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23, June 2021

Nine Catalan separatists freed after Spain pardon ⁰

Nine Catalan separatists who were serving long prison sentences for their role in a failed 2017 independence bid were released from jail on Wednesday a day after being pardoned by Spain.

Rain was falling as the seven male prisoners walked out of Lledoners jail some 70 kilometres (45 miles) northwest of Barcelona, where they were met by umbrella-carrying supporters shouting “Independence, independence!”

As they walked through the gates, they were embraced by newly-appointed Catalan leader Pere Aragones, and posed for a photograph alongside a Catalan independence flag and a banner reading “Freedom for Catalonia”, an AFP correspondent said.

At the same time, the two remaining prisoners, both women, were released from two other facilities.

The clemency decision was approved by the Spanish government on Tuesday, with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez saying he hoped it would draw a line under past confrontations with Catalonia’s separatist-led regional leaders and open the way for talks.

The pardons were published earlier on Wednesday in the government’s official gazette.

The separatists were serving between nine and 13 years in jail for their role in holding a banned referendum in October 2017 that was marred by police violence then followed by a short-lived declaration of independence, sparking Spain’s worst political crisis in decades.

Although the jail sentences have been dropped, all nine are banned from holding public office and the pardons are conditional on them not committing “a serious crime” over the next three to six years.

They have all served more than three years behind bars.

“I am here because the sacrifice they have made for Catalonia and for all of us has been huge,” said Ignasi Sole, a 65-year-old retired mechanic who was waiting outside Lledoners prison for their release.

“It’s a way of thanking them.”

– ‘Independence through dialogue’ –

The pardons have been roundly denounced by Spain’s right-wing opposition as well as by many in the pro-independence camp who want a full amnesty that would allow those who fled abroad to return home.

Analysts have also warned it is a risky political gamble that may help calm tensions but won’t solve the years-long turmoil over the separatist crisis, which has left Catalonia sharply divided.

Madrid is hoping the move will give impetus to the upcoming talks with the Catalan government of Aragones who is more open to dialogue than his hardline predecessor.

Aragones and Oriol Junqueras, the prisoner serving the longest sentence of 13 years, who also heads the moderate ERC party, have recently taken steps towards Sanchez by distancing themselves from the path of unilateralism.

“We will devote all our efforts in this new stage to ensuring that negotiation be the basis for resolving the conflict,” Aragones said Tuesday.

“The best way to achieve (independence) is through dialogue, negotiation and agreement.”

When the separatists were sentenced in October 2019 by Spain’s Supreme Court, the ruling triggered an outcry across Catalonia, with thousands hitting the streets in protests that sometimes turned violent.

The move to pardon the separatists was approved by more than two-thirds of Catalans, an Ipsos poll found.

But the same poll found that 53 percent of Spaniards were against the move, which has also been opposed by Spain’s Supreme Court and the right-wing opposition.

In the coming weeks, Sanchez will meet for the first time with Aragones, who has pledged to push for an amnesty and a new referendum on self-determination — this time with Madrid’s approval.

Both are out of the question for the Spanish government.

Source: AFP

23, June 2021

Croatia secures spot alongside England, Czech Republic in Euro 2020 round of 16 ⁰

Croatia advanced to the knockout phase of the European Championship after its win over Scotland on Tuesday. England and the Czech Republic, also in Group D, had already secured spots in the round of 16 before their game.

It was a big day for the Croatian football team.

Luka Modric curled home a magnificent finish as Croatia shrugged off a slow start to Euro 2020 to beat Scotland 3-1 on Tuesday and reach the last 16 in style, while leaving their opponents again on the tournament scrap-heap.

Nikola Vlasic and Ivan Perisic were also on target for Croatia in a victory that lifted Zlatko Dalic’s side, so leggy and unconvincing in their first two games, up to second in Group D on four points.

Modric’s form had been called into question at the tournament, but the 35-year-old shaped a delightful finish into the corner of the net with the outside of his foot in the second half to make it 2-1, sending his side on to a thoroughly deserved victory.

He fell to his knees at the whistle for about a minute before rising to his feet and pumping his fists in celebration.

Deprived of Billy Gilmour, who failed a COVID-19 test in the buildup, Scotland seemed lacking in midfield and Croatia bossed the ball, dominating possession for large periods before deservedly taking the lead after 17 minutes as Vlasic scored his sixth goal for his country.

Croatia next face the runner-up of Group E – where Sweden, Slovakia, Spain and Poland are all still jockeying for position – in Copenhagen on June 28.

England wins 1-0 over Czech Republic

Meanwhile, England clinched first place in Group D with a 1-0 win against the Czech Republic after Jack Grealish drove down the left and chipped the ball towards the back post in the 12th minute for Raheem Sterling to head in.

The Manchester City midfielder scored England’s only other goal at the tournament in the opening win over Croatia.Both England and the Czech Republic had already advanced to the round of 16 before the match.

France and Sweden have already qualified for the round of 16.

(FRANCE 24 with AP, REUTERS, AFP)

23, June 2021

Former Mauritanian president Aziz in jail over corruption charges ⁰

Mauritania’s former president, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, was on Tuesday jailed after a judge in charge of a corruption probe ordered his incarceration, his party and prosecutors said.

A prosecutor speaking on condition of anonymity and the spokesman of the former president’s party Djibril Ould Bilal confirmed his detention without citing the reason.

Aziz has twice gone before a magistrate investigating the case since the charges, including money laundering, were brought in March.

The move comes days after the former leader refused to continue reporting to police after being put under house arrest.

Aziz ruled the conservative West African state from 2008 to mid-2019, when he was succeeded by his former right-hand man and ex-defence minister, Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani.

The ex-president has said he is being persecuted in a bid to keep him out of politics, but has vowed he will not go into exile.

Aziz joined a small opposition party, Ribat National, in April in an attempt to salvage his political career after being expelled from the ruling Union for the Republic (UPR) party, which he had founded.

The 64-year-old former general who came to power in a coup already had to report to police three times a week and to seek approval before leaving the capital.

The charges followed a year-long probe initiated by parliament into the handling of oil revenue, the sale of state property, the winding up of a publicly owned food-supply company and the activities of a Chinese fishing firm.

A state prosecutor involved with the investigation in March said cash and assets worth the equivalent of about 96 million euros ($115 million) had been seized.

(AFP)

22, June 2021

WHO to establish first vaccine tech transfer hub in South Africa ⁰

South Africa will host the continent’s first Covid-19 vaccine production facility, as President Cyril Ramaphosa said Monday Africa now understood that doses would “never come” from elsewhere in time to save lives.

Ramaphosa joined the World Health Organization (WHO) and French President Emmanuel Macron in announcing the new hub for Messenger RNA coronavirus vaccine technology.

But as the project will take time to get off the ground, no vaccines are expected from it until next year.

At tech transfer hubs, the technology is established at industrial scale, while interested manufacturers can receive training and any necessary licences to the technology.

“The ability to manufacture vaccines, medicines and other health-related commodities will help to put Africa on a path to self-determination,” Ramaphosa told a WHO virtual press conference via video-link.

“It’s been shown now that we just cannot continue to rely on vaccines that are made outside of Africa because they never come. They never arrive on time and people continue to die.”

Hub seen as combating inequality

The hub is seen by the Geneva-based WHO as a way to combat the vast inequality in access to vaccines between the world’s wealthiest and poorest nations.

WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said it could take nine to 12 months before Covid-19 vaccines could be produced in South Africa using tested and approved processes.

Under the tech transfer hub system, the WHO and its partners bring in the production know-how, quality control and necessary licences to enable a rapid roll-out.

At the South African hub, the bio-pharmaceutical company Biovac will act as developer; the Afrigen biotechnology firm will be the manufacturer; and a consortium of universities will provide the scientific know-how.

Messenger RNA genetic technology — as used in the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna coronavirus jabs — trains the body to reproduce spike proteins similar to those found on the coronavirus. When exposed to the real virus later, the body recognises the spike proteins and is able to fight them off.

The WHO said it would “continue its assessment of potential mRNA technology donors and will launch subsequent calls for other technologies, such as viral vectors and proteins, in coming months”.

Kate Stegeman of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said that “Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech must immediately share their mRNA technology with the hub so that many more mRNA vaccines can be produced independently by manufacturers in South Africa and more broadly on the African continent”.

‘Great day for Africa’

During a visit to South Africa last month, Macron said he was pushing for the faster transfer of technology to allow poorer countries to start manufacturing their own Covid-19 jabs.

It was a “great day for Africa,” said Macron.

“Each continent must be able to develop and produce its own vaccines, its own medicines,” he added.

“Action for global public goods is the fight that this century must uphold and the fight that cannot wait.”

South Africa accounts for more than 35 percent of Africa’s total recorded Covid-19 cases, and is currently suffering a third wave of infections.

South Africa, along with India, has been pushing for a temporary waiver of vaccines’ intellectual property rights in order to speed up production.

More than 2.6 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been injected in at least 216 territories around the world, according to an AFP count.

In the highest-income countries, accounting for 16 percent of the global population, 74 doses have been injected per 100 inhabitants.

Source: AFP

22, June 2021

Ambazonia War Casualty Report: Southern Zone ⁰

The French Cameroun Senior Divisional Officer for Kupe-Muanenguba, Jean-Marie Tchakui has confirmed the Amba attacks that claimed the lives of two Cameroon government army soldiers and a civil servan in Southwest.

The troops were killed in one incident, in Nguti on Friday, Mr. Jean-Marie Tchakui, told journalists during a press briefing.

“There were three soldiers. Two were killed on the spot,” said Tchakui. “And one was able to escape although he was wounded”,

“Our two soldiers died while on their way back from guarding a factory shut down due to threats by secessionists,” he added.

In the second attack, a delegate from the economy ministry in neighbouring Ndian Division was killed.

“What is certain is that he was murdered. His body was found,” Lawrence Nwafua, Senior Divisional Officer for Ndian Division was quoted as saying during Friday’s situation report.

The War in Ambazonia 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.

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 government 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 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 Chi Prudence Asong

22, June 2021

Amba fighters Kill 3 French Cameroun gendarmes in Ngoketunjia ⁰

Three gendarmes were killed by Ambazonia Restoration Forces in the Northwest region, the latest deaths in a bloody four-year conflict.

The attack on Saturday follows the murders of two soldiers and an official in the neighboring Southwest region in two separate incidents. Five other French Cameroun officials are still in Amba protective custody in Ndian Division.

“Three gendarmes who were at a checkpoint were attacked and killed” by Southern Cameroons Self Defense forces at Ngoketunjia. The French Cameroun civil administrator of the county Quetong Handerson Kongeh confirmed the Amba attacks and added that two of the three killed had been decapitated. A fourth managed to escape.

He said a large number of Amba fighters overwhelmed the gendarmes who “could not defend themselves.”

A bitter independence struggle by English-speaking Cameroonians has been raging in Southern Cameroons since 2017.

British Southern Cameroonians have long complained of being marginalized by the French-speaking majority and 88-year-old President Paul Biya, in power for 38 years. From 2017, their demonstrations devolved into a bloody conflict.

Ambazonia Restoration Forces have extended their violent attacks against police and soldiers to civilians suspected of aiding the Francophone dominated army.

UN and international aid groups say both army troops and Southern Cameroons forces have committed abuses and crimes against civilians.

In the past four years, more than 37,500 people have been killed and over 700,000 have fled their homes to escape the conflict.

By Rita Akana with files

21, June 2021

EU hails ‘progress’ on talks with Iran to restore 2015 nuclear deal ⁰

Top diplomats said Sunday that further progress had been made at talks between Iran and global powers to try to restore a landmark 2015 agreement to contain Iranian nuclear development that was abandoned by the Trump administration. They said it was now up to the governments involved in the negotiations to make political decisions.

It was the first official meeting since Iran’s hard-line judiciary chief won a landslide victory in the country’s presidential election last week.

Some diplomats expressed concern that Iran’s election of Ebrahim Raisi as president could complicate a possible return to the nuclear agreement.

Enrique Mora, the European Union official who chaired the final meeting of the sixth round of talks between Russia, China, Germany, France, Britain and Iran, told reporters that “we are closer to a deal, but we are not still there.”

“We have made progress on a number of technical issues,” Mora added. ”We have now more clarity on technical documents – all of them quite complex – and that clarity allows us to have also a great idea of what the political problems are.”

He did not elaborate.

Top Russian representative Mikhail Ulyanov said the members of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, “took stock of the significant progress made at the Vienna talks, including at the sixth round, and decided to make a break to allow participants to consult with their capitals in preparation for what is supposed to be the final round of negotiations.”

“There are a few controversial points which require political decisions. Apparently diplomatic efforts to find common language have been almost fully exhausted. So the time has come for political decisions,” Ulyanov added.

The nations involved in the negotiations have been trying to resolve the major outstanding issues on how to return the U.S. into the landmark agreement, which then-U.S. President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of unilaterally in 2018. Trump also restored and augmented sanctions to try to force Iran into renegotiating the pact with more concessions.

