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9, June 2020

Death of Cameroonian Journalist, Samuel Wazizi, Concealed By Military for 10 Months ⁰

It’s being called the ‘worst crime’ against a Cameroonian journalist in the past decade by rights groups.

The death of Cameroonian journalist Samuel Wazizi in military custody last Friday is being called “the worst crime against a journalist in the past 10 years in Cameroon” by media rights group Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

It was confirmed on Friday that Wazizi, a broadcast journalist who worked for CMTV covering the country’s separatist movement, was arrested on August 2, 2019 for openly criticizing the government’s response to the movement. He was said to have been tortured and abused during his detainment.

While the news was confirmed by the Cameroonian Ministry of Defense just last week, reports reveal that Wazizi actually died on August 17, 2019—the same month of his arrest. According to a report from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the military claimed that Wazizi was not tortured while in custody, but that he had died “as a result of severe sepsis” and had been in touch with his family. However, his sister-in-law Metete Joan Njang informed CPJ that the family had not been able to reach Wazizi since his arrest, and had only learned the news of his death on June 3.

“The Cameroonian government’s cruel treatment of journalist Samuel Wazizi is truly shocking,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator in a statement. “It is unbelievable that authorities covered up his death in custody for 10 months despite repeated inquiries from press freedom advocates and his family, colleagues, friends, and lawyers. An independent autopsy should be conducted immediately, and Cameroon must also launch an independent commission of inquiry so that those responsible for Wazizi’s death are held accountable.”

RSF shared a similar statement and has called on the government to end their silence against the mistreatment of journalists, send Wazizi’s body to his family and launch an independent investigation in order to “establish the chain of responsibility and circumstances leading to this tragedy.”

The Cameroonian government has come under fire from journalist and human rights groups, for its censorship and abuse of citizens and reporters, since the beginning of the separatist movement occurring amongst members of the country’s Anglophone population in Northwest and Southwest. The country ranks 134th out of 180 countries and territories in RSF’s 2020 World Press Freedom Index. On several occasions, the government has taken further actions to quell dissent by shutting down the internet.

Several journalists and fellow Cameroonians are calling for #JusticeForWazizi online and are demanding increased freedom of the press.

Source: OkayAfrica

8, June 2020

George Floyd: US Democrats take the knee, plan to overhaul police ⁰

A sweeping overhaul of police oversight and procedures is being proposed Monday by congressional Democrats in response to the deaths of black Americans at the hands of law enforcement.

House and Senate Democrats held moment of silence at the Capitol’s Emancipation Hall, reading the names of George Floyd and others killed. They then knelt for 8 minutes and 46 seconds — now a symbol of police brutality and violence — the length of time prosecutors say Floyd was pinned under a white police officer’s knee before he died.

“We’re here to observe that pain,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, drawing on the nation’s founding with slavery.

“We’re here to respect the actions of the American people to speak out against that,” she said, before kneeling on one knee. “We are here to honor George Floyd.”

According to a draft outline obtained by The Associated Press, the Justice in Policing Act to be unveiled Monday would limit legal protections for police, create a national database of excessive-force incidents and ban police choke holds, among other changes. It outlines the most ambitious changes to law enforcement sought by Congress in years.

‘Police culture must change’

Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, which is leading the effort, said called it “transformative.”

A profession where you have the power to kill should be a profession that requires highly trained officers who are accountable to the public.

Bass said the package from House and Senate Democrats will be bolder than any law enforcement changes of the past decade. “It is time for police culture in many departments to change,” she said. “And we believe that the legislation will make a major step forward in that direction.”

The package confronts several aspects of law enforcement accountability and practices that have come under criticism, especially as more and more police violence is captured on cell phone video and shared widely across the nation, and the world.

The draft document said the proposed legislation would revise the federal criminal police misconduct statute to make it easier to prosecute officers who are involved in misconduct “knowingly or with reckless disregard.”

Source: AP

8, June 2020

Ambazonia Interim Government LAWYERS meet journalist KINGSLEY NJOKA at SED, YAOUNDE ⁰

Fellow Ambazonians,

Last night, the Interim Government of Ambazonia through its legal team in Ambazonia and French Cameroun made a formal request to the regime in Yaoundé that it had up to midnight today (8^th June 2020) to make known the whereabouts of Southern Cameroon’s journalist, Kingsley Njoka.

I come today to confirm that the regime in Yaoundé complied with our demand. Earlier this morning at 9:30 am, our legal representatives were invited to the Centrale Des Recherches Judiciare at the Secretariat of Defense (SED) Yaoundé. The Interim Government of Ambazonia can now confirm that Kingsley Njoka has been detained at SED incommunicado since his abduction on the 15^th of May 2020 from his home in Douala.

He is frail, pale and psychologically distressed.

I have instructed our legal representatives to commence without delay a process to secure his release.

We face an enemy that is brutal and has no respect for human rights and international law. An enemy that puts no value on life but our determination as people will guide us to victory.

The Interim Government of Ambazonia will make regular updates on this matter and will continue to keep the international community and our international media partners informed on the progress of this matter.

Thank You,

Dabney Yerima, Vice President, The Federal Republic of Ambazonia

8, June 2020

Southern Cameroons Crisis: more violence on the Manyu County menu ⁰

Armed men have killed at least 9 people in attacks in Eshobi village some few kilometers from Mamfe town according to local officials and residents.

According to eyewitnesses, about 50 armed men attacked the village, including Cameroon military post stationed around the Satom Bridge area, shooting residents, and looting and burning homes.

A citizen from Eshobi released three audios on the attack and claimed in his first two declarations that the attacks were carried out by Amba Boys.

However in his third audio, the Eshobi resident blamed the attack on the settler community of Mberere who have been fighting to get the chieftaincy of Eshobi village.

Cameroon Concord News has not been able to establish the motive for the attack and has also not been able to identify those responsible for the killings.

Our correspondent in Mamfe said assailants began shooting people at random in the village while another group engaged the army.

Killings in the Manyu Division have been the work of the Cameroon army soldiers, Amba Boys and bandits.

Cameroon Concord News Group also gathered that two of the persons killed had betrayed an Ambazonian fighter to the Cameroon army and were targeted for providing information about Southern Cameroons Restoration Forces hiding places to Cameroon government soldiers.

The attacks were staged just a day after the remains of the murdered Mayor of Mamfe, Ashu Prisley Ojong, were laid to rest. The CPDM Mayor was killed on May 10, 2020, en route to Eshobi village.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from Kingsley Betek in Mamfe

8, June 2020

Southern Cameroons War: Murdered Mayor laid to rest in Mamfe ⁰

The remains of Mayor Ashu Prisley Ojong were laid to rest in Mamfe on Saturday June 6. The CPDM Mayor was killed on May 10, 2020 en route to Eshobi village. The 35-year-old politician was buried at his residence in Laterite Pit in Mamfe Town after a CPDM ceremony at the Mamfe Grandstand chaired by Hon. Mengot Victor Arrey-Nkongho, Minister in charge of Special Duties at the Presidency of the Republic.

The Yaoundé backed member of government called on the people of Manyu to show their commitment to peace and a united Cameroon.

“When things like this happen, then love doesn’t exist. When you love each other, you cannot hurt each other. Today, what do we find in our communities – petty jealousies envy. That is why we need to find that ethos, the ethos of how to love one another,” noted Minister Mengot.

Betraying the CPDM connection to the late mayor’s demise, the Manyu Senior Divisional Officer Um II Joseph said although Mayor Ashu Prisley Ojong has been killed, the government in Yaoundé is “hopeful that his death will be useful for this division, for peace to reign and for unity also to reign.”

