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5, February 2017

West Cameroon Crisis and Biya’s continuous torture: The AGBAW-EBAI DEBATE ⁴

Since 2016, the editorial desk of the Cameroon Concord News Group has regularly expressed concern at the ill-treatment of Anglophone detainees in Francophone jails. Now it appears that over 300 persons arrested in connection with the recent Southern Cameroons uprising are still being held without being formally charged with any offence.

It is reported that many of those detained have since died, either as a result of torture or ill-treatment and lack of adequate medical care. The Francophone dominated government of Mr. Paul Biya has the duty to bring to justice the soldiers and police officers who killed innocent civilians in Kumba, Buea, Bamenda and Kumbo. This will never happen.

The trial of the leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium will never be done within the rules laid down by the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 5 states: No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Article 9 states: No one shall be subject to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

In this edition of the The Agbaw-Ebai Debate, we are asking our readers what the interim leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium should do to ensure that all those responsible for the military courts in French Cameroun adhere strictly to the principles laid down by the United Nations.

A-Declare Southern Cameroons an independent republic

B-Launch an armed resistance

C-Continue with the strikes and the civil disobedience campaign

D-Plot the demise of Senator Musonge, Minister Atanga Nji and Mayor Ekema Patrick

5, February 2017

Romania: Government retracts controversial decree after days of protests ⁰

The Romanian government has announced the withdrawal of a controversial decree which decriminalized minor corruption offenses following five days of mass nation-wide protests.

“We’ll hold an extraordinary meeting on Sunday to repeal the decree, withdraw, cancel it … you understand, and find a legal way to make sure it does not take effect,” said Romanian Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu during a televised speech on Saturday.

The announcement came after five consecutive days of protests since Tuesday after the cabinet approved the decree that decriminalizes a range of graft and other offenses in which the amounts involved are lower than $48,000.

“I do not want to divide Romania,” said Grindeanu. “Romania in this moment seems broken in two,” he added.

Earlier on Saturday, the Romanian government hinted that legislation will be removed. “We can possibly talk about repealing the decree, if the prime minister agrees,” said the head of the ruling Social Democratic party, Liviu Dragnea.

People wave the Romanian flag as they protest in front of the government headquarters against the government’s contentious corruption decree in Bucharest, Romania on February 4, 2017.

“This [happens] because we have nothing to hide,” said the head of the country’s ALDE political party, Călin Tăriceanu.

The decree would have benefited dozens of political figures from all parties, and has been described as the biggest rollback on reforms since Romania became part of the EU in 2007.

On Thursday, a Romanian cabinet minister resigned amid mounting protests against a decision by the government to decriminalize certain graft offences.

The European Union on Wednesday also warned Romania over backtracking on reforms with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker issuing a an official statement.

Presstv

2, February 2017

Cameroun releases BBC reporter ¹

BBC news reporter, Randy Joe Sa’a was a target at the military tribunal in Yaoundé on February the 1st 2017. The BBC correspondent and a cream of journalists were interviewing lawyers outside the military tribunal building following the postponement of the trial of the leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium when troops loyal to the regime identified the BBC microphone and ordered Randy to leave saying that only the state radio and television had authorization to cover the proceedings.

Randy Joe was arrested on the spot. Our informant hinted that Barristers Ben Muna, Tchoungang, Eta Besong jointly called for his release. Information filtered that his equipment were confiscated by the security agents. At the time of filing this report Randy had been released on bail.

By Rita Akana

1, February 2017

Anglophone Crisis: Barrister Nico Halle will not seek another mandate as head of the Bar Association of Cameroon ¹

There is too much uncertainty about the future of the Bar Association of Cameroon caused by the current Southern Cameroons strike action. We gathered that among the difficult situations facing the Cameroon Bar is the renewal of the mandate of the management team that ended on January 31st, 2017.

