The UN working group till date cautioned Cameroon  on the arrest and detention of the separatist leaders, notably Sisiku Ayuktabe and his nine co-detainees are “arbitrary”.

The International French Radio ( Rfi) reports on November 16th that a document was made public some time ago without having received responses from the Cameroonian and Nigerian authorities.  The document argues that the arrest and detention process was carried out in violation of international human rights law.

The opinion of the UN working group on the arrest and detention of the 10 Anglophone separatist leaders is in favour of the “immediate and unconditional release” of these persons detained in the central prison of Kondengui .

Indeed, for the UN working group, the arrest and detention of the separatist leaders are “arbitrary”. They were carried out in violation of Articles 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They are also against Articles 2(1) and (3), 9, 14 and 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The document explains that the rights of detainees have been violated.

These include arrest without an arrest warrant, conditions of detention at the Secretariat of State for Defence, and their trial in Cameroon. Arrested in Nigeria on 5 January 2018 during a special operation by the Nigerian secret service, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, Cheh Augustine Awasum, Henry Tata Kimeng, Egbe Ntui Ogork, Fidelis Ndeh-Che, Elias Ebai Eyambe, Blaise Sevidzem, Wilfred Tassang and Ngala Nfor Nfor were brought back to Cameroon.
At the time of their arrest, they were at the Nera Hotel in Abuja according to Ayuk Tabe. They had been granted refugee status by the Nigerian branch of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Jeune Afrique reports.

Since the end of 2017, dozens of separatists have taken up arms in the two English-speaking regions of the North West and South West.

Clashes between soldiers deployed in large numbers and these separatists, grouped in scattered groups in the equatorial forest, have been occurring almost every day.
According to corroborating sources, the separatists have been joined by armed bands of bandits and looters, who rob the population and businesses.

More than 200 members of the Cameroonian defence and security forces have lost their lives in this conflict, as well as more than 500 civilians, according to the International Crisis Group (ICG).
The conflict, which has continued to escalate, has already forced more than 437,000 people to flee their homes in these regions, according to UN figures published in early October.