Fellow Ambazonians,

Over the last three weeks, the barbarisms of the French Cameroun Army and the regime in Yaoundé have been laid bare and the world is witnessing again the unpleasant side of the Yaoundé neo-colonial regime. The past few weeks are a clear sign of its utter desperation in the full realization that our people have decisively rejected annexation and colonial bondage for good. I come to you today on the 34th anniversary of the Lake Nyos disaster to speak of the tragic loss and devastation the Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia) has faced over the last three weeks.

On Monday 2 August 2020, Mr Tangem Thomas, a Southern Cameroonian Prisoner of Conscience was tortured again by being shackled to his sick bed until he died on 5 August 2020.  The Interim Government can confirm explicitly that he died from torture related injuries and trauma. He was abducted in 2017 and detained incommunicado at the torture chamber of SED Yaoundé where he was repeatedly tortured. He was never charged for any crime and died for being an Ambazonian.

On 7 August 2020, a staff of COMINSUD, an implementing partner for several United Nations agencies, was kidnapped from his home and later killed by unidentified armed individuals. On 11 August 2020, an unacceptable and despicable video circulated on social media of the slaughter of a woman in Muyuka. Upon close scrutiny, Ambazonia Intelligence Services identified that the perpetrators spoke with French Cameroun accents.

On Wednesday, 12 August 2020, three Southern Cameroonian minors were murdered in their gardens as they hunted for snails by French Cameroun prowling forces.  A lawyer commissioned to ascertain the facts surrounding their murder was unlawfully arrested, harassed, detained for two nights. French Cameroun lawless forces continued their genocidal campaign by invading the village of Mautu, in Fako County on 13 August 2020, slaughtered over 30 civilians and recorded themselves dragging the lifeless body of a young man along the streets.

Paul Biya and his minions have committed every crime under the sun. Over the last three weeks, we have been reminded of Paul Biya’s atrocities by the hideous execution of a woman in Muyuka, the murder of three children in Tiko, the abduction and brutal execution of four men in Bafut, the massacre in Mautu, the burning of villages in Ikata, the murders in Ndop and the dragging of the body of a slayed young man on the road. These genocidal crimes were committed by Biya’s tribal army and their proxies. Our gallant freedom fighters cannot possibly commit such atrocious crimes and film them for the world to witness.

Over the last three weeks, Interim Government lawyers have made contact with many young men of Southern Cameroons descent who have been randomly abducted and detained incommunicado in torture chambers. Fellow Ambazonians, be under no illusions; we are facing an extermination campaign by the French Cameroun terrorist state. The regime in Yaoundé has one agenda; to wipe-out the Southern Cameroons!Over two weeks ago, French Cameroun’s so called colonial ‘governor’, OkalaBilia, planned to meet with the authorities in Cross River State, Nigeria to send our people back to a war zone in the Southern Cameroons. With the intensity of slayings over the last few weeks by the French Cameroun’s lawless military and its militias, an act of this nature is a violation of the rights of our refugees.

We call on the International Community to put continuous pressure on the neo-colonial regime in Yaoundé to create an atmosphere conducive for pre-talks and eventual end to the conflict between our two nations. The Interim Government of Ambazonia believes that the following confidence-building measures would create an atmosphere for productive engagement:

•             A UN humanitarian intervention in the Southern Cameroons. This necessary action will secure the safety of the people of the Southern Cameroons and humanitarian workers.

•             The release of all Southern Cameroons political prisoners being held by La Republique du Cameroun in various prisons and torture facilities.

•             An international fact-finding mission to investigate the crimes perpetrated in Ambazonia from 1 September 2016 by the regime in Yaoundé.

The Interim Government of Ambazonia considers the adoption of these measures as critical for lasting peace and security between our two nations.

Our people are pressed on every side by an army and a regime sponsored by the might of France but our determination for justice and independence will see us through. Thisstruggle is protracted, fierce and bloody but despite the challenges of the last three weeks, we shall overcome. As a nation, we will never give up.

