11, January 2019
Southern Cameroons Crisis: Indifference is no answer 0
If indifference could address an issue, the Southern Cameroons crisis that has already lasted for more than two years and consumed close to 5,000 lives, would have been over a long time ago. But the more the government pretends to be busy with other things, the more the situation escalates.
The killing in the two English-speaking regions is still going on, with the government seeking to take the media’s focus off this ugly situation that has given the Yaounde government a very bad name.
More Southern Cameroonians are still dropping dead, as government troops pursue their “linguistic cleansing” in the region. In towns like Kumbo, Mamfe, Kumba and Muyuka, there have been running battles between government troops and Southern Cameroonian fighters.
Despite the government’s determination to mop up the region of the fighters, it is becoming obvious to many minds around the world that a military solution will be a distant tomorrow affair.
Though it is business as usual in French-speaking Cameroon, the fear of attacks by Southern Cameroonian fighters is ever present in many minds, especially in the regions bordering the English-speaking regions.
As the government pursues its scorch earth policy in the region, it is also creating more radicals and fighters. Despite the killing of young Southern Cameroonians in the months leading to the country’s presidential election, more young men and women have recently swollen up the ranks of the fighters, especially in places like Lebialem, where government military trucks were recently ambushed, resulting in the death of many army soldiers.
It is rare for government officials to talk about the number of army soldiers killed and even when they provide figures, they make sure the figures are too low in order not to shock the docile Francophone minority. But sources in the military hold that many army soldiers have met their death in Southern Cameroons and many cannot even be accounted for as they have been killed and their bodies dumped in shallow graves by Southern Cameroons fighters.
The Southern Cameroons crisis has been a millstone around the government’s neck and despite the economic and financial pressure that the conflict is generating, the government seems to be pretending that all is well.
All cannot be well with the country, given that the economy of the English-speaking region has collapsed. Southern Cameroons’ economy accounts for a huge percentage of the country’s GDP and, alone, it represents a huge source of foreign earnings for the country’s economy.
The disruption of major economic operations in the region has hit the country’s economy like a ton of bricks. Major state corporations like PAMOL and CDC have simply gone under and it will take tons of money for these companies to be revived. The government should be concerned about such disruptions and it should be doing all it can to ensure peace returns to this part of the country.
Rather than focus on the military component, it should be fostering peace through negotiations and dialogue and not through physical elimination and intimidation. It should even let the population understand that the fighting in that part of the country is seriously impacting the country and its economy.
But faithful to its philosophy of mystifying everything, the government has been working hard to disguise many things. The country’s president, Paul Biya, has been championing this unacceptable approach and it seems there is a code of silence that all government officials must comply with. It is hard for any government official to make mention of the crisis that is gradually killing the country.
While receiving diplomats on Wednesday in Yaounde, Mr. Biya surprised members of the diplomatic corps, as he spoke about other crises in the world without making mention of the huge crisis in his native Cameroon that has created a huge humanitarian disaster.
More than half a million Southern Cameroonians are currently internally displaced and a similar number is in neighbouring countries, especially in Nigeria, following the government’s brutal crack-down in the region which has not helped matters.
But members of the diplomatic corps did not hesitate to remind Mr. Biya that it is out of place for him to talk about other global crises that were half a world away from Cameroon while turning a blind eye to the Southern Cameroons crisis that has damaged the country’s economy and destabilized even Cameroon’s neighbours.
The dean of the diplomatic corps who hails from Gabon had to speak in English to remind the ageing Biya that his country was bilingual and that it is unfair for him to only speak in French. The Gabonese advised Mr. Biya that the world was prepared to help him when and if he decided to take the necessary steps to put an end to the military violence in his country.
It was a nail-biting experience for many government officials who were very ill at ease with the message of the diplomatic corps. But instead of being uncomfortable when Southern Cameroons is mention, the government should be looking at ways of addressing this issue that has made the government unpopular, especially the president who is being accused of being ineffective and blind to the suffering of the population.
The international community has already urged the government to initiate a long and inclusive dialogue that will help the Yaounde government to address those thorny issues that are pitting it against the country’s English-speaking minority.
Many experts argue that war has never addressed any issues and the Cameroon situation will not be an exception. They also contend that with the killings that have taken place in the country, negotiations will be challenging.
However, they are quick to point out that both sides will have to learn how to forgive if they want peace to reign. Southern Cameroonian fighters must understand that a military solution is not in the cards. They must also figure out that pushing the Yaounde government out of their territory is a very remote possibility.
The world has very little appetite for secession and Southern Cameroons has not received a lot of assistance from the international communities. Even Cameroon’s neighbours are against a secession in Cameroon as this might open the flood gates in their own countries, especially in Nigeria where the Biafra movement is very strong and is posing a huge threat to the country.
The Yaounde government, for its part, will have to understand that it cannot continue insisting on state authority. State authority does not imply killing all the citizens just because a point has to be proven. The Yaounde authorities must also understand that Cameroon will never be the same again and regardless of the solution that works out, the system must undergo many changes if Cameroon has to be one and indivisible.
