As the world seeks to make sense of the chaos playing out in Kabul, Afghanistan, Southern Cameroonian fighters are also thinking that victory in their fight against the Yaoundé government is in sight.

The Southern Cameroonian fighters, who have over the last two months posted some significant results, have now been emboldened by the victory of the Taliban who have always fought to be in total control of their country.

In a recorded message sent to the Cameroon Concord News Group’s London Office, a Southern Cameroonian commander speaking in pidgin, the language widely spoken by Southern Cameroonians, said victory was in sight, adding that if America could be defeated, then La Republique, the derogatory name Southern Cameroonians use to describe the Republic of Cameroon, can be defeated in Southern Cameroons.

 “The situation in Afghanistan is talking to us. The Taliban have proven that it is possible to beat even the most sophisticated military in the world. If America can be humiliated in Afghanistan, then we can humiliate La Republique in our own territory. We can replicate what has happened in Afghanistan right here,” the commander said.

“Over the last two months, we have proven that we can inflict a lot of pain and damage on the Cameroonian army which thought it would just come here to kill our people and walk away. They have already killed more than 5,000 civilians, but we have also dealt them some deadly blows and they now know that nobody has the monopoly to kill others with impunity,” he added.

“The time when we had outdated weapons is long gone. We have migrated from machetes to IEDs, and this has struck fear into the minds of the soldiers. We have proven to them that fighting our boys is not a walk in the park. We have delivered results which the government did not expect us to deliver. We are no longer scared of the military. With our new weapons and experience gained over the last five years, we are capable of getting to Buea a lot sooner than expected. Many Cameroonian soldiers are scared of us. Many have fled to neighboring countries and they no longer want to be part of a military that is poorly paid and is organized along tribal lines,” the commander said.

“We hear many people say the government wants to negotiate, but we have not seen any moves that convince us that the government is sincere and serious. We are going to continue rolling these forces of occupation out of our territory until the government sees the need for negotiations. The government is always saying that it has no people to discuss with, but our leaders are in their jails. Mandela negotiated while in jail. Nkrumah negotiated when he was in jail. Patrice Lumumba negotiated his country’s independence while in jail. Why does the government think that President Julius Ayuk Tabe and his colleagues who are in jail in Yaoundé cannot negotiate with the government? We are talking here about negotiations for our independence. We cannot continue to be with Francophones. Their ways are different, and we have come to the conclusion that we have to go our separate ways,” the commander stressed.

“We hope that now that the President of La Republique, Paul Biya, is back from his long sick leave, he will be able to understand that his soldiers cannot win this war. The soldiers have been crippled by fear just as age and diseases have crippled Mr. Biya and his Senate President, Marcel Niat Njipenji. We will never down our weapons until all foreign forces on our land leave. We don’t want to hear of federalism. Anybody who discusses federalism with Yaoundé will be doing so at his own risk. We have gone beyond federalism. We are now working for the total liberation of our land,” the angry commander said.

Meanwhile, the fighting in the two English-speaking regions of the country continues. While the military has been demoralized, Southern Cameroonians fighters, for their part, are motivated and they have succeeded to impose their law in many parts of Southern Cameroons where the military is scared of going to. Cameroon army soldiers do not want to get into any confrontation with the fighters because they understand that Southern Cameroonian fighters now have more sophisticated weapons and are capable of killing them.

Army soldiers have been beaten in the rural parts of Southern Cameroons, and the humiliation that has been inflicted on the soldiers captured has struck fear in many soldiers who prefer to quit the military or feign an illness just because they want to be out of the killing fields of Southern Cameroons. 

While the soldiers are being killed in Southern Cameroons, the politicians, especially those of the ruling party, are doing their best to line their pockets. Many of them see the killings in Southern Cameroons as an opportunity to make money to feather their nests.

Like their president, the ministers who are directly involved in this war, hardly visit the two English-speaking regions but have constantly misinformed the president about the progress of the war.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai  

On Friday, charges against Cameroonian tech entrepreneur Rebecca Enonchong were dropped, after she had been illegally detained for three days by the government.

“I’m free!! All charges dropped!” Enonchong said on Twitter. “We can retire the #FreeRebecca hashtag. So immensely grateful to all of you for believing in me and supporting me.”

Enonchong was held in detention in her home country and brought before a court in Douala on Thursday.

She was accused of “contempt” and arrested according to a “verbal instruction” by the attorney general of the Littoral Region, according to social activist Edith Kahbang Walla, who also leads the Cameroon People’s Party (CPP).

“There’s no written complaint…no elements of the said contempt, there’s no warrant, there’s no summons.”

