A key Cameroonian separatist leader arrested in Abuja earlier this month has been deported by Nigerian authorities to Cameroon, his lawyer and the government in Yaounde said on Monday.
Nigerian authorities on Friday deported Julius Ayuk Tabe, president of a self-declared breakaway state made up of the Anglophone regions of majority-Francophone Cameroon, said his Nigerian lawyer Abdul Oroh."A group of 47 terrorists, among them Mr. Ayuk Tabe, has for some hours been in the hands of Cameroonian justice, before which they will answer for their crimes," Communications Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary said in a statement.
The Ambazonian movement has gathered widespread support due to a government crackdown on peaceful protests by Anglophones who complain of being marginalized by the French majority.
Nigeria and Cameroon are increasingly coordinating efforts to deal jointly with the growing insurgency that Yaounde has struggled to contain - in part because most of the leading actors are orchestrating events from abroad.
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| Cameroon Headlines - Cameroonian Separatist Leader Is Deported To Cameroon From Nigeria |
In his statement, Cameroon's communications minister praised his government's cooperation with Nigeria, adding that the two countries "will never tolerate their respective territories serving as a base for activities that destabilise one or the other."
Ayuk, a former businessman who had lived in Nigeria, is seen as a moderate voice in the separatist movement and has in the past promoted dialogue over violence.
Nevertheless, he has been the target of Cameroonian authorities as a leading member of a resurgent movement to break away from French-speaking Cameroon.
In December, his family home in Anglophone Cameroon was surrounded by government troops, he told Reuters at the time from Nigeria.
Le gouvernement camerounais confirme l'extradition de 47 terroristes dont Ayuk Tabe Sissiku. Ils sont depuis quelques heures entre les mains de la justice camerounaise. Le ministre de la communication se félicite de la coopération du gouvernement nigérian pic.twitter.com/UrZgGMrzCK— CRTVweb (@CRTV_web) January 29, 2018
"If you can kidnap someone like Ayuk, who wanted meaningful dialogue, who will you be able to speak to?" said Cho Ayaba, head of the Ambazonian Governing Council, a separatist body established to create an independent state called Ambazonia.
"This is an intolerable act. Now we have no choice but to defend our homeland." (Reuters)
