At least 18 French Cameroun government soldiers were killed in separate clashes with the Southern Cameroons self defense forces in Azi, Lebialem County, reports said. A member of the Red Dragons of Lebialem noted that the offensives in the Lebialem County were launched to counter what he described as “intensifying” French Cameroun military attacks.

Our source in Menji said Bisong Cyril Agbor who hails from the Manyu County but serving in La Republique du Cameroun was among those killed in Azi.  Representatives of the Interim Government in Lebialem have written to the Acting President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, Dr Samuel Sako and complained about alleged threats from French soldiers who are demanding information about the Red Dragons.

The so-called state authority has virtually collapsed in the Lebialem and Manyu Counties.  The attack on French Cameroun forces were carried out in the night after the Southern Cameroons liberation forces destroyed a small generator that electrified the building occupied by government forces.

The Francophone governor ordered the deployment of 30 more soldiers from Menji to Azi late yesterday.

By Judith Fon

Sixteen government employees have been detained in Cameroon for allegedly leaking official documents on social media since the start of the year.

In an increasingly common phenomenon, the texts of President Paul Biya’s two most recent nationwide addresses were circulating before he even delivered them.

And in March, a confidential presidential memo began circulating on the country’s social media sites. The memo instructed security agencies to restrict travel for about two dozen senior state workers accused of stealing state funds.

Three police officers are now behind bars awaiting trial in connection with that leak.

In April, another confidential presidential order surfaced online. This one increased the allowances of soldiers deployed to the turbulent English-speaking regions. Two defense ministry staffers were called up for questioning.

Rights groups have long criticized Cameroon and other African governments, for being overly opaque.

Cameroon-born analyst Tem Fuh Mbuh, with the Dakar-based Open Society Initiative for West Africa, said the crackdown is part of a broader campaign against dissent.

“It is not only about those who are leaking official information, but there has been [a] systematic crackdown against all those who try to dissent in Cameroon,” he said. “So it’s a very alarming situation, and civic space in Cameroon has been closing very considerably in the last few years.”

Mbuh said this is particularly concerning ahead of the country’s elections in the later part of 2018.

Transparency vs. stability

Often, the response from African governments is that transparency must take a back seat to stability.

In March, Cameroon’s Prime Minister Philomen Yang said leaking sensitive official documents threatens both the Biya administration and national security. His office declined VOA’s request for an interview.

Lawyers for state employees detained over alleged leaks declined to comment to VOA as the cases are ongoing.

But at a documentation center in Yaounde, VOA found several government workers either printing or typing documents from their offices. They say they lacked the necessary computer equipment or had run short of ink.

Information technology specialist, Peter Suife, said state workers need education on dealing with sensitive information electronically.

“You have government offices that have computers, the operators of these computers don’t know how to probably store some documents in their files,” he said. “When they type, they take the key to a documentation center for printing. After printing, they are supposed to cancel what they have printed in that documentation, rather than allow it in the machine. Tomorrow, you see the documents already on streets before the state ever makes a statement.”

The law in Cameroon says government employees must protect classified and confidential materials. Failure to do so could lead to dismissal, as well as penalties ranging from a $10 (5000 CFA) fine to as much as one year’s imprisonment.

Source: VOA

In Cameroon, officials say eight villages in the English-speaking northwest have been torched and hundreds of residents have fled amid clashes this week between security forces and separatist rebels.

Terence Fukah, a 33-year-old pig farmer, told VOA he fled his village of Ajin on Tuesday as the military responded to an attack by armed men.

“It was around five o’clock in the morning. I saw dead people lying down. I had to cross on top of them and run for my dear life,” Fukah said.

“I don’t even know where my children are. I don’t even know where my wife is. I don’t know how the pigs are doing, how many have died. I don’t know if my own house has been burned. I am crying, crying for the government to do something.”

The military says armed separatist rebels torched at least eight villages in northwest Cameroon; however, residents told VOA the fires were set by the military after the attackers had fled.

“We heard gunshots. We did not know exactly what to do. Everybody was running up and down,” said Thomas Tuboh, a maize farmer from the village of Anyajua. “It was the burning that made us to know our lives were at stake, so I decided to run away from Anyajua. When the military people invaded the area, the bridges were blocked and they decided to put them down with flames.”

He said his village is now nearly completely deserted.

“You see it is a farming area that helps the whole division and the region at large. I don’t know how we are going to cope if this persists,” Tuboh said.

General Agha Robinson, who is commanding troops in the northwest region, said his soldiers were not responsible for the burning.

The crisis began in November 2016 with a strike by Anglophone lawyers and teachers, who were demanding reforms to address what they say is the marginalization of the country’s English-speaking minority by French-speakers.

The situation spiraled into all-out conflict as separatists demanded independence for the two English-speaking regions.

Thirty-eight members of the military and hundreds of rebels have been killed in the fighting, according to Cameroon’s ministry of defense. The U.N. refugee agency says tens of thousands of people have fled their homes, with at least 20,000 crossing over to neighboring Nigeria in search of safety.

There appears to be little hope for dialogue. Separatists say they will not budge on secession. Meanwhile, Cameroon has refused to release dozens of detained separatist leaders, and President Paul Biya says he will entertain no talks that threaten national unity.

Source: VOA