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Muslims plead for an end to Ambazonia crisis

21, July 2021

Muslims plead for an end to Ambazonia crisis 0

Muslims in Cameroon have marked the Eid al-Adha, Festival of the Sacrifice, by praying for an end to the country’s separatist conflict, which has killed more than 3,000 people since 2017. Muslim leaders also called on Cameroon’s vaccine skeptics to be inoculated against COVID-19, which has infected more than 80,000 people and killed at least 1,300.

Muslim cleric Bouba Goi Goi officiating Eid al-Adha prayers at the Islamic Complex in Cameroon’s capital Yaoundé, said in his sermon that all Muslims should live lives of complete submission to God to enjoy eternal life, both physical on earth and spiritual in heaven with Allah.

Souley Mane is spokesman of Cameroon’s National Moon Crescent Commission that is responsible for announcing the day of Muslim feasts.

He said Bouba asked Cameroonians of all religious denominations to educate civilians on the need for stability in the central African state.

“It is an opportunity for every Muslim to have a spiritual project to pray for peace, security, unity, health and living together in our country. A good Muslim should be an ambassador of his religion, somebody who tries to work harder for his family, for his community and for his country,” he said.

Mane said that the 1,500 people at the prayer complex include Christians.

The Council of Imams and Muslim Dignitaries of Cameroon organized the prayer for peace.

The council’s coordinator, Moussa Oumarou, said Muslims who are separatist fighters should drop their weapons and encourage their peers of other religions to stop fighting.

Cameroon estimates that there are at least 2,000 separatist fighters in its English-speaking western regions. The government said the number of fighters who are Muslims is unknown since the rebels hide as civilians.

Souleyman Mefire Ngoucheme is imam of the Nkoazoa Mosque located 10 kilometers west of Yaounde. He said besides promoting peace, Muslim cleric in Cameroon also cautioned faithful on the dangers of COVID-19.

He said he is asking all Muslims in Cameroon to respect COVID-19 barrier measures like regular washing of hands with soap and water, putting on face masks in public and keeping a physical distance of at least a meter from other people. Ngoucheme said Muslims should not hesitate to take COVID-19 vaccine because the jab can save their lives and help to stop the coronavirus spread that has killed so many people.

Cameroon said fewer than 150,000 people have been vaccinated since April, when the government received 700,000 doses to inoculate civilians against COVID-19.

Last year during Eid al-Adha, Cameroon restricted prayers and festivities that brought together more than 10 people. Thousands of Muslims in the capital Yaoundé defied the restrictions, ordered as part of measures to stop the spread of COVID-19. This year, many came with face masks but did not respect the at least one meter distance from each person as instructed by the government.

Source: VOA

CPDM Crime Syndicate: Is Minister Ngoh Ngoh losing his influence?

21, July 2021

CPDM Crime Syndicate: Is Minister Ngoh Ngoh losing his influence? 0

The position of the Minister-Secretary General at the presidency, who enjoys the support of first lady Chantal Biya, seems to be under threat. Until now, he has always managed to save his skin.

Africa Intelligence reported that all pro Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh aides who regularly accompany President Biya as a VIP guest at the Intercontinental Hotel in Geneva were not included in the recent delegation that travelled to Switzerland with the president.

Ngoh Ngoh was also involved in the controversial management of the Ebo forest that fanned the flames of an unending clan warfare that is tearing the Biya regime apart.

Fingers are also pointing at Minister Ngoh Ngoh following the sudden flaring up in less than a fortnight of the latent security crisis in Southern Cameroons together with tensions generated by the Franck Biya succession palaver.

Source: Africa Intelligence

Biya should give up this hopeless and dangerous Beti Ewondo crusade to hold on to power

21, July 2021

Biya should give up this hopeless and dangerous Beti Ewondo crusade to hold on to power 0

Saturday July 17 is now among the President Biya’s darkest days. Not since the April 6 coup in 1984 has the Cameroonian presidency been laid so low.

While Cameroonians did the right thing on that April 6 1984 by standing shoulder-to-shoulder with their president, the same Biya on Saturday July 17 2021 was hiding inside the InterContinental Hotel in Geneva now seen as Cameroon’s eleventh region in his desperate attempt to cling to an office Cameroonians have denied him several times.

Some pro Biya militants had dubiously chanted praises to the man who has misruled Cameroon for 38 years in front of the same Geneva hotel. But the Swiss police took interest in the massive demo organized by the BAS majority following that stormed past armed police officers and into the InterContinental Hotel, where the 88-year-old dictator was preparing to drive to Cannes in France with his wife Chantal Biya to enjoy the Cannes Film Festival.

The fault lies entirely with Biya and his criminal gang. Their rhetoric on state radio and television has been very inciteful against Southern Cameroonians and the Bamilekes of French Cameroun and each day they are marketing false narratives that Cameroonians clamouring for reforms simply want political power. Now, the nation is exploding. 

Biya’s performance in Geneva was befitting his presidency, which has been crude, undisciplined and self-serving. Biya has always placed his own interest and that of his tribe’s men ahead of the nation’s.

In the days of the late President Ahmadou Ahidjo, it would have been impossible to imagine a Cameroon governor, an SDO let alone the head of state traveling abroad and making a hotel his home away from home.

Why go back to the same hotel in Geneva?

What is so special in the InterContinental Hotel in Geneva? Only the 88-year-old Biya, Cameroon’s crudest and least dignified president can tell.

Biya has devoted his presidency to denigrating Cameroonian institutions and citizens who refused to play along with his irrational denial of reality. Of course, you can do whatever you want as head of state if you keep the people frightened enough.

The Francophone leader has bullied everyone deep within his ruling CPDM crime syndicate and even beyond but he is now very surprise at seeing young French Cameroonians in the diaspora getting on his way as patriotism is in very short supply at Etoudi.

In 1982, Biya swore to uphold the Constitution but has spent more than three decades encouraging his loyalists to ignore the document and do whatever it takes to illegally keep him in power.

The late Ahmadou Ahidjo and his top aides gave Biya a rare and treasured honour — the privilege of serving the United Republic of Cameroon as president and entrusting Biya with the care of this precious homeland. Biya has abused that trust over and over.

The time has come for Biya to do the right thing by stepping aside. He and his gang must recognize the danger of continuing to hold on to power at 88 in a nation that is already disintegrating.

Dion Ngute, Maigari Bello Bouba, Laurent Esso and Philemon Yang must break into the youthful tribal clique around Biya and make him see the escalation of the chaos and violence his hanging on to power is creating in Southern Cameroons, the Far North and also in the East.

It will be a very serious matter if the military should send him packing out of the so-called Unity Palace. The Biya generation should organize a peaceful transition of power to a new administration and Biya and his kinsmen in Yaoundé have an obligation to ensure that the transfer is indeed peaceful.

Biya and his men must stop agitating their supporters, stop the war in Southern Cameroons, condemn police and army violence, free all Southern Cameroons detainees; free all political opponents, accept that mistakes have been made and give up this hopeless and dangerous Beti Ewondo crusade to hold on to power.

A stitch in time saves nine

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Mali: Interim president Goïta ‘safe and sound’ after assassination attempt at Bamako mosque

20, July 2021

Mali: Interim president Goïta ‘safe and sound’ after assassination attempt at Bamako mosque 0

Mali’s interim president Colonel Assimi Goita was “safe and sound”, his office said, after an assassination attempt by two men, one wielding a knife, during prayers at a mosque in Bamako on Tuesday.

An AFP journalist who witnessed the attack said the assailants lunged at Goita, who was quickly whisked away by security.

The journalist also said he saw blood at the scene, though it was not clear who had been wounded.

An official in the president’s office later said Goita was “safe and sound”, after what was labelled an assassination attempt.

Goita arrived at the military camp of Kati, outside the capital, “where security has been reinforced”, the official added.

Security had subdued one attacker, and “investigations are ongoing”, the presidency added in a statement.

The incident occurred after prayers for the Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha in the great mosque of Bamako.

Assailants went for the president as an imam was directing worshippers outside the mosque for a ritual animal sacrifice.

Religious Affairs Minister Mamadou Kone, who was at the mosque, told AFP that a man had “tried to kill the president with a knife” but was apprehended.

The mosque’s director, Latus Toure, said an attacker had lunged at the president but wounded someone else.

Later, a security official who requested anonymity said that two people had been arrested and were now in detention.

Political turmoil

The shocking attack follows months of political turmoil in Mali, which is also battling a jihadist insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives and driven hundreds of thousands from their homes.

Goita was sworn into power in June, after leading the country’s second coup in less than a year.

The colonel had already led a putsch last August, when he and other army officers ousted elected president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita after weeks of mass protests over corruption and the long-running jihadist conflict.

The second coup in nine months sparked diplomatic uproar, prompting the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to suspend Mali, calling for the appointment of a civilian prime minister.

Jihadist insurgency

France, which has thousands of troops stationed in the war-torn country, also suspended military cooperation with Mali.

The former colonial power followed by announcing that it would wind down its 5,100-strong Barkhane force that has battled jihadists in the Sahel since 2013.

The military junta handed power to a civilian-led transitional government, which promised to restore civilian rule in February 2022.

In June it unveiled its new government, appointing military figures in key roles.

Goita vowed at the time that the government would “uphold all its commitments”, pledging to stage “credible, fair and transparent elections”.

A large majority of the 15-nation UN’s Security Council later called for free and fair elections to go ahead in the country without the participation of its current leaders.

Mali also faces unrest outside the political arena.

It has been struggling to contain an jihadist insurgency that first emerged in the north of the country in 2012, and has since spread to Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.

Thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed and hundreds of thousands have fled their homes.

The conflict has also been mirrored by political instability in the capital.

Source: AFP

Ambazonia: The 88-year-old paedophile has made it harder for bare necessities to enter Southern Cameroons

20, July 2021

Ambazonia: The 88-year-old paedophile has made it harder for bare necessities to enter Southern Cameroons 0

The Vice President of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government Dabney Yerima says all fellow Ambazonian restoration groups do not rule out using any option to force the Biya French Cameroun regime to end its war and occupation of the Southern Cameroons homeland.

VP Dabney Yerima made the remarks on Monday, addressing Yaoundé’s refusal to enable the Federal Republic of Ambazonia to move ahead with reconstruction and development as Africa’s newest nation.

Thousands of Southern Cameroonians, including scores of children and dozens of women have been killed since the war started four years ago. A report recent sent to the European Union by the Cameroon Concord News Group put the damage on infrastructure at about $800 million.

“Southern Cameroonians in Ground 1, Ghana and in the West will never wait for long. The occupying regime is on its way out” Yerima said

The Southern Cameroons Interim Government and its affiliated groups have been defending the Ambazonia homeland in the face of incessant French Cameroun aggression.

Yerima warned that the enemy regime in French Cameroun continued procrastination in withdrawing its troops and acting on calls for a ceasefire would lead to a shameful collapse of the Francophone dictator in Yaoundé.

The 88-year-old French Cameroun paedophile has made it harder for bare necessities to enter Southern Cameroons and has also held up aid offered by international agencies.

By Chi Prudence Asong in London

South Africa: Zuma’s corruption trial to resume August 10

20, July 2021

South Africa: Zuma’s corruption trial to resume August 10 0

Jacob Zuma’s long-running corruption trial will resume on August 10, a South African judge ruled on Tuesday after the ex-president sought to have the case postponed because of the pandemic and recent unrest.

“The trial is adjourned to 10 to 13 August,” Judge Piet Koen said.

Zuma on Monday appeared in court via a video link from his prison, where he is serving a jail term for contempt of court on an unrelated matter.

His lawyers had applied to have the case postponed by up to three weeks because of the unrest and the Covid pandemic to allow time for the trial to resume physically.

The 79-year-old faces 16 charges of fraud, graft and racketeering related to the 1999 purchase of fighter jets, patrol boats and equipment from five European arms firms when he was deputy president.

He is accused of taking bribes from one of the firms, French defence giant Thales, which has been charged with corruption and money laundering.

Both Zuma and Thales have entered pleas of not guilty.

His foundation immediately lauded the decision, tweeting: “The Constitution has prevailed at last!”

“There can be NO virtual criminal proceedings in the absence of an accused person who is unable to consult with his lawyers,” it said.

Zuma, once dubbed the “Teflon president”, began serving a 15-month jail sentence for contempt on July 8.

He was arrested for disobeying a Constitutional Court order to testify before a panel probing the plunder of state coffers during his nine-year presidency

Source: AFP

Biya and the IMF are playing different

20, July 2021

Biya and the IMF are playing different 0

Despite promises to the IMF, Biya continues to back his perennial company directors from his Beti Ewondo extractions.

The CPDM crime syndicate headed by 88-year-old President Paul Biya has negotiated several measures to reform the management of Cameroon’s public companies with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

However, Biya has kept his loyalists at the head of the main parastatals, some of whom have been in place for more than twenty years.

Source: Africa Intelligence

Biya Geneva Crisis: Police use tear gas, water cannon to break up rally outside InterContinental Hotel

20, July 2021

Biya Geneva Crisis: Police use tear gas, water cannon to break up rally outside InterContinental Hotel 0

Around a hundred protesters rallied in Geneva on Saturday (July 17) against Cameroon’s President Paul Biya, who is staying in one of the Swiss city’s top hotels.

Police used tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets to disperse demonstrators who protested for several hours close to the Intercontinental Hotel, where the 88-year-old leader has been staying since at least Sunday.

The hotel is regularly used by visiting foreign leaders and was where US President Joe Biden stayed before his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin last month. Biya is an occasional private visitor.

A bitter independence struggle by English-speaking rebels has been raging in Cameroon’s Northwest and Southwest (Noso) regions since 2017.

Members of the anglophone minority in the country’s westernmost provinces have long complained of being marginalised by the French-speaking majority and Biya, in power for 38 years.

From 2017, their protests devolved into a bloody conflict.

Saturday’s demonstration in Geneva was initially authorised and then banned, with police fearing that that protest could spill over.

Road restrictions were imposed around the Intercontinental and the nearby square outside the United Nations headquarters in the city.

‘Biya get out’

Demonstrators were faced with a line of police officers in riot gear blocking the road from the square to the hotel.

They held up home-made signs saying, “Switzerland supports dictator Biya”, “Paul Biya: eternal dictator”, “We don’t want you in Switzerland anymore as long as Noso is at war”, and “Biya get out”.

One man wore a T-shirt reading “Stop genocide on Cameroonians”.

Another man was pulled down by police after attempting to scale the gates of the UN.

Riot police use water cannon against opponents of Cameroon’s President Paul Biya in Geneva, Switzerland. PHOTO: EPA-EFE
Opponents of Cameroon’s President Paul Biya protest against his presence in Geneva in front of Swiss riot police. PHOTO: EPA-EFE

Swiss news agency ATS reported that protesters later tried several times to force their way through the police cordon and threw eggs at officers.

The police then deployed water cannon, rubber bullets and tear gas to clear the demonstration, forcing the protesters to disperse into several parks.

Two people were lightly injured and taken to hospital for checks, while one person was arrested, ATS said.

Since Biya’s visit began, several small groups of opponents have been broken up by the authorities.

Three people were arrested early in the week, while a dozen others were detained on Friday.

In Cameroon, UN and international aid groups say that since the unrest erupted in 2017, both army troops and anglophone rebels have committed abuses and crimes against civilians.

More than 3,500 people have been killed and over 700,000 have fled their homes to escape the conflict.

Culled from The Straits Times

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Geneva no longer the land of peace

19, July 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Geneva no longer the land of peace 0

A member of the Swiss Federal Assembly has reportedly painted the 88-year-old President Biya as the world’s number 1 dictator.

Reacting to a massive demo organized under the banner of the Anti-Sardinard Brigade (BAS) on July 17, 2021, at the Place des Nations Unies in Geneva, Stéfanie Prezioso of Liberal party said that “The President of Cameroon should no longer be welcomed in Geneva… We are talking about someone who has been in power for more than 50 years; we are talking about thousands of deaths, hundreds of thousands of displaced persons. We are talking about someone who is accused of war crimes. Switzerland is protecting a dictator” she added.

However, the demonstration had been banned by the Swiss authorities. Also, the forces of law and order had installed an impressive security around the Intercontinental Hotel where the Francophone President of Cameroon and his entourage are staying. But some demonstrators defied the ban and clashes with police were recorded. 

A few hours after the BAS demonstration, RTS, the Swiss national radio station organized a debate on President Biya’s continued presence in Geneva. As guests, two Swiss MPs Murat Alder and Stéfanie Prezioso, castigated the Cameroonian leader calling on the Swiss government to chase him out of Geneva.

By Isong Asu

Useless Swiss Peace talks only prolong Francophone army killings in Southern Cameroons

19, July 2021

Useless Swiss Peace talks only prolong Francophone army killings in Southern Cameroons 0

The Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of the Cameroon Concord News Group, the Right Hon. Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai has termed the so-called Swiss Peace Talks on the crisis in Southern Cameroons as useless.

Speaking of the deteriorating security situation in English speaking Cameroon, the Cameroon Concord News senior political man said the recurring Swiss talks in Geneva the city where the 88-year-old President Biya is currently hiding and wasting Cameroonian tax payer’s money are aimed at prolonging the war in Southern Cameroons until a military victory is gotten by the Francophone dominated regime.

“I share the vision of Dieudonne Essomba that French Camerounians will leave Southern Cameroons in the near future,” Agbaw-Ebai continued, “because Southern Cameroons self defense groups have made their decision to confront them and fight till the last man standing.”

Soter Agbaw-Ebai expressed hope that international pressure and efforts made by the Ambazonia Restoration Forces and Southern Cameroons Interim Government would drive some world powers to publicly demand the withdrawal of Francophone army soldiers from Southern Cameroons.

The War in Southern Cameroons has already claimed at least 40 000 lives, almost all of them civilian children, men and women, murdered by Cameroun troops in a series of targeted killings, organized massacres, and killings by fire in over 400 villages burnt down to ashes across Ambazonia. Over half a million people have been forcibly displaced as refugees living in various countries and especially in refugee camps in Nigeria. Over another half a million people have become IDPs hiding in forests, caves and hills due to forced displacement. Additionally, over 1.5 million people are facing a humanitarian disaster.

La Republique du Cameroun uses not only arson and the destruction of food, livestock, and crops in the fields as weapons of war. It also uses rape. Rape of Ambazonian women and girls by Cameroun troops is systematic and widespread. This agonizing situation is compounded by the fact that a high percentage of Cameroun troops are HIV positive and also has other STDs. When they rape they infect the women and girls. This appears to be part of the genocide agenda of Cameroun. Reports are now emerging of scores of school girls raped, impregnated and infected by La Republique du Cameroun’s troops. This poses a nightmare not only of the HIV and STD infections but also of rampant teenage pregnancies. Cameroun troops have burnt down health facilities and killed health workers in rural and semi-urban areas. Accessing health facilities or health practitioners is a huge challenge for rural and semi-urban folks.

By Isong Asu in London

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