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23, January 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Hundreds missing in Fako County after raid by BIR ⁰

Hundreds of Southern Cameroonians are feared missing after elements of the Rapid Intervention Battalion raided Tiko, Mutengene and Limbe late on Thursday in a move to protect visiting football teams participating in the African Nations Championship.

The BIR soldiers arrived Fako County on military trucks and started shooting into the air, causing people to flee and arresting dozens, witnesses said.

The Francophone dominated army targeted popular neighborhoods including residential areas in Tiko, Likomba, Mutengene and Limbe and in the outskirts of Buea – where more than a thousand Buea University students are said to reside.

Territorial Administration minister, Paul Atanga Nji said on Tuesday that the Biya Francophone government will take tough measures against Southern Cameroons Self Defense Forces who killed security forces.

The Minister of Defense Joseph Beti Assomo also said there was credible intelligence that Ambazonia Restoration Forces were planning to sabotage critical telecoms infrastructure to sabotage and disrupt the Total African Nations Championship (CHAN) 2020 football tournament in Limbe.

Meanwhile, the Vice President of the exiled Southern Cameroons Interim Government, Dabney Yerima condemned the so-called French Cameroun “callez callez” and has reportedly ordered the Ambazonia Intelligence Service to carry out a full audit of the Biya regime recent action in the Fako County.

Residents living in the Likomba area told Cameroon Concord News that they heard gunfire late on Thursday, and that the Cameroon government military operation lasted for more than five hours.

By Rita Akana in Buea

22, January 2021

Zimbabwe boss accuses Cameroon of WITCHCRAFT after dead bat is found on pitch of African Nations Championship opener ⁰

ZIMBABWE have accused Cameroon of WITCHCRAFT after a dead bat was found on the pitch of their African Nations Championship opener.

The discovery was made before the game in Yaounde, which tournament hosts Cameroon won 1-0.

Zimbabwe boss Zdravko Logarusic accused Cameroon of WITCHCRAFT after finding a dead bat on the pitch.

A photograph, via Goal, showed Zimbabwe’s Croatian boss Zdravko Logarusic kneeling next to the bat’s carcass, which was on the centre spot of the halfway line.

The tactician had a piece of paper next to the bat which read ‘Witchcraft in Cameroon’.

Whether it was intentional or not, Zimbabwe ended up suffering defeat at the Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo in front of Fifa president Gianni Infantino.

Cameroon’s Salomon Banga popped up 18 minutes from time to score a winning overhead kick to send the quarter-full stadium of home fans into raptures.

But despite accusing Cameroon of witchcraft before kick-off, Logarusic was upbeat at the final whistle.

The Zimbabwe gaffer told Caf: “We will try our best to see how things go.

“We have tried our best as the technical team to give most players in the top flight a chance to prove themselves.

“We will certainly try our best. We need to improve in every area of the game and hopefully we will be in better shape as a team.

Source: The Sun

22, January 2021

Biya Francophone regime aims to curb Amba attacks on telecoms infrastructure ⁰

Cameroonian authorities say they are on high alert following threats by separatists to sabotage telecommunications infrastructure and disrupt the Total African Nations Championship (CHAN) 2020 football tournament in Limbe in the restive English-speaking part of the country, ITWeb reported, citing a memo sent to military chiefs in the region.

Minister of Defence Joseph Beti Assomo said there was credible intelligence that “separatist terrorists” were planning to sabotage critical telecoms infrastructure.

Source: Telecompaper

22, January 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Atanga Nji vows to respond to killing of security forces ⁰

Cameroon’s Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji said on Tuesday the government will take tough measures against separatist rebels who killed security forces in the country’s volatile English-speaking region of Northwest.

“These people who killed security forces and innocent civilians will be tracked down in their latest hideouts. In their own interest, they should surrender to the police and gendarmerie before we come for them. There will be no escape,” Nji told reporters while visiting a military checkpoint in Matazem that was attacked by armed separatists.

At least, 12 members of Cameroonian security guards have died in attacks by separatists since the start of January, according to security reports. The number of civilian casualties is not known.

“The good news is that some of the assailants and accomplices of the attacks have been arrested. What is going on now is the last of the resistance because the terrorists have lost strength and speed,” Nji added who regularly refers to separatists as “terrorists.”

Armed separatists have freshly intensified attacks in the region that was relatively calm in December, according to security sources.

Armed separatists and government forces have been embroiled in an over three-year-old bloody conflict in Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions of Northwest and Southwest where separatists want to establish an independent nation they call “Ambazonia.”

Source: Xinhuanet

21, January 2021

Biden should give Biya 48 hours to step down ⁰

US President Joe Biden is aware that the Biya Francophone regime in Yaoundé has a history of reckless aggression against its own citizens and particularly the English speaking minority. Biden is also well informed of the Biya’s regime deep hatred for free speech, democracy and the rule of law and has for more than two decades helped French sponsored groups linked with French business interest to destabilize the Central African Republic.

We of the Concord News Group are of the opinion that US President Biden should begin his foreign policy project in Africa precisely in La Republique du Cameroun where an 87-year-old dictator is slaughtering his own citizens in great numbers.

President Biden should follow the George Bush example that brought freedom and dignity to the Iraqi people by issuing an ultimatum to Paul Biya and his gang of Beti Ewondo army generals to step aside within 48 hours or face military action.

A genocide being perpetuated by Mr Biya’s military is going on in the English part of the country now known as Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia. To stop it, the current US administration should be decisive. The level of barbarism by the Francophone dominated military and pro Cameroon government militias as they pursue their war and scorch earth policy to completely annihilate English speaking Cameroonians is alarming.

So far, as a result of the on-going Cameroon government military campaign in the English speaking regions, an estimated 20,000 people have been killed, over 280 towns and villages have been burnt down, over 120,000 people are seeking refuge in Nigeria and further afield, over 1million people are internally displaced or living in bushes and over 3,000 persons incarcerated in prisons and detention facilities. It is also reported that over 4.5. Million people are at risk of famine. One thing we know for sure is that Mr Biya and his military and private militia will be held accountable for these crimes.

Reacting to the sad situation in the former British Southern Cameroons, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the United States Congress introduced on 8 September 2020, Resolution 684 on the crisis in the Cameroonian regions of the North-West and South-West and was adopted on 1 January 2021.

Resolution 684 condemned the abuses committed by state security forces and armed groups in the northwest and southwest regions of Cameroon, and affirmed that the United States continues to hold the Government of Cameroon accountable for safeguarding the security and constitutional rights of all its citizens, regardless of region, religion, or political opinion. In addition, it urges all parties to the conflict in Cameroon, the Government of Cameroon, U.S. foreign relations entities, and members of the international community to take specific steps to resolve the ongoing civil conflict in Cameroon.

The U.S. Congress was also critical of France’s action in the conflict. “…France maintains considerable interests in Cameroon, including significant economic and security cooperation, but has not sufficiently used its influence to stem atrocities committed in English-speaking regions or to support stronger international action to seek a resolution to the conflict,” Resolution 684 said.

While not exonerating Southern Cameroons Self-Defense Forces, Cameroon Concord News Group also know that Mr Biya’s government is doing everything through its private militia (popularly known as Atanga Nji Boys) to commit atrocities and link them to Southern Cameroons self-defense groups, so as to evoke international sympathy. Only an independent fact-finding mission can establish the facts and thus far, Mr. Biya’s government with French government support has resisted all requests by independent humanitarian organizations to visit English speaking Cameroon.

In passing resolution 684, the US Congress abundantly made the case for unleashing US forces against the regime in Yaoundé. Human Rights Watch confirmed that nothing has been heard from deportees that were transported by two known flights from the United States to Cameroon, on October 13 and November 11. The flights reportedly carried 57 and 37 Cameroonians respectively.

All peaceful efforts to put an end to the crisis in the English-speaking region, which is now in its fifth year, have failed again and again and again because the international community is not dealing with peaceful men.

President Biden needs to tear down the apparatus of terror in Yaoundé that continues to kill, girls and women continue to be raped, villages continue to be burnt down, and a force of occupation continues to occupy and terrorizes a people for speaking the English language.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

21, January 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Abuses on both sides have made talks difficult ⁰

The United Nations recently called for an investigation after Reuters reported that Cameroonian soldiers opened fire on fleeing civilians during a weekend raid, killing up to nine people.

Three witnesses told Reuters that soldiers entered the village of Mautu in the South West region – at the heart of a separatist insurgency – raided homes and shot civilians as they ran for cover under nearby cocoa bushes.

The Cameroonian military denies wrongdoing. It said it was conducting a raid on separatist positions when it came under fire and had killed what it labelled “terrorists”.

“Deeply concerned & saddened by the attack on Mautu … that claimed the lives of many civilians. I call for an investigation into this attack,” said the head of the U.N.’s Central Africa office, François Louncény Fall, on Twitter.

Britain also expressed concern.

“There must be an urgent and impartial investigation, and the perpetrators must be brought to justice,” the British High Commission in Yaounde said on Twitter.

For four years the army has clashed with Anglophone separatist fighters among the forests and cocoa farms of western Cameroon. Over 3,000 people have died in the violence, which has intensified since the start of this year.

The witnesses said they saw nine dead people, including a child and an old woman. None of the dead was a separatist fighter, they said.

Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said it was treating four people from the village, all with gunshot wounds: a young child, two elderly patients and a young woman.

International players have long called for peace. Abuses on both sides have made talks difficult.

Sunday’s attack comes as three soldiers face trial for their alleged involvement in the killing of 21 civilians last year in a village in the North West region.

Source: Reuters

21, January 2021

French doctors unsure of Covid-19 vaccine effectiveness ⁰

Health professionals in France are concerned about the effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines on their patients whose immune systems are weakened, for instance by chemotherapy since clinical trials for the vaccines did not focus on immunocompromised patients.

Like many people with immune systems weakened by disease or chemotherapy, Delphine welcomes the idea of a new Covid-19 vaccine.

Since March of last year, Delphine and her seven-year-old daughter have mostly kept to themselves, avoiding social occasions with friends and loved ones. She’s now eager to regain some measure of normalcy. “The vaccine brings hope, to protect us and protect those who are close to us,” Delphine explains.

But health professionals worry about the effectiveness of the vaccines on immunocompromised people. Specialists estimate that vaccines are only about 30% effective for cancer patients.

While the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines have so far proven over 90% effective in the general population, immunocompromised patients have been overlooked in clinical trials.

Source: France 24

21, January 2021

Joe Biden signs 17 executive orders in first move as US President ⁰

As Joe Biden entered the White House as the the 46th President of the United States, he started his term by signing 17 executive orders, mainly undoing Donald Trump’s legacy. These concerned immigration, the Paris Climate Deal, the WHO, and mandating mask-wearing in places under federal authority.

20, January 2021

At least 43 African migrants drown off Libya, UN agencies say ⁰

A “tragic” shipwreck in the Mediterranean Sea off Libya’s coast killed at least 43 migrants bound for Europe, the U.N. migration agency said Wednesday.

The International Organization for Migration said the shipwreck that took place a day earlier was the first maritime disaster in 2021 involving migrants seeking better lives in Europe.

The IOM said coastal security in Libya’s western town of Zuwara rescued 10 migrants and brought them to shore. It said the dead were all men from Western African nations, according to survivors.

It said the boat left the western city of Zawiya early Tuesday and capsized a few hours later after its engine stopped working amid rough seas.

Libya, which descended into chaos following the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi, has emerged as a major transit point for African and Arab migrants fleeing war and poverty to Europe.

Most migrants make the perilous journey in ill-equipped and unsafe rubber boats.

Source: AP

20, January 2021

Joe Biden sworn in as US President with bold speech citing fight against white supremacism ⁰

Joe Biden called on Americans to overcome divisions as he was sworn into office on Wednesday as the 46th President of the United States. Biden inherits a confluence of crises and his inauguration comes at a time of national tumult and uncertainty, two weeks after rioters opposing his election stormed the US Capitol.

At 78, Biden becomes the oldest president in US history while Harris becomes the first female vice president, the first Black woman and the first Asian-American to hold the office.

More than 25,000 National Guard troops from across the country have been deployed to the US capital, supporting federal and district agencies, for the inauguration.

The FBI has assisted the Defence Department in vetting National Guard troops deployed in Washington DC amid fears of an insider attack following the January 6 storming of the US Capitol by supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump.

Trump was not present for the swearing-in. However, former US presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton attended with their wives, Michelle Obama, Laura Bush and Hillary Clinton.

The Covid-19 pandemic has led to some restrictions. However, a number of leading performing artists, including Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez and Tom Hanks took the stage during the ceremony.

Source: FRANCE 24