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Wirba Joseph Mbiydzenyuy | |
|---|---|
| Born | 8 January 1960 |
| Nationality | Cameroonian |
| Occupation | Parliamentarian |
Wirba Joseph Mbiydzenyuy (born January 8, 1960), is a Cameroonian politician, humanitarian and social activist.
|
Wirba Joseph Mbiydzenyuy | |
|---|---|
| Born | 8 January 1960 |
| Nationality | Cameroonian |
| Occupation | Parliamentarian |
Wirba Joseph Mbiydzenyuy (born January 8, 1960), is a Cameroonian politician, humanitarian and social activist.
Wirba Joseph Mbiydzenyuy was born into the household of the warriors of Mbisha-Kwe'ebiri, Rohntong, in Jakiri, Bui Division of British Cameroons. His parents Mama Theresia Biy and Papa WIRBA Dor did not have his birth officially recorded as he was born in a rural setting having neither a health facility nor birth records, at a time when women were assisted by traditional birth attendants (the ma'nkoiy). He was delivered at his family home, before, on, or about January 8, 1960. [1]
Joe began his primary education at the local primary school in Kinsenjam, he then continued his education in a secondary school in Bamenda and completed high school in Nkambe.
After graduation, Joe got admitted into the University of Yaounde, Where he majored in Comparative Literature, the Teaching of Literature in English and English as a Second Language.
On May 26, 1990, [2] Wirba Joseph and an inner circle of leaders worked to bypass, frustrate and push back the army in order to successfully launch the Social Democratic Front (SDF), [3] the main Cameroonian opposition party. Wirba was an active participant and advocate for the freedom of the people of West Cameroon in the All Anglophone Conference that was held in Buea, on April 2 and 3 1993, with follow-up meetings on April 29 to May 1, 1994 in Bamenda. Wirba remain a devoted member of the SDF and in September 2013, Joe Wirba won a landmark election in Jakiri in September 2013 to become a Member of Parliament for Jakiri Special Constituency since.
Wirba Joseph was the first Cameroonian parliamentarian to raise the 2016–2017 Cameroonian protests, which would later escalate into the Anglophone Crisis. [4] He eventually abandoned his party's policies and came to support the independence of Ambazonia. [5] Fearing for his safety, he fled to Nigeria in early 2017. He briefly returned and reappeared in parliament, but soon fled the country once again, this time to the United Kingdom. In January 2019, he published a book called "Wirbaforce", which is his personal tribute to those who had lost their lives in the Anglophone Crisis. [6]
Wirba believes that the creation of the Interim Government of Ambazonia in October 2017 was a mistake, calling it an "imaginary structure" that paved the way for the 2019 Ambazonian leadership crisis. Wirba has also revealed that he had been contacted by Ambazonian president Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe and asked to assume leadership of the revolution, which he declined. [7]
Ni John Fru Ndi was a Cameroonian politician who served as first and founding Chairman of the Social Democratic Front (SDF), the main opposition party in Cameroon, from party foundation in 1990 to his death in 2023. He failed to be elected as a senator in 2013.
The Anglophone problem is a socio-political issue in the modern Republic of Cameroon, rooted in the country's German, British, and French colonial legacies. Anglophone (English-speaking) Cameroonians form a minority population of around 16 percent, mainly from the Northwest and Southwest regions that formerly constituted the Southern Cameroons, part of the former British Cameroon colonies. These Anglophone regions were formerly controlled by Britain as a mandate of the League of Nations, and then as a United Nations trust territory. During the Foumban Conference of 1961, territories with different colonial legacies were finally united into one state.
Ayaba Cho Lucas is an Ambazonian activist. He is the former Secretary General of the Southern Cameroons Youth League (SCYL) and is the current leader of Ambazonia Governing Council (AGovC), a separatist organization in Southern Cameroons that has an armed wing, the Ambazonia Defence Forces (ADF).
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.
The Ambazonia Defence Forces (ADF) are a military organization that fights for the independence of Ambazonia, a self-declared independent state in the Anglophone regions of the former Southern Cameroons, Cameroon. It was formally established by the Ambazonia Governing Council (AGovC) on 9 September 2017, the same day as the organization declared a war of independence.
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 2018.
This is a timeline of the Anglophone Crisis during 2019.
The Interim Government of Ambazonia is an Ambazonian independence movement, and claims to be the provisional government in exile of the internationally unrecognized state. Formed in the early days of the Anglophone Crisis, the movement has since splintered into four factions that claim to be the legitimate Interim Government.
The Ambazonia Governing Council (AGovC) is an Ambazonian independence movement. The movement has been known as "hardline" compared to other major Ambazonian separatist movements, and unwilling to engage with federalists. Starting off with a complicated relationship with the larger Interim Government of Ambazonia (IG), following the 2019 Ambazonian leadership crisis, the AGovC officially allied itself to the faction of the IG loyal to the first President of Ambazonia, Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe.
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.
Seven Karta is an Ambazonian separatist militia that is part of the Ambazonia Self-Defence Council.
John Fru Ndi, the leader of the Cameroonian Social Democratic Front was kidnapped twice during the Anglophone Crisis. The first incident was a brief and bloodless, with Fru Ndi being held by Ambazonian separatist fighters for a few hours and then released the same day. The second kidnapping was more dramatic, with gunmen breaking into his home, shooting his bodyguard in the leg and subjecting Fru Ndi to a rough treatment.
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.
The Kondengui and Buea prison riots occurred on July 22 and 24, 2019, respectively. While the first riot started off as a protest against poor prison conditions and unjust detainment, the second riot was carried out in support of the former. Both riots were violently quelled by security forces, and hundreds of prisoners were transported to undisclosed locations. The fate of these prisoners and rumors of casualties during the crushing of the riots had political implications in the ongoing Anglophone Crisis, and brought international attention to the prison conditions. Following the riots, many suspected participants were subjected to torture, and were brought to court and sentenced without their lawyers present.
The Major National Dialogue is the official name of a dialogue between the Government of Cameroon and various opposition parties, aimed at resolving the Anglophone Crisis. The event took place between September 30 and October 4, 2019.
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.
This is a timeline of the Anglophone Crisis in Cameroon during 2023.