Senate Vice President Chief Tabetando showered praises on the deceased, painting the late Ashu Ojong as a grass leader who enjoyed popular grassroot support. “He was elected unanimously by the Mamfe Central community.”

The late mayor was shot and killed around Berore quarters, precisely at Charles Eyongechaw’s Hill, about some 500 meters at the outskirts of Eshobi, his village, on Sunday, May 10, 2020. Priestly Ashu Ojong, was killed in a fake ambush staged by the regime in Yaounde.

It is now an open secret in Mamfe that he was killed by government troops who had been ordered to carry out the execution from Yaoundé. The Yaounde government has been seeking to give Amba boys a bad name and it will stop at nothing when it comes to achieving that goal.

Priestly took a bullet to the forehead, a bullet that bore the hallmarks of the country’s military. The military man sitting in the front passenger seat is suspected to have delivered the blow that took Mayor Priestly Ashu Ojong to his grave. His driver is also suspected to be in the know of what happened to the young and ambitious mayor.

His death was received with shock, forcing the ruling CPDM crime syndicate to sponsor a protest on Saturday, May 16, 2020, pretending to demand justice for the Mayor’s death. The pro Manyu French Cameroun political elites accused a Cameroonian-US based activist, Eric Tataw for being behind the brutal assassination.

The Francophone administrator revealed that Ojong was heading to his village to receive Ambazonian fighters who claimed they had dropped their weapons before he was brutally ambushed and murdered. Born in 1985, Ojong leaves behind an expectant wife and three children to mourn him.

It is vital to include in this report that Minister Mengot and Chief Tabetando including all the so-called Manyu external elites left Mamfe immediately after the burial over security concerns.

By Kingsley Betek

8, June 2020

Kaput: Relations in the spotlight as US mulls pulling thousands of troops from Germany ⁰

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said in an interview Sunday that relations with Washington are “complicated” following media reports that the US wants to withdraw 9,500 troops from Germany, significantly reducing US commitments to European defence under NATO in what one former US military commander said would be a “gift” to Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

Germany on Sunday voiced concern at reports that President Donald Trump plans to cut the number of US troops stationed in Germany, amid fears it could weaken a key pillar of NATO defence in the region.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said both countries stood to gain from close cooperation even if the transatlantic relationship had become “complicated” under Trump.

Other senior politicians in Berlin were more blunt, slamming the plan as the latest blow to US-German ties and a potential security risk.

“Should it come to the withdrawal of part of the US troops, we take note of this,” Maas told the Bild am Sonntag daily.

“We appreciate the cooperation with the US armed forces that has grown over decades. It is in the interest of both of our countries.”

Peter Beyer, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coordinator for transatlantic relations, warned that “the German-US relationship could be severely affected” by Trump’s decision.

The Wall Street Journal and other media reported on Friday that Trump had ordered the Pentagon to slash the number of US military personnel by 9,500 from the current 34,500 permanently assigned in Germany.

Such a move would significantly reduce the US commitment to European defence under the NATO umbrella, and appeared to catch Berlin off guard.

‘Wake-up call’

But Maas admitted ties with the Trump administration had become strained.

“We are close partners in the transatlantic alliance. But it’s complicated,” Maas told Bild, in a nod to rows ranging from the Iranian nuclear deal to NATO contributions and Berlin’s support for a Russian gas pipeline.

There was no immediate confirmation from US officials about the alleged plan to slash US troop numbers in Germany and cap them at 25,000 in future.

But Trump’s lukewarm support of longstanding cooperation agreements with European allies has long caused alarm on the continent.

The US leader been particularly scathing towards Germany in recent years, accusing the fellow NATO member of not spending enough on defence.

Germany hosts more US troops than any other country in Europe, a legacy of the Allied occupation after World War II.

Johann Wadephul, a senior member in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative CDU party, said the troop reduction plan showed that the Trump administration was “neglecting an elementary leadership task: involving alliance partners in the decision-making process”.