Enonchong’s lawyer, Sylvain Oum, confirmed that they received no documentation of what she is accused of nor a formal written complaint against her.

“She is a victim of an abuse of power,” Oum was quoted as saying by CNN. “She never should have been detained in the first place.”

Enonchong, who resides and works in the United States, is one of Africa’s most prominent tech entrepreneurs. She’s the founder of AppsTech, a global provider of enterprise software solutions, co-founder of three other companies, and sits on the boards of at least nine corporations.

Outside of the tech and business world, Enonchong is known to be an advocate for progressive policies and better governance in Cameroon, which has often involved criticising the oppressive administration of Paul Biya.

Outrage on social media followed Enonchong’s detention, with some commenters seeing the arrest as an attempt to intimidate her while setting an example to the diaspora who often speak out against President Biya.

Such claims are hard to prove but the unlawful detention is certainly a reminder of an enduring habit of arbitrary arrests and detentions in the West-Central African country.

Biya’s regime has long been accused of using arbitrary detention to lock up opposition voices, in addition to other various forms of repression and human rights abuses. But despite the number of listed accusations, Biya won the presidential elections in 2018 for a seventh consecutive time.

Reports show that activists, politicians, and academics, particularly from the Anglophone regions, languish in Cameroon’s prisons.

Enonchong has been released but thousands of others suspected of opposing President Biya haven’t been so “lucky”.

Culled from Techcabal

Tribute to a friend and prison-mate; Christian Penda Ekoka

Ten days ago, when we learnt of the passing of Mr Christian Penda Ekoka, we were filled with sadness. On behalf of my people, and in my name, I extend our profound condolences to his immediate family and to the larger community he created through his activism within ACT/AGIR.

In the nine months that Mr Penda Ekoka spent at the Yaoundé Principal Prison, my people and I got to know him. The memory of him and his teammates in the prison courtyard, where we meet to pray, exercise, eat, relax or meditate, lingers on.

He came across as a rigid, stern, decisive, reserved, unbiased administrator and politician. At all times, his intellect and technical mastery was on display. He was soft-spoken, especially while gazing eyeball to eyeball for frank talks. Even where and when we disagreed, we did so respectful of each other.

We learnt and appreciated his keen interests, concerns and personal sacrifices to ameliorate the living-conditions, empowment and liberty of his country-people from their plight. We understood how some of his stances made him incompatible with palace crew and colleagues. 

His death must leave a huge vacuum and an unwavering legacy. We join in prayers that those whom he has mentored through ACT/AGIR and through his other partnerships will carry his mission further.

May his family, friends and community be granted the fortitude to bear this irreparable loss.

Adieu dear friend Christian Penda Ekoka. May you journey well into God’s heavenly kingdom and find rest.

Sisiku AyukTabe

18th August 2021.

Kondengui Principal Prison Yaoundé

Many people always think the graveyard is the quietest place on earth, but Yaoundé, Cameroon’s capital, is proving that assertion wrong.

Ever since the health situation of the country’s president, Paul Biya, took a turn for the worse, the country’s capital, Yaoundé, has been engulfed by an ominous silence which is worrying to millions.

It has been announced twice that Mr. Biya will be returning to Yaoundé to continue spreading corruption, death and destruction as he has done over the last four decades, but the announcement turned out to be a “stillbirth“.

It is now emerging that Mr. Biya will not be returning to Cameroon anytime soon as his health situation becomes more concerning.

The Cameroon Concord News Group’s correspondent in Geneva has been reliably informed by sources close to the Cameroonian dictator that Cameroonians could be praying for the best, but should be doing more to prepare for the worst, as the news on the horizon is not comforting.

Mr. Biya is terribly sick and he has been pinned down in a Geneva clinic by multiple illnesses which will not be going away anytime soon. His breathing has become heavy, and he is pale and fragile, a source in Geneva told the Cameroon Concord News Group’s correspondent.

His family is counting on prayers, but prayers and medications are simply not delivering the results Swiss medical experts have been hoping for, and in Yaoundé, Mr. Biya’s collaborators are not having a good night’s sleep.

In a few days time, a vacancy will be declared due to Mr. Biya’s inability to run the country. The political opposition is already working with lawyers to come up with a motion both in the Senate and in Parliament, though many political analysts are skeptical about the success of such a motion, given that the president’s ruling party, the CPDM, also known as the crime syndicate occupies a safe majority in both houses.

The mere thought of such a possibility is taking a toll on the health of Mr. Biya’s collaborators who have directly or indirectly participated in the looting of the country’s resources.

