Three French Cameroun gendarmes have reportedly been taken hostage by French backed rebels fighting the legitimate government in the Central African Republic. Local media says the incident took place on December 26, 2020 in a village in Adamaoua, near the border with the mineral-rich but poverty-stricken nation that has been unstable since independence 60 years ago.

Cameroon Concord News gathered that the rebels have demanded the sum of 15 million FCFA from each of the French Cameroun security agents.

The three gendarmes were put on mission to strengthen border security in the Adamaoua region when they  were ambushed by elements of the rebel faction loyal to General Abbas Sidiki, the leader of Central African Republic’s so-called “3R” (Return, Claim and Rehabilitation).

We understand the three French Camerounian gendarmes are currently being held in Ngaoui, a village in the Adamaoua region near the Central African Republic.

The group that is receiving financial and material support from France in its war against the regime in Bangui claimed via an audio message that “if the sum is paid, the gendarmes will be released but without their weapons or their vehicle.”

The 3R militia is the largest armed group in the Central African Republic. Its leader, Bi Sidi Souleymane alias Sidiki Abbas, is a Cameroonian who has presented himself on the CEMAC political space as the defender of the Fulani people.

In August 2020, the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions against General Sidiki Abbas. According to the US authorities, the 3R group has killed, tortured, raped and displaced thousands of civilians since 2015 and Mr. Souleymane himself is said to have participated in these atrocities.

General Sidiki Abbas is also on the UN sanctions list.

By Rita Akana

Thirsty-seven people died in a road accident in Cameroon early Sunday with 19 others seriously injured, according to local authorities.

The accident took place in Ndikinimeki of Mbam-et-Inoubou division in central Cameroon. A 70-seat bus oversped and crashed into a parked truck, according to Absalom Woloa Monono, prefect of Mbam-et-Inoubou.

“The bus then lost control and ran violently over Nemale Bridge and tumbled into the stream and stopped on the bank of the stream,” Monono told Xinhua on phone, adding that the 19 injured have been evacuated to a local hospital for treatment.

Police are investigating the cause of the crash. Such accidents in Cameroon are often linked to the poor state of roads and drivers’ ignorance.

The Ministry of Transport estimates that 1,500 people die in road accidents each year in Cameroon.

Source: Xinhuanet

After losing more than two thousand soldiers in a battle that will not be ending anytime soon, the corrupt and incompetent Yaoundé crime syndicate has announced that it will be recruiting thousands of poor and young Cameroonians who will be unleashed on the Southern Cameroonian population once they complete their 3-month sandwich military training.

The announcement was made last week when the Yaoundé government also discovered that thousands of its hastily trained and poorly paid soldiers had jumped ship once they got sent to fight seasoned Southern Cameroonian fighters in the dense equatorial jungles of Southern Cameroons.

Sources conversant with the country’s military have informed Cameroon Concord News Group that some 5,000 Cameroonian soldiers have simply vanished into thin air.

Initially, the unreliable and disrespected government informed parents of many soldiers who have disappeared that they were still battling insurgents in Southern Cameroons, but the truth started emerging when soldiers who survived some of the tough battles in the jungle sent videos of their friends who had been killed in battle to the families of the victims.

In the Mamfe jungle, lots of gruesome things took place and surviving soldiers are still suffering from post post-stress traumatic disorder because of the inhuman cruelty they noticed.

The jungle between Eyumojock and Nsanarakati in Manyu Division holds huge secrets whose details are only known by Southern Cameroonian fighters.

More than 20 Yaoundé soldiers are simply not resting in peace in a mass grave in which they were buried alive by Southern Cameroonian fighters.

These innocent soldiers were hastily dispatched to that part of Manyu Division without sound knowledge of the region or the terrain. They were surprised and rapidly overwhelmed and theirs became the kingdom of death.

Their remains may never be discovered and this is hurting their parents who have been having nightmares. Without proper closure, families of these soldiers will continue to ask questions, though each time they ask questions, military officials only threaten them with imprisonment.

In Akwaya, Otu, Ekondo-titi, Wum, Kumbo, Batibo and many parts of the northwest, army soldiers have been killed and their bodies dumped enabling wild animals to have a massive party. Human bones litter the forests of Southern Cameroons and it is rumored that those bones belong to young army soldiers who met their death in really unfortunate circumstances.

The war the government of Yaoundé thought it would wrap up in two weeks has gone beyond three years and thousands of army soldiers have disappeared.

But not all are dead. Some simply defected while others were aided by Southern Cameroonians for them to desert a military they described as bereft of a purpose.

Many of those who have deserted are in countries such as Gabon, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, United Arab Emirates and France where they are seeking to rebuild their lives.