Barrister Ntumfor Nico Halle was elected as President of the General Assembly of the Bar Association of Cameroon on the 31^st of January 2015 and Barrister Patrick Kleiss Kouanou held the position of Vice President. Cameroon Concord News has been reliably informed that no election is being considered even though the mandate of the management team has come to an end. The Southern Cameroons crisis has reportedly erected a stone wall against the convening of a bar council general assembly.

The Ntumfor Nico Halle has been quoted as saying that “it is impossible to convene a General Assembly of the Order. We must wait for the situation to calm down to organize the work. The Bar of Cameroon is united. You cannot sit down while the other parties have problems. The courts do not operate in these two regions. So it’s impossible to do anything for the Order.”

Asked if the crisis continues beyond February, the much respected Ntumfor Nico Halle pointed out that he will have to evoke “a case of force majeure, and the lawyers will have to decide on the way forward.” A journalist with a sister publication, Cameroon Intelligence Report hinted at the time of filing this report that Barrister Halle Nico will not seek a second term as president of the general assembly.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

1, February 2017

Two bomb attacks hit Nigeria ⁰

Two bomb attacks have hit separate locations in northern Nigeria in what officials believe were attempts by Boko Haram terrorist group to make up for its recent losses in the face of the Nigerian army. A civilian vigilante in Banki, near the Cameroon border in the northeastern state of Borno, said on Tuesday that an attack earlier in the day nearly rattled a camp of people displaced by Boko Haram violence.

Musa Ahmad, who works with the military against Boko Haram, said the attack was carried out by a 10-year-old girl about noon local time, adding that the minor was killed after she detonated her explosives near the camp for internally-displaced people.”She was asked to stop by soldiers. But she ignored them. They threatened to shoot her if she didn’t stop. She obeyed and she was asked to lift up her hijab,” said Ahmad, adding, “She did and explosives were found to be strapped on her. Suddenly she pulled on the trigger and exploded.”

The vigilante said the death of the girl was the sole casualty of the incident, adding that the attack bore the hallmarks of similar attacks by Boko Haram as the Takfiri group has repeatedly used minors and women to carry out assaults against civilians and security forces.

Ahmad said Boko Haram has been desperately seeking to make up for the losses it has suffered at the hands of the Nigerian army in the recent time. Earlier on Tuesday, at least two people, including the attacker, were killed in another act of terror, where the assailant targeted people performing morning prayers inside a mosque in Dalori, on the outskirts of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state.

Residents and authorities said the blast happened at about 5:30 a.m. and the attacker was trying to enter the mosque but a guard stopped him. “One of the worshippers, who was apparently on guard, grabbed him and the explosives went off, killing both of them. Worshippers were saved,” said a resident.

Nigeria has been at war with Boko Haram since the group started an insurgency in Borno state about eight years ago. Almost 15,000 people have been killed while the violence has displaced more than two million. Boko Haram has pledged allegiance to Daesh, another Takfiri terrorist group, which has been wreaking havoc in the Middle East and North Africa over the past few years.

Presstv

31, January 2017

Biya appoints Brigadier General Valere Nka as new head of the 4th Inter-Armed Military Legion ⁰

President Biya has reportedly appointed Brigadier General Valere Nka as head of the 4th Inter-Armed Military Region (RMIA). The decision was made public on Monday the 30^th of January 2017 in Yaounde, the nation’s capital.

Cameroon Concord News understands the decree gave the job to General Valère Nka par interim replacing General Jacob Kodji, who died on Sunday the 22nd of January in an helicopter crash in Madide, a village located about 9 km from Bogo, in the department of the Diamaré, Far North region.

Brigadier General NKA Valère, a native of Sa’a, in the Central Region, has more than thirty years of senior office in the Cameroonian army. General Nka has experience in the fight against terrorism, having served as second in command with the Joint Multinational Force (FMM) against the Nigerian Islamic sect, Boko Haram.

The former Defense Attaché to the High Commission of Cameroon in Nigeria was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General at the same time as Jacob Kodji, Frédéric Ndjonkep Meyomhy, Bouba Dobekreo, and Simon Ezo’o Mvondo.

By Rita Akana

31, January 2017

Consortium calls on Southern Cameroonians not to listen to Senator Musonge ²

The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium has appealed to West Cameroonians not to pay attention to Senator and former Prime Minister Peter Manfany Musonge. Consortium sources say the former Head of Government is under duress from the Biya Francophone regime. Musonge who is at the mercy of President Biya over the hundreds of millions he has in a Swiss bank account has summoned a meeting of the so-called South West political elites to counter the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium. Some of Musonge’s wealth was allegedly gained from bribes and the Mutengene timber accident.

The former Prime Minister and current Senator of the ruling CPDM crime syndicate attempted to sue the paper Nouvelle Expression following a publication sponsored by Biya’s agents that depicted him arriving in Switzerland with money pouring out of his brief case. Musonge’s reign as Prime Minister and Head of Government was accused of civil rights crackdowns, torture, and executions. A source deep within the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium was quoted as saying that Southern Cameroons will not asked Switzerland to recover the Musonge funds.

It is still unclear why the Senator decided to organized the meeting at this crucial moment in Southern Cameroons history. However, the interim leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium have sounded a note of caution to all Southern Cameroonians of the Buea Province to remain vigilant and not to listen to the generation that has caused the deaths of many West Cameroonians.

We got intelligence that a majority of Southern Cameroons CPDM political elites are under Secret Service surveillance and have been told to speak against federalism and secession or lose their ill gotten wealth. Swiss bank accounts are infamous for their privacy, security, and hiding wealth.

Swiss law made it a criminal offense to reveal a client’s identity in 1934, creating a huge tax haven. A leak from the global bank HSBC revealed Swiss accounts involved in blood diamond trading, cocaine smuggling and bribery. Some 41 Swiss banks signed amnesty agreements with the US Justice Department requiring them to disclose ways they helped customers hide assets in 2013.

Culled from Cameroon Intelligence Report

31, January 2017

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Moderator Fonki Samuel Forba is moving the goalpost ⁴

Cameroon Tribune has reported a slight change of position by Moderator Fonki Samuel Forba of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon. The respected man of God was quoted as saying that the government should dialogue on what he stated as “points agreed between the State and teachers trade union leaders.” The leader of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon (PCC) appealed for reason from all stakeholders in the saga rocking the English subsystem of education, reported Cameroon Tribune.

The Right Rev Fonki Samuel’s appeal stressed the need for necessary measures for schools to effectively reopen and ghost town called off as a matter of urgency. Rev Fonki Samuel Forba also appealed to the conscience of all stakeholders to give children a chance to exercise their rights to education. The PCC moderator further issued a political statement for those detained in connection with crimes within this period to be tried in regions where they were arrested. On January 27th 2017, the leader of the PCC saluted the 83 year-old Cameroonian dictator’s creation of the so-called National Commission on Bilingualism and Multiculturalism as a vehicle to bring about national and social cohesion and to create a climate of mutual understanding and patriotism among Cameroonians.

Rt. Rev Fonki Samuel Forba also sounded like the Francophone Roman Catholic Bishops by stating that the PCC cannot be happy that schools have not resumed in the North West and South West Regions. Like a CPDM Section President for Mezam or Manyu, Rev. Fonki committed the problems to God for a quick solution and prayed that the Internet network be reinstated wherever it has been embargoed to restore trust and help the nation’s emerging economy.

Anyone with eyes can see that there’s alarm and opposition to the Moderator out there over the Cameroon Tribune report. Certainly, signs of blowback are not hard to find. We of this publication believe that it’s time to put an end to Moderator Fonki’s ill-advised leadership of the PCC. Never, never and never again has the position of a Moderator been so confusing.