A few days ago, there was hope that Mr. Biya could come through, but today’s information clearly points to a deteriorating health situation which may not end well. The old, frail lion has lost a lot of weight and his refusal to eat spells doom for many who have served him blindly. His physical frailty and his toothless mouth make it hard for him to be presented to the public. It will take a very long time for Cameroonians to see the president they love to hate in public.

Mr Biya’s heart is racing and for his age, this is not good news, especially for his family. His age and degree of fragility make it hard for certain treatments to be administered on him.

The Yaoundé strong man is gradually giving up the ghost. He seems to be living his last days and the possibility of power changing hands in Cameroon is growing bigger by the day.

Biya is losing it. His family is really concerned and in Yaoundé, regime insiders are making alternative plans, a source close to the Presidency of the Republic has informed the Cameroon Concord News Group.

Last week, there were concerns at the French Foreign Ministry. Officials at the French Foreign Ministry are already discussing Mr. Biya using the past tense. He is of no use to them. He has simply outlived his usefulness.

They know he is very likely to bow to the inevitable and are hard at work to figure out who will validly replace him and protect French economic and military interest in Cameroon, especially at a time when the country is gradually imploding, as it is in the grip of multiple conflicts.

Mr. Biya has always ruled the country based on instructions from Champs Élysees and he has perpetuated himself in power thanks to his divide-and-rule strategy and the massive tidal wave of corruption and intimidation he has engineered over the last four decades.

He might have succeeded to rule by intimidation, but he has simply pitted other regions of the country against his own region and it is gradually emerging that there will be an orgy of killings that will play out once Cameroonians learn that he is dead and gone.

The other regions are very mad at the Betis. They have aided and abetted the government in enforcing a reign of terror in Cameroon and other Cameroonians are fully aware of this and they have been planning a revenge that might shock the world.

If the international community is not careful, it might deal with another Rwanda in Cameroon. Angers are flaring up. Unemployment has reduced many young men to paupers and corruption has carefully excluded many Cameroonians from many opportunities, even those found in their own regions of the country.

Out of 44 ministries, the Betis occupy 32. They account for more than 70% of Senior Divisional Officers in Cameroon whereas they account for less than 10% of the population. Such flagrant injustice is what might cause the country to go through a long spell of bloodletting.

The Betis also have the highest number of senior military and police officials in the country and this explains why the government’s reaction to the Southern Cameroons crisis has been anything but peaceful.

The Betis hold that only military violence can ensure Cameroon remains one and indivisible, but after four years, it is obvious that their strategy is rather counter-productive.

Many soldiers of Beti extraction have met their death in the killing fields of Southern Cameroons and each family in the Center and South Regions has been affected by a war that was hastily declared by the ailing and senile Biya.

Since the Southern Cameroons crisis started in 2016, some ten thousand Cameroonians have been killed with some 3,000 soldiers dying in battle and more than 3,000 ending up with physical and mental scars that will not be going away anytime soon.

The fighting in the country’s two English-speaking regions which are the richest has hurt the country’s economy, leaving many state corporations operating at half capacity. The unemployment rate due to the fighting is incredibly high and this has triggered a tidal wave of criminality and cruelty in the regions.

Though many Cameroonians hold that death will not be a befitting punishment for Mr. Biya who has ruled the country with an iron fist and robbed them of their dignity and a happy life, millions believe that his death will be a good riddance.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Nobody ever imagined that the man the country’s first president, Amadou Ahidjo, handed power to will one day be the most hated person in his own country. This is exactly what is happening in Cameroon as Paul Biya keeps fighting for his dear life in a Geneva Clinic where multiple ailments, including a heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and Alzheimer’s disease are robbing him and his family of their happiness. 

Paul Biya, the man who succeeded Amadou Ahidjo, is now being viewed by his own compatriots as a virus introduced into the system to destroy the entire country and even on his dying bed, Cameroonians think his demise will be good riddance. They hold him responsible for all the issues that are currently assailing the country.

The country’s economy is on its knees due to bad policies and professionally engineered pervasive corruption that will take decades to clean up. Cameroon, a country once known for its strong economy, is today known for its humiliating corruption that is gradually suffocating the economy. While the people loathe the corruption, the country’s president and his corruption love the mess they have created for their country. The people have been pauperized by a Machiavellian government whose objective is to perpetuate its stay in power and this makes it easy for it to lead the people by their noses. 

The level of unemployment is mind-blowing. University graduates have simply thrown in the towel. They have been reduced to sorry spectators of events in their own country. They are tired hitting the pavement to look for jobs and many are waving the white flag. Even the low paying civil service jobs have lost their attractiveness as many Cameroonians look outwards for salvation. The Biya government, which was seen in 1982 when Mr. Biya came to power as a “salvation army”, has turned out to be a nightmare that will not be going away anytime soon. 

