Abdulkarim Ali
06/10/2026
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Ambassador Tibor Nagy,
Thank you for your empathy and your humanity, and for always asking the tough questions that others avoid. Your question on ABS TV with Chris Anu – “Who is Ambazonia’s John Garang?” – is one of those tough questions, and it deserves a straight answer.
If Sisiku Ayuk Tabe were to stand by the door of a hall filled with Southern Cameroonians arguing and shouting, everyone will be silent as soon as they notice him.
That single image, Ambassador, is the answer.
Using Inference to the Best Explanation, the best explanation for that silence is not fear. It is recognition, legitimacy, and identifiable individuation.
Ceteris paribus, every liberation needs a figure who embodies the struggle and can rally everyone. Southern Cameroons has that.
He is recognized. On September 22, 2017, on his call, millions rose peacefully – the largest peaceful uprising in Central Africa. On his authority, the restoration of our statehood was declared on October 1, 2017. Even his captor recognized him. That is why he was the target of extraordinary rendition from Nigeria on January 5, 2018, and sentenced to life by a military tribunal. I am myself serving a life sentence after having suffered abduction, rendition and incarceration for documenting these crimes, engaging the diplomatic and international communities for mediation and dialogue, and I can tell you: the state does not spend such resources on the irrelevant.
He is legitimate. His legitimacy does not come from a gun. It comes from law and from our political culture. Southern Cameroons has had a culture of liberal democracy since 1954, when it became the first African nation to independently organize a government election and effect a democratic transfer of power, from Dr. E.M.L. Endeley to John Ngu Foncha. Sisiku Ayuk Tabe is a product of that culture. He was mandated by the people through the Governing Council. And despite the serious challenges within the Interim Government itself, he has remained committed to collaboration and reconciliation. He has not used his mandate to entrench personal power.
He is the identifiable individuation that can rally everyone. That silence in the noisy hall is the proof. Ceteris paribus, if he were free today, the fragmentation, the infighting, the multiple voices would collapse into a single, coherent negotiating bloc.
With respect, Ambassador, the fallacy of presentism should not be applied to us. To argue that South Sudan fought for 50 years, therefore Southern Cameroons must also wait 50 years, ignores context and punishes us for our non-violence. South Sudan’s post-Garang collapse into civil war is exactly what our democratic history helps us avoid.
CAVEAT:
To be clear, I maintain that no prisoner should negotiate for free people. No one should negotiate behind prison walls.
Free Sisiku and he will bring all the birds home.
The Southern Cameroons liberation struggle has a handful of frontline leaders – including Dr. Cho Ayaba, Dr. Samuel Sako, Dr. Ebenezer Akwanga, Kometa Elvis, Prof. Carlson Anyangwe and Chris Anu etc. – who are all respected and who have sacrificed immensely. They are leaders of the struggle. But they cannot be confused with its Gandhi.
We do not need to search for a John Garang. Our Gandhi is already identified, recognized, legitimate, and in prison.
He is Sisiku Ayuk Tabe.
Mr. Ambassador, continue with the good work and cause the White House to intervene and release Ayuk Tabe and all Southern Cameroonians incarcerated for political reasons. That is the first step to any credible, realistic truce and peace.
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Respectfully
Abdulkarim Ali
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