By Kingsley Betek
15, January 2019
Ambazonia and the Nsalai Law Firm: Extending the frontiers of genocide 0
Cameroon Concord News and Cameroon Intelligence Report have seen an alleged complaint filed against Cameroon Concord Person of the Year Communication Secretary of the Ambazonian Interim Government (IG) Chris Anu by a front for the genocidal regime of French Cameroun so-called Nsalai Law Firm, of 3250 Wilshire Blvd Ste 1500 Los Angeles, CA 90010. The so-called complaint is nothing but another attempt by French Cameroun to extend the frontiers of its genocidal Campaign against Ambazonia and persons of Ambazonia origin residing in foreign countries based on their Ambazonia nationality, or ethnicity.
The determination by French Cameroun to extend the frontiers of its preplanned genocidal campaign was obvious from the abduction of the President of the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia His Excellency Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, members of the Interim Government followed by the abduction of 36 other Ambazonia refugees in Taraba state of Nigeria and 8 others in Calabar. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of others have died or massacred in cross-border attacks in their places of refuge in Nigeria. These cross-border massacres have been facilitated by a cartel of corrupt deal makers in the immediate intelligence and political entourage of President Mohammadu Buhari of Nigeria.
Cameroon Concord News Group can authoritatively assert with proof that Hon Chris Anu is targeted because of his ferocious opposition to the genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and international conspiracies by criminal networks to launder these crimes across international borders. By this act of blackmail, the Nsalai Law Firm has emerged as one of the kingpins of this international conspiracy. The action of the Nsalai Law Firm comes on the hills of repeated failed international warrants of arrests issued by Martin Mbarga Nguele, the Delegate General of National Security of French Cameroun for the arrest of Secretary Chris Anu and Southern Cameroons-Ambazonians who are standing between the criminal conduct of French Cameroun and the genocide of Ambazonians. The successful campaign against these international crimes led by Secretary Chris Anu and the international reaction is eliciting and has alarmed and overwhelmed the genocidal regime. The crime syndicate has awoken to the reality that at long last, its many criminal tentacles notwithstanding, its days of accountability for the impunity and international criminality are near, hence the desperate resort to blackmail using infantile antics and tactics such as the so-called complaint brought Nsalai Law Firm to a US congressman.
The so-called Law Firm pompously style “International Law Firm” whatever that means, is nothing but a sham, a fey man’s scheme intended to blackmail and distract the attention of Secretary Chris Anu, the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia and Ambazonians engaged in the struggle to defend the civilian population of Ambazonia, from defending and protecting the people of Ambazonia. Pursuing accountability by the criminal regime of French Cameroun for the impunity and criminality of its criminal conduct is a nightmare to the crime syndicate. The resort to blackmail through smear campaigners such as the Nsalai Law Firm, abductions, assassination plots and even corruption are desperate attempts to subvert the efforts by campaigners for self-defense, accountability and international justice and an end to impunity. Hon Chris Anu has distinguished himself as an advocate of true American values of fighting international criminality. Thanks to his efforts and that of many Southern Cameroons leaders and activists, the voices of the victims of genocide are being heard world-wide, in the parliaments of democratic countries such as the USA, Britain, Canada, Germany etc. For this purpose, only a demented lawyer can urge a Congressman to interfere with the constitutionally protected rights of a US victims’ rights advocate through blackmail that benefits the perpetrator of the crimes against which his campaign is targeting. This desperate attempt by Paul Biya and his crime syndicate to attain their target in the US and other parts of the civilized world through these dire failed tactics must fail.
The Nsalai Law Firm is retained for this blackmail with money stolen from the rape of the natural and petroleum resources of the Southern Cameroons- Ambazonia. Money obtained from the plunder of the resources of Ambazonia has been used to commit sordid crimes such as abductions and the blackmail and threats against Ambazonia activists residing in the USA and other countries. A close reading of the so-called complaint establishes that it is not meant to succeed or be acted upon. It is a scheme to justify further criminal activities by French Cameroun which the lobbyists it retained could not accept to carryout for fear of violating US law.
The so-called Nsalai Law Firm, as its address portray, is based in Los Angeles, California. What mandate does this so-called firm have apart from blackmail in requesting a congressman in New Hampshire to investigate one of his constituents for alleged federal crimes when the congress man is not a law enforcement agent? The complainant must have inherited the criminal mindset of his deceased father who as a member of the Biya crime syndicate spied on and betrayed Southern Cameroonians. Many were tracked down and detained or killed for agitating for their freedom from the grips of the genocidal regime. His father like his son in this action did not require legitimate law enforcement to satisfy his pecuniary interests through criminal services to his master and god Paul Biya. He used every means including blackmail, extra-judicial abductions, detentions and disappearances. Unfortunately for his adventurous son, he is in a different world where the rule of law is alive. The American Constitution stands as a shield against the actions of the crime syndicate through the Nsalai Law Firm and the lobbyists retained by Biya to propagate the blackmail hoping to shift the focus on the international crimes committed by Paul Biya which have been denounced by the USA and other Governments and International Organizations.
The quality of legal practice of this individual must be called to question even by laymen whom we are in law. Some years back, he brought a frivolous case against SONEL for unidentified clients in a California Court. That case was a scam on the public and some gullible people who believed that a US court in California could entertain such a frivolous litigation without jurisdiction. The case died off and no one has heard about it ever. This did not deter this law firm from bringing a similar frivolous law suit against Tapang Ivo in California where he does not reside and for alleged acts which were neither committed within the jurisdiction of the said court, nor against identifiable US citizens residing within the jurisdiction of the said court. The complaint against the Hon Chris Anu to a US congressman in New Hampshire by this law firm authorized to practice law in California warrants investigation of the law firm for competency to practice law at all.
It is an open secret known to the Hon US Congressman that the genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and multiple violations against Southern Cameroons have been subject of US Congressional hearings. Politicians, activists, experts and officials of the US State Department have testified before the US Congress about the monstrous violations committed by the genocidal regime of French Cameroun in and out of the territory of Ambazonia. The US Congressman to whom he filed his blackmailing complaint may have watched thousands of Ambazonians in the US take to the streets of Washington DC and New York to protest and appeal and ask for urgent US and UN intervention to halt the genocide and bring the perpetrators to account for their crimes. The Congressman may have listened to the UN Security Council debate urging French Cameroun to abate the crimes and for full accountability for their crimes. The UN Congressman may be aware of the towering and commendable effort made by the Hon Chris Anu, the Interim Government and multiple, individual and collective efforts by Ambazonians the world over and at home to defend the people against the genocide and to assist hundreds of thousands of refugees in neighbouring countries and internally displaced. He may have seen reports of hundreds of civilian settlements torched by French Cameroun soldiers and the use of chemical weapons to exterminate Southern Cameroons-Ambazonian citizens. He may have read reports of the rape of girls in the University of Buea, the use of rape as weapons of war to humiliate and dehumanize Southern Cameroons women and girls by Cameroun soldiers on the orders of their superiors. He must have learnt of the abduction, detention and forceful deportation of Americans of Southern Cameroons origin who arrived Cameroun with valid visas on the sole basis of their Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia citizenship or affinity.
The government of French Cameroun has not denied any of these crimes and indeed one of its generals Brigadier Melingui confessed that soldiers under his command torched civilian settlements on a widespread and systematic basis and rather than punish the soldiers, he was relieved of his command. Also, the Senior Divisional Officer for Manyu, one UM II signed a deportation order forcing hundreds of thousands of Ambazonia citizens from their ancestral lands to Nigeria and then ordered a systematic looting and torching of the civilian settlements. One George Tabetando boasted to an audience in Buea that he and Mafany Musonge approached Paul Biya to impose an internet ban in the territory of Ambazonia which lasted three months. Mafany Musonge denied his involvement in this criminal act. The US Congressman may have read reports of this internet ban of three months, the longest in the world. This criminal conduct which was facilitated by internet providers among them MTN which is listed in the New York Stock Exchange and thus subject to US law, was intended to conceal international media scrutiny of the elaborate crimes that are perpetrated by the genocidal regime of French Cameroun. The US Congressman may be aware that thousands of Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia citizens are abducted from their homes and carried to detention and concentration centres in French Cameroun and subjected to a Beti-Bulu ethnic constituted court-martial.
The efforts of Secretary Chris Anu in denouncing these crimes and mobilizing the civilized world to urgently intervene and to hold the criminals to account earned him the Cameroon Concord News Group Man of the Year Award. Cameroon Concord News and the Cameroon Intelligence Report stand by him against the smear campaign and blackmail by the crime syndicate this time using its front the Nsalai Law Firm. This blackmail must be countered by advocates of the international rule of law and all international victims’ organizations out to confront the ongoing genocide in the Southern Cameroons- Amabazonia. Cameroon Concord News Group calls on the California bar association to urgently conduct an investigation on the potentially unprofessional, unethical and criminal activities of this law firm and mete out the appropriate sanctions provided by the ethical code of conduct of the bar.
Cameroon Concord News Group strongly urge victims’ rights association worldwide to stand with the Ambazonia people. They should harken to the call by Hon Chris Anu, the Interim Government of Ambazonia, Ambazonia Rights Activists and all Ambazonians for the immediate and unconditional freedom of the President of the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, members of the IG and thousands of Ambazonians held in captivity. They should support the call for the disbanding of the ethnically composed legal wing established to enforce the genocide so-called court-martial. The international community and victims’ rights organisations worldwide should strongly support the fight against genocide, impunity and international criminality committed by the government of French Cameroun against the territory and people of Ambazonia. This struggle must be fought and won and the criminal bands committing the genocide must vacate the territory of an independent and free Ambazonia. Cameroon Concord News Group once more congratulate Hon Secretary Chris Anu for winning the Cameroon Concord Person of the Year Award based on his distinguished efforts at alerting the conscience of the free world to the genocide in the Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia and his crusade for accountability and an end to impunity of French Cameroun.
By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai
Chairman/Editor-in-Chief