Hundreds of Cameroonian women gathered in the capital this week to urge the government to stop the killings in the country’s Anglophone separatist western regions. Weeks of violent clashes in those areas have left at least 70 people dead.

The event Thursday at the Yaounde conference center saw about 700 women from various cultural associations call for efforts to end fighting in the English-speaking regions.

Teacher Elizabeth Mankaa, who organized the groups, said most of the women have lost family members or belongings in battles between the military and separatists.

“The northwest and the southwest region are suffering, and we are here to cry like mothers so that the government should hear our cry and stop this crisis,” she said.

Cameroon’s Ministry of Defense said in a statement that dozens of separatists have been killed within the past two weeks.

The Catholic dioceses in the regions said they counted at least 70 bodies, including those of civilians and military members.

Mankaa said all of the victims were children of Cameroon, dying in what she described as a senseless war.

​Government to separatists: Surrender

At a separate event Thursday, Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute claimed Cameroon’s military is winning the fight. He called on the wives and mothers of separatists to persuade them to surrender.

“I have it on very good information that a lot of those young people out in the bushes are there in spite of themselves,” he said. “They want to come out, but many do not know how to come out. Talk to them [in] a language of fraternity, that we are begging them to leave the bush because they are our own. They are our children.”

Daniel Mukete, a political analyst at the Cameroon Rehabilitation Center for Victims of Conflicts, says the government cannot declare war and deploy heavily armed troops, then expect separatists to disarm.

“Let the enabling condition for an inclusive dialogue be set. Let violence [cease]. Let guns stop being heard. Let the people feel free to express their minds,” Mukete said.

He added that rebel fighters will only believe that troops will not kill them if they withdraw.

​Humanitarian principles

Liberian peace activist and 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner Leymah Roberta Gbowee was at another Yaounde-related event Thursday. She warned that Cameroon will descend into chaos if there are no talks to bring peace to the separatist regions.

“From my own experience as a Liberian, I think it is important that Cameroonians come to the place where there is consensus on humanitarian principles,” she said. “When you hear stories of women using leaves for sanitary pads and people giving birth in the bushes, you know that it is time for leaders to take a step back and say we need to think about the humanity of the people.”

International pressure is growing over the worsening conditions in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions.

The European Union’s top diplomat, Federica Mogherini, on Thursday called for talks between the government and rebels as the only way to achieve a sustainable solution.

In a speech at the European Parliament, she said the humanitarian consequences were alarming with about half a million internally displaced people and more than 32,000 Cameroon refugees registered in Nigeria.

More than 1,500 people have been killed in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions since fighting broke out in 2017.

The unrest was sparked by English-speaking teachers and lawyers protesting Francophone dominance.

Armed rebels took over the movement, demanding independence for an English-speaking state they call “Ambazonia.” Their demands were met with a government crackdown and calls to surrender or be killed.

Source: VOA

The residence of the late Menchum I CPDM Section President, Chuo Cyprian Akwo, has been destroyed by flames in Wum. This has left his family counting their losses.

The family was asleep when they were awaken by heat and realised that their house was on fire.  They quickly called for help that never came even from the so-called Cameroon government soldiers parading the area. The family believes the fire was started by a political detractor.

However, there are conflicting reports coming out of Wum with some suggesting that the incident was a vicious and malicious attack staged by armed separatist fighters while others have opined that Ambazonia Restoration Forces were not involved in the attack.

The CPDM politician’s residence was set ablaze just few days after he died in Yaounde from an undisclosed illness.  Family members have announced his final burial rites for May 4 in Aghem, Wum.

By Sama Ernest

Several Southern Cameroons civilians have been arrested by troops loyal to the Biya Francophone regime in Buea as the elements of the Rapid Intervention Battalion continue to crack down on Ambazonian separatists.

At approximately 5.20pm on Monday, French Cameroun soldiers stormed the Bolifamba area on lame and ridiculous reasons that they were hunting down Southern Cameroons armed fighters. Scores of Southern Cameroons civilians were killed and dozens injured.

A 24-year-old Southern Cameroonian was killed at Mile 17. The man’s partner was reportedly by him when the soldiers opened fire. Cameroon Concord News gathered that 47 people were arrested on suspicion of supporting the armed Ambazonia resistance and 4 were later released.