It also served as another “wake-up call” for Europeans to take more responsibility for their own defence, he said in a statement on Saturday.

Only China and Russia stood to gain from “discord” between NATO allies, Wadephul added.

‘Colossal mistake’

Rolf Muetzenich, leader of the parliamentary group of the centre-left SPD, Merkel’s junior coalition partner, told the Funke newspaper group that the US plan could lead to “a lasting realignment of security policy in Europe”.

Former US Army Europe commander Ben Hodges, who was stationed in the German city of Wiesbaden before he retired, said a US drawdown would be “a colossal mistake” and “a gift” for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“US troops are not in Europe to protect Germans,” he tweeted. “They are forward-based, as part of NATO, to protect all members, including USA.”

Although the American military presence has strongly declined since the end of the Cold War nearly three decades ago, Germany remains a crucial hub for US armed forces.

As well as serving as a deterrence to a resurgent Russia, US troops use their German bases to coordinate military operations in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

The headquarters for US forces in Europe and Africa are both based in Stuttgart, while the US air base in Ramstein plays a major role in transporting soldiers and equipment to Iraq and Afghanistan.

The US military hospital in Landstuhl, near Ramstein, is the largest of its kind outside the United States.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Saturday that he hoped some of the troops moved out of Germany could be reassigned to Poland.

(AFP)

8, June 2020

Mainz’s Cameroonian midfielder Kunde Malong takes knee to pay tribute to George Floyd ⁰

Pierre Kunde Malong on Saturday became the latest Bundesliga player to pay tribute to George Floyd when he took a knee after scoring the second goal in Mainz’s 2-0 win at Eintracht Frankfurt.

As thousands assembled in Berlin and Munich to demonstrate against police brutality and for racial equality, Mainz midfielder Kunde Malong paid tribute to Floyd, a black American man who died in Minneapolis last month while being arrested by police officers.

The Cameroonian will face no sanction from the German Football Federation (DFB) for the gesture after it gave the green light on Wednesday to players who wanted to honour Floyd or support the Black Lives Matter protests which have raged across the USA.

Borussia Dortmund players also wore messages on their T-shirts during their pre-match warm-up ahead of their clash with Hertha Berlin later on Saturday.

Jadon Sancho and Achraf Hakimi wore the messages “no justice, no peace”, while midfielders Axel Witsel and Emre Can’s T-shirts displayed the words “black”, “white” and “yellow” crossed out, with the word “human” below.

Sancho and Hakimi had avoided punishment by the DFB following their on-pitch calls for justice for Floyd last week, as German football’s governing body gave players the go-ahead to show their feelings regarding Floyd’s death and the subsequent protests.

Earlier, German champions Bayern Munich became the highest-profile club in the country to show their support the protests.

Prior to their 4-2 win at Bayer Leverkusen, players warmed up in T-shirts bearing both the Black Lives Matter hashtag and the slogan of the club’s official “Reds Against Racism” campaign.

“As players, we always have the same message: we are tolerant, we are open, we are open to the world,” Bayern captain Manuel Neuer told Sky after the game.

During the game, all Bayern players also wore black armbands bearing the words “Black Lives Matter”.

“FC Bayern stands for a world in which racism, discrimination, hate, injustice and violence have no place. The death of George Floyd and the images from the USA have shocked us all,” said club president Herbert Hainer in a statement.

“It’s a matter of actively and loudly showing our colours. Black Lives Matter and Reds Against Racism. We stand for togetherness that goes far beyond sports.”

Source: AFP

8, June 2020

CPDM crime syndicate more interested in fighting the opposition than COVID-19 ⁰

As Cameroon eases coronavirus restrictions, the government is accused of politicising the pandemic.

Government leaders in Cameroon have been accused of being more interested in fighting the opposition than COVID-19.

Despite accusations of putting the population in harm’s way, the government has reopened airports and schools.

Cameroon has one of Africa’s highest infection rates with more than 200 people reported dead and 6,000 cases.

