The Ambazonian Prisoners of Conscience Support Network (APoCsnet) is a network built around supporting Ambazonian Human Rights Defenders in the prisoners and secret detention centers of the French Neocolonial regime in Cameroon. APoCsnet works to maintain communication with our imprisoned comrades, to support their physical and emotional well-being, to gather and disseminate information that is relevant to their struggle, and to organize solidarity actions in consultation with their needs and campaigns. APoCsnet also works to support imprisoned Human Rights Defenders in Cameroon and in the rest of the Francafrique controlled territories, and actively seeks to contribute to the building of a global network in solidarity with imprisoned Human Rights Defenders all over the world.

Background

APOCS Net was founded in January 2018 by Ambazonian diaspora organizers and allies in South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States who wanted to help Ambazonians who had been rounded up and imprisoned in secret detention centers of the French Neocolonial regime in Cameroon.

The current generation of Ambazonian Prisoners of Conscience refers to people imprisoned for the expression of their conscientiously held belief that the fundamental human rights of the people of Ambazonia, formerly the United Nations Trust Territory of Southern Cameroons under United Kingdom administration, need to be respected by all — including the French neocolonial regime in Cameroon and its allies. The conflict between Ambazonia and Cameroon, which is the basis for the imprisonment of close to 3,000 Ambazonian political prisoners, has it roots in the military occupation of Ambazonia by Cameroon following an ill-fated UN plebiscite on a confederation between the two countries in 1961. Six decades of disciplined protest have been based on the principles of nonviolence and the slogan “the force of argument, not the argument of force.” 

While the recorded history of repression against indigenous Ambazonians go as far back as 1858 with British colonization led by the Missionary Alfred Saker, the history of political prisoners can be traced to 1891 during the period of German colonization. Legendary leader Mountain King Kuva Likenye was deported from Buea to Wonya Mokumba because of his anti-colonial stance, where he fell ill and died soon after.

The number of Ambazonian political prisoners has skyrocketed since fall 2016, following nationwide protests to defend the Ambazonian common law–based judicial system from the Cameroonian regime’s attempt to replace it with what amounts to a colonial court system. Click here to read more about the history of the conflict.

Leaders from all corners of Ambazonian civil society have been rounded up in the dragnet that followed this nonviolent uprising — teachers and teachers union leaders, lawyers and legal workers union leaders, journalists and press union leaders, student union leaders, doctors, and members of the traditional rulers association. 

These prisoners of conscience continue to provide leadership from behind bars, and APOCS Net works to support their physical and emotional well-being, to gather and disseminate information that is relevant to their struggle, and to organize solidarity actions in consultation with their needs and campaigns. We also work to support imprisoned human rights defenders in Cameroon, such as the Kamto 203 and l’Association pour la Défense des Droits des Etudiants  au Cameroun (ADDEC), as well as other political prisoners in the rest of the Francafrique controlled territories. APOCS Net actively seeks to contribute to the building of a global network in solidarity with imprisoned human rights defenders all over the world.