A French Cameroun security agent who spoke to our undercover reporter hinted that many Southern Cameroons civilians arrested in the Fako County have been detained at the Buea Central Police station.

French Cameroun soldiers have recently carried out night raids in many Southern Cameroons towns and villages in search of Ambazonia Restoration Forces. Several innocent civilians have been killed by the French Cameroun army who accused them of not revealing the whereabouts of the Southern Cameroons fighters.

By Rita Akana

Women who have fled into the bushes from the conflict in English-speaking regions of Cameroon are using moss squashed into balls as tampons, risking infection. One 16-year-old explained to BBC Focus on Africa the challenges she is facing since she left her home:

Quote Message: There is no way we can get sanitary towels in the bushes. The nearest town is too far away and it’s not safe to go there. We use rags during our periods and it’s not easy finding pieces of cloth to use. I know it’s dangerous and one can easily get infected.”There is no way we can get sanitary towels in the bushes. The nearest town is too far away and it’s not safe to go there. We use rags during our periods and it’s not easy finding pieces of cloth to use. I know it’s dangerous and one can easily get infected.”

Another woman explained to me what she had been using for the last six months:

Quote Message: Moss plant – it grows on cocoa trees. Our mothers used it in those days when sanitary towels did not exist. You crush it and shape it into a small ball or tampon. Then you insert it deep into your body. This is what I’ve been using for the six months I’ve been in the bush. Moss plant – it grows on cocoa trees. Our mothers used it in those days when sanitary towels did not exist. You crush it and shape it into a small ball or tampon. Then you insert it deep into your body. This is what I’ve been using for the six months I’ve been in the bush.

Health workers strongly warn against this because of the risk of infection. More than 300,000 people have been forced to flee their homes, according to the International Crisis Group.

Militias began to emerge in 2017 after a security force crackdown on mass protests, led by lawyers in wigs and teachers in suits, over the government’s alleged failure to give enough recognition to the English legal and education systems in the North-West and South-West.

The government was accused of relying heavily on people trained in the French legal and educational tradition to work in key posts and generally marginalising Cameroon’s English-speaking minority, who make up about 20% of the population.

Source: BBC

At least three armed separatists and four members of the government forces died Sunday night in violent clashes in Bali, a locality in the Northwest, one of the two war-torn English-speaking regions of Cameroon, local sources said.

“Civilians have fled the area and fighting is intensifying. I saw three corpses when I was escaping. Many people are injured,” a local resident who asked not to be named said.

Government forces interviewed confirmed the confrontation and stressed that a mission to restore peace and security in the locality was in progress.

Ambazonian Communication Secretary Chris Anu warned of “dangerous times” for the locality.

“Mayhem has been unleashed on the people of Bali. We are urging everyone in Bali to look for a safer location to move to,” Anu said last Sunday in a widely circulated WhatsApp voice.

Clashes are escalating between government forces and armed separatists in Cameroon’s two Anglophone regions of Northwest and Southwest, where separatists have created an independent nation they call “The Federal Republic Ambazonia”.

Source: Xinhuanet with editing from CCN

Cameroon army arrested about 30 passengers in Far North region on Saturday night over suspected links to terror group Boko Haram during an impromptu road safety inspection, the region’s governor Midjiyawa Bakary said on Sunday.

According to Bakary, the passengers, mostly women and children, and their bus had no identification papers and were coming from a locality called Blangoua known for harboring Boko Haram insurgents.

“Blangoua shares boundary with Nigeria and Boko Haram militants regularly come to spend time there. There have been a number of suicide bomb incidents in the locality and many of those who committed these atrocities were women. So, soldiers were curious to see a group of women traveling without their husbands and from a place with bad reputation and decided to arrest them,” Local journalist Dairou Mohammed told Xinhua.

Boko Haram used to train women to suicide bombers, partially because it is easier to hide the bomb under women’s Burqa.

Bakary said that the road safety inspection was part of measures to curb insecurity that is common in the region during the period leading to major events.

“We have important events like the Labour Day, National Day (May 20) and the fasting period of Muslims all coming in May. Usually at this period, the attacks of Boko Haram increase,” he told reporters.