Ulyanov said after heading back to report on the talks’ results to their respective governments, he expected the diplomats to return for the final round of talks in Vienna in about 10 days and said they could finalize negotiations by mid-July.

“I believe we have all chances to arrive at the final point of our negotiations, maybe even by mid-July, unless something extraordinary and negative happens,” he said.

In a written statement after the talks Sunday, the E3 European senior diplomats urged speedy decision-making in the capitals involved in the talks.

“Delegations will now travel to capitals in order to consult with their leadership,” the diplomats wrote without giving their names, as is customary. “We urge all sides to return to Vienna and be ready to conclude a deal. The time for decision is fast approaching.”

Iran’s deputy foreign minister for political affairs said Sunday before the meeting that “we think almost all the agreement documents are ready,” according to semi-official Iranian news agency Mehr.

“Of the main issues that remain disputed, some have been resolved and some remain, but it has taken on a very precise form and it is quite clear what the dimensions of these disputes are,” Seyyed Abbas Araghchi said.

The U.S. did not have a representative at the table in Vienna. However, President Joe Biden’s administration has signaled willingness to rejoin the Iran deal under terms that would broadly see the United States scale back sanctions and Iran return to its 2015 nuclear commitments. A U.S. delegation in Vienna is taking part in indirect talks with Iran, with diplomats from the other world powers acting as go-betweens.

Sunday’s meeting was overshadowed by the election of Raisi in Iran, which puts hard-liners firmly in control of the government at a time when Tehran is enriching uranium at its highest levels ever, though still short of weapons-grade levels. Tensions remain high with Iran and both the U.S. and Israel, which is believed to have carried out a series of attacks targeting Iranian nuclear sites as well as assassinating the scientist who created its military atomic program decades earlier.

Raisi is the first Iranian president sanctioned by the U.S. government even before entering office, over his involvement in the 1988 mass executions, as well as his time as the head of Iran’s internationally criticized judiciary – one of the world’s top executioners.

In Jerusalem, new Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned Sunday that Raisi’s election as Iranian president was “the last chance for the world powers to wake up before returning to the nuclear agreement and to understand who they’re doing business with.”

“These guys are murderers, mass murderers: a regime of brutal hangmen must never be allowed to have weapons of mass destruction that will enable it to not kill thousands, but millions,” he said.

Israel has long stated that it opposes arch-enemy Iran’s nuclear program and said it would prevent Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons. Iran insists its nuclear program is intended for peaceful purposes.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said Sunday he hoped the election of the new Iranian president would not be an obstacle to reaching a deal in Vienna.

“We are very close. We have been working for two months,” Borrell told reporters during a visit in the Lebanese capital of Beirut. “So I hope that the results of the elections is not going to be the last obstacle that will ruin the negotiation process.”

(AP)

21, June 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Ambazonia forces given new directives ⁰

Restoration Forces: Our Responsibility in Battle

My Dear Restoration Forces,

The people of Southern Cameroon and the Interim Government of Ambazonia salute your courage and resilience in defending our homeland from the invading and occupying forces of La Republique du Cameroun. For nearly five years, these forces have committed heinous atrocities on our people and property. They have burned over 521 of our villages, killed over 20,000 of our people, including women and children. Their day of reckoning is looming as your successes on the battlefield over the last weeks are demonstrating. Your resilience is proof that nothing will stop us from achieving our collective goal. This time, it is total independence of our homeland or resistance forever.

Self-defense is a right, and it is a core component of our liberation struggle. As you continue to discharge the enormous duty of protecting our people and reclaim our land, the Interim Government of Ambazonia wants to counsel that you must observe international law at all times. War is a dangerous undertaking, but it has rules of engagement. We must achieve our goals of freedom whilst staying on the right side of international law.

The support and adoration you have received thus far for your work are well earned. But recently, there have been disturbing videos, images and messages on social media from the conflict in our country. These are the hallmarks of a regime on its last legs. Local militias loyal to the regime in Yaoundé have been carrying out atrocities, and they intend to pin some of these criminalities on you. So, you must be vigilant and not duplicate their savagery and cruelty. The Interim Government condemns atrocities like beheadings, kidnappings, extrajudicial killings, and torture robustly. As self-defense and pro-independence forces, you must not engage in any of these activities. However, we must understand that there will be consequences for our actions one day. POWs must be treated humanely at all times as they have rights that are protected under international law.

