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30, September 2018

Yaounde holds its breath as Ambazonian anniversary looms ⁰

Cameroon is nervously awaiting the first anniversary on Monday of a declaration of independence by its English-speaking minority less than a week before the country plunges into presidential elections.

Attacks are occurring daily in the two regions that are home to this French-speaking country’s anglophones, and many say they are afraid.

In the worst-affected areas, some people have fled with whatever possessions they can carry. Others say they rarely venture out of their homes, fearing separatists as well as the security forces.

On October 1 2017, radicals declared the creation of the “Republic of Ambazonia,” covering two English-speaking regions incorporated into francophone Cameroon in 1961.

The declaration went largely unnoticed outside Cameroon, and “Ambazonia” — named after a bay at the mouth of the Douala River — has been recognised by no-one.

But the move marked the start of a crisis that has cast a shadow over the October 7 elections, in which 85-year-old president Paul Biya, who has ruled the country for 35 years, is seeking a seventh straight term in office.

“The army killed lots of people on October 1,” Monsignor Emmanuel Bushu, bishop of the Buea, capital of Southwest Region, said at the time.

“For nearly two weeks, they shot at people like you shoot at birds.”

Mounting toll

Biya’s crackdown coincided with a surge of bloody attacks by the separatists, gunning down troops and police and burning schools and other perceived symbols of the Cameroonian state.

At least 400 civilians have been killed this year, according to the International Crisis Group think-tank. The government says 109 members of the security forces have been killed since the end of 2017.

Atrocities have been committed on both sides, according to watchdogs.

“The brutal attacks against ordinary people and security forces are further proof of the horrific escalation of violence,” Amnesty International said on September 19.

According to UN figures, 246,000 people in the Southwest Region have fled their homes, and 25,000 have sought shelter in neighbouring Nigeria, many of them living from hand-to-mouth in the forests.

Estimates of displaced people in the neighbouring Northwest Region — the other restive anglophone region — are not available.

Map of Cameroon locating English-speaking regions and their capitals, Bamenda and Buea.

The government has imposed tight controls, including over the mainstream media, and both sides are fighting for public opinion in the domain of social media.

The economic damage, too, has been severe. The state-run palm oil company Pamol has deserted some of its plantations, and cocoa and coffee production has stopped because villages have abandoned their crops, the Cameroon NGO Human Is Right said in July.

The government has set up an emergency aid fund for the two regions, to which many Cameroonians have given generously.

Legacy of history

Around a fifth of Cameroon’s 22 million people are English-speaking. The legacy dates back to the colonial period.

Cameroon, once a German colony, was divided between Britain and France after World War I. The French colony gained independence in 1960, becoming Cameroon. The following year, the British-ruled Southern Cameroons was amalgamated into it, giving rise to the Northwest and Southwest regions.

But resentment at perceived discrimination at the hands of the francophone majority, especially in education and the judiciary, began to build.

Demands for greater autonomy grew but were always rebuffed by Biya, culminating in the October 1 declaration.

Shadow over elections

President Paul Biya, 85, has been head of state for 35 years. He has sternly rejected independence or a federal status for the two anglophone regions.

The upcoming elections, a symbol of national sovereignty, have placed the separatists and the authorities in a toe-to-toe fight over who controls the two restive regions.

Attacks on schools rose in September after the return of classes following the summer break. A 12-hour night-time curfew has been declared in the Northwest Region.

The separatists — known as the “Ambazonians” or “Amba Boys” — have vowed to prevent the elections from taking place.

“I’m afraid. I won’t turn out to vote,” said Elizabeth, who lives in the holiday resort of Limbe in the Southwest Region, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“I’m afraid of the Ambazonians but also of the police and military who kill… things could go very badly on polling day.”

Another voter, who gave her name as Ruth, said, “I won’t vote, and many people I know won’t be voting either, because of the threats of the Ambazonians.”

The government has declared that the poll will take place in all of the country’s 360 districts, although some ballot stations will be “relocated” to reduce the risk of attacks.

“I’m sure the elections will go ahead… but the turnout is likely to be low,” said a worker with an NGO which will be monitoring the ballot.

Culled from ModernGhana.Com

30, September 2018

The world’s major powers must not ignore Cameroon’s Anglophone crisis ⁰

Cameroon’s Anglophone region is rapidly becoming a no-go zone. Thousands of residents fled to the country’s French speaking cities of Douala, Yaoundé, and Bafoussam, during August and September, anticipating more blood shed before the country’s October presidential elections.

English-speaking Cameroon makes up roughly 20% of the country’s 24.8 million people. It has been nearly three years since the Anglophone crisis began. It started when English-speaking teachers and lawyers went on strike demanding fair working conditions. They and other Anglophone residents complain that their language and culture are marginalised by Cameroon’s French-speaking government and legislators.

The government responded with force. The conflict that followed has been vicious; unprecedented in the nation’s history. It’s a reminder of older, brutal wars elsewhere in Africa: in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Rwanda.

During these wars, the world’s major powers did little as millions were slaughtered. Some later apologised for their inaction. And yet it seems no lessons have been learned. Countries like France, the US and China have issued carefully worded statements calling for an end to hostilities – and done nothing more.

Lip service is not enough. It’s time for these major powers to act. Great nation status comes with great responsibilities, and particularly in an interconnected global environment there must be a moral imperative in the conduct of foreign policy. These powers must also recognise that Cameroon’s ongoing crisis threatens the wider West African region’s long and short term stability.

Business as usual

There’s no doubt that global powers know exactly what’s happening in Cameroon. In June 2018, the US Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organisations in Washington D.C heard witness testimonies about the graphic nature of hostilities in Cameroon.

And yet, as a cursory glance at the US embassy website in Yaoundé reveals, it’s mostly business as usual for the two countries. American citizens are warned to avoid travelling to Cameroon’s English speaking regions – but that’s the extent of it.

On its official embassy website, meanwhile, France refers to Cameroon as a “friend” and a “partner”. It calls for “restraint.” Considering how vital the country is to its strategic interests in the West African region, one might expect France to say – or do – more.

File 20180925 149964 1qh6evw.jpg?ixlib=rb 1.1

China’s actions in this saga have also been extremely frustrating. At the recent Forum of China-African Cooperation in Beijing, President Paul Biya was given the red carpet treatment. No Chinese leaders, and none from the rest of Africa, made any public statements about the Anglophone crisis.

Strategic importance

All of this is extremely vexing given Cameroon’s strategic importance. For many years the US monitored its interest in Equatorial Guinea from Yaoundé. Cameroon and the US are partners in coordinating efforts against Boko Haram and other global terrorist groups.

Cameroon is vital to France’s interest in the West African region. The Anglophone crisis could destabilise the region by snowballing into neighbouring countries. And other former French colonies will be watching with interest, noting the European power’s hands off approach.

China’s policy of non-intervention in another country’s domestic affairs has only strengthened the resolve of tyrants like Biya. He remains one of China’s key allies in the region. Publicly, China’s Premier Li Keqiang has said little about the ongoing Anglophone Crisis. Instead he’s given more money to Biya’s government and enjoys cordial relations with the long time leader.

Perhaps as long as the crisis doesn’t interfere with China’s receipt of timber, rubber and other raw materials from Cameroon, there won’t be a shift in Beijing’s attitude any time soon.

Agitating for change

It seems unlikely, though, that the world’s major powers will totally change their approach to what are viewed as sovereign issues.

But there are things that can be done, and some are quite basic. Biya can be forced to do the right thing. For instance, he spends a significant amount of vacation time in Switzerland.

There is absolutely no reason why European nations and journalists shouldn’t speak out about the leader’s spending of his country’s resources in Switzerland, France, and other places.

Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, must turn his verbal threats into actions. Sanctions, for instance, will force Cameroon to address the Anglophone problem. France could also stop the supply of military hardware and intelligence to Biya’s regime.

China can also do more. Its policy of non-intervention doesn’t apply when its interests are threatened: it intervened in Zambia’s elections to safeguard its interests there.

Finally, the African Union has a role to play while it awaits more concerted efforts from European powers. For instance, the continental body could threaten to withdraw the hosting of next year’s African Nations Cup if Biya doesn’t offer a clear timeline for solving the Anglophone crisis. This threat to a major money spinner and point of prestige could shock Biya into action.

Source: News 24

30, September 2018

Presidentials 2018: Shrink your egos ⁰

The 2018 presidential election campaigns have just a week to go and the signs are not good for Cameroonians who have been struggling to stop their government that appears to be made up of ‘foreign’ mercenaries.

Over the last 26 years, there have been many elections in Cameroon and the ruling party, considered by an overwhelming majority of Cameroonians as a crime syndicate, has won most, if not all of the elections. The 2018 campaigns were launched a week ago, but the candidate of the ruling party, Paul Biya, only came out on September 29, 2018 to start campaigning.

The opposition candidates have been all over the country to seek votes that may take them to the Unity Palace, but what they are oblivious of is the fact that presidential elections have never been won in Cameroon via the ballot boxes.

In 1992, the SDF candidate, John Fru Ndi, proved that an incumbent could be defeated. He pulled crowds and told the right stories. His stories were music to many ears, but he and his party failed to figure out that the Supreme Court which was acting for the constitutional council, had other plans.

The results were released in favor of Mr. Biya who was popularly unpopular across the country. The country’s Supreme Court judges were Mr. Biya’s protégés and given their loyalty to such a brutal dictator, they could not publish the real results which were in favor of the SDF candidate.

In 1992, there was a small coalition, but other major parties had refused to join the Union for Change that was supposed to represent the opposition. Bouba Bello and Adamou Ndam Njoya felt they had more governance experience than Mr. Fru Ndi. They therefore decided to betray the people of Cameroon.

Mr. Bouba Bello has since then been an ally of the ruling party to the detriment of the people who are still under the yoke of an incompetent dictator whose penchant for waste is legendary. It should be recalled that Mr. Bouba Bello was directly involved in the 1984 coup d’état that almost resulted in the overthrow of Mr. Biya.

Mr. Bouba Bello had fled to Nigeria after the coup. He only came back when a general amnesty was granted to those who had been implicated in the coup. And all of this came about when Cameroonians fought tooth and nail to bring about multiparty politics in Cameroon.

The failure of the opposition in 1992 to engineer a strong coalition in the presidential elections of that year was the opposition’s greatest undoing. But has today’s opposition learned any lessons? From every indication, thunder might be striking twice in the same place. The opposition is yet to learn the lessons of the past.

The faces might have changed, but the mentality us still the same. While new faces have jumped into the political arena, the mentality of the past seems to be at work. The new faces in Cameroon’s political landscape may be different, but the thinking of those on the opposition has not changed that much.

Every Cameroonian erroneously thinks that he is presidential material. He selfishly holds that he is more intelligent than his compatriots. And this thinking is standing in the way of efforts aimed at unseating a dictator who is only counting on his rigging ability.

Part of the election rigging process is for the ruling party to argue that if the opposition was not divided, it could win the election. But deep in the minds of ruling party supporters, they know that the opposition does not need to unite in order to win Mr. Biya who has been in power for 36 years and has nothing to show for his long stay in power.

The country’s economy is on its knees. The unemployment rate is unprecedented in this country that is endowed with enormous human and natural resources. Corruption has become the government’s hallmark and it has indeed been institutionalized. Mr. Biya is the main engineer of this corruption and he has been using the country’s treasury as his personal ATM.

For 36 years, Mr. Biya and his government have failed to live up to the glorious expectations of the population. The country is bereft of basic infrastructure. Its roads are among the worst in the world. The railway network has collapsed and the country’s clinics are nothing more than consultation clinics.

Politically, Mr. Biya is considered as the worst catastrophe that ever visited the country. Cameroon is more divided today than it has ever been. Nepotism is the order of the day and people from the president’s ethic group are those who are running the show.

Though his ethic group accounts for less than 10% of the country’s population, they account for more than 70% of the country’s government. This has created a feeling of frustration among other ethnic groups which some allege are already talking about revenge once Mr. Biya leaves office.

With such a dismal economic and political performance, there is no way Mr. Biya could win the 2018 presidential election if it was free, fair and transparent. Today, Cameroon is on the brink of a civil war. The government has unleashed its militia and untrained soldiers on Southern Cameroonians who have been complaining of marginalization for more than five decades.

More than 4,000 people have been killed in less than two years as a result of the conflict pitting Southern Cameroonians against the government. Over the last month, government militia and soldiers, most of which are constituted of young Betis who are mad that power is slipping through their fingers, have been killing young male adults in the English-speaking region indiscriminately.

More than 200 villages have been burnt and children and old people have been burnt in their homes by government troops who enjoy using collective punishment as a tool to intimidate the population. Over the last two weeks, more than half a million Southern Cameroonians have fled to East Cameroon in search of a safe haven.

More than a million have fled to Nigeria where they are living rough. Those who escaped to East Cameroon are still in trouble as the government has systematically and continuously arrested many of them who are seeking refuge in Yaounde or Douala.

As a justification for their arrest, the country’s defense minister, Joseph Beti Assomo, last week released a press statement indicating that there were separatists among English-speaking Cameroonians who had escaped the government’s military brutality to Yaounde. Ever since that release was published, more than 2,000 Southern Cameroonians have already disappeared in Yaounde and thousands are concerned about their safety.

Meanwhile, those who do not have the means to travel to East Cameroon are being mowed down by government troops who have been given a license to shoot and kill. Last week alone, more than 500 innocent civilians were gunned down by army soldiers. Yesterday night in Buea, a lady was pulled out of her home and shot in the leg by a Beti soldier.

In Bachou Ntai, many residents were slaughtered on Saturday, September 29 by army soldiers who were angry that pictures of Mr. Biya had been torn down by angry youths who held that the ruling party must not hold its campaign in their town.

Among those killed is the nephew of the Senate vice-president, Chief George Tabetando, who has been in favor of the killing of Southern Cameroonians. With such a picture, there is no way the ruling party, that is being accused of having mismanaged a strike by teachers and lawyers, can win an election in Cameroon.

But if opposition parties have to make hay of the government’s incompetence, they must realize that making common cause will help them achieve their goal – unseating Mr. Biya and his ruling crime syndicate.

The major opposition parties must come together to give the people a chance at making their dream come true. Cameroonians are sick and tired of the government they have; a government that has been conducting itself as a bunch of mercenaries.

There is a huge need for a coalition. This will not be necessary in a transparent system, but since Cameroon is a country soaked in corruption and abnormalities, the ruling party must be denied that argument that will justify its rigging of the election.

Opposition leaders must shrink their egos. They must understand that they are operating in a system that has been designed to favor Mr. Biya. They have to enhance their chances and this can only be achieved through a solid coalition that will render the ruling party’s rigging machinery ineffective and inefficient.