Biya, many Cameroonians say, is like a computer virus that even affects the mind. Though he inflicts pain on many Cameroonians, many still think that at 89, he is the only person who can rule the country, though he has been in power for close to 40 years and has nothing to show for his long stay in power. Many analysts think many Cameroonians have been overwhelmed by the Stockholm syndrome which is an emotional response, and it happens to some abuse and hostage victims when they have positive feelings towards an abuser or captor.

Some of these analysts attribute these helplessness and admiration for a man who has robbed an entire nation of its dignity and promise to the alcohol that flows like a stream throughout the country. But not everybody has lost his minds. Some Cameroonians are clearly out of patience and they want Biya out. They accuse him of all the crimes and sins in this world even when he has nothing to do with personal issues.

The level of frustration has pushed some Cameroonians to even blame their erectile dysfunction on Biya. Some hold him responsible for their premature ejaculation that is tearing their families apart. He is now to blame for even unwanted pregnancies as well as the proliferation of churches in the country.

But such personal issues are not the ones that will tear the country apart. The Southern Cameroons crisis in the country’s two English-speaking regions is what may destroy the country beyond recognition. Southern Cameroonian fighters have stood their ground for more than four years despite the military’s superior weaponry and they are more determined than before. Their military victories have given them more confidence and their use of explosives and other remote-controlled devices is striking fear in the military. 

Over the last two months, there has been a swift and inexplicable reversal of fortunes that has put the military in a very tight spot. The Southern Cameroons Defense Forces (SCDF) have proven that they are a force to deal with and they understand the terrain more than the soldiers. The fighters who started off with hunting rifles have struck fear in the minds of many soldiers, with many deserting the military for fear of being killed in a war they hold could have been avoided through peaceful negotiations with the country’s English-speaking minority. 

While the tentative death toll stands at some ten thousand dead, sources in the country’s Defense Ministry have hinted that more than three thousand soldiers have been killed and more than four thousand maimed, while up to a thousand have simply melted out of the country. Southern Cameroons is now a nightmare and a graveyard to many of the hastily recruited soldiers from the Center and South regions who have been misled to think that power belongs to them and that Southern Cameroonians are seeking to rob them of what is rightfully theirs.  

The Southern Cameroons crisis has also given the country’s economy some deadly blows to the liver, exacerbating the already bad economic situation. Most state-owned corporations in the two English-speaking regions of the country have been seriously affected by the fighting and they are only operating at half capacity. Many of the workers have been laid off and the country has no employment insurance program or alternative retraining programs that can enabled those laid off to find new jobs. The pain is excruciating and the level of criminality in the two regions is just breath-taking.

While the country’s English-speaking minority is creating nightmares for the government in the Southern part of the country, in the North, Boko Haram, the notorious religious sect that started its activities in Nigeria, is spreading death and destruct. Even with support from Western countries, the Yaounde government has not been able to flush Boko Haram fighters from its northern territory. On the country, Boko Haram fighters are gaining new territory every day. Ordinary citizens do not trust the government, as its soldiers are wont to killing children and women with impunity and this is hurting the government’s effort. Civilians prefer to collaborate with Boko Haram fighters instead of with soldiers who always unleash their frustration on the innocent civilian population.

Cameroon is on the brink of a massive implosion. If the armed conflict and terrorist attacks do not bring down the delipidated edifice called Cameroon, the inter-tribal wars that have been in the wings for decades will surely cause the country to go up in pieces. The tribe-based government that has led the country for almost four decades has hurt other Cameroonians and the pent-up anger and frustration may spill over once Mr. Biya exits.

Northerners want to recapture power after more than four decades which have seen many northerners treated like second-class citizens. Northerners have a bone to pick with this regime and they know the Betis will be their target once power falls into their hands. Thousands of northerners were killed in 1984 following a failed coup and they have yet to forget that those summary killings were designed to push the North from the corridors of power for good. 

Biya, the dangerous virus, has succeeded to divide Cameroonians. He thought he could only rule for long if he divided a people who had total faith in their national unity. He might have succeeded for close to four decades, but he seems to be running out of luck and those who followed him blindly are now regretting. These days, most Biya supporters seem to be walking on tenterhooks. They are scared of the bad news, but it is bound to happen. The once admired president might only return to his country in an expensive coffin. The odds are against him. 