Written by aljazeera

8, June 2020

Njoka Kingsley: Journalist who wouldn’t stay quiet is in Yaounde, CIR sources ⁰

Journalist Njoka Kingsley is missing presumed detained. He’s one of many for whom the Southern Cameroons crisis has led to a political awakening and a demand for free speech. Cameroon Intelligence Report sources in Yaoundé have confirmed that Njoka is in Yaounde undergoing torture.

Now the question arises: where is disappeared journalist Njoka Kingsley Fomonyuy, “taken into custody by plainclothes security officers on May 16, 2020 remains a mystery. Sources familiar with the incident say he was taken from his house in Douala by armed men who only identified themselves as ‘Surete National’.

He’s from Kumbo, Bui Division in the North West Region. He studied Journalism and Mass Communication in the University of Zaria in Nigeria, from where he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in 1990.

In Cameroon, the freelance journalist worked with Magic FM and as a senior writer for Popular Catholic biweekly Magazine “L’Effort Camerounais” in Douala. Before whisking Njoka Kingsley away, the armed men ransacked his house apparently searching for possible evidence that could implicate him. Without finding what they were after, the armed men asked Njoka’s wife to hand his office keys and his identification documents to them. They took an HP laptop from Njoka’s house and then headed to his office which they equally searched thoroughly making away with two laptops marked Lenovo and DELL as well as the sum of over FCFA 50,000.

The unidentified men gave no reason for taking Njoka Kingsley into custody. They also did not say where he was being taken to. It has now been 21 days since he was “kidnapped” without any crime committed and without even being charged. With the recent declaration of Samuel Wazizi’s death in the hands of the forces of law in Yaoundé, one is tempted to think that anything can happen to Njoka Kingsley Fomonyuy if nothing is done.”

Reported by Inner City Press and Cameroon Intelligence Report

8, June 2020

Cameroon: Life After Biya ⁰

As Cameroon witnesses the dying embers of the embattled Biya regime, questions abound about what the future holds for the Central African country. Beset by a violent separatist conflict in the Anglophone regions and the omnipresent scourge, Boko Haram, in the North, that Cameroon faces significant challenges ahead is an understatement. Yet slowly and very carefully, the potential for a more democratic future is emerging from conversations between leading Cameroonians.

President Paul Biya has effectively ruled Cameroon since 1982, with questionable elections returning him as President as recently as 2018. Biya, now a sprightly 87, will be a venerable 92 when his seventh term ends, and his health remains a popular topic amongst Cameroonians both at home and in the diaspora. Extended stays in Geneva and regular disappearances from the public eye have only furthered these discussions. Biya’s absence was particularly conspicuous this year at the start of the Coronavirus pandemic- even his reappearance at a meeting with French Ambassador Christophe Guilhou did little to stop them. Biya is apparently back at the helm now, but questions about his health abound. There is now a growing inevitability about the end of the Biya regime. Nobody lives forever, and Cameroonian eyes are starting to turn toward the future. Who will succeed Biya? What does the Cameroon of the future look like? More simply- what comes next?

Whilst Biya’s Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement (CPDM) party may retain an overwhelming majority (139/180 seats) in the National Assembly, there is a degree of inescapability about the instability and potential power vacuum to come. This is the price any highly centralized country must pay for being ruled by a strongman with an iron fist for so long. Out of this change, however, arises an opportunity never truly granted the people of Cameroon since its formation in 1960, as the only previous president, Ahidjo, was also widely regarded to be dictatorial figure. It is remarkable that since 1960, Cameroon has had just two presidents. After sixty years of the rule of the Strongman and ultimately the cult of Biya, the people of Cameroon are approaching the greatest crossroads since federation in 1972, or perhaps in the country’s history. The people of Cameroon can allow the nation to continue down its current path, settling on a new ‘chosen’ leader in the mold of Biya, but they will also have the chance to effect the lasting political change that many desire. Leader of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement opposition party, Maurice Kamto, is the most prominent proponent of this view, publicly opposing an apparent transfer of power to one of Biya’s acolytes, as if the CPDM party itself had the divine right to rule.