By Kingsley Betek

29, September 2018

CPDM: Protective gear for criminals ⁰

Campaigns for the upcoming presidential elections are well underway and the CPDM presidential candidate who has not been campaigning travelled to Maroua to urge the northern population to grant him their votes.

While other presidential candidates have been all over the place highlighting what they will do if they are given power, Paul Biya, the man who has led the country for 36 years is counting more on a rigging machinery he has deployed.

The constitutional council, the body the publishes election results is replete with people loyal to him. ELECAM, the body that organizes elections, has already done its job and it has made sure that fewer opposition supporters have actually received their voter’s cards. While Mr. Biya was absent in the field, his surrogates have been doing their best to convince an electorate that is already aware of the ruling party’s dismal economic and political performance.

As the campaign progresses, it is clear that the English-speaking regions will not be part of the process. The heat is particularly on the CPDM, but hard core CPDM criminals are not backing off despite the threats from Southern Cameroonian fighters. They have huge skeletons in their cupboards and those skeletons may be exposed if they stop working for their party even in war-torn areas.

Like most people have said, the CPDM is a crime syndicate and its militants are using it for personal purposes. Chief Moses Obenofunde and Mr Abey Napoleon Ntui seen here wearing military protective gear to campaign in Mamfe have once served as PAMOL’s general manager and Principal of Sar Ndekwai respectively. During their time at the various institutions, huge chunks of money cannot be accounted for. Internal audits have been conducted and there is evidence that Chief. Obenofunde and Mr. Abey Napoleon Ntui are honest men when money is not involved.

To avoid jail time, they are using party loyalty as a shield against the law, but some party insiders who are not happy seeing these two men around the party are working underground for their arrest. It is obvious that after the election, they might be among those who would be appointed to a high position at the Kondengui Maximum Security Prison.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

29, September 2018

Pentagon stands by Biya regime-Despite forensic analysis showing its soldiers executed women and children ⁰

THE WOMEN WERE slapped and shoved down a dusty road. They were blindfolded and forced to the ground. Then they, and two young children, were gunned down — 22 shots from assault rifles fired at close range — by men in military uniforms.

In July, The Intercept was the first media outlet to publish the complete, unedited footage of this murder of four civilians by members of the Cameroonian armed forces — a key U.S. military ally in the region — drawing on extensive investigative work by experts at Amnesty International. The government of Cameroon quickly dismissed reports that its soldiers were involved in the atrocity, calling it “fake news.”

A newly released digital forensic investigation by Amnesty and the BBC offers overwhelming evidence that pinpoints the location of the killings, the make and model of one of the weapons used, and even the identity of the perpetrators, not only demonstrating that they are members of the Cameroonian military, but even providing names of some of the alleged killers. The massacre took place between March 20 and April 5, 2015, not far from the town of Zelevet, in the Far North region of Cameroon, according to the findings.

A “vital” U.S. counterterrorism partner in the Lake Chad Basin, according to the Pentagon, Cameroon has been authorized to receive roughly $200 million in American security aid since 2015. For years, the United States has also provided intelligence and training in counterterrorism skills, such as urban assault operations, to Cameroon’s armed forces. The U.S. military utilizes an outpost in the north of the country, known as Contingency Location Garoua, to fly drone missions. Members of the Army’s Task Force Darby, a military unit that includes soldiers and airmen, also serve at the base to support Cameroonian forces fighting the terrorist group Boko Haram.

“We are aware of the video. At this time, we cannot confirm the authenticity of the video, nor can we confirm any possible military affiliation of those shown in this troubling video,” Maj. Sheryll Klinkel, a Pentagon spokesperson, told The Intercept after the massacre footage surfaced online in July.

The Pentagon appeared to be unswayed by the new BBC/Amnesty investigation. “I don’t have much more to provide you beyond what I have previously, nothing has changed recently,” Klinkel told The Intercept when asked about the new analysis.

“This is not an isolated incident,” Ilaria Allegrozzi, Amnesty International’s Lake Chad researcher, said of the atrocity footage. “This is part of an inherently abusive system put in place by the Cameroonian security forces to address security threats. Cameroonian security forces have a long track record of abusive conduct both in the Far North region, where they fight Boko Haram, and in the Anglophone regions, where they are deployed to confront the armed separatists.”

Last month, The Intercept published another video showing the massacre of civilians by Cameroonian soldiers. That mass killing likely took place in the village of Achigachiya, also in the Far North region, in January 2015.

In 2017, Amnesty, the London-based research firm Forensic Architecture, and The Intercept exposed illegal imprisonment, torture, and killings by Cameroonian troops at a remote military base known as Salak, which is also used by U.S. personnel and private contractors for training missions and drone surveillance. U.S. Africa Command launched an investigation, but never publicly announced details about its aims and has not released the results. AFRICOM has not responded to repeated requests from The Intercept seeking comment about the parameters, scope, and findings of its probe, which was headed by Brig. Gen. Timothy McAteer and concluded in November 2017.