The latest information reaching the Cameroon Concord News Group says that Mr. Biya will not be able to head home next week. Twice his return has been announced and twice it has not taken place. He has now been out of the country for 30 days and in a few days’ time, a vacancy may be announced by the country’s political opposition if Mr. Biya does not cut his treatment short to demonstrate that he can still rule the country.   

This is really bad news for his political party and the crooks that are hiding within the party. Cameroonians are bitter and they want to take their pound of flesh for all these years that the regime has oppressed and suppressed them, and they will surely be targeting the flesh that is closest to the heart.

They want to hit the ruling party where it hurts the most. Most ruling party members are indebted to the state or have committed some financial malfeasance that might take them to the country’s maximum-security prisons and the public is looking forward to the day most of them will be dragged through the streets before being thrown in jail.  

Many of those crooks and praise-singers are seeking visas to leave the country before the bad news finally makes its way to Yaounde. Biya is in a pretty mess! His health has failed him badly. From every indication, he will not be making it before a vacancy is announced. The “virus” has been infected by many dangerous and powerful viruses. Nature is talking! Biya is gradually understanding that he is not indispensable. He also knows that death can also be his potion and the arrogance with which he ruled Cameroon was uncalled for.  

If the worst were to happen, many things will fall apart for some of the criminals who have been using the ruling party to rob the country blind. Many regime insiders are worried, and some have already started talking like magpies. They know Biya has messed up the country, and they know there is no justification for their joyful participation in the destruction of a country that has been considered for many years as an oasis of peace in a desert of chaos and the economic engine of the Central African region.  

The days ahead are critical for Cameroon. The dying Biya is still hanging on. He has beaten many illnesses and cheated death on many occasions. Will he be able to stage a spectacular come-back this time around? Time and age are not on his side. He has ruined a once beautiful and prosperous country. However, there is some time for him to deliver his mea culpa. Cameroonians will surely forgive. They want to move on. But will they ever forget this dark chapter in their country’s history?

Biya the virus is no longer dangerous, and he might not have another opportunity to hurt Cameroonians. He has already ruined a lot. The country has hit rock bottom. There is not much he can do again. He is on his way out and Cameroonians have only one prayer point for him. May his soul rest in peace when and if that news gets made public.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

For some time now, Cameroon’s flamboyant and noisy territorial administration minister, Paul Atanga Nji, has been missing in action even as thousands of the country’s army soldiers are being killed and humiliated by a ragtag military that started off with machetes and clubs to defend the population and its territory against the invaders from East Cameroon.

The man who said there was no Southern Cameroons crisis when the problem hit the international stage and the author of many new expressions, including “the boyses in the bushes” and “burying the bereaved” has suddenly disappeared from the public’s eye and nobody is talking about him in public.

The conman par excellence had told his bosses in Yaoundé that if given the territorial administration portfolio, he would end the high level insurgency in days given that he knew the terrain and was an Anglophone.

Strangely, after more than two years in such a high position Paul Atanga Nji has not achieved much and things have gone from bad to worse despite all the tactics he has used, including killing young males and placing weapons on their corpses and creating groups pretending to be new Southern Cameroonian factions in the conflict.

Some people are also holding that he might be helping the other Paul, the one struggling for his life in Geneva, with his illnesses. It is still tough to many sound minds to understand how a person can help a sick person when illnesses are not transferable.

However, many regime insiders are warning that Paul Atanga Nji is someone who can transform sand into gold and that he could still pretend that his presence by the ailing Paul might help reduce his pain. No one should underestimate Atanga Nji, a regime baron advised.

From every indication, the territorial administration boss seems to be seeing the writing on the wall. The crisis in Southern Cameroons will not be over anytime soon and his promise to mop up the mess out there cannot be fulfilled, especially as Amba fighters have procured more sophisticated weapons and have also sharpened their hit-and-run tactics.

He may also be seeing the end of the massive scam that his government has put in place. The architect of this scheme has been pinned down in a Geneva clinic by many debilitating illnesses and the chances of him recovering are very slim. Paul Atanga Nji may just be plotting his exit strategy as he knows the next president will not be using his services which have done much to send many young soldiers to an early grave and have deeply divided the country.

Paul Atanga Nji, the man with very limited formal education, is very responsible for the killing of more than 10,000 Cameroonians in a war that could have been avoided if the right words and approaches had been used.

He strongly believes in the use of a hammer to kill a fly and holds that negotiating or talking to opponents is a sign of failure and this has plunged the country in a pretty mess. Now that things have spiralled out of control, he has gone underground. He is simply tired of “burying the bereaved” as the “boyses in the bushes” continue to put up a huge show that has left the government wondering.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman, Editor-In-Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns the disgraceful judicial conspiracy against Amadou Vamoulké, a Cameroonian journalist who completed his fifth year in “provisional” detention yesterday while a court continued to drag out his trial.

