Cameroon’s government and nine imprisoned leaders of separatists fighting for the country’s English-speaking regions have started ceasefire negotiations over their nearly three-year conflict, rebels and a UN source said on Friday.

“Nine of us met with a team from the Republic of Cameroon to initiate a ceasefire following the appeal of the United Nations,” the main separatist leader Julius Ayuk Tabe, who is in jail serving a life sentence, said in a message sent to AFP by his lawyer.

“The details are still being discussed and we will keep you informed when significant progress has been made” in the talks that started on Thursday evening, he added.

The meeting between the leaders and the government is the first since the conflict broke out in the Northwest and Southwest regions, which account for about a fifth of a population that is overwhelmingly French-speaking.

The Cameroonian government neither confirmed nor denied the meeting had been held, but a senior UN official confirmed to AFP that it took place.

More than 3,000 people have been killed in the conflict since separatists declared the independence of Ambazonia, the name given to the two anglophone regions, in October 2017 after decades of grievances at perceived discrimination by the francophone majority.

The nine leaders are self-declared members of the interim government of Ambazonia. All are in jail in the capital Yaoundé on “terrorism” charges.

After months of protests in late 2017, decades of resentment boiled over into an armed campaign for independence that was then met with a brutal crackdown.

There has been almost daily violence in the two regions since, and civilians have suffered from abuses committed by both sides, with more than 700,000 forced to flee their homes.

In early March, the UN called for a ceasefire in the two regions to help combat the coronavirus pandemic.

But the appeal had so far gone unheeded, with violence continuing and military operations even seeming to have intensified.

Source: Urdupoint.com

A small homemade bomb exploded in Cameroon’s capital on Thursday, wounding two people, a senior official told Reuters, the third minor explosion of its kind in Yaounde in recent weeks.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack, which was also reported on state television. Government forces have been fighting Anglophone rebels in western Cameroon since 2016, but the conflict is more than 200 km (120 miles) from the capital.

“It’s a homemade bomb like the two that exploded recently,” Yaounde’s administrative officer Jean Claude Tsila said by phone, declining to respond directly when asked who the authorities believed had made the explosives.

“You know in which part of Cameroon they make homemade bombs,” he said.

The police and ministry of territorial administration could not immediately be reached for comment.

Some residents of northwest and southwest regions have called for a split from the country for decades, but fighting with rebels has escalated since 2017 as support for secession grows and armed groups appear.

The fighting, often in remote villages surrounded by cocoa farms and forests, has been one of the greatest threats to President Paul Biya’s government during his nearly 40 years in power.

Source: Reuters

The Yaoundé government has acquired brand new war machines after Southern Cameroonian fighters’ wreaked havoc on the country’s armored cars.

After four years of bitter and destructive fighting, the country’s military has been dealing with equipment issues as Southern Cameroonian fighters have developed new ways of rendering their enemy desperate.

Since the beginning of the fighting in 2016, the country has lost more than 20 armored cars, most of which have been set ablaze by Southern Cameroonian fighters who are fighting for the total liberation of their homeland.

The war itself has been draining lots of resources and resources that could have been devoted to development projects have been diverted to a war that will not end anytime soon.

The fighting has not only affected the country’s military. It has also affected the country’s economy.

State corporations in the country’s two English-speaking regions have all gone under and this has caused the government to lose many income streams.

The government has been pretending that the war is not affecting it, but sources close to the country’s treasury have hinted the Cameroon Concord News Group that the state is running out of cash and if genuine and sustainable dialogue is not held, the country might find itself in a very pretty mess.

It is being rumored that the Yaoundé government is mulling the possibility of granting federalism, but some analysts argue that the killings and destruction that have occurred over the last four years might make federalism less attractive at this time.

Sources close to the international community indicate that some ambassadors have been talking with the Southern Cameroons President, Julius Ayuk Tabe, about the possibility of transforming the country into a federal state.

It should be stressed that Mr. Ayuk Tabe is the poster boy of the revolution and no discussions can take place without him playing a huge role.