“We urge the U.S. to make the findings of the AFRICOM investigation public to ascertain whether there was any knowledge of incommunicado detention, torture, and death in custody at the military outpost where U.S. military personnel were based — Salak — and to show that they take human rights issues seriously when it comes to their military cooperation,” Amnesty’s Allegrozzi told The Intercept.

The BBC identified the three men shown shooting women and children in the spring 2015 video as Cyriaque Bityala, Barnabas Donossou, and Lance Corporal Tsanga. All three appear on a list of troops arrested by the Cameroonian government in connection with the massacre. “Seven soldiers were arrested,” Issa Tchiroma Bakary, a Cameroonian government spokesperson, told the BBC. “They are under investigation right now.”

“The Cameroonian government is taking some steps to address allegations of human rights abuses. This includes the arrest of seven individuals linked to the first video, and President [Paul] Biya ordering official investigations into all videos purportedly depicting Cameroonian security forces engaging in extrajudicial killings,” Nick Sadoski, deputy spokesperson of the State Department’s Africa Bureau, told The Intercept. “The Cameroonian government has made some efforts toward transparency and reached out to the international community for assistance. This includes the Ministry of Defense undertaking a U.S. government-funded program to train and establish 40 military legal advisers to advance human rights principles and promote security force accountability in the field commands around Cameroon.”

Cameroon’s embassy in Washington, D.C. did not respond to repeated requests for an interview. Nor has Cameroon’s government released any further information in regard to its investigation of the massacre of the women and children, according to the U.S. State Department.

“The next step is for the Cameroonian government to reveal more information about those arrested, where they are being held, whether they have a lawyer, the charges against them, and when or if a trial will start,” said Amnesty’s Allegrozzi. “They also need to provide information on who was in command of those soldiers. We are calling for an independent and impartial investigation into these heinous crimes.”

Source: The Intercept

29, September 2018

Cameroon lurches toward election amid separatist conflict ⁰

John Nlom has five children and wants to keep them alive. When machete-wielding men attacked a nearby school this month in a suspected strike against the teaching of French, wounded students were rushed to hospitals while frightened parents decided to flee.

Nlom and his family piled onto one of the dozens of buses now leaving daily from the capital of Cameroon’s Southwest Region, joining thousands of civilians escaping bloody fighting between the government and Anglophone separatists who vow to disrupt next month’s presidential elections.

The government of the largely French-speaking country insists the Oct. 7 vote will be peaceful, even in the troubled English-speaking southwest and northwest where nearly 400 people have died. Nlom, a teacher, could not take that chance.

“The governor himself who is saying that people should stay back, that they are protected, he is moving around with soldiers protecting him,” Nlom said. “Will the soldiers protect all the people? That is the reason why I cannot stay.” He and his family, like many, have taken refuge in the French-speaking city of Douala.

President Paul Biya, one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders since taking power since 1982, vows to hold the country together.

The separatists, with support from some in the diaspora in the United States and elsewhere, are fighting to create an independent state they call “Ambazonia” in Cameroon’s English-speaking northwest and southwest regions.

Their movement grew out of dissatisfaction with what some English speakers, who make up about 20 percent of the country’s population, have called marginalization in the officially bilingual country. The blocking of the internet in English-speaking regions for months last year fed the frustrations.

The government describes the fighters as terrorists.

Weary civilians caught in the fighting have pleaded for peace. Women, saying they can no longer remain silent, have gathered for protests, saying the violence keeps children from their studies. At least 70 schools have been burned.

Last week, Muslim and Christian clerics announced they are afraid a wave of carnage could occur if peace is not found before the election. “We call on the diaspora to stop the hate speech communication that promotes violence, suspicion and fear among the people of Cameroon,” their declaration said.

The clerics asked both the military and armed groups to drop their guns and stop the killing, looting and burning that have sent nearly 200,000 civilians fleeing. The government, however, replied that only the separatists should drop their guns.

Attacks were reported in at least 20 towns and villages over the weekend, according to the country’s minister of territorial administration, Paul Atanga Nji. Casualty figures were not yet available, he said.

“We are happy that some of the terrorists have willfully handed their guns to the military and we have forgiven them,” he said. “I call on all those who are still in the bushes to drop their arms and make use of the ballot if they want a change.”

Human rights groups have accused both sides of abuses. Separatists have burned and crushed buses and used construction equipment to dig up roads in efforts to stop people from fleeing. Some people leaving English-speaking regions have said the military conducts searches on those trying to leave.

With the elections approaching, the tensions have grown. Separatists on Friday blew up a key bridge to stop campaign teams from reaching communities, authorities said.

“The only bridge linking the northwest regional capital, Bamenda, with other localities like Bui and Donga was destroyed by the terrorists,” said Lele L’Afrique Deben Tchoffo, governor of the Northwest Region. Thousands of passengers were stranded, he said.

In response, the military killed at least a dozen separatists near the northwestern town of Mbiame as they planted explosives to blow up another bridge, the governor said.

People who have fled the English-speaking regions will not be able to vote if they don’t return to the polling centers where they are registered, he warned.

In Cameroon’s French-speaking areas, campaign rallies kicked off over the weekend in defiance of the separatist threat.

“We should not fear them. We should brave the situation and go about campaigning. The government has deployed troops to protect everyone,” Prime Minister Philemon Yang told supporters in Bamenda while campaigning for the longtime president.

Biya is favored to win another seven-year term, as opposition parties did not succeed in negotiations to back a single candidate. Cameroon’s government has vowed that voting will take place nationwide.

“We have … created polling centers where voters can assemble and vote under the protection of the military,” said the chairman of the country’s electoral board, Enow Abrams Egbe.

29, September 2018

Yaounde isn’t responding to a BBC investigation proving its soldiers killed unarmed women ⁰

The government of Cameroon still hasn’t reacted to a recent forensic investigation, led by the BBC and Amnesty International, which claimed to prove that a viral video showing the killing of unarmed women and children was carried out by Cameroonian soldiers.

The video which went viral in July, showed a woman carrying a baby on her back and another one holding a little girl by the hand. They are led to an uninhabited area by a group of soldiers. The one filming the act introduces his colleagues as they lead the women and children to their death; telling them they are members of the Boko Haram terrorist group. “You are going to die,” one of them says. The victims are stopped at some point, blindfolded and shot 22 times.

Back in July, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, government spokesman initially described the video as “fake news” propagated to tarnish the image of Cameroon’s military. Bakary said this in spite of early investigations by Amnesty International which identified the location where the video was shot and matched the military fatigues and weapons in the video to those of the Cameroonian armed forces.

The minister, however, disclosed about a month later that seven soldiers suspected to have been involved in the killings had been arrested. Government declared the incident was being investigated while the soldiers were held in pretrial detention.

Samira Daoud, deputy director of Amnesty International’s West Africa office cast doubts on government claims that investigations would be carried out so that the executioners are eventually court marshaled.

This month the BBC published a report of an extensive investigation it carried out in with Amnesty International, online investigation site, Bellingcat, and others. Going by the report, investigators used satellite imagery to identify the location and time of the killings. They also analyzed the video and with additional information from Facebook, identified three soldiers who they claim pulled the trigger. The soldiers identified were listed among the seven arrested by the Cameroonian government on Aug. 10.

According to the findings, the victims were killed in Karawa, Mafa in northern Cameroon sometime around March and April 2015. Since the release of the report on Sep. 24, the government spokesman who is usually quick to strike back at critics, has not responded to several requests by Quartz for comment.

The investigation report comes at an awkward time for the government as it is currently in campaign mode ahead of Oct. 7 elections. Aside the long-running difficulties with the Boko Haram Islamic terrorists, Cameroon is also dealing with the so-called Anglophone crisis with militant separatists in the northwest and southwest regions trying to create a new English-speaking country which borders Nigeria.

Ilaria Allegrozzi, Lake Chad Researcher at Amnesty International, told Quartz that video evidence is often vital to prove human rights violations and it can definitely be a very powerful tool for human rights defenders, and researchers.

She however noted that accountability cannot depend on video evidence; video documentation cannot become the minimum required evidence needed for concerned authorities to address human rights violations, said she.

“We urge the Cameroonian government to make sure an independent and impartial investigation is conducted on the case. We have seen in the past that all the cases documented with solid evidence by amnesty remained unaddressed and not dealt with. This is an indication of the climate of impunity looming in the country” she stated bluntly.

Source: Quartz Africa

29, September 2018

US Keeps Training Cameroon Troops but Urges Accountability in Criminal Probe ⁰

As Cameroonian authorities investigate horrific crimes that appear to be have been committed by government soldiers in the Far North Region, the U.S. military is calling for accountability while it continues to provide training to its Cameroonian counterparts.

“The Cameroonian government has taken recent steps to increase transparency and address allegations of gross violations of human rights seriously, but the government has not yet released information specific to its investigations,” Pentagon spokeswoman Air Force Maj. Sheryll Klinkel said Thursday in an email to VOA.

The Pentagon is continuing to work with the State Department to “ensure the government of Cameroon holds accountable any individuals found to be responsible,” Klinkel added.

Cameroonian authorities arrested seven Cameroonian soldiers after two videos circulated on social media. One video showed what were alleged to be Cameroonian forces shooting two women and two small children, while another showed what appeared to be Cameroonian security forces shooting at least a dozen unarmed civilians during a counterterror operation in the Far North Region.

An investigation by the BBC used satellite imagery, Channel 4 News footage and clues from the video to assert the killings of two women and two children were committed in the Far North by Cameroonian soldiers between March 20 and April 5, 2015.

U.S. personnel sent

Former President Barack Obama deployed U.S. military personnel to the country about six months after that incident, in October 2015, to help in the fight against Boko Haram.