The court adjourned the trial for the 74th time yesterday, the fifth anniversary of Vamoulké’s arrest in 2016 on an absurd charge for which there is no hard evidence. He is accused diverting millions of euros in public funds to benefit CRTV, the public radio and TV broadcaster he ran from 2005 to 2016.

The prosecution has relied on a single witness, an accountant, without turning to alternative accounting firms, although the accountant has been completely discredited by the defence on various grounds including his exorbitant fees, record delays in producing reports, creation of a fake accounting line in an attempt to incriminate Vamoulké and the fact that a court closed his accounting firms in France for “insufficient assets.”

The CRTV board terminated the contract of this accountant’s firm in 2018 for “failing to respect ethical rules.” Although the financial ministry is represented on the CRTV board that fired the accountant, it registered as a civil party in the prosecution of Vamoulké, in one more example of the dubious nature of the case fabricated against him. And Vamoulké’s lawyers report that this accountant does regular work for the financial ministry, in an apparent conflict of interests.

“The longer the trial goes on, the more it is revealed that it lacks any basis and the more it bogs down.” said Arnaud Froger, the head of RSF’s Africa desk. “There is nothing provisional about this journalist’s detention. After five years in prison for no good reason, Amadou Vamoulké has already served a sentence without being tried. This diabolical judicial conspiracy is disgusting. It shames the entire Cameroonian judiciary and the county’s highest political authorities, who have done nothing to end it.”

Vamoulké’s trial is continuing in the absence of any legal basis. The Cameroonian penal code limits provisional detention to 18 months while the law creating the special criminal court that is trying him specifies that its trials must be completed within nine months.

After being referred the case by RSF in 2019, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention concluded in June 2020 that “the violations of the right to due process are of such gravity that they confer an arbitrary character on Mr. Vamoulké’s detention.” Calling for his release, the UN body also voiced “deep concern” about the “gravity” of his physical condition.

The judicial persecution has been compounded by the threat to Vamoulké’s health. He was diagnosed with a neurological condition two years ago but has never been able to have the appropriate tests or receive the appropriate treatment. Now aged 71, the ailing journalist should at the very least have been granted a provisional release after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, especially as several of his fellow detainees have caught the virus.

Cameroon fell one place in RSF’s 2021 World Press Freedom Index and is now ranked 135th out of 180 countries.

Culled from RSF

The Southern Cameroons crisis is into its fifth year and the government is gradually coming to terms with the fact that there will never be any military victory.

The unfortunate situation, which started as a protest by teachers and lawyers in 2016 in the country’s two English-speaking regions, could have been avoided if the government had prioritized dialogue over military violence.

Government officials, negotiating for the government, had not noticed that the wall of fear had crashed and most Southern Cameroonians had had enough of a system that had brought them more pain than happiness.

One of the demands of the protesting lawyers was the restoration of the federal system to ensure that the English educational and legal systems were preserved, but the government which is used to addressing issues through brutality and intimidation, resorted to its old ways, thinking that it could easily call off the bluff in a couple of days.

Little did it know that a determined people, no matter how poorly organized, could give a military a good run for its money. A war the government thought would last for a few days is now in its fifth year and it has resulted in the deaths of more than 10,000 Cameroonians – both civilians and soldiers.

Over the last two months, the country’s military has recorded some of the most ridiculous setbacks, as Southern Cameroonian fighters have changed their tactics. The fighting, which initially looked like conventional warfare where government forces had a clear advantage, has become a hit-and-run operation wherein Southern Cameroonian fighters are dictating the terms.

The fighters who started with machetes in 2016 have morphed into experienced strikers, using some of the most sophisticated war machines the continent can afford. Over the last four years, they have grown in experience and are, indeed, a few slices above the country’s soldiers whose mastery of the terrain is at best mediocre.

With bombs and other remote devices, Southern Cameroonian fighters are inflicting significant damage on the country’s military and this new situation is causing a change of mind in the corridors of power in Yaoundé. 

Federalism that used to be a crime can now be discussed openly. Government ministers are now open to such discussions and they are even seeking ways to get their message across to the fighters in the bushes and the Southern Cameroonian Diaspora which is more interested in total independence than in the fake federalism that is being dangled by a government that is wont to speaking from both sides of its mouth.

Speaking to the Cameroon Concord News Group correspondent in Washington, a separatist leader who elected anonymity said that both the fighters on Ground Zero and the Diaspora will not accept anything short of total independence.

