The crisis in the North West and South West Regions has been raging for almost eight years and counting. To some it is a war. To others, it is a conflict. But what is in a name one may ask? Everything. Because even though a rose smells the same even if you call it by any name, the rose smell is not a sunflower smell. So whether it is war or a conflict, the nefarious effects are the same to the citizens of this regions who are the victims bearing the brunt of the armed conflict.
One of these effects that is rampant but not vocalized is the disappearance of arrestees, detainees, suspects, accused persons and even prisoners. In the context of this report, all these categories of detained suspects will be considered generally as the unaccounted for and inexplicable disappearances. All these suspects always disappear while clearly in the custody of law enforcement – police, gendarmes and military.
Whether these suspects are in police cells, detention centers or prisons they are considered to be under the prosecuting authority of the state. That is the legal department, state Counsel or the Commissioner for the Government (Commissionaire du Governement in case of military tribunals) – the famous ministere public.
In this role, the State Counsel or the Attorney General has the buildings and the keys of the buildings housing these suspects. They have control over the suspects, physically, psychologically and legally. That is why they are allowed to handcuff these suspects. That is why they are guarded with life ammunitions. That is why once a suspect is charged, especially with the famous charges of ‘terrorism’ and ‘secession’ they are escorted everywhere from their cells or prisons by all branches of the police and military forces of Cameroun – the police (GSO), the Gendarmes (GPIGN) and the BIR. That is why the sirens are always blaring through any city in which these military trials of terrorism and secession take place.
To the ordinary eye, it is virtually impossible to have any contact with any of the suspects – let alone for them to escape. They are guarded to the teeth. When they are sitting or standing, walking or sleeping. The question to this reporter is how on earth do these same suspects, most of them charged with terrorism and secession disappear inexplicably. Why are the Courts and the judicial hierarchy never bringing criminal and punitive charges against the so called military and police guards of this people?
This reporter is used to the hierarchy of these detention centers claiming that the ‘suspect’ escaped. The question is how and why? With the security structure of the country and the readiness of the police, gendarme and military officers how on earth is it possible for these suspects to routinely escape? And more importantly, why are the guards in charge not held to account and if they are held to account why is the public not informed?
The most recent of these miraculous disappearances or escapes occurred (better still was noticed) on Monday September 7, 2025, between the Douala Airport Detention cell and the Judicial Police where one Wara Pius Tse could not be accounted for when a military escort team from Yaoundé arrived to transport the suspect to SED. This information was leaked out by one of the disgruntled BIR officers in the mixed escort complained that the name was one of the names on the list to be escorted to Yaoundé but he was nowhere to be found. He was insinuating that his hierarchy gets their ‘gombo’ and the rank and file never gets a taste of the soup.
The Family had earlier alerted this reporter that Wara Pius Tse had been arrested at the Douala Airport following allegations that he was working with the Separatist Leader Ayaba Cho. They indicated that Wara was coming from Finland where he was residing with his family, returning home to attend to his sick widow mother.
The question is what happened to Wara Pius Tse? His family did not have any answers for this reporter but the onerous is actually on the jailors who at all material times after his arrest and detention owned the buildings and the keys holding him. He was supposed to be guarded as a terrorist suspect. What happened? His story is not the first and hardly will be the last.
Ancestral Mbomwei
In the belly of the Beast.
