22, September 2018
Why Cho Ayaba’s intended treachery MUST be condemned 0
When Paul Biya of French Cameroun rushed his Secretary-General Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh to London a few months ago to sign an oil deal over the oil resources of Ambazonia, Cameroon Concord News and Cameroon Intelligence Report in an editorial called on the Serious Fraud Unit of the British Police, the FBI and the Ambazonia Federal Criminal Investigation Department to initiate criminal investigations and the prosecution of all the persons and entities involved in this criminal oil deal. Cameroon Concord News Group cautioned that the deal was intended to generate money to buy weapons to prosecute the genocide against Ambazonia. A majority of Ambazonians condemned the criminal deal. They overwhelmingly supported the call for the investigation and the prosecution of the culprits.
The Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia promptly harkened to the people’s call and initiated complaints against the bloodletting criminal and commenced diplomatic efforts to stop the criminal deal. Thousands of Ambazonians world-wide threw their overwhelming support for the measures taken by the Interim Government to preserve our oil resources and the territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.
The Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia and individual citizens of Ambazonia in Britain and other parts of the world, mounted diplomatic efforts in Britain for this blood oil deal to be nullified. The diplomatic efforts began paying off with British members of the House of Commons bringing up the crimes committed against Ambazonians for debate during parliamentary sessions and with other arms of government.
The momentum and pressure were on when Cho Ayaba devised a means of delegitimizing the criminal complaints of Ambazonia over this criminal blood oil deal. He hoped to sign a contract legitimizing this fraudulent and criminal deal on behalf of Ambazonia for his self-interest. It could not have been intended to be a separate contract over the oil fields which a British Government department had welcomed and celebrated and which were under legal and diplomatic challenge by the Interim Government and the people of Ambazonia. No reasonable person would have expected that a British oil firm would get into an oil deal which was already recorded in official records and publicly celebrated by a member of government, Dr. Liam Fox.
The supposed plank was played on Ayaba by persons he knows so well and who have previously worked with him. The actions of these individuals within Ayaba’s organizational network might have its motives. And more will be known so long as Ayaba and his surrogates continue to attack them in the social media. Falsely accusing every person else but Ayaba and his organization and their greedy motives which Cameroon Concord News Group had long warned against is childish.
If these persons who allegedly set him up were not well known and trusted by him, how come a whole Commander-in-Chief who wants people to trust him for operational command decisions fall so easily to the prank? How does he expect the international community and Ambazonians to trust a Commander –in- Chief and supposed political leader who lacks a sense of discernment, is gullible, greedy and vulnerable? How can he be trusted with diplomatic and security confidences? How can he be trusted with the lives of more than eight million Ambazonians? If he is a committed warlord that he wants everyone to submit to his authority and command, why can he not learn from the Niger Delta Avengers how they are treating oil cartels illegally exploiting oil in their territory and devastating their environment? Did they struggle to sign oil deals with predatory murderers knowing that the oil firms although on the surface are independent of each other but operate as a cartel against the interest of the masses in the exploited territories?
The actions of Ayaba show that he still does not know the motivation against the annexation, colonization and genocide of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. The war and genocide against the Federal Republic of Ambazonia are indeed about the appropriation of the oil fields and natural resources that Ayaba went to London to sell off for his personal gain. Without the oil, France will never have connived with Britain to steal the natural resources of Ambazonia and slaughter millions of Ambazonians over these 67 years. It is for this oil that many Ambazonians are dying for the fatherland, many slaughtered, and many more driven to refugee camps. It is about this oil that His Excellency Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, members of the Interim Government, Mancho Bibixy and thousands Ambazonians have sacrificed their liberty and lives. It is about this oil that the independence of Ambazonia was stolen.
Cameroon Concord News Group is surprised by the fact that a few opportunists are struggling to justify the actions of Cho Ayaba and blaming the majority of Ambazonians who have and are sacrificing their lives to defend and protect the fatherland. Ayaba and his surrogates go so low and equated what happened to him to the abduction of His Excellency Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and members of the Interim Government in Nigeria. That is an insult to the people of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. The criminal operation against President Ayuk Tabe was carried out by three countries, with the support of the oil cartel. Cho Ayaba went to London hoping to sign a contract selling off Ambazonia for personal gain. The countries are Nigeria, France and French Cameroun. The Cho Ayaba’s scandal was an operation launched within his inner operational cycle by persons he has worked with, whom he knew and for reasons which will be known with time exposed him for what he is. The tough guy whom his surrogates are projecting in him pales in the face of the prank he fell into. No tough guy is that cheap to get. Not one claiming to be an army commander.
The conduct of Ayaba must be strongly condemned by all reasonable people. Ayaba needs to respect the call by a majority of Ambazonians to shelve his greedy warlord ambition and work with the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia to genuinely defend the restoration of independence which was declared by His Excellency Sisiku Ayuka Tabe on the 1st of October 2017. The overwhelming mandate which the people of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia gave the Interim Government under His Excellency President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe on 22 September 2017 to declare the actualization of independence on 1stOoctober 2017 now devolves on the Interim President His Excellency Samuel Sako. Cho Ayaba cannot sincerely say he is fighting to defend the actualization of the independence declared by the Interim Government while fighting to destroy the Interim Government. His conduct in wanting to legitimize the sale of Ambazonia oilfields in a criminal oil deal is a serious crime against the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. His conduct in attacking and kidnapping or killing other self defense forces within the national territory of Ambazonia must be opposed and denounced. He should be apologizing like the prodigal son seeking to be allowed back into the fold, instead to attacking the sovereign will of the people of Ambazonia.
By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from Asu Vera Eyere
22, September 2018
Violence cripples innovation in Southern Cameroons 0
Protracted violence in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon has forced start-ups to ship their businesses. The Cameroon tech industry is one of the fastest growing in Africa, with Buea the former capital of Southern Cameroon termed the “Silicon Mountain” as it hosts a cluster of flourishing tech start-ups.
As violence increases between armed separatists and government troops, displacing thousands and forcing others into neighbouring Nigeria, IT start-ups have been forced to escape as well.
At just 27, Cedric Yengo, inspired by the Silicon Valley success stories, amongst others, has been forced to ship his business Rydz2Go overseas. Rydz2Go plans to shake up the transport technology, currently dominated by Uber and Lyft.
Engineering for Rydz2Go began in Buea, but later moved to the US, after authorities shut down the Internet for several months, crippling the operations of most start-ups.
The Cameroonian government suspended Internet services to the Northwest and Southwest in January last year in what activists described as “human right violation”.
Internet disruption
Though Internet access was later restored in April after international pressure from, among others, the United Nations and Pope Francis; the nearly 100 days blockade remains the longest period of Internet disruption by an African government.
According to the Paris-based Internet Without Borders, Egypt and Ethiopia were also among nine countries globally that experienced Internet blockades between January and June 2017.
The initial threat to the start-ups in Cameroon was the offline status of their bases but with increasing violence, the major threat now is safety. Young entrepreneurs like Yengo were at the highest risk of arbitrary arrests and stray bullets. Many civilians have been killed by stray bullets in the regions, including a Roman Catholic priest, the Rev Father Alexander Nougi Sob, who was killed in the Southwestern town of Muyuka.
“It is no longer just our businesses suffering, we as individuals are not safe at all,” said Yengo.
Best location
While Rydz2Go and many others were forced to relocate abroad, other young entrepreneurs like Fritz Ekogwe, Founder and CEO of the file transfer app (Feem.io) and a fast secure crypto wallet (intersteller.exchange) was forced to move internally to Yaoundé, Cameroon’s political capital.
Churchill Mambe, founder and CEO of Njorku, an employment and hotel services company, keeps building his business in Southern Cameroons amidst the turmoil.
“Rydz2Go’s goal is to break onto the global market and our move to New York is the best location to achieve that,” Yengo added.
Ridesharing apps like Uber and Lyft offer pick up from point A and drop off at point B, but Rydz2Go is different because its offer is time bundles, Yengo explained. He said the latter guarantees maximum flexibility and permits users to have a ride waiting while they do their errands.
President Paul Biya
“We offer users more control with their perfect service for business appointments, city tours and date nights. Have you ever been to a new city and not know how to get around? Rydz2Go strives to ensure that you have not only a local ride but a local guide as well,” Yengo said of the app which was currently being tested.
Up to 400 civilians have been killed by both the security forces and the armed separatists in the trouble-hit regions, according to Amnesty International. The group said in a new report on September 17 that it had also documented the deaths of more than 160 members of the security forces at the hands of armed separatists since late 2016. It noted, however, that the toll could be much higher as some attacks went unreported.
“The situation in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon is becoming increasingly desperate with no one spared from the violence which is spiralling out of control,” said Ms Samira Daoud, the Amnesty International Deputy Director for West and Central Africa.
Attacking dozens
Armed separatists are accused by Amnesty of kidnapping students and teachers and attacking dozens of schools between February 2017 and May 2018 in a bid to “strike fear amongst the population”.
“We have reasons to believe many other lives of ordinary people are now at risk with the violence carried out by some members of the armed separatists groups. This must immediately stop,” Ms Daoud said further.
The almost two-year long violence that has gripped the English-speaking regions of Cameroon started as an industrial strike by lawyers and teachers, but morphed into an internal armed conflict with fears the Central African country could slide into a civil war, if the violence persists.
The crisis
“We see the situation degenerating from a crisis to a conflict,” said Mr Gaby Ambo, the Executive Director of the Finders Group Initiative, a human rights group in Cameroon.
“And if nothing is done soon, it will turn into a civil war with grave consequences.”
The recurrent deadly confrontations have led to a mass movement of people seeking safety. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates some 160,000 people have fled their homes in the strife-hit regions into the bushes, while more than 21,000 have crossed to next door Nigeria as refugees.
Many countries and groups have prescribed dialogue as a way out of the crisis, but the path was yet to be seriously pursued. The opposition thinks that President Paul Biya who has ruled Cameroon since 1982 and will be seeking reelection in October was not interested in pursuing dialogue.
Culled from The East African