The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Executive Board should ensure that a three-year loan sought by Cameroon is used to meet its human rights obligations and not lost to corruption, Human Rights Watch said today. It should require the government to make its spending fully transparent, conduct a comprehensive independent audit of its Covid-19 spending to date, and hold anyone responsible for corruption accountable.

“The IMF Board is voting on its third loan to Cameroon since the start of the pandemic in the midst of a Covid-19-related corruption scandal and violent crisis roiling the country’s English-speaking regions with a devastating impact on people’s right to health,” said Sarah Saadoun, senior business and human rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “When badly-needed aid is being squandered or stolen, it would be irresponsible for the IMF to approve another loan without safeguards to ensure that the money goes where it is intended.”

On May 27, 2021, the IMF announced that it had reached a staff agreement for the loan “to mitigate the consequences of the pandemic,” among other objectives. The IMF did not specify the amount or detail any concrete measures to address corruption other than saying that “effective enforcement of the anti-corruption legal framework will also be critical.”

The IMF previously disbursed two emergency loans totaling US$382 million to Cameroon in response to the pandemic. Although the government made specific commitments to the IMF to use these funds transparently and accountably, its Covid-19 spending has been marred by secrecy and credible allegations of widespread mismanagement and corruption.

On May 19, Cameroonian media published a summary of an audit by a Supreme Court investigative body, the Chambres des Comptes. The audit detailed findings of large-scale corruption and mismanagement involving 180 billion CFA ($333 million) spent in response to Covid-19 up to December 31, 2020. It recommended “initiating 10 judicial cases regarding findings that likely violate criminal law.”

Citing the findings, as well as major corruption scandals, including one linked to the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) project that took place during a past IMF loan program and for which no one was held accountable, 20 prominent Cameroonian women urged the IMF Board not to approve any additional funding until the government accounted for prior IMF loans and held those complicit in corruption accountable.

The audit found “numerous abuses” in the use of funds. For example, it found that a single company, Mediline Medical Cameroon, was awarded a “quasi-monopoly” on government contracts for personal protective equipment (PPE), Covid-19 tests, and other medical material, despite not being active in the country before the pandemic.

Local media reports referred to it as a subsidiary of South Korea-based Mediline Medical Korea, but that company told Human Rights Watch it “has no subsidiary company or investment companies in/outside of the country.” A June 1 news release from Mediline Medical Cameroon in response to the audit report was signed by Sangki Yi, as the board chairman. Human Rights Watch was unable to find any contact information for him or his company. A Cameroon government document identified Sunguk Yoon as the company’s sole beneficial – or actual – owner. Human Rights Watch wrote him on LinkedIn, the only contact information we were able to find, but received no response.

The audit found that Mediline Medical Cameroon overcharged for its products, delivered defective or the wrong material, and that its orders lacked documentation to enable tracking and delivery confirmation. The authorities were unable to account for products they had apparently received, including 610,000 Covid-19 tests. The audit also found that the government had bought 16 ambulances from Mediline Medical Cameroon and another company for 880 million CFA ($1.6 million), yet none had been delivered by December 31.

Human Rights Watch spoke with medical and administrative staff in hospitals across the country, including in the two English-speaking regions where violence has severely disrupted access to health care, who said they received little or no additional funds or equipment during the period covered by the audit to help them respond to the virus.

One doctor said his hospital initially only received 12 masks, 20 boxes of gloves, and four full body gowns for almost 50 employees and that a nurse from a nearby hospital died from Covid-19 in June 2020. It was not until early August that the 10 health facilities in his district received a combined 10 million FCA (around $17,000), which enabled his hospital to buy some PPE. However, when Human Rights Watch spoke with him in September, he said the hospital still lacked sufficient protective gear for most staff and had no ambulance.

Mediline Medical Cameroon’s June 1 statement dismissed these allegations as part of a “disinformation campaign.” It said that as of January, the company had delivered 1.9 million out of the 3 million tests the government bought, for which it has been paid 24.5 billion CFA ($45 million) and is still owed 8.5 billion CFA ($15 million).

It said that the prices “conform to regulations,” although the amounts it cited effectively confirm the audit findings that the government paid 17,500 CFA ($32) per test, significantly more than alternative options. It also said it was still processing what it said was the purchase of 17 ambulances for 8.5 billion CFA (around $15 million), citing challenges posed by the pandemic.

The audit found that the government requisitioned 32 hotels for 1,028 people who needed to be quarantined but has not repaid about 200 million CFA ($370,000) in expenses incurred by the hotels, deepening their financial distress from the pandemic.

Human Rights Watch spoke with several people who worked at these hotels between November and December who said their pay had been reduced in part because the government hadn’t fully paid these bills. An events manager at a hotel in Douala said she had to ask her brother if her two children could stay with him because her salary had been cut and she could no longer afford to provide for them. Human Rights Watch contacted the Health Ministry about the issue in February but received no reply.

These irregularities may have been identified and addressed had the government kept its commitment to the IMF regarding timely publication of how it spent funds. Nonetheless, the IMF still approved a second emergency loan in October, and now appears poised to approve a third, larger program, without addressing this fundamental lack of transparency despite serious allegations of mismanagement and corruption.

The IMF required the government to publish some information about the contracts it awarded, including the names of all of the companies’ actual owners prior to awarding the second loan. However, that disclosure is not accessible from any government website, it has not been updated since the approval of that loan, and the quality of information is poor. For example, that document lists Sunguk Yoon as the beneficial owner of Mediline Medical Cameroon, even though media reports refer to him as a project coordinator.

Cameroonian authorities have also not yet commissioned or published an independent audit of Covid-19 spending, despite promising the IMF to do so by the December 31 end of the fiscal year. In February, media reported that the Financial Ministry had called for tenders for an independent audit and in March the IMF told Human Rights Watch that the government had shared with its staff the terms of reference for an independent audit, but it is unclear whether a firm has been hired.

The Chambre des Comptes audit is important, though it only examines spending by two of the 10 ministries that received Covid-19 funds and the government did not disclose its findings, which journalists published on social media. It is no substitute for a full independent audit.

Between March 29 and April 8, the secretary general of the presidency, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, sent a series of letters on behalf of President Paul Biya to various ministries regarding investigating and restructuring Covid-19 spending. This was apparently due to pressure stemming from the government’s loan negotiations with the IMF. One letter directed the Justice Ministry to initiate proceedings against those identified in the Chambre des Comptes’ audit. A separate May 28 statement referred to the audit and said that judicial inquiries are ongoing before a special criminal tribunal.

Though investigations are useful, recent events hint at the serious difficulties with holding corrupt Cameroonian officials accountable. Between June 7 and 9, multiple government offices, including for the Tax Administration and the National Business Association, were burglarized, despite being housed in heavily guarded buildings. Media reports, citing a confidential source, said “tons of documents” were stolen, possibly complicating the justice ministry’s investigations. On June 15, police announced the arrest of someone in connection with the Tax Office break-in and released a video of the suspect, who claimed to have acted alone.

“The IMF’s attention to corruption has spurred Cameroonian officials to take small steps on transparency and accountability,” Saadoun said. “But faced with evidence of widespread mismanagement and corruption, those efforts are insufficient, and the IMF should insist on much more.”