The Cameroon Concord News Group will be coming up with a full editorial on the discussions that have been taking place behind closed doors in the days ahead.

By Isong Asu in London

A former minister from the Southwest region John Ebong Ngole who has been sick for years, has finally kicked the bucket in a Yaoundé clinic shortly before a massive bomb exploded in Yaoundé.

The former governor, minister and Board Chairman of the country’s lone oil refinery (SONARA) died later this evening after leaving the Southern Cameroons port city of Limbe in the morning for Yaoundé where he went to seek good medical care.

But as soon as the overweight former SONARA board chairman entered Yaoundé, he was rushed to a clinic where he passed away shortly after.

There is no information about the cause of his death, but the former minister has been in the throes of severe health crises for years, with diabetes, high blood pressure and liver problems converging on him, transforming his body into a conference center.

Meanwhile, as Cameroonians try to digest the news about Ebong Ngolle’s death, a massive bomb went off at Rond point Damas in Yaoundé, injuring several people, with one person fighting for his dear life.

Today’s bomb is the third in less than two weeks. Last week, two bombs went off, but there were no casualties and this has caused the country’s authorities to lose sleep.

The bomb explosions have left the country’s authorities on edge, with many urging the president to deploy more troops in the nation’s capital.

Over the weekend, army soldiers invaded neighbourhoods inhabited by English-speaking Cameroonians in Yaounde where there were serious human rights abuses as a result of the bomb explosions.

Those arrested by the mostly Beti military were made to speak French against their will and those without identification papers were asked to give bribe before being released.

Currently, there is no claim of responsibility for the explosions, but many analysts are pointing a finger at the Brigade Anti-Sardinard (BAS) that has openly threatened to use weapons against the Biya regime which it clearly disrespects and does not recognise.

Sources close to the BAS have informed Cameroon Concord News Group that more bombs will be going off at different locations of the city in the days ahead.

The source, which elected anonymity, said that since elections could not address the country’s socio-political issues, bombs would surely cause the rogue regime to think twice before taking any other actions.

It is rumoured that the crime syndicate ruling the country is working with the French government to have the son of the country’s president, Paul Biya, take over power as the 87-year-old Biya struggles with age and many illnesses which have transformed him into a colony of diseases.

Cameroon has been unstable for many years, especially with the Southern Cameroons crisis that has given the country a very bad name and brought its economy to its knees.

In the northern part of the country, Boko Haram has completely taken over control of things, making it hard for ordinary civilians to live a normal life.

Today’s unfortunate situation is very likely to destabilise Yaounde and destroy the country’s image. Cameroon is a country noted for its natural and human resources and for decades, it has been an oasis of peace in a desert of political and military chaos.

The explosions of bombs will very likely scare off investors and corporations which had thought Cameroon could be a good investment destination.

The days ahead are very bleak for the country and if BAS lives up to its threat, Cameroon will finally be staring down the barrel of failure and it will be considered as a fragile state by development finance institutions.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai in the United Kingdom

Jean Pierre Amougou Belinga and his former colleague at CAMPOST, Paul Atanga Nji are wanted by prosecutors at the Special Criminal Court over allegations of corruption and embezzlement of state funds. Both men have been quoted as saying that they will only appear before judges at the Special Criminal Court if the Head of State President Biya orders them to do so and that the court’s allegations are nonsense.

Amougou Belinga is the owner and CEO of Groupe médiatique l’Anecdote and Paul Atanga Nji moonlights as Minister of Territorial Administration and Permanent Secretary of the National Security Council. These two President Biya acolytes are now considered in senior political circles in Yaoundé as the nation’s most dangerous men. Now the media tycoon backed by Justice Minister Laurent Esso, Territorial Administration Minister Paul Atanga Nji, Minister of Employment and Vocational Training, Issa Tchiroma Bakary is planning to install himself as Cameroon’s next president.

Presently, Jean Pierre Amougou Belinga is ranked among French Cameroun and CEMAC region’s richest people with no genuine history existing on how he made his money. His group has successfully silenced everyone standing on his way including the Chairman of the National Communications Council, Peter Esoka. Correspondingly, no one at the Special Criminal Court is talking again about Amougou Belinga and Atanga Nji.