They will be released after “thorough investigation”, local authorities said.

On Friday, at least four Cameroonian soldiers died and seven others wounded in Mayo Moskota Sub-Division of the Far North region after landing on a mine planted by Boko Haram.

Source: Xinhuanet

Anti-government protests are expected across Cameroon today, where protestors will call for the release of 150 jailed opposition supporters, including leader Maurice Kanto. Mr Kanto of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement claims to have defeated President Paul Biya in elections last October.

Cameroon’s government has banned protests until April 13, citing threats from Boko Haram along the northern border, violence along the border with the Central African Republic and a separatist movement occurring in English-speaking regions as reasons for the repressive measures. Although Cameroon is indeed facing serious security risks, the decision to ban opposition protests will likely exasperate these security risks and the opposition’s discontent.

Last week, the government increased the presence of security personnel nationwide. This has heightened the risk of confrontation with protestors, which could spark small to medium-scale violence. Demonstrators are also demanding the resignation of President Biya—and are threatening to remove him themselves if he does not willingly resign.

While Mr Biya is unlikely to resign, the government may provide some concessions to the protestors by way of prison releases, possibly including Mr Kanto. While this could potentially mollify protestors and motivate them to turn to political solutions, such concessions are unlikely to completely stifle opposition to the regime.

Source: Foreign Brief

Cameroonian security forces have killed five civilian men, one of whom was beheaded, in an attack on a village in a restive anglophone region, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Wednesday.

The five were either killed execution-style or shot as they attempted to flee from forces raiding their neighbourhood on April 4 in Meluf, near an armed separatist camp in Northwest Region, HRW said.

Three of the bodies were later discovered mutilated, including two found with their hands tied and their genitals cut off.

“Government forces are committing abuses against people living in the Anglophone areas of Cameroon,” said Lewis Mudge, Central Africa director at Human Rights Watch, in a statement.

“Cameroon’s civilian and military authorities should make it clear that these types of abuses will not be tolerated and hold commanders responsible.”

AFP contacted the army, which did not give an immediate response.

The rights group said Cameroonian soldiers, gendarmes and members of the elite Rapid Intervention Brigade carried out the attack.

Multiple witnesses told HRW that security forces entered the village on foot and with military vehicles, including at least three military trucks and a bulldozer.

At least 80 homes were forcibly entered, some were looted, and seven burned down, HRW said.

“We woke up to the sound of guns. A soldier broke the window, and asked my aunt where the Amba Boys (anglophone separatists) were hiding. She told him that she didn’t know, so he shot her in the right arm,” one 45-year-old resident told HRW, whose uncle was killed.

The NGO also reported an increase in attacks on health facilities and against medical staff.

According to HRW, the army attacked a hospital in Mbingo on April 1, killing a 32-year-old woman and wounding another person while searching for separatists.

Conflict in Cameroon, a majority French-speaking nation, broke out in October 2017 when anglophone militants declared an independent state in the Northwest and Southwest Regions.

The International Crisis Group has said the death toll since the start of the fighting has topped 500 for civilians and more than 200 for members of the security forces.

Around 437,000 people have fled the fighting, according to the United Nations.

English-speakers, who account for about a fifth of Cameroon’s population of 24 million, have chafed for years at perceived discrimination in education, law and economic opportunities at the hands of the francophone majority.

The self-declared entity, the “Republic of Ambazonia,” which has been named after the local Ambas Bay, has not been recognised internationally.

AFP

Cameroonian soldiers, gendarmes, and members of the Rapid Intervention Brigade (BIR) carried out a deadly attack on the North-West region village of Meluf on April 4, 2019. Government forces killed five civilian men, including one with a mental disability, and wounded one woman. Three of the bodies were later found mutilated, including one that had been decapitated.

Further attacks could occur if the government forces are not reined in. The authorities should investigate members of the security forces alleged to have carried out these killings, and prosecute those responsible. The attack on Meluf occurred as violence by the security forces in and around health centers and against medical workers in the North-West is increasing.

“Government forces are committing abuses against people living in the Anglophone areas of Cameroon,” said Lewis Mudge, Central Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Cameroon’s civilian and military authorities should make it clear that these types of abuses will not be tolerated and hold commanders responsible.”