Source: Human Rights Watch

Nobody ever thought that the peaceful demonstrations organized by lawyers and teachers in 2016 in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions could morph into something more dangerous, especially as they were not planned and Cameroonians, at least, these generations, are not used to fighting for their rights. 

If anybody had pretended about seeing the future regarding this dispute, it would have been the Yaoundé government which held that it would roll the “trouble- and attention-seeking” lawyers and teachers back to their courts and classrooms using the “government’s” conventional method of governance – military violence.

To the government, the people of Cameroon are like slaves and those in government must dictate everything to them. Arrogance has a way of blurring the human mind and when it gets mixed with egoism, the blindness could be total. That is the unfortunate tale of governance in Cameroon.

The people of Southern Cameroons had been pushed to a very tight corner for more than fifty years by a government they thought was theirs, but the government, for its part, really thought every Cameroonians was having a blast in the country. 

There had been lots of red flags that could have alerted a people-centered government, but since the Yaoundé government and the country are about one person – the country’s president – nobody really paid attention to the challenges and frustrations that were stifling lives in Southern Cameroons.

The country’s educational policy in the past had created only a single university where French was the language of communication, causing most Southern Cameroonians to seek university education out of the country, with many ending up in the West or other English-speaking countries where the seeds of a dangerous rebellion were being slowly but surely sown.

The country’s heavily centralized system was also suffocating many Southern Cameroonians, with little or no appointment of Southern Cameroonian to strategic leadership positions. Southern Cameroonians by their nature are used to highly decentralized systems that make the people the masters of their destiny, but the hastily and forcefully stitched “dictatorship” ramped down their throats in 1972 has, for decades, remained a bitter pill to swallow.

The Yaoundé government was simply oblivious of the danger that was brewing in the two English-speaking regions. Unemployment, lack of social service, crumbling infrastructure and marginalization had compelled many Southern Cameroonians to look for greener pastures elsewhere.

America, Canada, the United Kingdom, Nigeria, South Africa and others offered a good environment for the fleeing Southern Cameroonians who needed a sound education that could proffer them huge opportunities on the global stage.

More than five decades following the wave of migration to these freedom-loving countries, many Southern Cameroonians have seen their dreams come through. Thousands have acquired knowledge and wealth and they honestly hold that their country of birth could be better if the rules of governance could be altered a bit. 

This school of thought has been common among the Southern Cameroonian Diaspora which holds that it too can have a say in the management of the country’s affairs. But their concept of governance cannot be applied in Cameroon as the Yaoundé government thinks differently and its policies are designed to keep one person in power forever. 

Changing the core principle of governance in Cameroon will imply that the president’s rights would be curtailed, and his authority would not be felt in every nook and cranny of the country.

But the Southern Cameroonian Diaspora which is replete with some of the finest professionals in all walks of life has been lying in wait for the government to make its mistake. And the mistake came when lawyers and teachers called for a federal system that would enable Southern Cameroonians to be masters of their destiny and the government responded by arresting the leaders of the demonstration and sending out its “dogs of war” to mow down any dissidents who stood in its way.

A peaceful demonstration was therefore transformed into a military conflict that is in its fourth year and has sent thousands of young Cameroonians to an early grave.

While the government threw its entire military into the war, Southern Cameroonians used whatever means that were available to them. Catapults, machetes, and hunting rifles were employed by hastily formed Southern Cameroonian fighters to protect themselves and their people against the Yaoundé genocidal regime whose intention was to kill anything in its paths.

The country’s military burned down homes, businesses and even the helpless elderly people were roasted alive to send home a message to any young men and women who had opted to fight against the country’s military. But its message was the wrong message. It completely fell on deaf ears. 

The dynamics had changed. The world had become a global village, significantly reduced by the invention of “technologies of freedom” which enabled ordinary citizens to capture the government’s horrific acts in Southern Cameroons and share them with the Diaspora which has also been seeking to jump into the fight.

These shocking videos triggered waves of resource mobilization campaigns across the globe. In less than no time, the catapults, machetes, and hunting rifles were replaced with more sophisticated killing machine which caused the military to rethink its strategy. 

The mass murdering of ordinary people by the military would no longer go unpunished. Revenge was driving the fighters and anybody suspected of collaborating with the regime became a target. Southern Cameroonian fighters attacked soldiers all over the two English-speaking regions, killing thousands and sending many to hospitals around the country. 

The power dynamics were no longer in favor of government forces. In the Southwest and Northwest regions, the massive jungles and wide savannas provided coverage for the determined fighters and they made the most of this natural advantage. Those who doubted the determination and courage of these fighters had to think twice before expressing their views, especially as the number of body bags heading to East Cameroon increased by the day. The tell-tale signs of a political and military miscalculation had begun appearing on the government’s dashboard.

The “two cubes of sugar” which were supposed to have melted are not going anywhere, anytime soon. The fighters are determined, and the weapons are pouring into Southern Cameroons to bring about a quick fix to the mistakes made in Foumban. The much-dreaded Brigade d’intervention rapide (BIR) has been demystified in Southern Cameroons, with many of its officers either captured, injured, or killed in a very graphic manner that has even shocked government officials who, at the beginning of the fighting, thought the country’s military would sweep through the English-speaking regions like a Tsunami, swallowing up all the free radicals challenging their authority.

Instead of seeking sustainable solutions to the problem, the Yaoundé government has been performing a mincing dance around the truth, using all tricks that it thinks could douse the fire. But the problem will not go away anytime soon without genuine, frank and fruitful negotiations held in a neutral place and facilitated by a neutral body or groups of neutral persons and countries. 

As the government drags its feet, so too does the situation evolve. Southern Cameroonian fighters have been honing their skills and strategies. Over the years, they have found innovative ways to diminish the enemy’s presence in their territory. 

While the fighting was started with hunting rifles, AK-47s were thrown in the mix as things progressed and their presence has been a long nightmare to the Cameroon military. These dangerous Russian-made war machines have cut short the lives of many soldiers, sending their families into long periods of mourning. Many are already questioning the rationale behind the fighting. 

But the fighters are not yet done. They still have unfinished business. Southern Cameroons is not yet independent. They still have more tricks up their sleeves. In their view, the enemy must be humiliated. Either he comes to the negotiating table or he will be pushed out of the mineral-rich region. 

The lethality of the weapons in the hands of the determined armed fighters has morphed into something more sinister. The AK-47s are gradually yielding the floor to IEDs which have struck fear into the minds of French Cameroon soldiers.

These IEDs have been going off every day and they are decimating the military population in Southern Cameroons while robbing the government of the expensive military trucks the French and Chinese have been supplying at a very high cost.

The Northwest region, in particular, has become a graveyard for many young soldiers who get blown up by these IEDs. The Yaoundé government is in the grip of confusion. It has thrown all it has at the Southern Cameroonian fighters but none of its military devices has dampened the determination of the “boyses in the bushes” who are determined to bring about an independent Southern Cameroons.

The IEDs are hurting. Yaoundé is looking for a way out. It needs help. It has put itself in a tight corner. It has finally understood that not all battles get won militarily. Diplomacy sometimes trumps over violence. 

The pain is too much. Many bereaved families blame the government for the deaths of their loved ones. They hold that real dialogue could help reduce the number of IEDs. 

The IEDs are really hurting to the extent where even regime stalwarts such as Prof. Jacques Fame Ndongo, a strong believer in military violence, are now telling the world that the Yaoundé government is ready for talks on federalism. Can he be truly considered as a bearer of a special message from the Unity Palace? What has happened to the melting of the “two cubes of sugar?”

Is the government suddenly realizing that its military might may not put an end to its nightmare? Even if Prof. Fame Ndongo’s message were to be taken seriously, can anybody really trust a government that is wont to speaking from both sides of its mouth? 

If the government really wants to end the mess it has created in Southern Cameroon, it must start implementing some confidence building measures which will reassure the fighters and the Diaspora. A general amnesty to all those who have been remotely or directly involved in the conflict will be a welcome measure. 

The release of Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe, the poster boy of the revolution, and all those who have been arrested over the last five years due to this conflict will be considered a sign of seriousness on the government’s path. The government could also set up a commission comprising trusted national and international personalities to run the period leading up to the discussions and the implementation of any resolutions and recommendations that will be made during the negotiations. 

Without such confidence-building measures, Southern Cameroonians will continue to be wary of a political system that is full of snares and hypocrisy. The ball is in the government’s court and it is up to it to take the right decisions and measures. The more it delays, the more the IEDs will continue wreak havoc on the country’s military.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman/Editor-In-Chief

Cameroon Concord News/Cameroon Intelligence Report

The United States is deeply concerned by the continued violence in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon.  We continue to call for both the Cameroonian government and separatist armed groups to end the violence and engage in a dialogue without preconditions to peacefully resolve the crisis.  It is important that children can attend school and that humanitarian aid can be delivered.  We urge all relevant stakeholders in Cameroon and in the diaspora to engage constructively and seek a peaceful resolution to the crisis.

We condemn those who undermine peace through engaging in or inciting violence, human rights violations and abuses, and threats against advocates for peace or humanitarian workers.

I am establishing a policy imposing visa restrictions on individuals who are believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, undermining the peaceful resolution of the crisis in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon. This decision reflects our commitment to advance a dialogue to peacefully resolve the Anglophone crisis and support respect for human rights.  The United States strongly supports the Cameroonian people, and we remain committed to working together to advance democracy and mutual prosperity for both our countries.

The ruling CPDM party also known as the crime syndicate is unfortunately weak against the Southern Cameroons Interim Government now under the stewardship of Vice President Dabney Yerima which includes other Ambazonian restoration groups.

The so-called one and indivisible Biya French Cameroun war doctrine being followed by the consortium of crime syndicates in Yaoundé is greatly limited in shaping an endurable reality for the British Southern Cameroons and La Republique du Cameroun.

The Biya French Cameroun one and indivisible strategy was buttressed by the theory that the Cameroon government army will crush the Southern Cameroons uprising within a month and restore law and order with the support of some French Cameroun Anglophone surrogates such as the late Chief VE Mukete and Simon Achidi Achu. The Biya French backed policy has failed to achieve its far-reaching goals in four years of the war in Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia.  

Consequently, Biya and his acolytes have seen their positions eroded further with each new round of fighting with Southern Cameroons resistance groups. Correspondingly, the Ambazonia Interim Government and its sister groups are growing stronger in Ground Zero and in some international political spaces.

French Cameroun politicians and some progressives deep within the Francophone dominated army are getting closer to an agreement that will prevent Franck Biya from succeeding his father.

A recent conversation between the US Secretary of State and the French Minister of Foreign Affairs on the situation in Southern Cameroons is proof that the Biya Francophone regime’s standing is deteriorating and the Cameroon government military’s continues acts of aggression against innocent Southern Cameroons civilians with a bloody military onslaught is causing a deep tear in the fabric of Anglophone-Francophone relations everywhere in the world.

The Ambazonia Restoration Force with support from the powerful Southern Cameroons diaspora has upgraded its capacity to inflict damage on Cameroon government army soldiers, both in terms of quantity and quality as recently seen in Bui, Mezam, Akwaya, Ekondo Titi, Kupe Muanenguba and Menchum.

The new strategy propounded by Minister Paul Atanga Nji with the support of Minister Secretary General at the presidency of the Republic Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh to arrest Common Law lawyers defending Southern Cameroonians in French Cameroun jails constitutes a desperate attempt to freeze reality with the best case scenario that things will not get any worse.

Every Biya CPDM policy including his appointments lacks the vision or the desire for long-term policy that will keep the two Cameroons together. Biya is indeed a political disaster that has been around La Republique du Cameroun for a long time.

While Biya and his French Cameroun gang are busy trying to preserve the status quo in La Republique by preparing to hand over power to Franck Biya and the disgraced Sako Ikome and Chris Anu are working tirelessly on social media for Southern Cameroonians to see them as liberators, Vice President Dabney Yerima and the Ambazonia Interim Government are learning, adapting and improving conditions for the next and decisive phase of the independence battle.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Kidnap of Father Christopher Eboka in the Diocese of Mamfe

Fellow Ambazonians,

On Friday, 21 May 2021, unknown criminals abducted Father Christopher Eboka, a Priest in the Catholic Diocese of Mamfe. The perpetrators have since made contact, demanding a ransom of CFA 10 Million from the Catholic Church. The Interim Government of Ambazonia robustly condemns this reckless and ridiculous act and calls for those involved to release Father Christopher Eboka immediately without preconditions. The Interim Government has been briefed that the population of Mamfe has made a financial proposal to the kidnappers, but the criminals are holding out for more money. The Interim Government takes a strong view against paying ransoms to criminals.

After ten days of intense intelligence gathering and evaluation by Ambazonia Intelligence Services, the Interim Government of Ambazonia can confirm that the perpetrators of this dreadful crime are not associated with any legitimate self-defence group loyal to the Ambazonia cause. Instead, these criminals are profiting from the security vacuum currently in our country. The kidnapping of members of the clergy is unfortunate and unacceptable, which underscores the need for all the factions involved in the conflict to seek ways of reaching a peaceful resolution. Those who kidnap men of God are crossing a dangerous red line, and all God-fearing Southern Cameroonians must condemn this unreservedly.

The clergy in Southern Cameroon has played a significant role since the war in Ambazonia started in November 2017. We must not make enemies from our allies and sympathizers. All those fighting for the freedom of Ambazonia must commit to alleviating the suffering of our people, not organize activities that bring misery upon our communities. Religious institutions are indispensable parts of the Southern Cameroon structure, and any attack on their members and workers is an attack on Ambazonia.

The Interim Government of Ambazonia is committed to confronting and defeating the evil of kidnappings in Ambazonia. All self-defence groups are called upon to collaborate with the Interim Government to root out all rogue elements operating in our country. Our quest for self-determination will succeed if we do the right things. Unfortunately, kidnapping is not consistent with our state values.

Sincerely,

Dabney Yerima,

Vice President,

The Federal Republic of Ambazonia

An Open Letter to the Soldiers of La République du Cameroun from the Ambazonia Independent Secret Service Squad

The Ambazonian Independent Secret Service Squad is a team that was formed 6 months ago. We are all over Ambazonia. We are not influenced by any individual or group. We are patriotic Ambazonian citizens. We support all groups and individuals that advocate for the sovereignty of former British Southern Cameroons. We are not going to tell anyone who exactly we are, what we do, what we have been doing and what we shall do. In the recent days, La République du Cameroun have faced serious blows by some brave Ambazonians. We hail the efforts of these brave Ambazonians. We do not claim responsibility of those very sweet actions. But we support them, and we enjoy the outcome.

Before we address the soldiers of La République du Cameroun, permit us tell Ambazonians that all kidnaps and ransom taking in Ambazonia must stop immediately. Special warning to those criminals in Ndop, those taking ransom between Kumba and Muyuka must immediately stop attacking and threatening Ambazonians. Those guys in Idenau who get into people’s plantations and demand money from them must retreat. The leaders of this struggle must put their acts together; by defending Ambazonians and going after these kidnappers.  If nothing is done by these leaders, we shall intervene, and the outcome will be devastating for those calling themselves leaders. As of now, we are supporting you. Do not let us turn our backs on you.

Let us now address La République du Cameroun

Fellow Soldiers of La République du Cameroun,

Some of you are from French Cameroon while some of you are from Ambazonia. It does not matter to us where you come from. We are all brothers.

The difference between you and Ambazonians is that you are fighting to defend an 88-year-old dictator, his family members, his few friends, and France, while Ambazonians are indirectly fighting to defend you, and to guarantee a better future for you, your children, your family, and your country. Ambazonians are fighting for a better future for our Ambazonian children. A prosperous Ambazonian would lead a way for a prosperous La République du Cameroun as well. We shall be very good neighbours when we regain our freedom.

Dear soldiers of La République du Cameroun!

You are not our enemies. Ambazonians understand that as soldiers, you think you are defending your territory. Unfortunately, you are defending France. You are fighting for France and for Paul Biya who do not care about you. President Emmanuel Macron and President Paul Biya are using you. They are deceiving you. If you do not know, Biya and Macron are laughing at you. They see you all as fools. How can you be sent to go and kill innocent people and you are going?

Fellow brothers in the Cameroun military,

Tell Paul Biya it is over. Tell him you have killed innocent people and you are not ready to kill your brothers just to enrich France. Innocent soldiers have died because of President Biya’s and President Macron’s greed, lies and wickedness.

Fellow brothers and soldiers of La République du Cameroun,

As you know, children have lost their soldier parents who are fighting a senseless war. Many women have lost their soldier husbands in a war that makes no sense. Family members who have nothing to do with this war have lost relatives. You have been fighting to defend Paul Biya who has done nothing for his people in 39 years.

Our brother soldiers

You know soldiers defend a country led by a good President. Your allegiance as soldiers is not to the President, but to the people, and the country. Paul Biya is not a country. Paul Biya is corrupt and wealthy. He is a dictator who practices tribalism and kills anyone whom he dislikes. President Biya has destroyed a beautiful country. He is responsible for all what is happening in Cameroon and with your life.

It is your responsibility as soldiers to defend the people against a bad President. It is time for you to stop the war. It is time for you to end the fighting and drop down your arms. It is time for you to tell the government that you are not going to kill Ambazonians anymore.

To all Cameroonians. If you have a friend, a brother or a sister or a husband or a relative in the Cameroon army, advise them not to go to Ambazonia. They will die. Where are all the Beti soldiers? Why are all the Bulu soldiers hiding away from the war zone? Soldiers from Maroua, Ngaoundéré, Garoua, Adamawa, Yagoua and Kousseri should not fight for Paul Biya and France. Biya and France are responsible for the death of President Ahidjo. Paul Biya has locked up Mister Marafa in Kondengui. You people should stand up for Marafa. You should all stand against President Biya.

To our Bamiléké brothers and sisters,

Biya deceived you and you joined him to fight and kill our people. We Ambazonians protected your fathers of UPC who were being persecuted by France. Look at what Biya has done to Professor Maurice Kamto. You must all join forces with the northerners. Stop fighting for Biya. To the Basas and the Douala people. You must not join Biya. You must stand against Biya because France and Biya only care about Beti and Bulu people. Ambazonians are not your enemies.

Our brother soldiers

Put down your weapons and walk away. If Paul Biya and his generals insist, you know what to do next. Remember that your colleagues who have died at the battlefront were the unlucky ones. You are lucky to still be alive. Do not allow yourselves to end like your colleagues who are no more, and who shall never return to see their family members. This is the biggest opportunity for you. You just need to surrender now. If not, you will soon be a casualty. You will end up like your colleagues who have gone to hell and to return no more. This is the time to say ‘no’ to Yaoundé.

Do not be afraid. Do not be shy. Everything you do in life is a risk. Take the courage and surrender now. Do not go and kill innocent people. You will end up die in a war that makes no sense.

Let President Biya send his children to the war zone. Paul Biya’s children are out of the country enjoying beautiful life. Why are you fighting to defend someone who does not care about you? Biya does not care about you and your children. There are soldiers and government workers who do not have salaries. You are riding ben-sikin after school. All ben-sikin riders and taxi drivers and teachers in La République du Cameroun must stand up. From Maroua, Ngandere to Garoua through Bafoussam to Mbouda and Nkongsamba. You must all rise like one man. You should all join the military and chase out President Biya.

Colonel Bamkoui Emile Joël, Police Chief Superintendent Eko Eko Maxime Léopold and Brigadier General Nka Valère should take note. Go and tell Ferdinand Ngoh and Atanga Nji Paul that you cannot stand this war anymore. Yaounde must listen to you and you must not take orders from Yaounde anymore. Atanga Nji goes around with heavy military protection. Governor Lele L’Afrique and Governor Okala Bilai it is now time for you to leave Ambazonia. Take your colonial Divisional Officers and Senior Divisional Officers away from Ambazonia. The Ambazonia Independent Secret Service Squad does not do propaganda and does not make promises. We act and we do not make claims. That is why we are a Secret Squad. We hope you have understood us.

Our dear brothers in the Cameroun army

Look at Tanzania. Look at the good roads in Rwanda, and the good life people in Rwanda are living. Look at small countries like Botswana and Namibia. Look at the roads in South Africa. The whole of French Africa is useless; made up of useless and corrupt leaders and citizens who think poverty and hardship are normal. Even your own children do not have a good future. Poor roads, no water, bad hospitals, dilapidated school buildings and no jobs are what Biya has offered you in 39 years. What did you do to Paul Biya?

Why are you defending a criminal who hates you? It is time for you to repent. Go and pray to God to save you from this slavery. You are a slave to France. For how long will you keep being slaves? Biya, his family and his ministers have bought houses in Europe and America using your stolen money.

Our dear brothers in the military,

Ambazonians do not hate you. Ambazonians have the right to defend their territory. As you know, we Ambazonians asked Paul Biya for respect and equality. Biya decided to kill us, beat up our teachers and our lawyers, and his soldiers raped our children just to defend Biya. We are fighting back. We shall fight. You will not win this war. Ambazonia will win this war. You will be in your graves when we shall have our sovereignty if you do not surrender. We shall celebrate our victory and your children, mothers, brothers, sisters, and wives will be crying because they will say, you lost your life for nothing.

Our brothers in Cameroun

Why do you treat Biya like a God? Biya is laughing at you all. Biya does not care about you. Biya and Macron see you all as grown-up fools. You were a fool. After five years, you should not be a fool except you want to act like a fool. No amount of killing will stop Ambazonia from fighting back. So, why do you go for a war that you will not win? Do you remember Vietnam? Do you remember Afghanistan? In Syria, they thought they were going to win. They are not winning in Syria. You will not win in Ambazonia.

You should all put down your arms or turn them against the real enemy. The real enemies are Biya, Atanga Nji and France. Soldiers in other countries are living good life without war. You are in Ambazonia killing people who have committed no crime. You will all die in Ambazonia if you stay or go there. 

Our brothers in La Republique du Cameroun

If La République du Cameroun was supposed to win this war, they should have won the war in 2017. You cannot win and you will not win. Paul Biya and the Betis are using you to stay in power. The Bulus and the Betis are enjoying while you are suffering.

 Dear Cameroon soldiers

You must take the courage. Ambazonians do not hate people from Cameroun. We hate your government. And your government does not even treat you well. So, why fight to defend a President who thinks only about himself and his family? If you and all citizens of Cameroon stand against your President, you will have a better life for your children. Instead of Biya to offer you jobs, good health services, good roads, good schools, better electricity supply and portable water, he offers you bread, and sardine and you accept it. 

Do not accept to be fools anymore. Paul Biya cannot be above you all. Mubarak reign came to an end because his soldiers told him it was enough. You should stop defending France. The most useless Africans are those that come from French-speaking African countries. You are all responsible for the poor living conditions of the African people. Africans deserve better. Cameroonians deserve better. Your wife, children, and grandchildren deserve better. Understand this! Biya, Betis, Bulus and Macron are your enemies.

You can make a difference in the lives of your children by turning against the criminals in the Cameroon government. Macron does not have children even. Let Frank and Brenda go and fight for Biya and Macron. Biya is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. Let him go to Ambazonia and lead the military as late President Idris Deby of Chad did. We are waiting for Biya in Ambazonia. Tell Biya to go and fight as he is responsible for everything that went wrong in Cameroun and in Ambazonia.

This is the time to tell Biya that you will not go to Ambazonia anymore, and that you are not going to kill your Ambazonian neighbours/brothers.

Dear Soldiers of La République du Cameroun

Your enemies are not in Ambazonia. Your enemies are in Yaoundé and Paris.

Good luck to you and bad luck to Biya and his supporters.

NB: This public message is from the newly created Ambazonia Independent Secret Service Squad

IG STATEMENT ON AUDIO ORDERING MURDER AMONGST SELF-DEFENCE FORCES

Fellow Ambazonians,

There is an audio circulating on social media from an agent of darkness in the United States instructing Ambazonian self-defense forces to attack and kill one another. The Interim Government of Ambazonia strongly condemns this appalling and unacceptable request and calls on all self-defense forces to ignore this shocking appeal. The notion that Ambazonians should be encouraged to attack and exterminate one another is shameful, distasteful, outrageous, and unacceptable. And the perpetrators of these sorts of actions shall one day face the Southern Cameroons justice system.

Our self-defense forces are an essential component of our liberation struggle. Their sacrifices are worthy and have brought us this far. As leaders and the Diaspora, our role is to promote unity amongst them, not divide them. Unfortunately, last year, we witnessed the senseless killings of many self-defense forces by people who claimed to fight for our flag. These killings are unacceptable.

To Our Self-defense Forces

My dear restoration forces, you must STOP attacking each other! Our common enemy is La Republique du Cameroun.  Your task as self-defense forces in this struggle is to free our people and defend Ambazonia from grave danger. Your paramount loyalty is to the nation above any frontline movement or so-called leader in the Diaspora. We cannot aid and abet the enemy by fighting amongst ourselves. This war requires our sustained loyalty and self-restraint.

In this war for freedom, you have all chosen to bear the duty of self-defense. Yet, your actions must be guided by a vision of unity and collaboration on the battlefield of many dangers. Ambazonia cannot afford to lose any more lives in avoidable circumstances. Millions of Southern Cameroonians have confidence in you and are praying for you as you undertake this gigantic task to free our nation. Unity amongst you will be a decisive blow to the rogue advisers passing for leaders in the Diaspora. Ambazonia is watching you, and in you, her hope for victory lies. That trust is well placed, and you cannot afford to let your nation down with infighting.

There are difficult days ahead, yet we must remain strong. But above all, you at the forefront of this struggle must remain united. So, we must confront this dangerous enemy with unity and purpose. We must unite to defeat this evil of tyranny. Fellow Ambazonians, we will not fail. Instead, we will unite, persevere, and defeat this common enemy with all its collaborators in the Diaspora.

Thank you, and may

God bless the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

Dabney Yerima

Vice President, Federal Republic of Ambazonia

The international community is not watching, Cameroon under the 88-year-old President Biya has edged toward collapse, and the Chairman of the ruling CPDM crime syndicate is in his weakest position ever. France and its youthful President Emmanuel Macron now have a narrow chance to prevent a catastrophe in the CEMAC region.

Southern Cameroons Interim Government promised to keep its struggle for an independent state peaceful … but President Biya and his French Cameroun political elites said they wanted bullets, they are now getting them.

The War in Southern Cameroons has already claimed at least 40 000 lives, almost all of them civilian children, men and women, murdered by Cameroun troops in a series of targeted killings, organized massacres, and killings by fire in over 400 villages burnt down to ashes across Ambazonia. Over half a million people have been forcibly displaced as refugees living in various countries and especially in refugee camps in Nigeria. Over another half a million people have become IDPs hiding in forests, caves and hills due to forced displacement. Additionally, over 1.5 million people are facing a humanitarian disaster.

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 the Northerners 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.

As remarkable as they are, the war in Southern Cameroons and the Boko Haram security crisis unfolding are merely a symptom of a far greater crisis striking at the heart of the Biya regime and its prospects for survival. Reckless politicking on the part of France in Bangui has brought mighty Russia into the Central African Republic and there is panic all over the CEMAC region. President Ali Bongo of Gabon recently staggered to 10 Downing Street to raise a finger against the Russians while Sassou Nguesso attempted to placate the Congolese people by saying that his current term will be his last. Biya is now walking on broken bottles!

Biya may have crushed the SDF and MRC opposition parties over the years but every single root cause of the Anglophone uprising is not just still in place, but has worsened. Added to this difficult situation is the emergence of multiple armed groups in the Far North bordering the Republic Chad-the odd man in the CEMAC region.

We of the Cameroon Concord News Group can now reveal that the challenges to Biya regime’s prosperity, credibility or survival remain in place in every corner of Cameroon including the East region where rebels fighting the government in the Central Africa Republic have made it their base. For the first time in nearly 40 years, French speaking Cameroonians from the Centre-South regions which is the home constituency of Biya and his ruling elites who outwardly support Biya or who have remained quietly loyal to his rule have begun to share whispers of their own exasperation.  In holding on to power which is typical of French speaking African leaders, Paul Biya has effectively—and purposely—destroyed his own country.

With the establishment of a KGB base in Bangui, Russia has indirectly offered a new and almost unprecedented opportunity to the Americans. Although it seems like the US paid little attention to Sub Saharan Africa, it has a justification now to be fully present. If the US fails to get involved, the French policy of Son-Succeeding-Their Dads like in Gabon, Togo and of recent Chad will push French speaking Africans towards Russia and China. So, getting rid of Biya as quickly as possible will usher in real and long-overdue changes to the Sub Saharan region that could otherwise become a global tinderbox.

Cameroon as a nation has already taken a truly unprecedented turn for the worse and it has crashed into a debilitating crisis that has shattered every fiber of the so-called bilingual country, leaving greater levels of destitution, famine, and worsening criminality and predatory behavior in both French and English speaking sections of the country. If something is not done and done in a hurry, the giant of the CEMAC region which is currently a human-rights disaster will become a breeding ground for dangerous extremists and regional instability.

The name Franck Biya is now being mentioned as a possible replacement but that Biya family path for Cameroon may emerge as so deeply distasteful for so many Cameroonians that instability, anger, disenchantment and perhaps a Russian-Bangui push might end up unseating the entire Beti Ewondo clan.

The crisis in Southern Cameroons is already of grave concern to France, which along with the European Union is the primary source of President Biya’s external support.

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

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 Cameroon the unemployment rate is high, it is a lot higher in Southern Cameroons and in the northern regions 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 Yaoundé government that has never incorporated dialogue into its national development and integration strategy.

France leverage in Cameroon is presently suffering from irrational and unpredictable decision-making in Champs-Élysées, but Paris still matters in the Sub Saharan region and has a chance to shape the outcome. To be sure, the death of Chadian President Idriss Deby-an ally of Biya and Biya’s current weakness provides more meaningful opportunities than we have seen over the years.

Cameroon is falling apart and so too is the ruling CPDM party 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 descent 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

Nota: Ambazonia is the indigenous name of the former United Nations trust territory of the Southern Cameroons under United Kingdom Administration for close to half a century, excluding the period of British connection with the territory from 1843 to 1887. When Republique du Cameroun took control of the territory, it split it into two parts and designated them as “northwest and southwest provinces/regions of Republique du Cameroun.” This was rejected and continues to be rejected by the people of the former British Southern Cameroons. The people of the territory insist on the indigenous name of their Homeland which is Ambazonia. This is consistent with a 1978 recommendation of UNESCO that African countries should call their countries by the name they wish to be known. Here, the designations ‘Ambazonia’ and ‘the Southern Cameroons’ are used interchangeably.

Background

Imposed plebiscite: The Southern Cameroons was one of the territories set for decolonization in the context of the UN decolonization agenda. Britain’s devious handling of it and the British wheeling and dealing at the UN in 1959 and 1960 caused a great historical injustice to the people of the Southern Cameroons. That injustice continues to cry out for redress. British action resulted in the unconscionable imposition of an unnecessary and precipitated plebiscite with dead-end alternatives. Speaking through Lord Perth, Britain shamefully said the Southern Cameroons and its people were “expendable”.

The plebiscite was imposed in the teeth of opposition by the leadership of the trust territory. It offered Hobson’s choice of ‘joining’ either Nigeria or French Cameroun. The internationally-prescribed political status option of sovereign independence was deliberately excluded. There was no good reason for doing so. On 11 February 1961, a skewed plebiscite was foisted on the people of the Southern Cameroons. Faced with the Hobson’s ‘choice’ that was forced down their throat, the people opted for independence in political association with Republique du Cameroun. It was agreed in writing between the two countries and to the knowledge of Britain and the UN, that the political association would take the form of an aggregative federation of two states, equal in status.

In 1959, hoping to sway the Southern Cameroons to associate with it rather than with Nigeria, Republique du Cameroun had taken the floor at the UN and had solemnly given the assurance to the world at large that it would not take advantage of its bigger size and population to annex the Southern Cameroons in the event of political association between the both countries. Shockingly, that country did exactly the opposite of what it had vouchsafed at the UN. It unilaterally framed, adopted and promulgated a ‘federal constitution’ creating the Federal Republic of Cameroon and asserting claim to the territory of the Southern Cameroons as part of the territory of Republique du Cameroun returned to it by the UN and the UK. In October 1961, Republique du Cameroun in effect took control of the Southern Cameroons, aided in that by Britain. It militarily occupied the territory and appointed one of its officials as officer administering who stepped into the shoes of the departed British Commissioner of the Southern Cameroons. It then started visiting the people of the Southern Cameroons with terror and cruel depredations: arbitrarily arresting and imprisoning, torturing, and killing at will, unchecked neither by law nor morality. At the same time, the territory was being looted and plundered. Spoliation of Southern Cameroons’ natural resources was entirely for the benefit of Republique du Cameroun. Cameroun 60-year colonial occupation, oppression and repression has been experienced by the people of the Southern Cameroons as far worse than anything ever experienced under British colonial rule.

Transfer of administration to French Cameroun. Before exiting the Southern Cameroons on 1 October 1961, Britain transferred powers to Republique du Cameroun rather than to the Southern Cameroons as ought to have been the case and as required under international law. This British self-confessed transfer resulted in the recolonization, rather than the decolonization, of the Southern Cameroons. Spain may have borrowed a leaf from Britain’s bad and illegal conduct when in 1975 it transferred administration of the Western Sahara to both Morocco and Mauritania and hurriedly left the territory. On 14 November 1975 there was concluded a Declaration of Principles on Western Sahara between Spain, Morocco and Mauritania, whereby the powers and responsibilities of Spain, as the administering Power of the Territory, were transferred to a temporary tripartite administration.

Formal annexation of Ambazonia:  In 1972 Republique du Cameroun despotically ended the subterfuge of a federation and formally annexed the territory of the Southern Cameroons as part of its territory. The Government of the Southern Cameroons was dismissed and its parliament dissolved along with the police and the public service of the federated state. All property, including artefacts, official documents and other archives, belonging to the Government of the Southern Cameroons was vandalized, destroyed in situ or carted to Yaoundé and simply burnt to ashes. The reason for this barbarism was to erase any memory of the Southern Cameroons as a congener of statehood. Republique du Cameroun however continued to camouflage its predatory and expansionist politics under the cloak of what it instituted as the so-called ‘United Republic of Cameroun’. But even this pretense could not be maintained for long. In 1984 Republique du Cameroun informed the world that it had reasserted its identity as such. But incongruously, and in continuing defiance of international law, it kept up the fiction that the territory of the Southern Cameroons is part of the territory of Republique du Cameroun. Prior to October 1961, the Southern Cameroons never had any ties of any nature with that country. Moreover, the Southern Cameroons does not have, and has never had, any connection whatsoever with France, the parent state of Republique du Cameroun.