Most of them argue that they cannot die for an old dying man whose objective is to keep power, adding that the war against Southern Cameroonians was baseless and that the conflict could have been settled through genuine dialogue.

But the fighting will not be over anytime soon. Some members of government and army generals have successfully established a war economy and they are in no rush to see the fighting come to an end.

Atanga Nji, the country’s territorial administration minister; Joseph Beti Assomo, the country’s defense minister and the architect of the war; and army generals in charge of the war are determined to prolong the agony of the population.

They have been unleashing poorly trained militiamen on innocent civilians just to intimidate the population. Some of the soldiers are even child soldiers from poor homes who desperately need a job just to help their poor families. Unfortunately, many of them hardly go back home alive!

 The government has been overwhelmed by the number of body bags returning to East Cameroon and the deafening grumbling of the parents is making government officials to be ill at ease.

But the damage done to the military will have to continue for a long time.  After four long years of prayers, the Russian killing machines are finally in most towns of Southern Cameroons.

There is total excitement in the jungles of Southern Cameroons where most insurgents are taking refuge. They now know that they have the fire power to counter any action by the Yaoundé military.

Southern Cameroonian leaders had started negotiating with Russian military officials in January 2020 after noticing that Western countries were in no rush to end the conflict that was triggered by the marginalization of the country’s English-speaking minority.

The talks had progressed to a point where both parties had to meet in Moscow in June 2020, but the Coronavirus pandemic that has spread pain and suffering across the globe, upended their plans.

Things were put on hold as most countries struggled to get out of the grip of the dangerous pandemic. With things looking up and a vaccine manufactured, both parties will soon be meeting to finalize arrangements.  

Russia wants to have a foothold in the Central African region, it needs oil and diamond and its need for a huge market for its product is increasing becoming overwhelming.

Southern Cameroonians are capable of facilitating Russian entry into the huge economic block by destabilizing Cameroon which is the engine of the region.

For now, Russians have a foot in the door in the Central African Republic by supporting the country’s current government in its efforts to flush out French-backed rebels led by former president Francois Bozize, and with Southern Cameroonian leaders willing to play ball with the oil-thirsty Russians who want to elbow the French out of the sub-region, it is clear that the dynamics in Southern Cameroons will be changing for good.

The corrupt Yaoundé government knows it has a lot on its plate. It understands Russians are simply not joking and it is scared of the alliance between the Russians and Southern Cameroonians.

It is on these grounds that it has launched a massive military recruitment to beef up security in its eastern border with the Central African Republic and to continue killing Southern Cameroonians in the Biya-owned killing fields in the country’s two English-speaking regions.

The year ahead holds a lot of suffering for Cameroonians. The incompetent Yaoundé government is still not in the mood to negotiate a way out of the four-year-old conflict and Southern Cameroonians are not yet ready to throw in the towel.

More blood is in the forecast and those Russian killing machines that have been thrown into the mix will leave many military mothers in tears.

Cameroon is really in for a bleak future. It’s dying (mis)leader, Paul Biya, is prepared to take the entire country with him into his grave.

Despite calls by the international community for a negotiated settlement, Mr. Biya and the hawks running the show strongly hold that a military victory is in the cards, but how true is that when Russian guns have made their way into the country? Let’s wait and see.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

The wife of the leader of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government, Lilian Ayuk, has bluntly dismissed as irresponsible rumors on social media that she had secretly sued for divorced.

The Southern Cameroons iron lady also said that the article was not even worth reading as it was totally bereft of any modicum of truth.

Speaking exclusively to the Cameroon Concord News Group chairman, Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai, on Sunday, December 27, over the phone, President Julius Ayuk Tabe’s wife sounded a note of caution to all Southern Cameroonians, urging them to be vigilant, as the social media fake news is being spread by the Yaounde government in the hope that it might distract them and destabilize their jailed leader.

The objective of such a conglomeration of bunkum is to sow confusion among Southern Cameroonians with a view to stifling the justified struggle for independence.

Lilian Ayuk stated that the corrupt Yaoundé government, composed mainly of ancestors and con men, is unquestionably behind the slander with the objective of damaging the sterling reputation of Mr. Julius Ayuk Tabe.

The dissemination of such misleading and grossly false information could be damaging if Southern Cameroonians took their eyes off the cardinal objective  of the struggle.

She urged Southern Cameroonians to shun such rumor, adding that they must stay focused as victory is within reach.

A fake facebook user had stupidly claimed that Mrs. Ayuk Tabe had sued to divorce her husband, President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe.

This fake news will be the reason why Southern Cameroonians will continue to stand solidly behind their president and his lovely wife until key objectives are achieved.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Cameroon rights groups and activists say they are gratified that for the first time since 2016, parents no longer give children and teenagers toy guns as gifts during end-of-year feasts. In 2016, rights groups launched a campaign to ban toy guns, mostly imported from China, saying they lead to violence. Alternative gifts for children include educational electronic toys.

An educational electronic toy in the form of an electronic workbook helps five children in Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde, learn the letters of the alphabet and how to recognize and spell words. Six-year-old Christina Marfaw says her parents gave her the toy as a gift for the New Year.

“It is a touch and teach workbook that our parents bought for us,” said Marfaw.

“The book is asking us to find something that begins with the letter ‘R.’

In the past it was normal for many parents to give toy guns as gifts to little children like Marfaw.

Educational toys like this one have replaced toys like guns, knives and military vehicles that were in high demand and widely used as gifts for Cameroon’s children.   

In 2016, Cameroon rights groups and activists started advocating for a ban on toy guns, most of which were imported from China. China is the largest producer and distributor of toys, especially toy guns, in Cameroon.

 Last year, during the deepening Anglophone separatist crisis and Boko Haram terrorism on the northern border with Nigeria, the rights groups began urging Cameroonians not to buy children toy guns.   

Activist and gender expert Irene Chinje is among those who pushed to stop toy gun sales. She says it breeds violence. 

“It signifies violence. Children do not know the difference between it being a toy gun and the significance it carries,” Chinje said. “They just see it as a sign of bravery for them, and so if they can handle the toy gun, then they are encouraged in the future to handle the real weapon with bullets. They can use it in any careless manner. We do not have to encourage children with guns as toys. If we have to stop violence, we start from that youthful age. We must make the children understand that it is something which could in the future impact something very harmful. We have realized even people of the underworld use the toy guns, but you cannot identify it because you do not even have the courage to look at it when you see them stand before you.” 

Chinje says societies have ethics, so people should avoid toys that seem to encourage violence and consider ethics in their choice of toys. 

She says she is happy that Cameroonians are also avoiding toys that promote gender bias.

“We do not give girls those doll babies that we used to give because it makes them feel that they are girls, they have to cater for babies,” Chinje said. “So, no. We are trying to give what is more gender balanced to children”

Chinje and some activists have been visiting markets to express their appreciation to Cameroonians for not buying toy guns. 

Twenty-four-year-old Kum Yannick, a student at the university of Buea, is in a supermarket in Yaounde to buy gifts for his teenage siblings. He says he wants to buy and share books and toys that promote peace.

“As the new year 2021 is approaching, the wish of all Cameroonians is that peace should return in the troubled regions, and what I have to share is a message of goodwill and love, which I think the Bible is the key from which I shall have all these messages that I am going to share,” Yannick said.

Cameroon has always blamed the over-involvement of teenagers in crime on what they watch on TV, and some there say the sharing of toy guns as gifts promotes violence, especially during New Year’s celebrations.   

The crossover from an old to a new year is always widely celebrated in Cameroon, with Christians, Muslims and animists sharing gifts and exchanging visits. This year, gifts that promote violence are not found in the markets. 

Source: VOA

What was almost impossible last year is gradually becoming a reality. The adage that the only constant in life is change is gradually becoming true in Cameroon.

Southern Cameroonian fighters have been calling on the Diaspora to invest in Russian killing machines which will enable them to manufacture nightmares for army soldiers who have been killing innocent civilians in Southern Cameroons. These calls have not fallen on deaf ears. The dynamics are gradually changing.

After four years of crying, God seems to have answered their prayers. Russian killing machines have finally made their way into Southern Cameroons and the targets of these machines are known.

According to a Southern Cameroonian fighter who is in possession of those dangerous weapons, having that gun is like obtaining a visa to Heaven. There total jubilation in the various camps and this has boosted the morales of the fighters, he said.

“I cannot find words to express my joy. These ‘Ekelebes’ (soldiers) have been parading all over our region with their superior weapons just to intimidate us. We will now match fire with fire. Will bring them down just as they too have been bringing us down”

The fighter who met with the Cameroon Concord News Group’s correspondent in Kumba in an undisclosed location said the weapons were already in many parts of the Northwest and Southwest regions.

He added that the Mamfe jungle was providing much-needed cover and that had, indeed, helped them to transport the Russian ‘nightmare’ to many parts of Southern Cameroons.

“The weapons are confidence-inspiring. They are brand new and the boys are all elated. These are weapons that will make a huge impact once they hit their target,” the elated fighter said, adding that “we will chop down those ‘ekelebes’ like dry firewood.”

The Southern Cameroons relationship with Russia seems to be yielding some fruits. It had been reported that some Southern Cameroonian groups had been in touch with Russia and Russian support in all forms has been at the center of their discussions with Russian officials who have been sympathetic toward the Southern Cameroonian cause.