The Interim Government wants to be very clear that our Country Sundays must remain in place till further notice. However, as you continue to make significant advances on the ground, your Interim Government will pursue diplomatic avenues to help achieve our goal. We call on the UN to commission a UN Security Council Mandated Fact-Finding Mission to investigate the atrocities during this conflict. Such a mission will curb the loss of lives and bring this war to an end.

To all in Ground Zero, the Interim Government of Ambazonia urges you to persevere, for victory is coming our way soon. Therefore, remain focused as soon, we will be free at last.

Thank You,

God bless the Federal Republic of Ambazonia

Dabney Yerima

21, June 2021

The implications of French Cameroun’s huge debt burden for the Ambazonia struggle ⁰

The Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime recently revealed that $333 million of the money borrowed from China will go to the Israeli-trained Bridgade d’Intervention Rapide (BIR) known for its ruthlessness, inhumanity, and rank brutality in Southern Cameroons.

Cameroon Concord News understands that all the huge loans contracted from China have been channeled to three projects: seaport, electricity dam, and pipe water from Sanaga to Yaoundé) in French Cameroun which are all in Beti-Ewondo areas.

Our senior political man pointed out that the project allocation scheme strengthens the now public knowledge that the Betis are actively continuing to lay down the infrastructural foundation for their eventual Fang Republic secession. “One can see why they are so eager to keep President Paul Biya in power, even as a corpse. They need him there so that they complete all these projects” he added.

We of the Concord Group have taken interest in this Sino-Biya Affair because this massive loan has to be repaid. This begs the question but from which resources? The answer is simple: It can only be from resources of various kinds from Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia. Correspondingly, this also explains the reason for the war against the people of Southern Cameroons and why Biya and his French Cameroun political elites are not interested in any end to the war and negotiations.

The political and economic engineering of the Fang Republic has been designed to stifle both the Douala seaport and the Douala airport. Once the Kribi seaport is completed, ships will be diverted to Kribi and so too the Customs headquarters in Douala. Already, they are staging televised debate making the case that the Douala seaport is silting and does not allow big ships. The Douala seaport will gradually become redundant and die off. The Bamilekes will now import and export products from Kribi which of course will be more expensive for them and the business community in French Cameroun.

In the same way, Nsimalen will be decreed the main international airport. Flights to and from Douala will gradually reduce and eventually peter out. The airport is going to be allowed to fall into a state of disrepair, declared unsafe for international aviation, and abandoned to rot, and allowed only for occasional use by the military. The Bamis, the Sawas and Bassas are not seeing these entire Beti-Ewondo diabolic harsh ploy and they are still maintaining a kind of silence of the lamb instead of engaging in necessary counter activism.

About half of the population in Douala, the chief city in the Littoral region in French speaking Cameroun is threatened with famine; inflation is at 300% and Cameroon as a nation is effectively bankrupt.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

20, June 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: If only they had listened! ⁰

Nobody in the Cameroonian army had ever thought that the country’s military would be humiliated by a hastily assembled ragtag group of fighters when the Southern Cameroons crisis started.

The government, its sycophants and spin doctors had clearly said that the mission to the two English-speaking regions of the country would be swift and without casualties on the military’s side.

The government had floated the idea that the country’s military efforts would be bolstered by the Israeli-trained Bridgade d’Intervention Rapide (BIR) known for its ruthlessness, inhumanity, and rank brutality. All this propaganda was intended to strike fear into the minds of ordinary Southern Cameroonian citizens who simply wanted their government to listen to them.

Of course, it did not take long for the country’s military to get to work. Whole villages were burned down, sometimes with the elderly in them; young, unarmed men and women were killed in the centers of most towns in Southern Cameroons; many fighters who only had hunting rifles, were brought down by the bullets of well-trained snippers; and civilians were caught in the middle of a situation they knew nothing about, with many running into the nearest jungles to spare themselves the pain and agony that their own government was inflicting on them.

The population’s cry was so loud. Even the deaf could hear. The killing and maiming of ordinary civilians were really disheartening. Material destruction was revolting, and the Southern Cameroonian Diaspora could not be indifferent to the desperation and wailing of its people and this resulted in massive fund-raising campaigns across the globe for the purchase of arms. This was indeed the game changer and it brought much pain and premature death to many young army soldiers.

The country’s government was not listening despite calls from many governments and organizations around the world for a negotiated and peaceful resolution of a conflict that should have never existed.

Within the country, many people had called on the government to listen to the people and address the core issues that were causing the pain in the two English-speaking regions of the country. Honorable Joseph Wirba, a Member of Parliament for Kumbo at the time, had addressed the Parliament, highlighting the shortcomings of the current system of governance.