The War in Ambazonia

Since the 1970s, Southern Cameroons Civil society organizations and individuals periodically organized nonviolent protests and sent deputations and petitions to the Yaoundé authorities calling for the redress of legitimate grievances, including the ending of its colonization and annexation of the Southern Cameroons. These actions were always met with characteristic violent repression, imprisonment, torture, and killings. In 2016, Southern Cameroons’ lawyers, all in their wigs and gowns, staged a peaceful public demonstration calling for an end to the organized systematic destruction of Southern Cameroon’s common-law-based legal and judicial system. The reaction of Yaoundé was swift and ferocious. Gendarmes encircled the lawyers as they marched, battered them and ripped off their wigs and tore their gowns, arbitrarily arresting and imprisoning, and torturing many of them. Teachers and a consortium of civil society organizations soon joined the action by the protesting lawyers. They called for an immediate end to the bastardization of the English-derived system of education obtained in the Southern Cameroons. They also called for an end to the policy of pauperization of the Southern Cameroons and its people. Again, these actions were met with the most brutal response, including the deployment of armed soldiers who did not hesitate to shoot and kill.

When the population came out en masse with peace plants to protest these wanton killings, the soldiers fanned out all over the Southern Cameroons and visited the people – women, men, boys, girls, children, the old, the sick and the infirm – with despicable mayhem. But still the people came out in protest. Mr Biya, Cameroun’s 88-year-old President for 40 years, and then publicly declared that his troops would do what he has ordered them to do in the Southern Cameroons. And so, the four-year old war in Ambazonia was unleashed on the people of the territory by Republique du Cameroun in November 2017. Taken by surprise and never being prepared for war, the people found themselves having to defend themselves, their families, their communities and their territory literally with bare hands. They used pebbles, sticks, machetes and a few old rusty hunting Dane guns and gunpowder retrieved here and there.

The War in Ambazonia has already claimed at least 40 000 lives, almost all of them civilian children, men and women, murdered by Cameroun troops in a series of targeted killings, organized massacres, and killings by fire in over 400 villages burnt down to ashes across Ambazonia. Over half a million people have been forcibly displaced as refugees living in various countries and especially in refugee camps in Nigeria. Over another half a million people have become IDPs hiding in forests, caves and hills due to forced displacement. Additionally, over 1.5 million people are facing a humanitarian disaster.

Republique du Cameroun uses not only arson and the destruction of food, livestock, and crops in the fields as weapons of war. It also uses rape. Rape of Ambazonian women and girls by Cameroun troops is systematic and widespread. These agonizing situations are compounded by the fact that a high percentage of Cameroun troops are HIV positive and also have other STDs. When they rape they infect the women and girls. This appears to be part of the genocide agenda of Cameroun. Reports are now emerging of scores of school girls raped, impregnated and infected by Republique du Cameroun’s troops. This poses a nightmare not only of the HIV and STD infections but also of rampant teenage pregnancies. Cameroun troops have burnt down health facilities and killed health workers in rural and semi-urban areas. Accessing health facilities or health practitioners is a huge challenge for rural and semi-urban folks.

Why the people of Ambazonia are fighting

Self-determination under international law: The people of Ambazonia are fighting to vindicate their unquestionable and inalienable right of self-determination. They will continue to fight until self-determination is achieved. The right of self-determination is a norm of jus cogens. It is fortified by the internationally-secured territorial framework of the territory of Ambazonia, a framework standing firmly on two territorial treaty-based pillars.

Legitimate rejection of colonialism in any form, shape or manifestation: The fight of the people of Ambazonia also represents a strong and unyielding rejection of colonialism in any form, shape or manifestation. The rejection is consistent with international law which gives colonized people struggling for their liberation the right to the assistance of third parties.

Territory secured by boundary treaties: The territory of Ambazonia is safeguarded by international treaties. Ambazonia’s international boundary to the north and to the west down to the Bakassi Peninsula is well defined by, and is now demarcated on the basis of, the Anglo-German treaty of 1913 specifying the boundary between the British territory of Nigeria and the German territory of Kamerun. Ambazonia’s international boundary to the east is defined and demarcated on the basis of the Anglo-French treaty of 1916. The boundary alignment was endorsed in 1919 at the Treaties of Versailles, confirmed by the League of Nations in 1922, and reconfirmed by the Anglo-French treaty of 1931 respecting the boundary between the British Cameroons and French Cameroun. The territorial integrity of Ambazonia is thus firmly secured under international law.

Title to territory and the principle of uti possidetis juris: Sovereign title to the territory of Ambazonia belongs to the people of Ambazonia, and not to any other people. The people of Ambazonia are entitled to the integrity of their territory. And this means Republique du Cameroun, which achieved its independence from France on 1 January 1960, must respect the integrity of its own territory, respect the AU core principle of intangibility of African borders as obtained on the day of achievement of independence, and abandons its pursuit of the internationally wrongful conduct of territorial expansionism.

Historical parallels

There are illustrative historical parallels to the darkness that has befallen Ambazonia. The parallels are: Morocco’s occupation and attempt to annex the Western Sahara; Imperial Ethiopia’s occupation and attempt to annex Eritrea; Indonesia’s occupation and attempt to annex East Timor; and apartheid South Africa’s occupation, refusal to leave Namibia and attempt to annex it. Predictably, all these cases led to wars of national liberation. And in all of them each latter-day colonial occupier/oppressor lost.

A Cameroon Concord News and Cameroon Intelligence Report Production

Cameroon Concord News senior political man Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai, recently caught up with Dr. Joachim Arrey, a translation, communication, and technical writing expert who has delivered effective language solutions to many organizations around the world and both men took a look at issues playing out in Cameroon and the world. 

Cameroon Concord News: You have been very quiet for some time now. Why the silence? 

Dr. Joachim Arrey: Thanks, Mr. Editor, for granting me this opportunity for me to share my perspective on some of the issues currently facing the world. Regarding your question, I would like to mention that wisdom dictates that sometimes you must be quiet, as silence could be golden. Also, I have learned over the years that when you talk a lot, not many people take you seriously. Everything must be measured in order to deliver the appropriate impact. However, I try not to be dead silent like Cameroon’s president when there are huge emergencies in our beloved Cameroon. A leader who holds his country so close to his heart should come out when the country is going through challenging times. This is the ideal way of consoling a desperate and despondent people.

Cameroon Concord News: Talking about Cameroon, the fighting in the country’s two English-speaking regions is still raging on. Do you see any end in sight?

Dr. Joachim Arrey: I have not been on the ground for some time now, but information reaching me gives to understand that the situation is getting worse by the day. Southern Cameroonian fighters who started out with hunting rifles seem to be making significant progress in their procurement of sophisticated weapons. From hunting rifles, they acquired sophisticated killing machines like AK-47s, making life in those regions unbearable. They killed and maimed many soldiers and innocent civilians. They sometimes even turn their own guns against their own comrades in arms and this has been very scary. The harassment of ordinary civilians by both government troops and the fighters needs to be condemned. The government and those who bankroll the fighters must ensure that civilians do not end up as collateral damage in a war that could have been avoided. Three years ago, I thought that was the worst the fighters could do in terms of weapons, but recently, they have morphed into manufacturers of home-made bombs which are blowing up soldiers in large numbers and leaving many families in excruciating psychological pain. This is making things worse and is reducing the prospects of diminishing the human cost of the war. Despite this gloomy picture, I am still optimistic. The government and the fighters must meet each other half-way.  They must talk. The negotiating table can deliver lasting peace than any war. There are never any winners in any war though some people would like to make us to understand that there will be winners in this war. The government must walk away from its frozen position to demonstrate that it has a sound understanding of the situation. It must make huge sacrifices if it really dreams of winning this war. It must bend over backwards to bring back peace in the two English-speaking regions of the country and one of those tough decisions will be the unconditional release of Mr. Julius Ayuk Tabe, the poster boy of the rebellion, and all those who have been arrested within the framework of this conflict. This will not be a weakness on the government’s part, but a demonstration of the government’s desire for peace and security in the country. Currently, the government is dealing with many crises. The north is in Boko Haram’s tight grip. In the east, Central African rebels are a serious threat and if care is not taken, the conflict in the Central African Republic could spilt over into Cameroon and the consequences could be far-reaching. The Cameroon government must seek to reduce its military burden by dousing those fires that are easy to put off. The Southern Cameroons crisis is easy to address. All that is required is a huge dose of honesty, humility and political will on the government’s part. 

Cameroon Concord News: You have written a lot about the conflict in the two English-speaking regions of the country. Your ideas on the way forward are music to many ears around the world. You see the Canadian system as a model that could be copied by Cameroon. Has any government official ever contacted you for you to share your ideas?

Dr. Jochim Arrey: Thank you once more for raising this issue. The conflict in the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon is of special interest to me. As you know, I am a native of Ossing which is in the Southwest region which is the region that has been significantly affected by the conflict. I do not agree that secession is the answer, but I have also clearly stated that I do not like the way the government has dealt with this situation. It could have explored other options before using military force. Military violence has never addressed any issues and it should always be an option of last resort. At best, violence will make matters more complicated.  As you know, I have been writing and I continue to write urging both the government and the fighters to embrace genuine dialogue facilitated by a neutral third party as the ideal way of bringing about peace and security in the two English-speaking regions of the country. I have also been providing possible solutions to the causes of the conflict. As you know, I have lived most of my life in a federal system. I was born in a federal Cameroon. I lived in Nigeria for a long time, and I have been living in Canada for close to a quarter of century. The federal system may not be a panacea, but it has the potential to reduce conflict, especially language-based conflicts. Canada like Cameroon has also dealt with linguistic minorities and successive Canadian government have handled those differences between English-speaking Canada and French-speaking Canada in a way that is highly commendable. Cameroon has a lot to learn from this country that is considered as the epitome of peace and security in the world. Adopting some of Canada’s federal attributes will help Cameroon navigate its choppy and murky linguistic waters that have been spewing conflicts for a long time. There is a better way of governing Cameroon. The current centralized system is conflict- and corruption-packed, and if care is not taken, the country will be mired in conflict for a very long time and an implosion is clearly on the horizon. Regarding your question about anybody contacting me, I would like to mention that I do not have a monopoly of wisdom or knowledge on Canada. Government officials can directly work with their Canadian counterparts if they really want to make Cameroon an oasis of peace in a desert of conflict in the Central African region. When I write, I share ideas and those ideas could help point both the secessionists and government in the right direction. My role, as a writer, is to help society see its folly and may be, recover from its madness if the leaders deem it necessary.  Hearing from any government official is of no consequence to me. A peaceful Cameroon is my objective when I write. I hope as Cameroonians we have the same objective.

Cameroon Concord News: I have heard many South-westerners refer to you as the governor of their region. Do you have any aspiration to run as the governor of the region when and if a federal system will be instituted in the country?

Dr. Joachim Arrey: Many South-westerners refer to me as Governor because of the development ideas I share with them. Many hold that in a federal Cameroon, those ideas could help our region grow by leaps and bounds. Many have been encouraging me to head back home upon retirement to throw my hat into the political ring. These encouragements are indeed good, but for now, I am still busy with other things. I have a few years to retire, though I am not yet tired, but I think that there is a lot to do in Cameroon and around the world, even when on retirement. Upon retirement, I would like to devote my time to real estate development and writing. Writing is a gift from God, and it comes naturally. Of course, if I join politics today, it will not be out of poverty. It will clearly be out of principle. I have been abundantly blessed financially, health-wise, and knowledge-wise and I have always held that sharing that knowledge with those in need of it will be one great way of giving back to my country. I don’t yet know if getting into politics in Cameroon will enable me to do more for my people. There are lots of hungry people out there and they see politics as a means of enriching themselves. I disagree with that. I believe in people living within their means, no matter what.  I am not sure this perspective of life will be admired by many who see politics differently. I must weigh all these situations against potential results before making any decision regarding politics in Cameroon.  At my age, I am no longer scared of anything. I have already lived two-thirds of my active life; the kids are adults now and I have had a blast over the last 25 years. I think this is the time to give back and there are many ways of achieving this goal. When you are almost 60 and you still feel like you are just 40, then you still have a lot of gasoline in your tank. You must use this gasoline to positively impact many lives. 

Cameroon Concord News: Regarding giving back, I see you advocating for Manyu’s development. Are there any on-going projects that will help give Manyu a face-lift?

Dr. Joachim Arrey: I must be blunt with you regarding this issue. Manyu Division should be making giant strides towards sustainable development if its citizens are serious. It has the men and the brains. Unfortunately, the people lack the right mindset. Development is a game of numbers. There is power in numbers but the Manyu man has not yet understood that. He is still individualistic and loves going it alone. Unfortunately, his solo efforts always come to nought. Until the people of this Division of Cameroon learn that they must pool their resources, they will never achieve anything meaningful. This is a region with thousands of young men who all say they want their region to develop, but when you tell them to contribute just CFAF 1,000 a year, they all run away. They even tell stories that are not true, and they blame political leaders for all their problems, including their erectile dysfunction issues. If you cannot give CFAF 1,000 a year for the development of your region, why do you think others will come to develop the place for you? Talk to those in the Diaspora and you will be more disappointed. They all have these big titles and certificates, but the mindset leaves much to be desired. It is not just enough to obtain certificates. The Manyu man should start thinking beyond certificates if his own region of the country must develop. We cannot continue to expect much from others when we cannot contribute just CFAF 1,000 for projects in the region. We must learn how to build confidence. If you live abroad and you cannot give away CFAF 1,000 (USD 2) per year for development purposes, then you do not deserve to blame others for not helping to give your region a face-lift. If 100,000 Manyu people give CFAF 1,000 each, every year, we will end up with CFAF 100,000,000 every year and this will help us undertake some meaningful projects and we will create jobs for our children and grandchildren who are still struggling to find their way around the maze. Unity is strength! The Manyu man must understand this. Certificates alone will not take us to where we want to be. 

Cameroon Concord News: Last question. Have you taken the COVID-19 vaccine?

Dr. Joachim Arrey: Yes, I have, and I urge all my friends and family members to get theirs so that we can start living a normal life again. They should not listen to any fake pastors and conspiracy theorists. I will also urge them to engage in physical activities that will help to boost their immune systems. The pandemic is urging us to change our lifestyles. This global pandemic has dealt with people who are obese and those who engage in social behaviour that compromises their health. With co-morbidities, we cannot survive the pandemic’s relentless assaults. Diabetes, high blood pressure and heart problems are mostly man-made. We can avoid them if we change our lifestyles and behaviour.  The vaccine will help to give us the protection we need against this insidious and dangerous virus. Let us all get it!

Cameroon Concord News: Thank you, Dr. Arrey, for your time!