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2, February 2017

Consortium announces plans to stifle 11th of February Youth Day celebrations ⁰

The interim leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium have in a statement announced that steps aimed at intensifying the strike actions and the civil disobedience campaign throughout Southern Cameroons. Mark Bareta and Tapang Ivo observed in the press release that the coming week is going to be the most important in the Southern Cameroons struggle.

The leaders also reminded Southern Cameroonians to start sending text messages and making phone calls to love ones back home informing them of the new changes on the resistance plan of action. The modifications made public by the interim leaders include the following:

1- Monday the 6^th of February 2017: Ghost Town Operations observed in West Cameroon

2-Friday the 10^th of February 2017: Ghost Town Operations continue throughout West Cameroon

3-Saturday the 11^th of February 2017: Massive Ghost Town Operation including a total and complete boycott of the so-called 11 of February Youth Day Celebrations.

The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium is asking Southern Cameroonians to keep their faith in the struggle and not be distracted by the failed politics and policies of some pro Paul Biya political elites. Schools will remained closed and dialogue will only begin with La Republique du Cameroun if all Anglophone detainees are released and justice for those killed by troops in Buea, Bamenda, Kumba and Kumbo.

By Sonne Peter

2, February 2017

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Trial of Consortium Leaders postponed ⁰

The trial of the leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium which was slated for the 1^st of February 2017 has been moved to February the 13^th by the Yaoundé military court. Barrister Nkongho Agbor Balla and Dr Fontem Neba including Mancho BBC were all handed eight counts charges by the Kangaroo court in Yaoundé.

The charges included hostility against the homeland, secession, civil war, revolution, armed band, propagation of false news, attacks on public agents of the state and collective resistance. The Biya regime has secretly agreed to dish out the death penalty under the Terrorism Act of 23 December 2014.

Article 2 of that law reads as follows: “The death penalty shall be punishable by any person who, in complicity or co-action, commits any act or threat that may cause death, endanger the physical integrity, Causing bodily injury or damage to property, damage to the environment “.

On the ground the strike continues despite the fact that the Internet remains cut. The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium has embarked on a diplomatic push in the West and the body has also noted that schools will remain closed until all Anglophone demands are met.

By Sama Ernest

2, February 2017

Cameroun releases BBC reporter ¹

BBC news reporter, Randy Joe Sa’a was a target at the military tribunal in Yaoundé on February the 1st 2017. The BBC correspondent and a cream of journalists were interviewing lawyers outside the military tribunal building following the postponement of the trial of the leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium when troops loyal to the regime identified the BBC microphone and ordered Randy to leave saying that only the state radio and television had authorization to cover the proceedings.

Randy Joe was arrested on the spot. Our informant hinted that Barristers Ben Muna, Tchoungang, Eta Besong jointly called for his release. Information filtered that his equipment were confiscated by the security agents. At the time of filing this report Randy had been released on bail.

By Rita Akana

1, February 2017

African Union: Leaders adopt strategy on ICC pullout ²

African leaders have renewed their determination to pull out of the International Criminal Court (ICC) collectively, accusing the international body of discriminating against Africans. The African leaders adopted a strategy for their collective withdrawal at the 28th African Union (AU) summit, which wrapped up in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Tuesday.

A draft of the strategy, which was recited at a closed-door AU session and was later published by AP, recommends that African states build up and strengthen their own independent judicial systems. The non-binding recommendation also calls on African nations to expand the jurisdiction of the African court of justice and human rights to resolve disputes on the continent “in order to reduce the deference to the ICC.”

This is the latest expression of impatience by African leaders with the court, which some say has focused too narrowly on African leaders. Desire Assogbavi, the head of Oxfam International’s AU liaison office, confirmed the adoption of the strategy. However, analysts say African countries are divided on whether to leave the court or try to change some of its policies.

Burundi, Gambia, and South Africa have already said they no longer recognize the court’s jurisdiction and announced their intention to quit. But several other African countries, including Nigeria, Senegal and the Republic of the Congo have spoken up in support of the ICC in recent months. One of the main African supporters of the ICC is former United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan. Since the ICC was launched on July 1, 2002, it has indicted 39 people, all of whom have been African.

Presstv

1, February 2017

Anglophone Crisis: Barrister Nico Halle will not seek another mandate as head of the Bar Association of Cameroon ¹

There is too much uncertainty about the future of the Bar Association of Cameroon caused by the current Southern Cameroons strike action. We gathered that among the difficult situations facing the Cameroon Bar is the renewal of the mandate of the management team that ended on January 31st, 2017.

Barrister Ntumfor Nico Halle was elected as President of the General Assembly of the Bar Association of Cameroon on the 31^st of January 2015 and Barrister Patrick Kleiss Kouanou held the position of Vice President. Cameroon Concord News has been reliably informed that no election is being considered even though the mandate of the management team has come to an end. The Southern Cameroons crisis has reportedly erected a stone wall against the convening of a bar council general assembly.

The Ntumfor Nico Halle has been quoted as saying that “it is impossible to convene a General Assembly of the Order. We must wait for the situation to calm down to organize the work. The Bar of Cameroon is united. You cannot sit down while the other parties have problems. The courts do not operate in these two regions. So it’s impossible to do anything for the Order.”

Asked if the crisis continues beyond February, the much respected Ntumfor Nico Halle pointed out that he will have to evoke “a case of force majeure, and the lawyers will have to decide on the way forward.” A journalist with a sister publication, Cameroon Intelligence Report hinted at the time of filing this report that Barrister Halle Nico will not seek a second term as president of the general assembly.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

1, February 2017

Cracks in the Biya regime as Southern Cameroons protest continues ²

Growing frustration accentuated by internal rivalry and personality conflicts has left Biya and his cabinet in shambles following the successful on-going civil disobedience campaign in British Southern Cameroons. With age telling on the chief executive and his health now being discussed by hard-liners of the regime, the shutting down of internet services and the arrest of the leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium provoked a backlash and has divided even members of the political bureau of the ruling CPDM party.

Some supporters of the One and Indivisible Cameroun philosophy were heard murmuring privately that the decision to disconnect internet services and the arrest of Anglophone senior judges was a deliberate attempt by some Beti Ewondo political elites to rob the regime of knowledgeable and legitimate Anglophone support for President Biya. Conversely, politicians from the Northern regions have been having a field day secretly celebrating the end of the Biya hegemony.

The confusion within the Biya governing council it should be recalled was provoked by the arrogance displayed by Ministers Jacques Fame Ndongo, Laurent Esso and a certain Paul Ghogomu Minglo of the Ad Hoc Committee. Confusing signals emerged when the 83 year old Biya ostensibly with the backing of some moderates scurried Garga Haman Adji to Bamenda and claimed he (Garga) was the legitimate emissary from Etoudi.

Cameroon Intelligence Report sources in the nation’s capital hinted that a majority of CPDM bigwigs are blaming the current Southern Cameroon situation on the secret Head of State now running the country-Minister Martin Belinga Eboutou. Tension is mounting in Yaoundé as more Southern Cameroonians are detained and some from the North West region reportedly being killed and buried in mass graves in Soa.

Ghost town operations are continuing and schools remained closed in West Cameroon. Francophone troops have continued to arrest, detain and torture Southern Cameroonians in Bamenda, Buea and Ekondo Titi. Southern Cameroonians arrested in Kumba, Nguti, Muyuka, Limbe, Tiko and Buea were being locked up in prison cells in Douala. They were rounded up by soldiers from La Republique in various localities, some before the civil disobedience campaign even started.

In the wake of massive demonstrations in various capital cities in the West, and more international condemnation of the excessive use of force on Anglophone Cameroonians, the trial of the leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium has been postponed. Many Southern Cameroonians have been arrested in Yaoundé, while more were picked up in other towns in the Center and South regions.

We got intelligence that many of the Southern Cameroons detainees including Lord Justice Ayah Paul Abine of the Supreme Court of Cameroun were in bad health and attempts to communicate with family members have been strictly prohibited. Government sources are now reporting that Southern Cameroonians have refused to be cowed and preferred to be killed rather than denounced the struggle. Barrister Agbor Nkongho Felix, the Chairman of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium was cited by a police source to be a lion-hearted man who spared no opportunity during interrogation to hit hard on the “thievery of the Francophone political elites.”

The interim leaders of the Consortium indicated recently that the international community has been informed about the brutalization but no official statement has been made by the British parliament and the United Nation Security Council.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with intelligence cables from Yaounde, Bamenda,Douala and Buea

1, February 2017

UK: Parliament begins debate on Brexit bill ⁰

UK lawmakers have gathered in Parliament to debate whether the British government can trigger Britain’s formal exit from the European Union. A bill authorizing UK Prime Minister Theresa May to invoke Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty starts its route through Parliament on Tuesday and is expected to pass overwhelmingly.

Although most lawmakers campaigned before the referendum to stay in the EU, most, including the leader of the opposition Labour Party, say they will vote to uphold the referendum’s result. Opening the debate, David Davis, secretary of state for exiting the EU, told parliamentarians they could not block the Brexit process.

The decision to leave the block is “a point of return already passed,” he said. “At the core of this bill lies a very simple question — do we trust the people or not?” Members of Parliament have been given until Wednesday to discuss the proposed legislation that would allow May to trigger the Brexit process.

The British government was forced to bring legislation to Parliament after the UK Supreme Court ruled it could not trigger Article 50 without approval from the Parliament. In a landmark referendum held on June 23, nearly 52 percent of British voters, amounting to more than 17 million citizens, opted to leave the EU, a decision that sent shock waves throughout the world.

Those in favor of a British withdrawal from the EU argued that outside the bloc, London would be better positioned to conduct its own trade negotiations, better able to control immigration and free from what they believe to be excessive EU regulations and bureaucracy.

Those in favor of remaining in the bloc believed that leaving it would risk the UK’s prosperity, diminish its influence over world affairs, and result in trade barriers between the UK and the EU. Retaining access to the single market has been one of the major worries for UK businesses ever since the referendum.

Presstv

1, February 2017

Two bomb attacks hit Nigeria ⁰

Two bomb attacks have hit separate locations in northern Nigeria in what officials believe were attempts by Boko Haram terrorist group to make up for its recent losses in the face of the Nigerian army. A civilian vigilante in Banki, near the Cameroon border in the northeastern state of Borno, said on Tuesday that an attack earlier in the day nearly rattled a camp of people displaced by Boko Haram violence.

Musa Ahmad, who works with the military against Boko Haram, said the attack was carried out by a 10-year-old girl about noon local time, adding that the minor was killed after she detonated her explosives near the camp for internally-displaced people.”She was asked to stop by soldiers. But she ignored them. They threatened to shoot her if she didn’t stop. She obeyed and she was asked to lift up her hijab,” said Ahmad, adding, “She did and explosives were found to be strapped on her. Suddenly she pulled on the trigger and exploded.”

The vigilante said the death of the girl was the sole casualty of the incident, adding that the attack bore the hallmarks of similar attacks by Boko Haram as the Takfiri group has repeatedly used minors and women to carry out assaults against civilians and security forces.

Ahmad said Boko Haram has been desperately seeking to make up for the losses it has suffered at the hands of the Nigerian army in the recent time. Earlier on Tuesday, at least two people, including the attacker, were killed in another act of terror, where the assailant targeted people performing morning prayers inside a mosque in Dalori, on the outskirts of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state.

Residents and authorities said the blast happened at about 5:30 a.m. and the attacker was trying to enter the mosque but a guard stopped him. “One of the worshippers, who was apparently on guard, grabbed him and the explosives went off, killing both of them. Worshippers were saved,” said a resident.

Nigeria has been at war with Boko Haram since the group started an insurgency in Borno state about eight years ago. Almost 15,000 people have been killed while the violence has displaced more than two million. Boko Haram has pledged allegiance to Daesh, another Takfiri terrorist group, which has been wreaking havoc in the Middle East and North Africa over the past few years.

Presstv

31, January 2017

Biya appoints Brigadier General Valere Nka as new head of the 4th Inter-Armed Military Legion ⁰

President Biya has reportedly appointed Brigadier General Valere Nka as head of the 4th Inter-Armed Military Region (RMIA). The decision was made public on Monday the 30^th of January 2017 in Yaounde, the nation’s capital.

Cameroon Concord News understands the decree gave the job to General Valère Nka par interim replacing General Jacob Kodji, who died on Sunday the 22nd of January in an helicopter crash in Madide, a village located about 9 km from Bogo, in the department of the Diamaré, Far North region.

Brigadier General NKA Valère, a native of Sa’a, in the Central Region, has more than thirty years of senior office in the Cameroonian army. General Nka has experience in the fight against terrorism, having served as second in command with the Joint Multinational Force (FMM) against the Nigerian Islamic sect, Boko Haram.

The former Defense Attaché to the High Commission of Cameroon in Nigeria was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General at the same time as Jacob Kodji, Frédéric Ndjonkep Meyomhy, Bouba Dobekreo, and Simon Ezo’o Mvondo.

By Rita Akana

31, January 2017

Morocco rejoins African Union after 33 years of absence ⁰

The African Union has readmitted Morocco into the bloc 33 years after its withdrawal over the still existing Western Sahara dispute. The majority of the AU member states voted for the re-admission of during the 28th summit in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Monday, leaving the issue of the disputed territory of Western Sahara for another day.

“Morocco is now a full member of the African Union. There was a very long debate but 39 of our 54 states approved the return of Morocco, even if the Western Sahara question remains,” Senegalese President Macky Sall told reporters. “As we have said, if the family grows bigger, we can find solutions as a family,” Macky Sall added.

Algeria and South Africa were among the heavyweights that opposed the re-admission of Morocco. The country withdrew from the AU in 1984, when the mineral-rich and sparsely populated Saharan Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), commonly known as Western Sahara, was accepted as a member. Morocco annexed Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, in 1975. It maintains that Western Sahara is an integral part of the kingdom, but the international community has not recognized the annexation.

Western Sahara is home to the Algerian-backed Polisario Front, a Sahrawi rebel national liberation movement aiming to end Moroccan presence in the territory. In 1991, Moroccan forces and Sahrawi rebels agreed on a UN-brokered truce and a referendum to settle the status of Western Sahara. However, the vote has never taken place. Some had feared Morocco would set the expulsion of the SADR as a precondition for its own return to the AU.

“From the moment that Morocco did not impose conditions … we take their word for it and accept that Morocco be admitted to the African Union,” said SADR Foreign Minister Mohamed Salem Ould Salek. Salek said the re-admission of Morocco will help pressure the authorities into holding a referendum to “allow the Sahrawi to choose their future”.

“Now (if) Morocco is blocking (it) will be questioned by the head of states: why are you afraid of a referendum? Why don’t you allow the Sahrawi to choose their future freely?” he said. Morocco has for several years been trying to return to the body as it reportedly seeks to expand its economy. In July 2016, Moroccan King Mohammed VI officially announced plans to rejoin the African Union.

Presstv