Our nation has gone through some dark moments over the last few weeks but with the courage and determination of our restoration forces, we shall emerge stronger. The marauding French Cameroun army and the neo-colonial regime in Yaoundé have lost the argument for their continuous annexation of our land. Their goal is to destroy the people of the Southern Cameroons and extinguish as a polity our Homeland, a former trust territory, the independence vote of which was endorsed by the UN. We now have a responsibility to inform Mr Biya and his unruly tribal militias that there are bitter and poisonous weeds in Ambazonia. There are certainly a great many more since their execution and massacre of the last three weeks.

I pay tribute to these young men defending our land and fighting for our freedom. They deserve our gratitude. Let me use this occasion to express the sympathy of the Interim Government to all who have suffered bereavement or who are still anxious that the enemy will attack them again soon. Let me state that our self-defence forces are exceptionally more determined. They are prepared to fashion our independence. We have a duty to buy our AmbaBonds to fund them.

As the nights lengthen for our people in Ground Zero and the destruction of our communities grow, I have come today to tell the regime in Yaoundé that for this savagery and genocide, we will have no ceasefire with them devoid of genuine independence. There is a false assumption that is being made. It is that there is a credible and legitimate government in the French vassal state of Cameroun with which to conduct good faith negotiation leading to an outcome binding on that country.

The outfit that passes for a government exists simply because nature abhors a vacuum. Otherwise, the indications are that there is presently no credible and legitimate government in that despotic state. There is rather a repellent tribal coterie that thrives on deception, terror, torture and murder. That regime is highly contested and suffers from severe fissures that have generated antagonistic factions, each plotting to assume control of the atrocious dictatorship. There is complete opacity as to who is really in charge in that melancholic country tormented by deep endemic corruption, a beleaguered and crumbling economy, and a resurgence of antagonistic atavistic tribal identities that has split that failed state along several fault lines.

French Cameroun and its puppeteer, France, promote the fiction of the existence of many Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia) ‘groups’ as an obstacle to engaging in negotiation. This is a red herring. The people of the Southern Cameroons will not go to negotiate as ‘groups’.

French Cameroun will not be heard to say it will come to the negotiation table to talk with ‘groups’ within its territory. Any such idea is misconceived and stillborn.  There are two parties, and only two parties, to the would-be inclusive dialogue to deal with the root causes of the territorial and human rights dispute that has led to a war of independence imposed on the Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia) by the French-controlled Cameroun state. On the one side there is the Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia) with its team of negotiators; on the other side is Cameroun Republic with its team of negotiators. How each side organizes itself and approaches the negotiation is a purely internal matter for each.

I have full confidence that if we all do our duties, we shall prove ourselves able to fashion the freedom and independence we so seek and deserve. That is the resolve of our leaders in detention. That is the resolve of our refugees and IDPs as they showed in refusing Okala Bilia from visiting them. That is my resolve. That is the resolve of the Interim Government of Ambazonia.

At the funeral of Pah Tangem Thomas, a statement from President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe delivered by Barrister Pekum Emmanuel, read “By his passing he has liberated so many of us and has paid the ultimate price for the nation that we are forging. Like him, several of ours have been brutally massacred by the occupational forces of la Republic du Cameroon and have gone without seeing our promise land. The worse thing that can happen to us, God forbid, is that knowing all that we have gone through and clearly seeing the barbarism of our Eastern neighbour, we failed on this one-way journey. We must individually and collectively promise Brother Tom and those that have gone before us that we will continue the fight from where they ended till the last person standing, until we arrive Buea”.

Fellow Comrades, We must never give up. We shall ride out the storm of genocide and tyranny that has been unleashed upon us.  We must never give up.

Prepare my fellow comrades for the road ahead is dreary. We shall never turn from our purpose, however dismal and challenging it gets, however grievous the cost, because we know that out of this time of trial and tribulation will be born a new freedom and glory for the people of Ambazonia. We must never give up. Never give up! We shall never surrender and would carry on the struggle, until, in God’s good time and with all His power and blessing, Ambazonia shall be a reality.

Thank You, God Bless Ambazonia, God Bless You All

Many Cameroonians have never known the country’s territorial administration minister, Paul Atanga Nji, as a comedian.

The conman has always been known as an unrepentant butcher and a self-aggrandising crook and trickster, especially over the last three years when citizens of the country’s two English-speaking regions took up arms to defend themselves against the Yaounde government whose only conflict resolution tool is the gun.

As a special adviser at the presidency, Atanga Nji distinguished himself through his reckless and ill-informed declarations on the Southern Cameroons crisis which only inflamed the country’s English-speaking minority.

His total and unwavering support for the corrupt Yaounde government enabled the country’s president, Paul Biya, to hand him the territorial administration portfolio with special focus on cleaning up the mess the government had created in the two English-speaking regions of the country.

Known for his impulsiveness and lack of a deep sense of analysis, the conman cum territorial administration minister thought the Augean Stable created in the northwest and Southwest regions would be cleaned up through trickery and assassination of a few youths.

In his warp thinking, he thought it would take just a few days and his master would pour kudos and accolades on him.

Atanga Nji did not know he was leading a tough mission into the unknown; a quagmire that would rob him of his youthfulness and health.

Four years after Southern Cameroonians took to the streets to demonstrate against systemic and institutional marginalization, the country’s two English-speaking regions are now awash with guns and bombs have started going off, targeting mostly uniformed officers and enablers of the corrupt Yaounde government.

A mission that was supposed to be a walk in the park to the “brain-dead” territorial administration minister has become a sisyphean  task and the crisis that the Biya regime thought could be wrapped up in a few weeks might outlive most Yaounde-based politicians if care is not taken.

The crisis has become a huge nightmare to the government and Paul Atanga Nji who was considered as the man with the “midas touch” seems to be running out of solutions as Southern Cameroonian restoration forces take on the ill-trained and corrupt national army with confidence.

Initially, the government thought killing a few people would prompt Southern Cameroonians to walk back on their decision to call it out, but the killing of a few people only turned out to be grave mistake whose consequences might linger for decades.

Instead of rescinding their decision to fight against marginalization, Southern Cameroonians instead made common cause. They know that bullies must be confronted and for three years, the hunting rifle bearing fighters have morphed into an organized army with sophisticated weapons and whose hit and run tactics have reduced the national army to scouts whose members are  seeking to establish a war economy in the region instead of seeking to roll back the insurgency.

The government is running out of options and currently, it is working with blacklegs within Southern Cameroons who are willing to betray their souls for a paltry CFAF 50,000 and sex from the alcohol-inflamed and sex-starved soldiers.

But restoration forces have a strong message for anybody who betrays the cause and this message was delivered when some angry fighters slaughtered Comfort Tumassang in Muyuka in broad daylight last week.

The message is a reminder to all Southern Cameroonians on ground zero that aiding and abetting the enemy is a treasonable felony that must be punished in a manner that is far from being fair.

The Southern Cameroonian justice system – at least that which is being enforced by the fighters – is fast. In the region, justice is never delayed, so it is never denied. This is the only region in the world where all the fighters are judges and lawyers. Their laws are not written and only those fighting in the jungles of Southern Cameroons can interpret them.

According to a Cameroon Concord News Group source, Ms. Tumassang has been flirting with sex-starved soldiers and receiving money from them as an incentive for her to betray Southern Cameroonian fighters who, for three years, have given the military a run for its money.

Her killing sent three of her friends who were also involved in espionage against Southern Cameroonians packing to Yaounde where they are being protected by the corrupt regime that has been avoiding frank discussions and negotiations with Southern Cameroonians.

The gruesome killing of Comfort Tumassang has sent the government into a tailspin and instead of seeking a genuine and sustainable solution to the problem, it has, through its conman in chief, Paul Atanga Nji, issued a document banning the purchase of machetes in a region wherein subsistence agriculture is the mainstay of the region’s economy.

To purchase a machete, many farmers in the two English-speaking regions of the country, most of whom live in very rural regions which are not accessible even during the dry season, have to head to Divisional headquarters to obtain a permit from the Divisional Officers. This is the new Cameroon government comedy at work.

By this ministerial order signed by Paul Atangha Nji, the government has clearly demonstrated that it is running out of solutions to bring the insurgency to an end.

For three decades, the government has been ruthless and many Cameroonians have very little or no respect for their government.

This new order banning the purchase of machetes demonstrates that those ruling the country are comedians and they are now ready to take their comedy to the next level.

According to an opposition figure in the nation’s capital, Yaounde, this new decision by the country’s territorial administration minister to place restrictions on the purchase of machetes is the outcome of putting square pegs in round holes.

“When you put the wrong people in certain positions, you only get what you are getting today in Cameroon. When you transform roadside mechanics into mechanical engineers, you end up getting the wrong solutions for problems that might tear the country apart,” he said.

“Cameroon is collapsing, but our political and social architects are more concerned with robbing the country blind and keeping power. The Southern Cameroons crisis is an issue that has weakened the state and if care is not taken, it might result in the balkanization of our beloved country. Many other groups are watching and they hold that the crisis in the country’s two English-speaking regions might inspire them to seek independence too,” he added.

“Rather than placing restrictions on the purchase of machetes in Southern Cameroons’ rural areas, it would be wise for the government to head to the negotiating table where there are possible solutions to the issues that triggered the crisis. For the last four years, the government has been seeking to cure a cancer patient with aspirin and this has caused the cancer to spread to other parts of the body. The government should understand that its tricks and pseudo-solutions are not delivering the much-needed results. It is time to change course,” he stressed. 

“Paul Atangha Nji’s brand new skills as a comedian will not help this country. As a heartless conman and despicable butcher, he did not deliver much. If the government thinks he is the man who will seek real solutions to those issues that are giving our country a bad name, then even the head of state is confused. The government needs to adopt a new approach and dead wood like Atangha Nji should be weeded out of the political system. He lacks what it takes to deal with this complicated issue. It is way out of his league. He should instead go back to his village and become a farmer, though he will need an authorization to purchase a machete. That is where he belongs. Politics is not his thing,” he concluded.

The government seems to be overwhelmed and to distract the docile population, it has resorted to a strain of comedy that is not putting smiles on anybody’s face.

Like Atanga Nji, the country’s president cum comedian-in-chief, Paul Biya, is also trying to distract Cameroonians by announcing that all those who played in the 1990 World Cup competition would be granted homes thirty years after the competition.

Several of those players have already died and many of them have been reduced to bags of bones by poverty and psychological torture.

Some of their children have been robbed of the opportunity to go to school because of the the government’s insensitivity to the plight of those who are, indeed, the heroes of that country.

The granting of these apartments is welcomed, but if not well managed, those apartments might end up becoming ticking time bombs as those failed children might end up fighting each other as their ailing and aging parents disappear from the scene.

While it is a welcome relief to many of those players, especially to the family of Tataw Eta Stephen who captained the team in 1990, but died in abject poverty a few weeks ago, many Cameroonians think that the corrupt Yaounde government could do better by putting in place well-defined mechanisms that can serve the country’s heroes and ambassadors such as musicians and players.

Many of these cultural ambassadors and players end up in dire financial straits because the government has failed to play its role as a creator of opportunities and mechanisms for proper financial management.

The Yaounde government has to abandon it improvisation and comedy to focus on the job that is its own. Cameroonians deserve better and they think it is time to walk away from the comedy that has given their country a bad name and sent many hardworking citizens to an early grave.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Group Chairman/Editor-In-Chief