The Moderator’s change of position is understandable. The financial hub of the PCC is based in the Bastos-Yaounde congregation where all the chartered members of the ruling CPDM crime syndicate who are Presbyterians worship. So press briefings such as the Cameroon Tribune story are meant to appease the big men who attend church services with expensive smart phones pretending to be reading a downloaded version of the Holy Bible during service. Apart from the Synod Clerk, the Moderator has not personally condemned the rapes and killings that took place in Kumba, Buea, Bamenda and Kumbo.

A Cameroon Concord News global survey of Presbyterians in the Diaspora, found that the Moderator had an 85% disapproval rating over the Cameroon Tribune story, with just 6% saying their impression was favorable. If we project those numbers for all Presbyterians back home in Cameroon including those in other African countries, it will signal an urgent need for the Rt. Rev. Fonki to end the confusion by resigning.

As a historical matter, every Moderator should and must have a mastery of the Anglophone Problem and the resistance judging from the fact that the Francophone Presbyterian Church has never been one entity with the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon.

In a variety of ways, by calling the Southern Cameroonians arrested as criminals and asking the government to organize legal proceedings against them in West Cameroon territory has encouraged a let-it-all-hang-out style in the struggle, which probably means the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon is helping to criminalize innocent Anglophone citizens and the leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium.

The Consortium has nothing to fear from robust and open discussion with the Yaoundé regime to get the schools running again!! Rev. Moderator, this can only be done when All Anglophone Demands have been met including the release of all those detained since 2016. The Cameroon Tribune story is an indication that the leadership of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon vis-à-vis the Anglophone Crisis is moving the goalpost.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Editor-in-Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group

30, January 2017

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Pro Yaounde diplomat elected President of the African Union ⁰

Chadian Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2008, Moussa Faki Mahamat, 56, has been elected to the presidency of the African Union (AU) Commission today Monday January 30th in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, during the 28th Summit of the pan-African organization.

Faki Mahamat has been painted as “a faithful among the faithful” of Chadian President Idriss Déby Itno with very closed ties with the Biya regime. The General Assembly also elected a new Chairman in the person of Guinean Alpha Condé. Faki Mahamat announced that he intends to make the fight against terrorism a priority.

His candidacy was however weakened by the lack of consensus on a single candidate in Central Africa, Sub region. In addition, part of the Chadian civil society militated against its candidacy by highlighting the lack of democracy and the lack of respect for human rights in his country. Moussa Fakhi Mahamat was however elected with 39 votes out of 54 against the Kenyan Amina Mohamed.

The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium has not reacted to this latest development in the African Union.

By Chi Prudence Asong

30, January 2017

Southern Cameroons Ghost Town defining the end of the CPDM era ⁵

Southern Cameroonians are demonstrating that civil disobedience works. Today, the interim leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium have announced as much, by citing more recent and local successes, including those of Buea that left only the 20 CPDM taxis belonging to Mayor Ekema on the empty streets.

The hugely successful campaign against rapes, arrests and extra judicial killings currently going on in Anglophone Cameroon were put to the eyes of the international community and the ghost town operation shall be stage again tomorrow Tuesday the 31^st of January. What all of this proves is that civil disobedience works.

There seems to be this Francophone CPDM narrative that the closure of schools is harming Southern Cameroons children. However, Southern Cameroonians have come to the conclusion that this last and hopefully a protracted battle will be beneficial to all when it comes to an end. People power has been effective on this struggle.

Earlier, the National Executive Committee of the SDF endorsed the demands of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium and outlined some proposals which may come forward if the African Union and the United Nations agree to get the Yaoundé regime and the Consortium to dialogue. How that will work remains to be seen. But, to borrow a phrase from a well-known Francophone politician, and apply it to the Anglophone Crisis, “Cameroon will never be the same again.”

The ghost town in the provinces of West Cameroon was very effective. Schools remain closed and Southern Cameroonians are now focused to fire the first salvo towards an independent state by a massive boycott of 11th February celebrations. The Consortium has revealed that a special form of ghost town and boycott will be carried out on the 11^th of February to destroy once and for all, the fake union between Southern Cameroons and La Republique and restore our lost statehood.

Culled from Cameroon Intelligence Report