Amougou Belinga’s plan to enter politics from the top was leaked by the former General Manager of his television station VISION 4, Ernest Obama who is currently paying a heavy price. Despite having all what it takes to topple a government-a sea of newspapers, a television station with a carrying capacity bigger than the state-owned CRTV, multiple FM radio stations and long standing relation with top barons of the Biya regime, Amougou Belinga’s chance of success doesn’t look great!

Cameroon Intelligence Report understands he is now being targeted by three powerful figures in the ruling CPDM crime syndicate- Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, Minister- Secretary General at the Presidency of the Republic, Mvodo Ayolo, the Director of the Civil Cabinet at the Presidency and Oswaldo Baboke the Deputy Director of the Civil Cabinet at the Presidency of the Republic.

To be sure, Amougou Belinga has all their dossiers in his keeping as the three had reportedly used his media empire to make public graft scandals and investigations into ministers and party officials who are presently being detained at the Kondengui High Security Prison.

Amougou Belinga’s public approval rating dropped huge percentage points following the televised arrest of his henchman, Ernest Obama and his managing of the proceeds of the Southern Cameroons war with Minister Paul Atanga Nji.

People in the know in Yaoundé have called for an investigation into Amougou Belinga’s ties to the government and many French Cameroun political elites opposed to the war in Southern Cameroons have been pushing Prime Minister Dion Ngute to get Biya to kick Amougou Belinga’s conman Paul Atanga Nji out of government.

Our chief intelligence officer in Yaoundé has repeatedly asked Minister Paul Atanga Nji about his ties to the businessman during their time at CAMPOST. But Minister Atanga Nji has always maintained a kind of deliberate silence.  After amassing a business empire he values at hundreds of millions of US dollars, Jean Pierre Amougou Belinga now thinks he is fit to be Cameroon’s next chief executive after Biya.

Amougou Belinga is actually leading an organized crime group passing for a media empire with financial auditors having no traces of how his companies pay their taxes.  With nearly all renowned Bamileke businessmen gone, His Royal Highness Jean Pierre Amougou Belinga is indeed the richest and most dangerous French Cameroun citizen.

After the successful failure of many Beti Ewondo businessmen including Dr James Onobiono, Yves Ava Ava, Ongba Damas etc Amougou Belinga became a silent key figure in the ruling CPDM nasty business operations and had ties to the highest levels of government.

President Biya (87) legalized graft and Transparency International ranked Cameroon twice as the most corrupt nation on earth.  Only a handful of people have been convicted for financial crimes and many took place when Amougou Belinga and Minister Paul Atanga Nji headed CAMPOST or better still Post Bank.

Jean Pierre Amougou Belinga’s intentions to enter politics are now being treated as serious but many in Yaoundé are of the opinion that it would be difficult to accomplish.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Southern Cameroonians are demanding the release of Ambazonia’s convicted leaders, the NERA 10. But with them are hundreds being held in detention centers in French Cameroun for playing a role in the declaration of independence by President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe.

Most of the detained Southern Cameroonians are innocent civilians who pressed ahead with the Ambazonia revolution after President Biya declared a war against British Southern Cameroonians.

Many of the Southern Cameroonians incarcerated for orchestrating the Ambazonia uprising are very much aware they could serve many years behind bars.  But what they also know is that this conflict is not going to be wrapped up in four or five years.

On Tuesday 30^th June 2020, the Yaoundé Military Tribunal under Judge Abega auditioned Tita Tebid aka Congressman, Mbi Fritz Takang, Sr Acha Simon, Lukong Augustine, Ayori, Afah Ndetang Pekum Emmanuel, Amungwa Tanyi and Fonka.

Lawyers defending the Southern Cameroonians reportedly banked a ruling in favour of Mbi Fritz. But the prosecution has been given 10 days to appeal.  The Mbi Fritz affair and the Taraba 37 were all moved to July 30th 2020.

By Rita Akana with files