recognized Ambazonia's existence as of 2024.
The Anglophone Crisis, also known as the Ambazonia War, is an ongoing armed conflict in the English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon, between the Cameroonian government and Ambazonian separatist groups, part of the long-standing Anglophone problem. Following the suppression of 2016–17 protests by Cameroonian authorities, separatists in the Anglophone regions launched a guerrilla campaign and later proclaimed independence. Within two months, the government of Cameroon declared war on the separatists and sent its army into the Anglophone regions.
Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe is an Ambazonian separatist leader from Ewelle village in Manyu division, and is the disputed first president of the unrecognized Federal Republic of Ambazonia. In January 2018 he was extradited from Nigeria to Cameroon, where he has been incarcerated ever since.
This is a timeline of the Anglophone Crisis during 2019.
The Southern Cameroons Defence Forces is the armed wing of the African People's Liberation Movement, an Ambazonian separatist movement. It is led by Ebenezer Akwanga, who is based in the United States, Together with the Ambazonia Defence Forces, it was one of the most prominent militias fighting in the early Anglophone Crisis. It is mainly active in Meme and Fako.
Red Dragon is an Ambazonian separatist militia loyal to the Interim Government of Ambazonia, and is part of the Ambazonia Self-Defence Council. It was led by Lekeaka Oliver, and controlled most of Lebialem Division in the Southwest Region, driving away the traditional rulers and local administrators. The group was greatly weakened in 2022, with Oliver being killed.
The Ambazonia Self-Defence Council (ASC), also known as Ambazonia Military Council (AMC), Ambazonia Military Forces (AMF), and Ambazonia Restoration Forces (ARF), is an umbrella organization that consists of several militants that fight for the independence of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, including the Red Dragons, the Tigers of Ambazonia, Seven Karta, the Manyu Ghost Warriors, the Ambazonia Restoration Army, the Southern Cameroons Defence Forces, the Bui Warriors, General No Pity's forces, and numerous others. Collectively, these militias possibly outsize the Ambazonia Defence Forces and SOCADEF.
Seven Karta is an Ambazonian separatist militia that is part of the Ambazonia Self-Defence Council.
The Ambazonian leadership crisis is an ongoing internal conflict within the Interim Government of Ambazonia (IG). The crisis started on 2 May 2019, when a document signed by the first president of Ambazonia, Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe, acting from detention in Yaoundé, declared the dissolution of the cabinet of interim president Samuel Ikome Sako and the restoration of Ayuk Tabe's cabinet. This effectively led to the existence of two interim governments, with neither recognizing the other.
Lekeaka Oliver, popularly known as Field Marshall, was a Cameroonian army soldier and later an Ambazonian separatist commander and the leader of the Red Dragon militia. His armed group is part of the loosely-structured Ambazonia Self-Defence Council, and is loyal to the Interim Government of Ambazonia. The Red Dragon is mainly active in Lebialem Division, Southwest Region. Oliver was the brother of Chris Anu, former Secretary for Communications of the Interim Government. Throughout his time as a separatist leader, Cameroonian forces erroneously reported that he had been killed three times. He was killed on 12 July 2022, though it remains unclear whether he was killed by Cameroonian forces or in an incident of separatist infighting.
This is a timeline of the Anglophone Crisis during 2020.
Operation Bamenda Clean is an ongoing Cameroonian special counter-insurgency operation in Bamenda, Northwest Region, aimed at preventing armed Ambazonian separatists from operating in the city. By January 2021, Cameroon was gradually achieving what a security analyst at the University of Yaoundé called "relative peace" in Bamenda, and the mayor of the city stated that the operation was succeeding. However, as of March 2021, separatist-imposed ghost towns remained widely respected by the local population, and separatists controlled most roads leading in and out of Bamenda.
This is a timeline of the Anglophone Crisis during 2021.
The Anglophone Crisis is an ongoing armed conflict in the Republic of Cameroon in Central Africa, where historically English-speaking Ambazonian separatists are seeking the independence of the former British trust territory of Southern Cameroons, which was unified with Cameroon since 1961.
Clement Mbashie, better known by his nom de guerre "General No Pity", is an Ambazonian separatist who commands several militant groups, most importantly the Bambalang Marine Forces and Bui Unity Warriors, in the Anglophone Crisis.
This is a timeline of the Anglophone Crisis in Cameroon during 2023.
Operation Bui Clean, also called Operation Kumbo Clean or Operation Clean Kumbo, was a military offensive conducted by the Cameroon Armed Forces against Ambazonian separatists in Cameroon's Northwest Region from May to June 2021. The operation took place in the context of the Anglophone Crisis.
Ayuk Ndifon Defcam, better known by his pseudonym "General Transporter" or "General Transporter of Meme", was an Ambazonian rebel leader. Mainly active in Meme department of Cameroon, he reportedly led one of the larger separatist militias in the region until his death in battle.
This is a timeline of the Anglophone Crisis in Cameroon during 2024.