“We cannot settle for any fake federalism that will in future create us brand new problems. We have lived in this union for more than five decades and we now know how Francophones think. We are culturally different, and it will be wise for us to go our separate paths. Their perspective of governance and leadership is diametrically different from what we know. Leaders are supposed to be accountable to the people, but this is not what obtains in the United Republic of Cameroon. We are still determined to fight, and we now know we can beat the Cameroon military,” the separatist leader said in a phone interview on Wednesday.

“The Yaoundé government has killed thousands of our people, and this makes it hard for us to be in any union with a bunch of people who have no regard for the rule of law and human rights. Those who have been killed by the forces of occupation are martyrs and we will never forget them. If we opt to remain in this union, then we have betrayed the thousands of young men and women whose lives have been cut short by a brutal government that should be listening to its citizens. We have done our best to live with our Francophone brothers, but we must point out that it is hard to live with them under any political dispensation,” the hardcore separatist leader underscored.

“We must continue to turn the heat on those poorly trained soldiers until their masters ask them to withdraw. This war should not have taken place if the Yaounde government had prioritized dialogue over military violence. Complaining should never be a crime. It should instead be a channel through which issues that can create conflicts could be discussed and solutions found. In Cameroon, we seem to be cohabiting with animals who think that they can dictate everything to their citizens. We are not settling for any short of independence and anybody who will negotiate for federalism will be viewed as an enemy and he will be dealt with accordingly,” he stressed.

From every indication, there is no end in sight. The separatists seem to be frozen in their position and this clearly implies that more blood will continue to flow in the towns and villages in Southern Cameroons.

However, members of the country’s ruling party, the CPDM, hold that something can still be done. In their view, all is not lost. Speaking to the Cameroon Concord News Group correspondent in Yaounde on Monday, a senior CPDM member said that news outlet such as the Cameroon Concord News Group which have clearly aligned with the separatists should change their editorial policy and help to deliver a message of peace and hope to all Cameroonians who are desirous of peace in the country.

“We know a lot of mistakes have been made by the government. The war should not have happened. The government thought old ways would be able to bring back peace to the country, but it is discovering that as more people die and with the passage of each day, it is becoming very hard to envisage a military victory. We know many people have been killed. We also know that many soldiers have been killed, but after all the destruction, we all should start beating the drums of peace so that we can start to rebuild our country and that starts with the media that is inimical to the government. We should change our narrative and editorial policies so that the notion of federalism can be given a chance for it to become popular,” the senior CPDM member who elected anonymity said in Yaoundé.

“Who does not make mistakes? We should understand that the state will always be the state and if we must walk away from the mess that is claiming many lives, we must start to talk about reconciliation and negotiations. The country is bleeding money, and it is losing its soldiers and equipment. There is fear all over Yaoundé, fear that the military might one day rebel against the government and this could result in a much bigger disaster as our country’s institutions may not survive such a tough stress test,” he underscored.

“We are seeking ways of reaching out to some of the toughest separatist leaders so as to sell our proposal of federalism to them. The government is ready to meet Southern Cameroonians halfway. Decentralization has failed and it will be preposterous to continue to put it on life support. Its rightful place is in the cemetery. Our country does not need it anymore. It has brought a lot of pain and enmity in our country. We all must learn the lessons of history. The world has changed, and the government is slowly acknowledging that it had erred, and it is willing to make amends so that things can get back to normal. The war is expensive financially. The human cost is inestimable. We cannot continue to let some of those little differences to continue to divide us. We know the Cameroon Concord News Group can help spread the word. The government has a message for Southern Cameroonians. It wants to discuss with the leaders of the rebellion and federalism will be on the agenda. After close to five years of senseless killings, we must agree that war will not address any issues. We must try something new,” he said, adding that it is necessary for Ambazonian leaders to accept the hand of peace the government is stretching out.

The government is gradually coming out of its arrogance and confusion. Many people had advised it to prioritize dialogue over war, but full of itself, it felt it could wrap up things in a few days. It is finally acknowledging that other methods could have delivered better results, but it is still ashamed to come out openly to apologize and call for peace. How easy will it be to negotiate with people it had branded as terrorists? Pride goes before a fall and the current situation in Cameroon clearly underscores the adage.

It is up to the government to seek better ways to sell its ideas. It has a lot of questions to answer. How will it justify the killing of thousands of innocent civilians in a war that could have been avoided? How will it look at the families of those falling soldiers and tell them that it is sorry for such a grave error that has robbed them of their loved ones? These are just some of the questions the government will have to answer if and when those negotiations take place.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Saturday July 17 is now among the President Biya’s darkest days. Not since the April 6 coup in 1984 has the Cameroonian presidency been laid so low.

While Cameroonians did the right thing on that April 6 1984 by standing shoulder-to-shoulder with their president, the same Biya on Saturday July 17 2021 was hiding inside the InterContinental Hotel in Geneva now seen as Cameroon’s eleventh region in his desperate attempt to cling to an office Cameroonians have denied him several times.

Some pro Biya militants had dubiously chanted praises to the man who has misruled Cameroon for 38 years in front of the same Geneva hotel. But the Swiss police took interest in the massive demo organized by the BAS majority following that stormed past armed police officers and into the InterContinental Hotel, where the 88-year-old dictator was preparing to drive to Cannes in France with his wife Chantal Biya to enjoy the Cannes Film Festival.

The fault lies entirely with Biya and his criminal gang. Their rhetoric on state radio and television has been very inciteful against Southern Cameroonians and the Bamilekes of French Cameroun and each day they are marketing false narratives that Cameroonians clamouring for reforms simply want political power. Now, the nation is exploding. 

Biya’s performance in Geneva was befitting his presidency, which has been crude, undisciplined and self-serving. Biya has always placed his own interest and that of his tribe’s men ahead of the nation’s.

In the days of the late President Ahmadou Ahidjo, it would have been impossible to imagine a Cameroon governor, an SDO let alone the head of state traveling abroad and making a hotel his home away from home.

Why go back to the same hotel in Geneva?

What is so special in the InterContinental Hotel in Geneva? Only the 88-year-old Biya, Cameroon’s crudest and least dignified president can tell.

Biya has devoted his presidency to denigrating Cameroonian institutions and citizens who refused to play along with his irrational denial of reality. Of course, you can do whatever you want as head of state if you keep the people frightened enough.

The Francophone leader has bullied everyone deep within his ruling CPDM crime syndicate and even beyond but he is now very surprise at seeing young French Cameroonians in the diaspora getting on his way as patriotism is in very short supply at Etoudi.

In 1982, Biya swore to uphold the Constitution but has spent more than three decades encouraging his loyalists to ignore the document and do whatever it takes to illegally keep him in power.

The late Ahmadou Ahidjo and his top aides gave Biya a rare and treasured honour — the privilege of serving the United Republic of Cameroon as president and entrusting Biya with the care of this precious homeland. Biya has abused that trust over and over.

The time has come for Biya to do the right thing by stepping aside. He and his gang must recognize the danger of continuing to hold on to power at 88 in a nation that is already disintegrating.

Dion Ngute, Maigari Bello Bouba, Laurent Esso and Philemon Yang must break into the youthful tribal clique around Biya and make him see the escalation of the chaos and violence his hanging on to power is creating in Southern Cameroons, the Far North and also in the East.

It will be a very serious matter if the military should send him packing out of the so-called Unity Palace. The Biya generation should organize a peaceful transition of power to a new administration and Biya and his kinsmen in Yaoundé have an obligation to ensure that the transfer is indeed peaceful.

Biya and his men must stop agitating their supporters, stop the war in Southern Cameroons, condemn police and army violence, free all Southern Cameroons detainees; free all political opponents, accept that mistakes have been made and give up this hopeless and dangerous Beti Ewondo crusade to hold on to power.

A stitch in time saves nine

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

A new paramount leader of the Bafaws was named by the late Chief V.E.Mukete. The legendary West Cameroon politician handed over the throne to his son, Ekoko Mukete amid scenes of unreported chaos after members of the Bafaw royal family questioned Prince Ekoko Mukete’s claim to the title.

The controversy over who will be the next king of the Bafaws, a largely ceremonial role but one with great significance for English speaking Cameroonians in Meme Division arose after the death of Chief V.E. Mukete.

The late VE Mukete had apparently named one of his children, Ekoko Mukete as his successor in front of the then Bafaw traditional council. But events are now taking a dramatic U-turn as Prince Emmanuel Mukete Mukete recently released a video in which he disputed Ekoko Mukete’s claim throwing the Bafaw royal succession into turmoil.

Underneath the dispute is the fate of Bafaw royal assets, royalties paid by the Kumba City Council and the vast amounts of land traditionally owned by the Bafaws and now held by the VE Mukete children.

The Bafaw royal family has no political or even constitutional position, but their traditional authority is recognized in the entire Bafaw kingdom and even beyond.

In the coming days Cameroon Concord News and Cameroon Intelligence Report will both be publishing a frank, candid and thoughtful key into understanding the Bafaw Royal Family and the emergence of Prince Emmanuel Mukete Mukete.

By Isong Asu and Soter Agbaw-Ebai