Instead of taking him seriously, he was treated as an outcast and many death threats were sent to him just to intimidate him. He had informed the government that if prompt action was not taken, when the lid will go off the pressure pot, the country will never be the same again. His prophecy is gradually taking shape.

Out of the country, the Pope called on the country’s president to prioritize peace over war. He invited the country’s president, Paul Biya, to the Vatican where he pleaded with the senile president to preempt a disastrous armed conflict, but Mr. Biya and his collaborators were already beating the drums of war and the Pope’s wise counsel fell on deaf ears.

The European Union, excluding France, urged the government of Cameroon to take an objective and peaceful approach to the issue, but their efforts did not pay off, even when the American Administration and Canadian government had added their voices to that of the European Union. Mr. Biya had prioritized war over peace and he felt only a swift and brutal military action could restore the country’s broken peace.

Today, the story is different. The pain is excruciating. Some 47,000 Cameroonians – both soldiers and civilians – have lost their lives in a war that could have been avoided if the Biya government had carefully listened to the voices of wisdom and to the English-speaking minority to gain a better understanding of the issues.

On the contrary, the government clogged its ears with arrogance, only listening to a bunch of desperate political sycophants whose mastery of the art and science of flattery and lies-telling is second to none.

The political sycophants are milking the country dry. They want to perpetuate their stay in the corridors of power. They understand that only lies-telling can keep them where they are. They love the perks that come with power and they will stop at nothing when it comes to manufacturing a beautiful lie for the Head of State, who himself, is completely and unfortunately out of touch with his country’s political and economic realities.

The fighting is already in its fourth year. The hunting rifles have been replaced with more sophisticated killing machines. The once formidable BIR has been demystified and many of its members are biting the dust in the jungles of Southern Cameroons.

More than 3,000 soldiers have been killed. More than 2,000 army soldiers have been maimed and over 1,000 cannot be accounted for by a regime that has not got the interest of its people at heart.

The last two months have been very challenging to the country’s military. It has lost many of its members, with their weapons falling into enemy hands. The use of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) against the military has been very effective. Many soldiers have been killed, heavy equipment disabled, and thousands of soldiers demoralized.

Today, many soldiers are being killed like animals by Southern Cameroonian fighters who have adopted new and innovative strategies that are proving to be very effective. The military’s uniforms and protective gears are being used by these fighters, making it hard for government forces to make a difference between them and their enemies.

Last week, many soldiers were blown up in Otu in Manyu Division by Southern Cameroonian fighters and their protective gear and weapons fell into enemy hands. These weapons are being used today to kill more soldiers and maybe to harass ordinary civilians.

Yesterday in Bamali in the Northwest Region, officers of the Bridgade d’Intervention Rapide (BIR) were humiliated and killed in a disgraceful manner by determined Southern Cameroonian fighters who happily shared videos of their exploits with the world.

In Indian Division in the Southwest Region, angry Southern Cameroonian fighters beheaded a soldier and put his head and legs on display for all to see. Thousands of soldiers have disappeared, with many buried in the jungles of Southern Cameroons by heavily armed Southern Cameroonian fighters.

Cameroon has been caught in a spiral of self-destruction because of the arrogance of its leaders. In Cameroon, once you get appointed, it implies you are the most intelligent person and you immediately stop paying heed to wise counsel. Being a minister in Cameroon implies you are omniscient and omnipotent. You are, indeed, a repository of wisdom and nobody can advise you. This is a mentality of the past and this is what is breeding a real disaster in Cameroon.

If the government had listened, we would have saved so many lives. If the government had listened, Cameroon would not have become a stream of blood. If the government had listened, development dollars would not have been diverted to the purchase of arms. If only the government had listened, the peace Cameroon was known for would not have been shattered. If only they had listened!

Honorable Joseph Wirba and many others had advised them of the disaster ahead and they are now seeing it clearly. Many young soldiers are today leaving their lives in the artificial killing fields of Cameroon created by their own government. When will the government swallow its pride and call for a genuine negotiation so that the blood that is flowing in the two English-speaking regions of the country can be stopped?

As it stands, the government will never win this war. It must look for a way to safe its face. If it really wants to keep Cameroon one and indivisible, then it must stop coming up with cosmetic solutions for a situation that requires that the bitter truth be told, and a new future designed for a country that has been blessed with everything.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman/Editor-In-Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group