IPOB, Cameroonian Secessionists Forge Alliance, To Exchange Men, Weapons

• “We have been very careful in our association with the Biafra movement“

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has entered into an alliance with with the Ambazonia Governing Council (AGovC), a separatist movement in English speaking Southern Cameroon.

The new alliance will see the two separatist group exchange weapons.

Foreign Policy is reporting that the two groups are also seeking to exchange personnel of their respective paramilitary arms in pursuit of their separatist goal.

Like IPOB, the AGovC wants the English-speaking parts of Cameroon to break away from the country and form a ‘Federal Republic of Ambazonia’.

This is following prolonged allegations of marginalisation by Anglophone Cameroon in the hands of the Francophones said to make up about 80 percent of the country.

Their concerns reached a crescendo in 2016 when they protested some government actions, including the posting of French-speaking magistrates and teachers to the English-speaking regions, leading to a military clampdown.

In September 2017, the AGovC deployed Ambazonia defence forces — similar to IPOB’s Eastern Security Network (ESN) — in Southern Cameroon, further deepening a crisis that has killed not less than 2,000 people in the country.

‘WORKING TOGETHER FOR SURVIVAL’

In a briefing in April, Nnamdi Kanu, leader of IPOB which has been outlawed by Nigerian authorities, announced a “new dawn” with the two secessionist groups “coming together to confront our collective enemies.”

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“Even though our struggles for freedom have had different trajectories, Biafrans and Ambazonians have shared destinies,” he had said.

Cho Ayaba, AGovC leader, had also said the two groups intend to “walk together to ensure collective survival from the brutal annexation that have occurred in our home nations.”

Details of the alliance were not stated at the time, but Foreign Policy quoted representatives of the two groups as saying they will “work to secure their shared border and ensure an open exchange of weapons and personnel.”

Capo Daniel, the deputy defence chief of the Ambazonia defence forces, also said the scope of the union will include joint operations and training bases.

“We have been very careful in our association with the Biafra movement because we didn’t want to destabilize the region, but we have been cornered,” he reportedly said.

“The Nigerians have failed to act, the international community has failed to act, so we have no other choice but to get into an alliance that can better our chances to defend ourselves.”