The Department of Defense still has about 300 military personnel in Cameroon as part of an international effort to stop the spread of violent extremism in West Africa.

In addition to what the Pentagon calls “building partner capacity” through basic military training and equipping, the Defense Department trains foreign troops on the law of armed conflict and human rights.

The Cameroonian Ministry of Defense also takes part in a U.S. government-funded program to train and establish 40 military legal advisers to advance human rights principles and promote security force accountability in the field commands across Cameroon.

Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, head of U.S. Africa Command, cautioned before the Cameroonian government arrests that partnership with the U.S. comes with responsibility.

“We want to have a strong military relationship with Cameroon, but their actions will go a long way toward how that will play out in the future, with regards to the transparency on some of these latest allegations,” Waldhauser said on July 31.

Source: VOA

28, September 2018

Open Letter to Prof. Elvis Ngolle Ngolle ⁰

Dear Professor Elvis Ngolle Ngolle,

I have been observing you over the last two years since the Southern Cameroons problem made its way to the global arena and I have always felt I should talk to you, but seeing you on TV sharing your party-based theories and perspectives on this conflict, I have advised myself that it will be a waste of time, as you will never quit your greed-and power-driven monolithic thinking.

I understand you have to toe party lines, but I am sometimes taken aback by some of your statements. The Southern Cameroons crisis is a conflict that concerns every Cameroonian, especially those of us who are from that region. If you and I were living in a normal country, our job would be to bring pressure to bear on the government so that an alternative to the military violence could be sought.

As intellectuals, we are supposed to seek ways of getting both parties to the negotiating table so that some of the vexing issues could be addressed amicably. The issues raised by Southern Cameroonians do not have any party or political connotations. These are issues that have been around for decades and have been begging for a solution.

But from your behaviour and statements, it appears human life has no value and the supreme interest of the state must take a back seat to your selfish and egoistic interest.

What shocked me recently was your statement that supporters of your party in the Southwest region should use secret and supernatural powers to have your party’s message across in a region that is witnessing a lot of fighting and despicable violence.

From this statement, I know you have finally completed the process of masturbating intellectualism out of your system. I was even more surprised to hear you call on courageous young men and women to go from village to village to spread the false gospel that has made of you a disrespected professor.

If you so love this country and your party’s political philosophy, why are you not bringing back your own kids from the U.S.A for them to come and help with your efforts at spreading your party’s heresy in such a dangerous region?

Some of you have decided that our country must be ruined before you leave this world. Your greed and hunger for power have transformed you into a buffoon. For years, your likes have been living in a bubble and that bubble has been burst by Southern Cameroonians.

The people of the southwest no longer have faith in you. You are not representing them and be advised that any decisions you and others take on our behalf will be rejected by the people of our region.

Peter Mafany Musonge, Chief Tabetando and you constitute an axis of evil that is spreading pain, suffering and death in the Southwest region. Your acts will come with karmic consequences and I hope you are aware of this. It is not too late to make amends.

As South-westerners, we are a liberal and a forgiving people. We will be welcoming you to the fold the day you shed your greed and understand that life is more interesting when everybody has a smile on their face.

We are not a vindictive people. Change and we will lift the sanctions we have imposed on you. You have been dinning, wining and dancing with the devil for too long. Make that change and live a decent and simple life.

I look forward to seeing a different you.

Yours Sincerely,

Dr. Joachim Arrey

About the Author: The author of this letter has served as a translator, technical writer, journalist and editor for several international organizations and corporations across the globe. He studied communication at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom and technical writing in George Brown College, Toronto, Canada. He also studied translation at the Advanced School of translators and Interpreters (ASTI) in Buea, as well as Languages and Linguistics at the University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria. He holds a Ph.D.

28, September 2018

Turkey’s Erdogan tries to turn the page on controversial German visit, but can he succeed? ⁰

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Germany Thursday for a state visit that includes real as well as symbolic attempts to paper over strains in bilateral relations. But it may take more than a few photo-ops to do the job.

What a difference a year, a currency crisis, US tariffs and a standoff with Washington over a detained American pastor can make.

Last year, when German authorities blocked Erdogan from holding campaign rallies in a number of cities, the Turkish president accused his country’s largest EU trading partner of “Nazi practices”. Bilateral relations between the two countries were at an all-time low in the lead-up to the April 2017 Turkish constitutional referendum, with Berlin slamming Ankara’s human rights track record and Turkey accusing Germany of “harbouring terrorists” from the Gulen movement accused of plotting a July 2016 coup attempt.

A little over a year later, Erdogan believes it’s time to bury the hatchet. In an op-ed in the leading German daily, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, on Thursday, the Turkish leader said it was time to “set aside our differences of opinion and concentrate on our joint interests”.

There were the usual displays of rapprochement on Thursday, when Erdogan arrived in Berlin for his first formal state visit as president to Germany. The Turkish president was received with military honours at Berlin airport and whisked through a city under security lockdown as protestors gathered at the airport and his hotel near the Brandenburg Gate.

“Erdogan’s visit, a few months after his overwhelming victory in the [June 24] Turkish presidential election, can also mean: ‘I am an undisputed leader in my country, and I want to be recognised as such on the international stage,’” noted Turkish analyst Jana J. Jabbour in an interview with FRANCE 24 (in French). Following his razor-thin win in last year’s controversial constitutional referendum and international criticism of his post-coup attempt “purges”, Erdogan has been “thirsting for recognition, and that has not changed today”, Jabbour added.

For his voters at home and abroad – especially in Germany, which is home to around 3 million people of Turkish origin – perhaps the most symbolic showing of the latest visit is scheduled for Saturday, when Erdogan officially opens a new, multimillion euro, mega mosque in the German cathedral city of Cologne.

Mega mosque turns troubled symbol of unity

With its towering minarets flanking a neo-Ottoman-style dome that appears to open up like a flower-bud, the Cologne Central Mosque is an impressive sight. But while it was conceived as an emblem of integration, the mosque turned into a symbol of discord for nearly a decade following construction delays, rows between its German architect and Turkish builders, spiralling budgets and opposition from anti-immigrant groups.

© Maja Hitij, AFP | A July 2016 photograph of Cologne’s Central Mosque while under construction

Located in the city’s Ehrenfeld district – a diverse neighbourhood that is home to the vibrant Keupstrasse shopping street better known as “Little Istanbul” – the mosque is run by the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB).

The powerful DITIB runs more than 900 mosques in Germany and staffs them with imams who do not have to be German citizens and receive their salaries directly from Diyanet, the Turkish government’s religious authority.

Tensions between German authorities and the Turkish religious body have been mounting in recent years with the DITIB accused of serving as the long arm of Erdogan’s government in Germany. Last week, German media reported that the country’s domestic intelligence agency, the Bundesamt fur Verfassungsschutz (BfV), is deciding whether to put the DITIB under surveillance following a series of scandals, including an admission by the religious body that some of its preachers were spying on followers of the exiled Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Turkey holds responsible for the 2016 coup attempt. Gulen however denies the allegations.

The DITIB has repeatedly maintained it is a non-political group and that “few” individual preachers had provided information about suspected Gulen followers to Ankara.

A vote bank to woo

The DITIB-run Cologne mosque, the largest in Germany with a 1,200 congregation capacity, was finally completed last year and opened to worshippers during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in 2017. But it has not been officially inaugurated – a privilege Erdogan will enjoy over the weekend.

The Turkish president’s inauguration of the Cologne mosque symbolises Turkey’s “pan-Islamist policy”, explained Jabbour, noting that “the advent of the 2011 Arab revolutions prompted Erdogan to believe that an alternative was possible to European integration, namely an Islamic statement of Turkish identity in opposition to the Judeo-Christian Western identity”.

Germany’s Turkish community represents an important vote bank for Erdogan. During the controversial 2017 constitutional referendum, more than 51 percent of diaspora Turks approved changing the constitution to grant the Turkish presidency unprecedented powers. With Germany home to the world’s largest Turkish community outside Turkey, the country has witnessed giant Erdogan campaign rallies in the past, when he often calls on German Turks to reject assimilation and invites them to return home to partake in the Turkish economic boom.

A banquet for ‘a criminal’

But that boom, fueled by overspending and artificially low interest rates, has been going to bust over the past few months with the Turkish lira losing nearly 40 percent of its value this year amid increasing inflation and escalating foreign debt.

Turkey’s summer of economic discontent reached boiling point last month, when US President Donald Trump slapped tariffs on Turkish aluminium and steel imports amid a diplomatic spat over a detained US pastor, Andrew Brunson.

With the economy teetering, Erdogan hopes that his visit to Germany could start a rollback of bilateral tensions that saw Berlin warning German businesses and citizens to avoid Turkey.

But it’s not going to be an easy case for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has faced criticism for inviting Erdogan on a state visit. “It seems as though the German government is gearing up to betray once again all those in Turkey who are longing for a free, democratic and secular society,” said Deniz Yucel, a German-Turkish journalist who spent over a year in a Turkish jail, at a media awards ceremony in Potsdam.

Calling the visit “a betrayal”, Yucel noted that German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier would be “hosting a criminal” at a state banquet set for Friday.

Several German opposition politicians are boycotting the banquet, which Merkel herself is not scheduled to attend.

Sensitive to criticisms of Merkel’s inability to stand up to Erdogan due to a migrant deal between Turkey and the EU, German junior foreign minister Michael Roth told a national radio station Thursday that, “We have to talk with each other…There must be no other country outside the European Union with whom relations are so important and yet so difficult.”

The difficulties will be apparent on Saturday, when Erdogan opens the Cologne Central Mosque. German authorities have warned Erdogan against campaigning overtly when he visits Cologne. But that’s a challenge for the consummate Turkish politician who is known to seize every opportunity to turn public events into self-promotional rallies. Against a backdrop of an imposing mosque that took so long to get off the ground, it could present a photo-op that’s hard to resist.

Culled from France 24