It should be recalled that Russia wants to have a strong foothold in the Central African region and its support of the Central African government against the French who want to bring back their incompetent lackey, François Bozize, to power may be the beginning of the end of French influence in the sub-region.

Russia does not only need to be influential in the sub-region. It is also seeking new market outlets and diamond. Cameroon is a huge market and if the Russians can elbow the French out of the country, they will then become the masters of the sub-region.

Besides, Southern Cameroons has huge oil deposits in the Bakassi peninsula and huge diamond fields in Ndian Division. These resources are attracting Russians whose natural resources are almost depleted because if its teeming population.

As Russia threatens to change the geopolitical equation  in the Central African region, cracks are also emerging on the wall of Cameroon’s ruling party, the CPDM also known as the crime syndicate.

Cameroon Concord News Group sources at the country’s Presidency have been reporting that there are major cracks on the ruling crime syndicate’s wall, as the ailing monarch’s health declines on a daily basis.

The country’s president, the ailing octogenarian, Paul Biya, who has misled the country for over four decades, is now slowly but surely losing his grip on power.

Over the last year, the French Ambassador to Cameroon, Christophe Guilhou, has only met with Mr. Biya with orders from the Elysée Palace.

France’s overt and heavy involvement in Cameroon’s internal affairs over the last few months has invited accusations of recolonization.

France has made no secret of its longing for political stability in Cameroon, despite the current government’s economic incompetence and human rights atrocities.

A source inside Cameroon’s presidency that elected anonymity said that “France has insisted Biya opens negotiations with the break-away Federal Republic of Ambazonia leaders in detention, but the progress is painfully slow and embarrassing, and the French are extremely disappointed that Cameroon is sliding into another Sudan”.

France is now losing patience with the intransigence of the old and ailing Yaoundé dictator, especially as Russia has clearly stated its intention to have a foothold in the Central African region and this may occur through a partnership with the insurgents in Southern Cameroons.

The Cameroon Concord News Group’s informant at the Unity Palace in Yaoundé said Mr.Biya had surrounded himself with hawks who were deceiving him that the war in Southern Cameroons could be won on the battlefield.

But France, a major supporter of the moribund Yaounde government, clearly disagrees with such baseless assertions as the reality on the ground speaks to an escalating conflict.

The Cameroon Concord News Group’s informant intimated that “those close to the physically and mentally diminished old man keep lying to him that the war can be won in the battlefield, but France disagrees. The hawks are lying to him to keep the war going as it is a lucrative business for them.”

The fast-moving geopolitical dynamics in neighboring Central African Republic, marked by huge Russian involvement, is a huge concern for France.

 France has maintained a stranglehold in the Gulf of Guinea but Putin is about to put an end to that.

 In the Central African Republic, President Faustin Archange Touadéra, has received some 300 military instructors from Russia to counter a surge in French-supported rebel violence ahead of Sunday’s election.

 President Archange Touadéra is accusing France of seeking to oust him from power.

He also stresses that such a plan will not see the light of day as Russian support to the Central African country’s government has destroyed French plans to bring back François Bozize, a French lackey, to power.

The recent news updates that the US-based Southern Cameroons Interim Government has established diplomatic relations with Moscow is keeping Yaoundé and Paris awake at night.

 Our sources opined that “The Central African Republic seems to be out of France’s grip, but the French are determined to keep Cameroon, prompting a new strategy that underscores the importance of dialogue. If Cameroon moves away from France’s orbit, then the French are out of Africa.”

The pressure from Paris is telling on Mr. Biya who is already dealing with many health issues. Our informant said that the Yaoundé old man is feeling the pressure as Christophe Guilhou is avoiding Paul Biya’s calls.

For now, the most actively important, but highly insignificant adviser to Mr. Biya is his wife and this is a colossal concern for many who hold that she lacks the intellectual and administrative capacity to handle political matters.

This is causing a split within the ruling party, though many party officials are still reluctant to publicly express their disagreement due to fear of long jail terms which await anybody who challenges the ‘monarch’ or his policies.

Very dark clouds are hovering over Cameroon. The waters are already murky but the arrival of Russians in the region makes the waters a lot murkier.

If the Biya government, which has been in power for almost four decades with nothing to show for such a long stay in power, does not change its strategy on the Southern Cameroons crisis, it will drag the country into a pretty mess that will take a long time to clean up.

Things will surely escalate in the coming year as new actors and stakeholders get thrown into the mix.

The international community must continue to mount pressure on the ailing Biya so that he can meet with the Southern Cameroonian leader, Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe, and his collaborators if genuine peace has to return to Cameroon.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai