In a classroom nestled in Cameroon’s lush highlands, a former rebel fighter teaches logic and philosophy. His students know him as calm and thoughtful, but his past tells a more turbulent story. For a year and a half, Ateasong Belts Tajoah fought with the Red Dragons, a separatist militia in the country's conflict-ridden southwest. He joined the movement in 2017 at age 23 after local fighters came to his village and offered a chance to turn his frustrations with the government into action.
Like many in the English-speaking parts of Cameroon, he felt marginalized by the government dominated by the French-speaking population. Those tensions, beginning with peaceful protests organized by lawyers and teachers, turned deadly almost a decade ago following a government crackdown.
The fight for independence for English-speaking areas, which the emerging rebel groups called Ambazonia, has killed over 6,500 people and displaced over 1.1 million. As a rebel, Tajoah lived under plastic sheets in the rain, cooked for leaders and carried out attacks on military and civilian targets. “You could never sleep with both eyes closed,” he said, pointing to scars on his neck and stomach left by bullets.
Drugs and alcohol were rampant in the camps, often used as coping mechanisms for the constant threat of ambushes or betrayal. The psychological toll was immense, Tajoah said, recalling the trauma of carrying the bodies of more than 20 fallen comrades.
