Pressure is mounting on the killers of the Ossing regent chief who was killed last month, as genuine Southern Cameroons restoration forces have jumped into the fray to track down the criminals who are taking advantage of the chaos reigning in the two English-speaking regions of the country. Restoration forces have vowed to root out these rogue elements who have given them a bad name and who have nothing to do with the fighting on the ground.

Citizens of Ossing had identified the killers whose motives are still unclear. However, a video produced and released by the rogues has confirmed that they were indeed from Kembong, a town some 4 km from Ossing. The video is also helping government law enforcement agencies who have vowed to bring the killers to book in their investigations.

The misguided and rogue elements accuse the regent chief of collaborating with the Yaounde government in its fight against secessionists, but this version has been discounted by people who were close to the regent chief. As a chief or his representative, the regent was automatically supposed to be answerable to the senior divisional officer and he had the responsibility of answering any questions on the city of Ossing and its residents. Basing their faulty and unreasonable logic on that, the rogues killed a man who had nothing to do with the rebellion that is still playing out in the two English-speaking regions of the country.

According to experts who have analyzed the video released by the killers, the plan was not to kill the regent chief, but after having driven some bullets into his leg which led to heavy bleeding, the defenseless regent chief was left to die in his own pool of blood.  The video, which has gone viral, underscores the need to root out those violent elements that are gradually killing the rebellion with their atrocities which are making the Yaoundé government look like a saint.

For some time now, rogue elements taking advantage of the ugly situation in the two English-speaking regions have been milking the population, sometimes asking villagers to contribute to the war efforts with money they do not have. This is something genuine restoration forces never do. These rogue elements have been kidnapping innocent citizens and they have been asking for ransom and the amounts are indeed mind-blowing.

According to restoration forces who have contacted the Cameroon Concord News Group, the Ossing massacre is one situation that is hurting their credibility and they are determined to demonstrate that they do not have anything to do with this heinous crime. They have also indicated that penalties for such crimes will be stiff and anybody who is directly or indirectly involved will have to face the wrath of the law.

Investigations are currently underway and both the country’s law enforcement agents and restoration forces are on the trail of the fake fighters who committed the abominable and irreversible act. As both groups turn the heat on the killers, more stories are gradually emerging and it is becoming obvious that the trail might have started in Kembong, but it will end in Ossing as it is suspected that the masterminds are those who disagreed with the regent chief.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai in the United Kingdom

The death toll from the Fotokol El Beid Bridge suicide attack on Monday evening has been painted as dire by the Biya Francophone regime. There were a dozen dead and twenty injured. French Cameroun administrative authorities say it is one of the deadliest suicide attacks seen since 2018.

The attack was reportedly staged on Monday, January 6, 2020 at the El-Beid Bridge between Fotokol (Cameroon) and Gambaru (Nigeria), shortly after 4 p.m. local time (15 GMT) in the main market. Cameroon Concord News gathered from security sources that the victims were mainly traders, children and women.

The first provisional assessment reported that 12 people were killed and 26 wounded. Community sources are trying to establish that it was an explosion of a grenade handled by two kids.

According to a more informed security source, “the bomb carrier refused to submit to a body search.”

This is not the first time that the border town of Fotokol has been the target of attacks. In July 2015, a double suicide bombing killed at least 12 people near the market in Fotokol and in 2017 five children were killed in another attack in Fotokol.

Fotokol is one of the localities in the Far North of Cameroon most exposed to incursions and atrocities of all kinds attributed to Boko Haram.

By Kingsley Betek

Thousands of Ambazonians are increasingly suspicious of Cameroon’s refugee return operation that has resulted in the return of some 87 refugees from Nigeria. On Tuesday, December 31, 2019, 87 refugees and former Ambazonian combatants living in Nigeria returned to Yaoundé on a special flight chartered by the Yaoundé government. Among the returning refugees were Success Nkongho and a self-styled General Namberee who has been talking like a parrot ever since he landed in Yaoundé. 

On hand to welcome the seemingly desperate returnees and their children were several personalities of the ruling CPDM crime syndicate led by Paul Atanga Nji, the country’s territorial administration minister.

Speaking to the press upon arrival in Yaounde, Success Nkongho, the so-called spokesperson of the Southern Cameroons returning refugees said that “we are very proud to be here in Yaoundé. We are moved by the warm welcome. We did not expect it.”

Success Nkongho, a con-man who also doubles as an unsuccessful pastor, is known to have been working for the Yaoundé government in Nigeria, with several sources reporting that he had betrayed Southern Cameroons leaders who were kidnapped in Abuja, Nigeria, and returned to Yaounde in 2018.

He added that “I love Cameroon and I decided to commit myself to peace,” but many observers and close associates of Mr. Nkongho clearly indicate that he wants to use the peace process to whitewash his black image. He has been involved in many shady deals in the past and has robbed many people of their money through visa schemes that have left many poor and heart-broken.

It should be recalled that Mr. Success Nkongho has been seeking to have a foreign passport to protect himself ever since the Southern Cameroons crisis hit the international stage. He was in Abidjan, Cote d”Ivoire, in 2019 to see if he could obtain an Ivorian passport, but his efforts did not yield any results as the Ivorian system is computerized and Ivorian security systems have been refined over the years.

He has also contacted many people in the USA and Europe to see if he could have a way of leaving the African continent, but it seemed nature is not smiling at him. With many children and a wife, Mr. Nkongho could not have the possibility to take everybody abroad due to financial constraints. The peace process is therefore a possibility for him to walk away from the stress he has been experiencing in Nigeria.

The Yaoundé drama also witnessed a popular Ambazonian ex-combatant, General Nambere, expressing his gratitude to the 86-year-old dictator, Paul Biya, who has been in power for 37 years and has nothing to show for such a long stay in power. Namberee, a cash-strapped, desperate and ambitious illiterate also pledged to “work for a return to peace in the country.” Many analysts doubt his sincerity and have been asking if he has the means and possibility of achieving such a lofty goal.

It should be recalled that other Ambazonian fighters who laid down their arms were presented to the general public during the Major National Dialogue. They were on media shows in East Cameroon and some were even presented as national heroes on the state-owned Cameroon Radio and Television (CRTV). Yaoundé has revealed that the total number of Ambazonian combatants who have laid down their arms stands between 2,000 and 3,000.

The official Yaoundé government position is that many of the Southern Cameroonian fighters who surrendered did so to save the peace, but the reality is a far cry from what the Yaounde government is presenting. Many of the so-called former fighters have received large sums of money from the Yaounde government and others had been paid to stage the comedy that has not convinced the international community.

Some of those fake former fighters have been killed and the government has left many to their own devices, making them vulnerable and even more desperate.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai