Systematic Rape as a means of French Cameroun warfare in Ambazonia

The Human Rights Watch report on Cameroon dated 26 February 2021 titled “Survivors of Military Assault Await Justice” was unambiguous and uncomplimentary on the actions and conduct of the Cameroon army. The report detailed the rape and abuse of more than 20 women by the Cameroon army in the village of Ebam in the South West Region of the country during raids carried out last year. The United States Embassy to Cameroon today released the following message: “The United States is deeply disturbed to learn of reports of a military raid in Ebam, Southwest Region, on March 1 of last year that resulted in violence against civilians. We condemn all violence in which civilians are targeted. We call for an immediate investigation into the alleged incident and for perpetrators to be held accountable. That this attack, if found to be true, could go unacknowledged for a year speaks to the important role civil society and media organizations play in helping governments meet their obligations to their people.”

Statistics of actual mass or gang rape of Ambazonian women and girls are difficult to come by for obvious reasons. But there is no doubt, based on concurrent first-hand accounts, that what HRW reports is only the tip of the iceberg. The wartime rape cases reported by HRW points to systematic rape aimed at destroying the identity of the people of the Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia). It is indistinguishable from the same crime that was perpetrated in Rwanda by Hutu soldiers against Tutsi women and girls, and in Bosnia by Serbian soldiers against Bosnian Muslims.  Incidents of rape by French Cameroun troops in Ambazonia are more frequent than people are aware of or than is generally known. These cases go unreported because surviving victims internalize the occurrences and do not talk about them. Many surviving rape victims do not come forward to tell their traumatic experience because of the shame and stigma associated with the deed. They suffer in silence and bear for years their severely traumatic experience. There are no available local trauma centres providing counselling in private.

Massacres and other murders as well as systematic rape of women and girls are the well-attested shameless methods by which the ‘professional’ and ‘elite’ troops of French Cameroun conduct their colonial war in the Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia). That colonial war claims deaths in tens of thousands. It inflicts suffering, wholesale destruction, refugee flows and other forcible displacement of large numbers of people. It causes gross human rights violations. It creates thousands of orphans, widows, widowers and breaks up family ties. People are systematically subjected to indignity, and to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. The world seems inert. The people appear to have resigned themselves to an attitude of fatalistic cynicism. 

Women and girls are forced into sexual relationships by their torturers holding them captives. This results in forced impregnation and contamination with HIV and other sexually transmissible diseases. Women and girls are sometimes gang-raped to death or murdered after being raped to destroy evidence of the deed. Survivors go through emotional and psychological trauma. Rape and defilement are systematically used as a weapon and tactic of war by French Cameroun barbarian troops. They are used explicitly in efforts: to destroy population, to dislocate bonds within families and communities, to maximize humiliation and shame, to break resistance by instilling fear and terror in communities or in freedom fighters, to torture and inflict injury, to extract information, to degrade, to punish the rape victim for some alleged acts by their families, and to vent anger on the people of Ambazonia and humiliate them.

Rape always entails direct physical harm, trauma, and social ostracism for the victim. In many instances, it is also a health death sentence for the victims since they are deliberately infected with HIV and other sexually transmissible infections. Furthermore, gang rape invariably leads to vaginal destruction and traumatic fistula of the vaginal tract, bladder and rectum. Vaginal destruction is now classified as a war crime. Long term medical complication of such rape includes uterine prolapse, serious injury to the reproductive system like infertility or complications associated with miscarriages and self-induced abortions. The central element of rape is power. Rape is thus used to punish, intimidate, coerce, humiliate and degrade Ambazonian female victims and by extension Ambazonian men. As if this is not enough evil, French Cameroun troops enforce a war policy prohibiting treatment for women and girls suffering from war-related rape or other injuries. They violently eject them out of any health facility. The result is fear by affected women and girls to seek medical help. Their condition becomes irremediable. They eventually die in silence.

Rape most often occurs during search operations, during which those troops frequently engage in collective punishment against the civilian population, most often by beating or otherwise assaulting residents, and burning their homes. Rape also occurs frequently during reprisal attacks on civilians following ambushes by freedom fighters. In some cases, the victims are accused of providing food or shelter to freedom fighters or are ordered to identify or disclose the location of their male relatives as freedom fighters. In some attacks the selection of victims is apparently opportunistic and the women, like murdered civilians, are raped simply because they happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The French Cameroun regime is scared to death of its military and never credibly investigates any rapes or even massacres committed by them. The silence of the regime and its unwillingness to prosecute and punish those responsible leads to the inevitable conclusion that this form of torture is sanctioned as a matter of government policy. At least, the government of that country signals that the practice of rape is tolerated, if not condoned, and encouraged. The regime is in the habit of dismissing reports of massacres, and a fortiori, of rapes. It peddles the lie that its troops act ‘professionally’. The troops themselves habitually eliminate witnesses likely to provide evidence of rapes and massacres. The rape and killing of women and girls are a common occurrence though extremely difficult to document on account of the secrecy of the incidents, lack of pathologist evidence, and difficulty of evidence gathering for rape prosecution. 

Wartime rape is a criminal offence under the international law of war, which also applies to Cameroun. The criminalization of rape under that law is meant to safeguard human dignity. The rape of women and girls is prohibited in armed conflict. It is deemed a war crime under the provisions of international humanitarian law. The jurisprudence of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda characterizes wartime rape as a crime of genocide because of the intent to destroy in whole or in part a particular population group. Furthermore, the systematic mass rape of Ambazonian women and girls meets the statutory definition of systematic harm to a population or ethnical group within the meaning of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.  Persons who commit or order the commission of grave breaches of international humanitarian law are individually responsible in respect of such breaches.

We call for international condemnation of this crime as a violation of international human rights and humanitarian law and appeal to:

•             the international community to make vigorous and repeated representations to French Cameroun government, both bilaterally and multilaterally, in connection with these rapes and other grave human rights violations,

•             all States, organizations and programmes of the UN system, specialized agencies and other international organizations to urgently provide humanitarian assistance to all in need of it in Ambazonia,

•             the UN to urgently take practical measures to assist and counsel the girls and women concerned ,and to mandate investigations into the facts of each individual case, and

•             the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Womento devote particular attention to the issue of rape by French Cameroun troops in the Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia).

We urge community groups on the ground to continue to ascertain and record the magnitude and extent of rape by the French Cameroun occupying forces in the Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia).

Dabney Yerima

Vice President

 Pro-independent Leadership Government 

Joshua Osih, an SDF vice president and parliamentarian and a son of Ndian Division in the Southwest region of Cameroon has decided to stir a hornet’s nest even when he is aware of the pressure and disaster he is inviting into his personal and political life.

The SDF MP joined parliamentarians of the ruling crime syndicate, the CPDM, to take American senators to task for calling on the Biden Administration to reconsider the repatriation of Cameroonians from the United States because of the government’s violent military response to protests by the country’s English-speaking minority.

The American senators are criticizing the government of Cameroon for its massive and senseless execution of its own citizens, most of whom are native Southern Cameroonians.

The majority of those being repatriated from the United States are from the English-speaking part of the country where an insurgency has been playing out for four years.

The SDF member of parliament knows that there is a massive and bloody conflict playing out in that part of the country but seems to be in denial of this military violence that the government has unleashed on innocent civilians in that part of the country.

Mr. Osih has had a taste of the challenges ordinary people face in that part of Cameroon but he is clearly buring his head in sand.

The MP’s father died some two years ago and for him to have him buried in his native Ndian Division, he had to pay huge sums of money to insurgents, as the government could not provide the much- needed security in that part of the country.

Mr. Osih’s decision to turn his back on the people of Southern Cameroons has triggered a backlash and even his fellow SDF parliamentarians are chiding him for such a preposterous decision.

The Social Democratic Front (SDF) has called for an emergency meeting to take a look at Osih’s misguided decision which has left the SDF with a bloodshot eye.

Many SDF parliamentarians are bitter and some are openly accusing him of placing his interest above that of the people of Southern Cameroons.

The Cameroon Concord News Group’s correspondent in Yaoundé has been talking to some senior officials of the SDF and many of them are calling for Mr. Osih’s dismissal from the party.

He is being accused of cozying up to the government ever since Dion Ngute, the country’s Prime Minister, was appointed by the country’s long-serving and ailing president, Paul Biya, who has ruled the Central African country with an iron fist for almost 40 years with no results to show for his long stay in power.

Mr. Osih and Prime Minister Dion Ngute are from Ndian Division and it is alleged that they are related and this is causing Mr. Osih to embrace the government’s obnoxious policies against Southern Cameroonians who headed to the United States to seek asylum because of the conflict that has been playing out in their part of the country.

“Joshua Osih should be dismissed from the party. He has clearly demonstrated his greed and dishonesty by siding with the ruling party’s members of parliament who have never wanted the Southern Cameroons issue to be discussed in parliament,” an angry SDF Parliamentarian told our correspondent in Yaoundé.

“Every since Dion Ngute got appointed as the country’s Prime Minister, Joshua has shown total disrespect of party rules and he is now disrespecting the suffering people of Southern Cameroons who are being hunted by government forces as game,” the MP said.

“Osih is an embarrassment to the people of Southern Cameroons in particular and of Cameroon in general. He cannot claim he is not aware of the pain the country’s English-speaking minority is facing. How many more Southern Cameroonians have to die before Mr. Osih and the ruling CPDM understand that the Northwest and the Southwest regions are not safe?” the MP quipped.

“Osih wants to be the president of Cameroon and he wants to run on the SDF ticket. With his new mentality, how can he ever win an election in Cameroon, especially in the English-speaking part of Cameroon which is the SDF’s stronghold and where thousands have been killed and millions sent into exile by a government that has never prioritized dialogue over military violence? Osih should be dismissed from the party as he is more of a liability to the SDF,” the Member of Parliament said.

“Osih and his fellow CPDM parliamentarians should have instead written to their president instead of writing to American law-makers who had actually painted a true picture of what is happening in Cameroon. This is a problem that has been going on for years and for Osih to suggest that things are improving in that part of the country is a clear demonstration of dishonesty on his part,” the Cameroon law-maker who elected anonymity said.

“Osih is under enormous pressure and the Southern Cameroons Diaspora which wields a lot of influence is punching him from all directions. He has stirred a hornet’s nest and this is costing him his reputation. This demonstration of poor judgment by an SDF parliamentarian is giving the SDF a very bad name and this will surely affect the party in future elections” the MP regretted. 

Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Group Chairman, Editor-In-Chief

Over the last couple of days, a position statement signed by several colleagues of the National

Assembly including my humble person has been the main topic of discussion on several platforms and news outlets. This document has been subject to various interpretations, generating a lot of controversy on what its noble intentions were.

Given the unprecedented challenges the country faces, we are all called to take our responsibilities and we must boldly take it up when and where necessary. Cynics, in deliberately misunderstanding and misrepresenting the intentions of this document, have also seized the opportunity to peddle innuendos of my collusion with the regime in its poor management of the Anglophone crisis and from seeking to benefit from it. It is this toxic politics, to which we have subjected every aspect of our national life which is at the very heart of the protraction of some of the crisis we face today.

 For the last 4-5 years, political apprentices have used sentimental judgements as a tool to stoke the sympathy of desolate Cameroonians, who have suffered and continue to suffer from various trials but never truly suggest any actual solution to the problems our fellow compatriots face. We will never succeed in building the Cameroon we believe in through such cynicism and in trivialising every debate in the country.

We are faced with several hard choices and we must face up to the truth and make those tough decisions. As famously quoted by Martin Luther King, Jr “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. The true neighbour will risk his position, his prestige, and even his life for the welfare of others. “

That said, the position by some members of the Cameroon National Assembly was published on February 22, 2021, in response to a petition from the United States Congress sent on February 17, 2021 by some 40 members of the United States Congress to the Biden administration. This petition was asking the administration to suspend the repatriation of Cameroonians from the United States to Cameroon because conditions in Cameroon continue to worsen as violence continues and the pandemic continues to take its public health and economic toll…

 In matters of parliamentary diplomacy, the position of a parliament is usually entertained by the opposing parliament concerned, providing a response to the position in question except in cases of escalation. It was therefore within our remit, as representatives of the people, to provide a weighted response and seek further methods through which to best engage with these concerned members of the American Congress.

In response therefore, a position was taken on behalf of the Cameroonian Parliament and which can be summarized in its conclusion by the following words, “As legislators, we welcome the genuine expression of concern and support for the well-being of the vast majority of Cameroonians. We urge members of the United States Congress to engage more vigorously to ensure compliance with the international conventions against transnational crime and criminality to which the United States is a signatory and to ensure that their country is not a safe haven for perpetrators and funders of acts of extreme violence and terrorism on the people of Cameroon”.

This response, for those who have taken the time to read it, is both diplomatically correct and courteous. As an unusual first, this document provided a medium of exchange from the Cameroon Parliament with foreign counterparts on a topic that has been the major concern for every Cameroonian, an opportunity I personally welcomed. The document in itself evoked several aspects, which make it foolhardy to read it in a singular context. It is necessary to unpack both statements and answer some questions, while pondering the proposal of “…suspending repatriation flights back to Cameroon…” for the various reasons provided, which include but are not limited to the war in the English-speaking regions.

These questions are:

Firstly, does this de-escalate the ongoing crisis in the country? The answer is a resounding NO!

Should we be encouraging and celebrating more and more Cameroonians who are forced away from the responsibility of building this nation, the comfort of their homes in the hope of seeking asylum in the United States of America? Again, the resounding answer is NO!

Does America provide safe harbour and anchor for the financiers, propagandists and sponsors of the war? Resounding YES!

Have those who have been repatriated so far been subject to any severe treatment besides the psychological, physical and economic cost of their journey, which would have been all but avoided had we the right government in place? Once again, a resounding NO!

Do I feel for such Cameroonians who have been through such unbearable conditions, forced away from home in search of better? Absolutely YES.

Do I feel there is another way we can solicit the support of the Biden Administration to ending the crisis and ensuring that Cameroonians feel welcomed and safe in their very homes? Absolutely YES.

Those are some key questions every patriotic Cameroonian must be asking and to which we must provide true answers. My political goal is not to look for the best means by which to portray the weaknesses of the country, but rather to the best way to resolve its imminent challenges. That is the responsibility I have as a representative of the people and a duty I must uphold.

 I am therefore baffled by the various negative reactions that I have received from this petition. Not that I am surprised by them, but rather by some of the authors of the criticism levied against me. Some have questioned the audacity to question or seem unyielding to a document regarding the state of affairs in Cameroon from the United States.

 Some have questioned why I appended my signature to a ‘CPDM initiated document’ as a member of the opposition and finally some political parasites once again are hoping to gain relevance in the face of the buzz this newsworthy action is making.

When we consider the questions above, our actual challenge becomes evident. We can see how a genuine problem became hostage to the fantasies of some virtual leaders and gun wielding miscreants. From the onset, the Anglophone problem, which enjoyed the full support of every meaningful Cameroonian and to which we formulated the problem question adequately and had a clear roadmap for its resolution, was side-tracked by a group. They hijacked the “struggle” by peddling the idea of an independent country.

 Driven by frustrations and misgivings with the system and the vices we have condemned over such a long period, the idea of an independent country where they could reset and restart afresh was very appealing to several young men and women. They greeted this false believe with so much enthusiasm after giving up all hope and trust in the system. We must not forget the effect of this narrative on the escalation of this crisis. From the moment they embarked on this method, any other position or any other leader was dealt all sorts of derogatory terms.

 Several well-meaning Cameroonians were forced out of this debate because of its toxicity. For those who rightly evoke the absence since the start of this terrible war in the North-West and South-West of a real debate on the issue in the Cameroonian parliament, I would like to begin to reassure them that I am offended as much as they are by this inexplicable incongruity maintained by the CPDM majority. In their short-sightedness, they never imagined the impact the SDF debate on the crisis would have brought about. We petitioned and revolted on the floor of parliament and today they see the need to take action. By this therefore, we would call for more discussions on the floor of parliament on the crisis.

The SDF to which I belong is for a strong Cameroon, united in its diversity through a federal system set up with a broad consensus and which gives pride of place to local development and the enhancement of the specificities of its components in a participatory and inclusive democracy.

 We are for a true inclusive dialogue to resolve the crisis in the North West and South West. Our social democratic and progressive values are for peace all over the country and we carry values which dictate to us that there can be no real and lasting peace without justice and this justice knows no borders. The SDF has given its all to try to bring peace to the North West and South West regions for the past five years in a deadly conflict in which we are not a party but for which we are paying an immeasurable price. This, however, will not deter us from sticking to our democratic fundamentals enshrined in our internal constitution.

Party members should therefore not be drawn into this sentimental expressions and futile debates fanned by political lackeys. To do politics is to have political ideas, a political program, a clear vision of the economic and social mix that you want for your country. Political life is the confrontation of these ideas and these programs. Let’s talk and debate about ideas.

Let us be focused and reflect together on the fundamental problems of our society and propose to the electorate a program based on socio-democratic and progressive values to solve them. This is what the SDF should be for the days and weeks to come. This is my vision.

 Conserving old positions divides, adopting change unites. I live my political struggle as a divine blessing. Being misunderstood, stigmatized, or just fought is an inseparable part of this fight. I am for the unity of all the political forces of the left, of all the progressives. I am for a strong and united SDF. Only the struggle liberates and together we win.

Hon. Joshua N. Osih

Member of Parliament

Cameroon has been touted as an oasis of peace in a desert of chaos for many decades, but for some time now, the country has gradually been ranking itself among the most dangerous, corrupt and chaotic countries to live in as dissent and frustration spread across the country like wildfire.

Four years ago, the country’s president, Paul Biya, erroneously declared war on the country’s English-speaking minority which was simply demonstrating to bring its sorry plight to the attention of the government and the international community and what Mr. Biya and his collaborators thought would be wrapped up in a week has now lasted four years with more than 7,000 young Cameroonians already sent to an early grave in a war that has no raison d’etre.

As the government and militia have transformed the country into an open air killing field, the country’s economy has taken a nosedive, with millions of Cameroonians seeking employment and thousands losing their jobs in the country’s two English-speaking regions where the killings are going on unabated.

The number of internally displaced person has continued to swell, while millions have fled to neighboring Nigeria where they are living rough and waiting for the fighting to end for them to return to their country, though their homes have been razed by government soldiers who are wont to inflicting collective punishment on the population each time an army soldier is killed.

But it is not only Southern Cameroons that is going through such an apocalypse. The northern part of the country has been the theater of violent confrontations between government troops and Boko Haram fighters who have bombed many civilians into an early grave.

While the government has been active in the North hoping that it could roll back Boko Haram fighters who are believed to come from Nigeria, government forces have succeeded to alienate Northerner due to massive and bloody killings and abuse of the civilian population which now sympathizes with Boko Haram fighters who are sometimes viewed as liberators.

Noted for its corruption, the government has never really sought to address those issues that are really threatening national unity and integration. The North, like many parts of the country, has been neglected, with very little development projects being implemented in that part of the country.

Tribalism and nepotism are really tearing the country apart as most senior government positions are only occupied by the president’s tribesmen and those loyal to him and his ruling crime syndicate known as the CPDM.

However, it is not the government’s nepotism that is the issue but the results it has posted over the last four decades. Cameroonians would not be bothered if those occupying those strategic positions were really delivering desired results.

While across the country the unemployment rate is high, it is a lot higher in the northern region of the country where there are no companies, no roads, no hospitals and no social services and financial assistance that can even cushion the impact of the economic hardship.

The frustrations in the North are legion and the pain is excruciating. The North has lost almost everything it had during the Amadou Ahidjo days and this is really painful.

Northerners have grudges and they want to get their pound of flesh sooner rather than later. The Biya regime had killed thousands of Northerners, especially senior northern military officials, following a coup d’état in 1984 that led to the country’s first president, Amadou Ahidjo, fleeing to Senegal where he died and is currently lying in an unmarked grave.

This bitterness and the corruption which have robbed the northern population of many services has pushed the frustrated northern population to set up a militia which is now armed and willing to fight the Yaounde government that has never incorporated dialogue into its national development and integration strategy.

The new militia is enjoying huge support from muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia, Quatar, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates which surely have a hidden agenda that may result in the long term destabilization of the country.

Cameroon is falling apart and the way things are shaping up, if care is not taken, it might end up like Zaire, currently the Democratic Republic of Congo, where since its brutal dictator, Mobutu Seseseko, fell in 1994, the country has been unstable and the number of militia has grown by leaps and bounds and the country has become the epitome of political chaos.

The international community must stop looking the other way as Cameroon continues its unfortunate but sure descend to the bottom of the abyss of chaos and corruption.

With new armed groups cropping up on a daily basis, it is obvious that the country which is now on life support may one day implode and the consequences could linger for a very long time.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

The man responsible for running a prosperous nation to the ground is indeed a blessing to his people and Cameroonians are lucky to have him as their head of state. State radio and television says he indeed a Jesus Christ.

Recently, the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime announced its expenditure on cars which is expected to be made this 2021 in thirty administrative departments.

In spite of the difficult economic situation in the two Cameroons, the Biya administration that only cares about the French Cameroun Kaiser, his acolytes and represents falsehood intends to increase its car fleet in 2021.

Cameroon Concord News Group understands that for the current year, the consortium of crime syndicates in Yaoundé will be spending the sum of FCFA 5,343,285,000 in car purchases.

The Ministry of Territorial Administration comes first with an estimated expenditure of 850 million FCFA. The Prime Minister’s Office (460 million FCFA), the Ministry of Health (416 million FCFA), the Presidency of the Republic (nearly 400 million FCFA), the Ministry of Youth and Civic Education (269 million FCFA), the National Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism (250 million FCFA), the Ministry of External Relations (246, 4 million FCFA), the Ministry of Economy (211 million FCFA), the Ministry of Commerce (210 million FCFA), the Ministry of Women’s Promotion (193.5 million FCFA), the Ministry of Transport (178 million FCFA), the Ministry of Scientific Research (177 million FCFA), the Supreme Court (153 million FCFA).

The Ministry of Labour (CFAF 125 million), the Ministry of Domains (CFAF 120 million), the Ministry of Mines (CFAF 110 million), the Ministry of Public Procurement (CFAF 114 million), the Ministry of Employment and Professional Training (CFAF 108 million), the Ministry of Decentralisation and Local Development (CFAF 102 million), the Ministry of Agriculture (CFAF 100 million), the Ministry of Water and Energy (CFAF 100 million), the Constitutional Council (CFAF 90 million), the Ministry of the Civil Service (CFAF 80 million), the Ministry of Tourism and Leisure (CFAF 60 million), the Ministry of the Environment (CFAF 60 million), the National Disarmament Committee (CFAF 60 million), the Ministry of Social Affairs (CFAF 50 million).

In French speaking Cameroun, it is business as usual despite pressure from the European Union, and more recently the Vatican for the 88 year-old Biya to reconcile the country and make peace with the people of Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia.

 The Francophone dominated government is still in favour of a military response to the crisis in Southern Cameroons and nobody not even the Holy Father Pope Francis has succeeded to talk President Biya out of the madness and cruelty he has brought to a once prosperous nation.

Buying of expensive cars and handing them to senior regime officials both in government and in the military  and above all, having superior military power, will still not put an end to the Ambazonia resistance because the determination of eight million Southern Cameroonians will surely keep the military in the jungles of Southern Cameroons for a very long time.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

The Secretary of State of the Holy See paid a six-day diplomatic visit to Cameroon, a country ravaged by civil war, in which the Catholic Church plays a key role in resolving the conflict.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State for the Holy See arrived in Cameroon on January 28, 2021 for a six-day visit, at the end of which he gave the pallium to Msgr. Andrew Neka, metropolitan of Bamenda, in the northwestern part of the country. The archdiocese was not chosen at random: in fact, it is at the heart of the Anglophone conflict which has plagued the political and social life of Cameroon for nearly five years now.

The world cannot be totally wrong. The Pope has called for peace. He has spoken to Mr. Biya about the need to engage Southern Cameroonians in a frank and fruitful dialogue but Mr. Biya has remained adamant.

The Pope, like many heads of state has sent special envoys to talk Mr. Biya out of the madness and cruelty he has brought to a once prosperous nation, but his inhuman indifference to wise counsel has only made his soldiers to think that they have carte blanche to kill and maim whoever they meet in their path.

This mentality is not addressing any issues. At best, it is counterproductive. The chaos the war is spreading in Cameroon should have advised the government to rethink its ways. The number of civilian and military deaths is rising and there is no end in sight.

The government might have superior military power, but the determination of eight million Southern Cameroonians will surely keep the military in the jungles of Southern Cameroons for a very long time.

Many soldiers have been killed and thousands have been maimed by determined Southern Cameroonian fighters and this has struck fear in the minds of these young soldiers, many of whom have only been trained for six months and rushed to the killing fields of Southern Cameroons where they are made to see death first hand.

The Genesis of the Current Conflict

To reconstruct part of the context of the current crisis, one must return to 1961: West Cameroon—a former British colony—is made up of Northern Cameroon and Southern Cameroon. Through a referendum organized by the United Nations, the populations of Southern Cameroon chose to join as a federated state to Eastern Cameroon—a former French colony—while the people of Northern Cameroon opted for an attachment to Nigeria.

But, in 1972, a constitutional reform completely shook up the situation, transforming federal Cameroon into a unitary republic, depriving the English-speaking region of its autonomy. Another twist in 2016: a movement to strike by teachers and lawyers demanding more recognition from the central state. Demonstrations quickly led to an uprising in the English-speaking regions of the northwest and southwest.

The conflict then degenerated into a murderous crisis with clashes between separatist troops and the regular army: the Catholic Church quickly found itself on the front line in an attempt to mediate, in order to find concerted solutions. A delicate position that earned it reprisals, sometimes bloody, from the separatists and sharp reproaches from the executive.

Since its outbreak, this civil war that lives up to its name has claimed more than 2,000 dead and 650,000 displaced. In addition, more than 800,000 children have been out of school.

A Diplomatic Visit for Peace

The day after his arrival, the Secretary of State of the Holy See spoke with the Cameroonian Head of State, Paul Biya: “we discussed the various points concerning the conflicts, in particular the situation in the north and the southwest of the country. What we are impatiently waiting for is reconciliation and peace, especially in the current situation where there are many other crises starting with COVID-19,” declared Cardinal Parolin, at the conclusion of the presidential interview.

“Cordial exchange…with his eminence Cardinal Pietro Parolin, bearer of a message of peace,” the Head of State soberly declared on his Twitter account.

The US Maryland gang had called for a boycott of the Mass celebrated in Bamenda on January 31 in order to denounce what is considered to be the partisan the attitude of the Catholic Church in the conflict. But the legitimate Southern Cameroons Interim Government headed by Vice President Dabney Yerima threw its weight behind the visit.  A partially followed appeal: despite the suspension of activities in town and deserted roads, the faithful came by the thousands to attend the giving of the pallium to their archbishop.

“We are sure,” Archbishop Nkea said, “that your arrival in Bamenda will be like rain, which never falls without watering the land,” said the Bamenda ordinary. “This visit by Cardinal Parolin is a light in our tunnel. It is read as a sign that peace will soon return,” the Cameroonian prelate believes. Let us hope so for this war-torn country.

By Chi Prudence Asong with files from the Vatican

I long for a Cameroon where anglophone children no longer mimic the sound of gunfire, and Mondays are no longer “stay-at-home” days decreed by armed men.

I want to go back to a time – not so long ago – when education was a religion in every household, and schools were places children were eager to attend, promising a brighter future.

These days, we have school massacres, boycotts, kidnappings.

We have more than 80 percent of schools closed, and over 1.1 million children out of class.

We have teachers and students stripped naked, terrified, jeered at by gunmen, and those images posted to social media.

We have stay-at-home days – ordered by separatist fighters to demonstrate anglophone solidarity – that merely impoverish us all.

There has been four years of war, but all that suffering seems to be largely ignored by the rest of the world. That’s why, as an investigative human rights journalist, I feel compelled to write this.

Schools become a target

“Ambazonia” secessionists took up arms in 2017 to protest the marginalisation of the anglophone Northwest and Southwest regions by the majority French-speaking Cameroon – an issue keenly felt in those zones at the time.

Much of the killing and violence in this conflict has been by the government security forces – their abuses well documented by rights groups. The counter-insurgency campaign fuels the cycle of violence, and the alleged impersonation of separatist fighters adds confusion to the tragedy.

But lately, trust in the separatist fighters has also begun to fade.

They have enforced an unpopular school boycott since 2016 to protest what they see as the dismantling of the region’s separate education system, and its assimilation within French-speaking Cameroon.

The turning point for public sympathy came in October 2020, when armed men stormed a school in Kumba in the Southwest region and killed seven children and wounded 13 others. Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack, although the government blamed the separatists.

The Kumba killing became just one in a series. In November, gunmen attacked Kulu Memorial College in the Southwest, and to punish the teachers and students for attending school, stripped them naked and beat them.

Barely 24 hours later, 11 teachers were kidnapped by armed men from a mission school in Kumbo, in the Northwest region. They were released after two days, following pressure from civil society groups and the Presbyterian church.

Intimidated, the local population sits on the fence for fear of being tagged as sympathisers by either side. Others are packing up and leaving the conflict zones.

Evolution of the crisis

Like nearly all the children from these regions, I now know the choking effect of tear gas and the sounds of live bullets.

At the start of the crisis in 2016, I was an eager journalism and mass communication student at the University of Buea – Cameroon’s most prestigious English-speaking university – in the capital of the Southwest region.

It was a time of high tension. Student protests against alleged corruption by the vice chancellor turned into much more serious anti-government demonstrations – and the security forces responded with beatings and violence.

The iconic image of those days is shaky cellphone footage from the Buea campus of the security forces deliberately humiliating female students, forcing them to roll in the mud.

There has been four years of war, but all that suffering seems to be largely ignored by the rest of the world.

As students, we were unsure whether it was worth the risk to continue with our studies. But the idea of missing our final exams after three tough years was an even more painful thought.

That was then: Things now are far worse.

Women and girls have been hardest hit by the school closures and lockdowns imposed by the separatists – with a spike in teenage pregnancy, rape, and transactional sex.

In Kumbo, a hotbed of the crisis in the Northwest region, a government health survey of girls aged between 15 and 19 found that the majority were out of school and almost half had become teen mothers.

Yaoundé and major cities like Douala and Bafoussam have seen a huge influx of displaced people. The streets are full of young anglophone children hawking goods. In private homes, young girls are employed as domestic workers, earning as little as $35 a month.

And then came COVID-19 last year. It shut down the world but not the war, and has made the struggles of already poor and vulnerable households so much worse.

Even if parents wanted to send their children to school, the fees are a burden that many can no longer afford.

Change of heart?

I sometimes wonder what would have become of me if I hadn’t mustered the courage to ignore the unrest and complete my studies at the University of Buea.

I have opportunities now – working in Yaoundé – that so many children from the conflict zone will never have; children who these days can barely count to 10, let alone read.

That is leading to some rethinking among separatist leaders in the diaspora – where nearly all are based – over the continuation of the school boycott. After championing the ban for the past four years, activists like Mark Bareta and Eric Tataw, for example, have pressed for armed fighters to allow children to go back to school.

That is good news. But how does the damage of four lost years get repaired?

There was a time when schools in the anglophone region were famous throughout the country as bastions of quality education. This war was supposedly waged to liberate and raise up our children. Poverty and illiteracy seem the only winners.

Source: The Humanitarian

Extrajudicial killings are grossly inhuman and must be condemned and the killing of three chiefs by Field Marshall, a feared fighter in Lebialem, should be condemned by all responsible and peace-loving citizens of Cameroon.

The story of the point blank shooting of those local authorities has even caught the attention of the Yerima-led Interim Government and it has been worried about such reckless brutality.

Speaking to the Cameroon Concord News Group’s London Bureau Chief, an official of the Interim Government regretted the violence Field Marshall has unleashed on those chiefs for no apparent reason.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said that such acts of violence only go a long way in giving the insurgency a very bad name, making it hard for the international community to take the different factions involved in the fighting in Southern Cameroons seriously.

“Nothing justifies the killing of those three local authorities in a public square. Southern Cameroons is not Afghanistan where people just get killed for no apparent reason,” the official said.

“No anger, no frustration and no story can justify such inhuman brutality. That is not the Southern Cameroonian mentality and such an action will never be condoned by the interim government,” the official stressed.

“We condemn this act just like we condemn the burning of our civilians and any abuse committed by the army like what occurred in Ndu recently,” he stressed.

“As Southern Cameroonians, we must never condone such a waste of human life. We are urging Field Marshall and all the other groups to stop intimidating the population. We are also calling on the fighters on the ground to stop killing Southern Cameroonians just because we disagree with them. We are fighting to build a democracy in Southern Cameroons and actions by Field Marshall and some shadowy figures on the ground only go a long way in calling into question our honest intention to bring about an independent and democratic Southern Cameroons,” the official concluded.

The interim government’s message is clear and honestly, there is nothing right in taking a human life and the actions of Field Marshall speak volumes to the abuse that is taking place in the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon.

The fighting in the country’s two English-speaking regions of Cameroon is the outcome of a recklessly declared war by a leader who has been out of touch with his country’s realities.

This is a war that does not have a place in Cameroon’s history but given that Cameroonian authorities have only one tool – ferocious brutality- in their small toolbox, they had to unleash terror on Southern Cameroonians who were simply bringing their sorry plight to the attention of the same authorities.

This government’s penchant for brutality and its under-estimation of the determination of the people of Southern Cameroons has resulted in some 7,000 deaths, a disruption of life in the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon and the displacement of thousands of Southern Cameroonians, with many living rough both at home and in neighboring Nigeria.

Despite the increasing human suffering, the Yaounde government has not deemed it necessary to seek peaceful means to engineer sustainable solutions.

Thousands of civilians have been burned alive, including babies, but these gruesome images are not strong enough to cause the ailing and dying president of Cameroon, Paul Biya, to contemplate a change in strategy. It is indeed unfortunate that a man can be this frozen in his position and thoughts.

The world cannot be totally wrong. The Pope has called for peace. He has spoken to Mr. Biya about the need to engage Southern Cameroonians in a frank and fruitful dialogue but Mr. Biya has remained adamant.

The Pope, like many heads of state has sent special envoys to talk Mr. Biya out of the madness and cruelty he has brought to a once prosperous nation, but his inhuman indifference to wise counsel has only made his soldiers to think that they have carte blanche to kill and maim whoever they meet in their path.

This mentality is not addressing any issues. At best, it is counterproductive. The chaos the war is spreading in Cameroon should have advised the government to rethink its ways. The number of civilian and military deaths is rising and there is no end in sight.

The government might have superior military power, but the determination of eight million Southern Cameroonians will surely keep the military in the jungles of Southern Cameroons for a very long time.

Many soldiers have been killed and thousands have been maimed by determined Southern Cameroonian fighters and this has struck fear in the minds of these young soldiers, many of whom have only been trained for six months and rushed to the killing fields of Southern Cameroons where they are made to see death first hand.

But how many soldiers and civilians must die for Mr. Biya to understand that the worst peace agreament is better than the best war?

If fighting and killing are beautiful, why have Mr. Biya and his collaborators not sent their own children to the war front? What have they been telling the numerous widows of those young soldiers who have lost their lives in a war that will never make Cameroon better?

Why can Mr. Biya and his collaborators not understand that while checking the insurgency is good, going to the negotiating table with the warring factions to iron out differences could bring lasting peace and stability in Cameroon?

Instead of paying leap service to the notion of one and indivisible Cameroon, why not match actions to words by addressing the root cause of the problem? Will Cameroon not be one and indivisible if it is federal and inclusive?

Why is the government intentionally giving the country a bad name and pushing its economy to the bottom of the abyss? Genuine patriotism does not exclude dialogue as a means of achieving sustainable peace.

Mr. Paul Biya and his government still have time to reverse some of the damage they have caused in the country. There is no prize for being stone-hearted and the evil that Mr. Biya and collaborators are spreading in Cameroon might one be the potion of their children.

The numerous killings in Cameroon will forever be considered as the legacy of Mr. Biya who in the 1980s asked Cameroonians this important question: What type of Cameroon do you want for your children?

From every indication, he has offered an answer to that question and it clear that the Cameroon he wants for future Cameroonians is a Cameroon that is intolerant, corrupt, nepotic, dishonest and economically bankrupt.

History will forever have it that once upon a time, there was a president in Cameroon who had all the natural resources in the world, the best human resources in Africa and the total support of the international community for him to transform his country into an earthly paradise, but he opted to destroy the country and its people by fostering corruption, inaction and nepotism which have transformed the country into a living hell.

As Mr. Biya continues to implement his machiavelian agenda, the world is simply wondering why a man who is supposed to be the light of his country could be so hellbent on destroying his own fatherland.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

For four long years, the Yaoundé government should have understood that violence only begets violence, but the authorities of this collapsing country seem to be on a diet of power and nothing, except a robust intervention of the international community can instil some sanity in the minds of those who rule Cameroon.

Violence seems to be the cornerstone of the government’s territorial administration strategy to the extent where the soldiers sent to the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon think that they have been given carte blanche to kill any and everybody.

These soldiers should have been properly trained to make the population their ally in their effort to end the insurgency that is really tearing the country apart.

The injustices that have triggered the discontent among the country’s English-speaking minority have been left unaddressed despite the loss of life, but new despicable situations are being generated everyday by the soldiers who think it is their divine right to treat the local population in the North West and South west regions as animals.

The Southern Cameroonian insurgency is a challenging and massive problem that requires a huge tool box, but the morally and ideologically bankrupt Yaoundé government has demonstrated that the only tool in its small tool box is brutality; a tool that has only made matters worse.

This government has no regard for human life and the manner with which army soldiers treat suspects in Southern Cameroons clearly underscores that winning hearts and minds is not a key thrust of the government’s conflict resolution strategy, that is, if it has a strategy.

The obvious abuse in a recent video wherein army soldiers are molesting an innocent civilian speaks to the government’s penchant for human rights violations. The fact that abusive government forces are never punished only encourages them to commit more atrocities.

What is more interesting is the happiness with which the soldiers themselves document their own atrocities. They are happy, relaxed and enthusiastic to commit murder with impunity.

Such images do not make room for reconciliation as both camps will be retaliating and even seeking to outdo each other.

However, while the ragtag military groups fighting for the total liberation of Southern Cameroons can be forgiven because of their ignorance and irresponsibility, government troops which engage in such gross human rights violations fail to understand that they belong to a state military which has responsibilities under the Geneva Convention.

The government which sends its troops to Southern Cameroons has a huge responsibility to ensure that Southern Cameroonian fighters who are caught are treated based on the requirements of the Geneva Convention.

The world is not without rules. There could be some chaos especially that caused by Donald Trump’s Administration as former president Donald Trump sought to withdraw the United States from many international organizations, but the Biden Administration has clearly stated that it will be filling its leadership role and human rights will be given pride of place on its agenda.

While the Yaoundé government might be protecting those who have committed atrocities in the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon, Southern Cameroonians must make it their duty to expose those human rights violations.

Southern Cameroonians living in exile in any part of the world must sink their differences if they really want to achieve something. They must alert the authorities of their host countries to the government- orchestrated massacre that is playing out in Southern Cameroons.

Instead of fighting each other, the various Southern Cameroonian groups must understand that unity is strength and that if they fail to make common cause, those on the ground will continue to pay a huge price.

The internecine conflicts within the various groups and the internal disagreements between the different factions have clearly robbed the insurgency of its vitality and this is giving the Yaoundé government the possibility of thinking that it can obtain a clear military victory in Southern Cameroons.

Today, there are many Southern Cameroonian groups abroad and most of these groups do not even collaborate to ensure that the Yaoundé government is given a good run for its money.

Each group now lays claim to legitimacy and recognition by the people of Southern Cameroons, but the truth is totally different.

No group is legitimate. No group is without its supporters. No group will represent the entire Southern Cameroons in the event of any negotiations. No group will fight alone to achieve the total liberation of Southern Cameroons and no group has the resources to prosecute this war.

The truth is that, as Southern Cameroonians continue to fight each other, they are unknowingly letting the Yaoundé government off the hook.

If the government has to feel any pressure, the different factions must bury their pride and ego to reach out to the other groups so that a new and formidable force, capable of becoming a nightmare to the government, can be created.

This struggle is far from over and if Southern Cameroonian groups do not make common cause, the Yaoundé government will continue to have an upper hand and its soldiers will continue to treat innocent civilians better than cattle.

All hopes are, however, not lost. Despite the numerous factions which have helped to weaken the unity of purpose that held Southern Cameroonians together, one fact remains.

Julius Ayuk Tabe is the poster boy of this struggle and many Southern Cameroonians still long for the days when he was a clear symbol of unity and determination.

Southern Cameroonians must come together. They have a common interest. The enemy is still strong and he is doing all he can to roll back the gains the insurgency has made over the last four years.

The disunity among Southern Cameroonians that is killing the insurgency needs to be brought to an end if the enemy must be brought to the negotiating table.

The violence which has become the government’s hallmark needs to be made known around the world and this must be done through concerted efforts. Going it alone will not deter the government from killing and maiming innocent individuals and children.

If the burning of a baby by government forces and the beating of an innocent man by BIR officials for no crime committed and the numerous atrocities that have shocked the world cannot speak to the leaders of the various factions, what then will speak to them for them to understand that making common cause is central to making the Yaoundé government to come to the negotiating table?

Time is of the essence. The government has ratcheted up its violence and brutality against the people of Southern Cameroons and this will not end if all the leaders of these factions do not come together to act as a single group.

The IG must immediately undertake diplomatic initiatives that will enable the world brand the Yaoundé government as a massive and merciless abuser.

The world has been caught in multiple crises and for it to pay attention to what is happening in Southern Cameroons, the various factions involved in this struggle must start working together. There is power in numbers and the world needs to know that Southern Cameroons has the right men and women who are capable of making a difference.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman, Editor-In-Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group

The roasting of a baby on February 11, 2021 in Batibo in the North West region of Cameroon seems to be shocking to millions around the world, but very few people remember that the burning of homes during an insurrection or insurgency in Cameroon is a government policy which dates back to the days of the marquisard movement in East Cameroon.

The burning of a baby in Batibo on the country’s Youth Day by government army soldiers is a clear reminder that peace and stability are still illusory in Cameroon though the government is giving the impression that things are stabilizing in Southern Cameroons.

The roasting of vulnerable people is nothing new during this conflict that has already sent more than 7,000 Cameroonians to an early grave.

Kwakwa and Ngarbuh are still fresh in many minds. In Kwakwa, an old woman and a sick old man were roasted alive by army soldiers who are supposed to protect innocent civilians.

In Ngarbuh, government troops gunned down scores of people and set homes ablaze, leaving many calcinated in their homes. These were young children and pregnant women who had nothing to do with the insurgency that has been playing out in the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon for over four years.

The government clearly holds that burning the homes of the poor and innocent people will cause the population to discontinue its support to the insurgents even when it has not been really proven that the population is supporting the fighters.

From every indication, it is also clear that the population has been caught between the devil and deep blue sea. The same population is being threatened by the Southern Cameroonian fighters when the fighters feel that they have been betrayed by somebody.

The population is confused and does not know who to turn to. The government is supposed to support these people who have lost their source of livelihood due to the fighting that is playing out in the Northwest and Southwest regions of the country.

The government of Cameroon has no pity for anybody. The death of children and pregnant women during this fighting does not arouse any pity in government officials. The government has one objective – proving that it can win a war – and the generals leading the troops clearly hold that the insurgency is an opportunity for them to enrich themselves.

The same government has been unleashing its army soldiers on the population just to demonstrate its strength. In Santa in the Northwest region, government forces mowed down some 20 young men in a hotel and the country’s territorial administration minister, Atanga Nji Paul, argued that the boys were fighters even when it was proven that it was the same government that had invited those boys to that hotel for reasons only known to Atanga Nji.

In Muyengue, the government was caught with its pants down with its soldiers setting homes ablaze though the soldiers were wearing blue helmets just to implicate the United Nations.

Government atrocities during this conflict have been carefully documented and whenever the war ends, those who committed these acts or commandeered these acts of extreme violence will be brought to book.

A government has the duty and responsibility of protecting its population but in Southern Cameroons, the Yaounde government is instead working hard to demonstrate that it is more devilish than the ragtag military that is fighting for the total liberation of Southern Cameroons.

Instead of seeking ways of ending the violence and engineering peace in the two English-speaking regions of the country, the Yaounde government is doing its best to prove a point that has no raison d’etre.

This is a war that could have been clearly avoided if the government had used known instruments of conflict management and resolution. Genuine dialogue, a key thrust of conflict resolution, was clearly ignored and to deceive the people of Southern Cameroons and the international community, the despicable Yaoundé government organized a semblance of dialogue wherein it chose who had to participate in it, which issues had to be discussed and what resolutions and conclusions had to be reached by the participants; an idea which only caused the conflict to escalate by multiple notches.

The roasting of a baby in Batibo is no accident and let nobody be deceived by whatever the government would say.

The Yaounde government is in the business of winning an argument and it will stop at nothing to prove its point. As usual, it will order an investigation, the findings of which will remain a dead letter like most of the other investigations conducted over the last 39 years by a government that has been conducting itself like a crime syndicate made in the same mould as the Sicilian Mafia.

Despite its efforts, the Yaounde government must understand that regardless of the ferocious brutality it is inflicting on the population, a clear military victory is a clear impossibility.

The more atrocities the government commits in Southern Cameroons, the more it creates more determined and angry fighters whose cardinal objective is to avenge the death of their loved ones.

The only way out of the quagmire the government has created will be sincere dialogue held with key Southern Cameroonian factions in a neutral place in the presence of a neutral third party.

But such dialogue cannot take place when the poster boy of the rebellion, Julius Ayuk Tabe, and other key elements of the Southern Cameroons struggle are still being held in the dungeons of East Cameroon.

A good first step will be releasing all those who have been arrested within the framework of the struggle and granting a general amnesty to all those who have directly or indirectly played a role in this struggle!

The burning of homes, babies and the old will never bring peace to Cameroon. On the contrary, it will only sow bitterness, revenge, death and destruction. The government must learn from history and it must acknowledge that times have changed.

If it defeated the marquisard movement in the 60s, it must understand that there was no internet and those involved in the marquisard movement were not many.

Today, there are some four million Southern Cameroonians out of their country and each one of them has been affected by the senseless fighting. And this is causing many of them to contribute money, ideas and time to ensure that the government stews in its own juice in Southern Cameroons by killing army soldiers and police officers who are collaborating with the corrupt Yaounde regime.

Despite the death and destruction that have already played out in Southern Cameroons, there is still room for genuine and sustainable reconciliation; an opportunity the government needs to seize if it is really looking forward to making Cameroon one and indivisible.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman, Editor-In-Chief

Concord News Group