On social media, he stated ‘We will not accept the mutual agreement succession in our country, nor new popular elections without consensual reform of the electoral system. Only the Cameroonian people will have to choose their legitimate leaders, in freedom and democratic transparency’. Kamto has paid and continues to pay the price for his opposition to the regime. He and his supporters were imprisoned from January to October 2019 in the notorious Kondengui Prison in Yaoundé. A rumored assassination attempt followed, and only this week was his compound attacked and death threats reportedly made against him. He recently also proposed a wide-ranging, representative committee to help resolve the Anglophone Crisis. It is somewhat symptomatic of the Biya regime’s extremities and decline that Kamto’s efforts to fundraise for the Coronavirus response were heavily suppressed- and even outlawed- by the government.

Yet whilst Kamto is indeed a key player, a drive for change is coming from some of Cameroon’s most revered figures. Politician and entrepreneur Kah Walla’s ‘20th of May Dialogues’, livestreamed simultaneously on Twitter [CS1] and Zoom, has brought some of the nation’s brightest minds together to discuss the future of their country. Speakers including journalist Mimi Mefo, once imprisoned by the Biya regime, the indomitable technology entrepreneur Rebecca Enonchong, surgeon Dr. Dennis Foretia and others have all voiced their thoughts on issues including the Anglophone Crisis, Coronavirus and political transitions. The value of these dialogues should not be underestimated, as they are introducing and highlighting new, exciting Cameroonian options for the country’s future, from some of the nation’s finest minds. The reaction to these dialogues on social media illustrates both the richness of Cameroon’s political sphere and the yearning for change- or at the very least, more discussions.

Although the Anglophone Crisis is oft ignored by the international community, it threatens the stability of the entire state of Cameroon and thus must form (and has formed) a key part of these discussions. The dialogues have hinted at how a solution to the Anglophone Crisis could be found, but longer-term thinking is required in order to produce a lasting peace – be it through a true federation or another mechanism. A weakness of previous dialogue efforts has been a lack of unity among Anglophone groups, with views varying widely. With a stronger coalition of Anglophone voices, a meaningful dialogue has more chance of success. The concept of a future Cameroonian state beyond the Biya regime offers a genuine opportunity for change, and for Cameroon to better reflect the demands of the Anglophone population. Of course, this will not satisfy everybody, particularly the most ardent Ambazonian separatists, but it would represent a significant improvement on the current situation. The Anglophone regions remain of vital economic importance to Cameroon, and so they would invariably be a major point of discussion, even if the crisis had never occurred.

Looking across Central and Francophone Africa, change is coming. Even Burundi’s Nkurunziza has handed power over to a successor, and more nations are supportive of Presidential term limits. France’s controversial and neocolonial CFA Franc is being replaced in West Africa by an exciting though arguably imperfect successor, the ECO. Central Africa’s CFA Franc, used in Cameroon, will surely follow, reducing the country’s dependency on its former colonial master. Coronavirus itself has also upset the world order, and what that fully means for Cameroon and Central Africa remains to be fully understood. The end of the Biya regime, then, may coincide with a changing of the guard on multiple fronts.

Whilst the Biya regime will invariably trundle on for a while to come, it feels more finite than ever before. Cameroonians have the rarest of opportunities to reform their state and to mold it to be ready for the next 100 years. That process starts with conversations like the ‘May 20th Dialogues’, led by so many brilliant Cameroonians. This progress will likely be contested fiercely by those in power by way of the Biya regime, and so there are tough political challenges ahead. Somehow though, in the unlikeliest of times amidst a terrible pandemic, there is an indelible source of hope in Cameroon.

Culled from Anglophone crisis.org