Based on interviews with 10 witnesses and residents and review of video and photographic sources, Human Rights Watch found that the victims were either executed or shot as they attempted to flee when the security forces raided their neighborhood, located near an armed separatists’ camp.

One resident of Meluf, a 45-year-old man, said that soldiers broke into his house, shot his aunt, and killed his uncle:

We woke up to the sound of guns. A soldier broke the window, and asked my aunt where the Amba boys [separatists] were hiding. She told him that she didn’t know, so he shot her in the right arm.

Multiple witnesses said that the security forces entered Meluf on foot, and later with military vehicles, including one armored car with a machine gun mounted on top, at least three military trucks and a bulldozer. The forces forcibly entered at least 80 homes in Meluf, looted some, and burned down seven.

“They used the bulldozer to open the road, which had been blocked with trees, and they shot in all directions,” one witness said. “Some [security forces] were shooting from their vehicles, others were on foot. More than 60 soldiers came.”

Relatives of victims and residents who participated in the victims’ burial said that three bodies were found desecrated. A teacher from Meluf who attended the burial ceremony of the man whose body was found beheaded said:

We proceeded with the burial of the body because we could not find the head, as it had been dumped elsewhere. After the burial, the head was found in the nearby area of Ngoonjo. So, residents picked it up, went back to the grave, dug another hole and buried it.

The genitals were cut off of two of the victims’ bodies. A relative of the men said that he found the victims dead and lying on the floor of their home, their hands tied up and their bodies mutilated. Residents said the mutilation of dead civilians has been traumatizing for the community.

Meluf was also the target of a December 5, 2018 attack, when the army killed seven people, including a 70-year-old man with a hearing impairment who was burned inside his neighbor’s home. Dozens of homes were destroyed in that attack.

Meluf was not the only village in the North-West region to be attacked in recent weeks. Security forces attacked Noi village on March 25, burning and looting eight homes.

The attack on Meluf comes as violence by state security forces in and around health facilities and against medical staff is increasing in the North-West region.

In the early morning of April 1, soldiers and gendarmes carried out an operation in a residential area on the grounds of the Mbingo Baptist Hospital. They killed a 32-year-old mother of three and shot another man while searching for separatists. The woman had tried to warn people that soldiers were coming. “She was shot at close range,” a witness said. “She was shot in the back and bled to death because we could not take her over to the hospital itself.”

On March 27, security forces took their casualties to the same hospital for treatment after clashes with separatists. Witnesses said that a soldier fired several shots inside the hospital, between the women’s ward and the staff room, forcing staff to abandon patients.

On March 21, soldiers entered the Wainamah health center in search of wounded separatists. They accused a motorbike driver waiting outside for a patient of being a separatist. Witnesses said that security forces shot him dead on the main road. A nurse said that the soldiers forced the driver to undress and shot him four times.

Five medical professionals working in several health facilities in the North-West region said that the number of people seeking care at the hospitals has dropped drastically over roughly the last six months because patients don’t feel safe. “Patients prefer to die at home,” a doctor from Kumbo said.

Earlier this year, Human Rights Watch documented the killing of a pregnant nurse, and three attacks by security forces on health facilities in Kumbo, North-West region.

Security force violence directed against medical facilities and health workers is emerging as a worrying trend in the Anglophone regions, one that risks depriving the population of health services when they need them the most, Human Rights Watch said.

“The Cameroonian government’s failure to hold its security forces to account has only encouraged abusive units to commit more crimes,” Mudge said. “Government forces need to respect basic human rights, and stop targeting civilians.”

Source: Human Rights Watch

Three Cameroonian soldiers were killed in the locality of Sagme (Far-North), during an assault by Boko Haram militants a dozen of whom also died in the ensuing gunfight, APA learns Monday from the Defense ministry.

According to the ministry, the raid took place on Sunday and left three personnel of the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR), an elite unit under the coordination of the Multinational Joint Force (MFF) dead.

Apart from the dozen insurgents killed, over twenty more were apprehended. The Cameroonian army seized an important “arsenal of war”, consisting of weapons and ammunition as well as motorcycles. Two vehicles belonging to the insurgents were destroyed.

APA