15, November 2019
Federal Republic of Ambazonia: Southern Cameroons elites still have great deal of work to do in the resistance 0
A majority of Southern Cameroonians living abroad including those in Ground Zero are of the opinion that the Ambazonia Interim Government (IG) post the disgraced Dr Ikome Sako and Chris Anu era still has a lot of work to do in the territory now occupied by French Cameroun troops and Biya-backed armed militia. They are right.
From London to Atlanta, from Berlin to Oslo and from Pretoria to Paris, the story is the same! Ambazonians are disappointed with the management of the funds that was raised for My Trip To Buea and French Cameroun is reportedly gaining from the fabricated divisions in the Interim Government and the failure of other sub groups to join the majority following of the IG.
With the dust now settled, Southern Cameroonians can see clearly and of course the Southern Cameroons elites have themselves to blame for shying away from leadership and allowing cash strapped men and women to take over control of leadership.
Vice President Dabney Yerima and his war cabinet still have a lot of work to do if the Federal Republic of Ambazonia is to become a reality, as there is a large number of Southern Cameroons successful elites in the West, who are willing to donate money for the struggle but need to start seeing some properly coordinated actions in Ground Zero.
We of the Cameroon Concord News Group are hoping that the Vice President’s announced tour for the struggle would be successful. We understand that many objectives have been reached and the French Cameroun leader Paul Biya and his ruling CPDM crime syndicate are crumbling at catastrophic rapidity. But not every objective!
We expect right thinking Southern Cameroonians to ignore the negative distractions coming from the disgraced Sako Ikome and Chris Anu and help Vice President Dabney Yerima and his team to manage to mitigate the situation in Ground Zero, establish good ties between the Ambazonia Interim Government and other sub groups, and reach decisive general solutions which would appease donors in Europe, the US and South Africa for Southern Cameroonians to completely regain their territorial integrity.
Our chief intelligence officers in Ground Zero are reporting that things are moving back to normal and French Cameroun agents are planning to stage elections next year in the territory. This is happening because it has been extremely difficult for Southern Cameroonians to switch off tribal loyalty and pursue the bigger picture.
Day-by-day, Sako Ikome and his acolyte Chris Anu are sending conflicting signals to the international community and Southern Cameroonians in Ground Zero all in a bid to give the impression that it is either them at the head or no one else. This is now their trade mark.
However, many successful Ambazonian elites in the diaspora are aware that Sako and Chris Anu can no longer be one entity with the Southern Cameroons quest and struggle for independence and are running away from them.
French Cameroun head of state, Paul Biya has now made it crystal clear that there was a policy put in place to assimilate the people of Southern Cameroons which have failed. Not donating to the Ambazonian struggle, not investing in the Amba Bonds Project is tantamount to accepting the so-called Special Status that will continue to keep Southern Cameroonians as slaves and second class citizens of the One and Indivisible Cameroon.
The world needs to see Ambazonians waging a war of liberation void of any distraction from failed and corrupt leaders.
By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai
16, November 2019
Human Rights Abuses in Southern Cameroons Crisis: Recommendations for Action 0
The report documents gross human rights abuses that have been committed during the conflict in the North West and South West regions of Cameroon since 2016. These regions are predominantly English-speaking, in a country that has a majority French-speaking population. The North West and South West regions, known as the anglophone regions, were formerly the colonial territory of Britain from the end of the First World War to the attainment of independence by Cameroon in 1960/61. The conflict involves tensions between the minority anglophone populations of Cameroon and the majority francophone populations, and has thus been termed the ‘Anglophone Crisis’. Crucially, the Report situates the recent crimes in the sociolegal and historical context of the longstanding ‘Anglophone Problem’ in Cameroon.
The recent violence in anglophone Cameroon began with strikes by anglophone lawyers and teachers in protest to perceived government-backed attempts to marginalise traditional practices within anglophone courts and schools. In response to the unrest, the Cameroonian Government was recorded to use coercion and force, which led to an escalation of tensions and demands. Since the 2016 protests, the conflict has become increasingly violent, and crimes have been committed by multiple parties. The Report provides a comprehensive analysis of alleged human rights abuses committed to date and recommends actions.
The current violence in Cameroon cannot be properly comprehended outside of the historical context in which it has arisen. The report accordingly begins with a historical overview of the Anglophone Problem, which is rooted in a land boundary implemented by British and French colonial forces. The analysis then moves on to show how the border complexities have carried over into independence from colonial rule, which is examined through the anglophone independence plebiscite. Various issues of contention have arisen in relation to this vote because the option of secession, for which many anglophone stakeholders campaigned, was denied to the people. Consequently, the reunification of the anglophone regions to Cameroon has never been fully accepted by all. Despite vociferous frustrations expressed by anglophone stakeholders since this time, these grievances have yet to be addressed by the Cameroon State and the international community.
The Report then moves on to consider evidence of human rights abuses that have been committed by the Cameroonian State forces and by separatist groups in the anglophone regions. Suspected human rights violations include extra-judicial killings, torture, destruction of property, fair trial violations, and inhumane and degrading conditions of detention. These violations breach both Cameroonian national laws and international human rights laws that bind Cameroon.
The Report also documents and analyses photographic and video-graphic media material received via the messaging service WhatsApp between August 2018 and up to October 2019, material which is logged in Appendix A. The Report further reviews reporting on the human rights abuses by international organisations, non-governmental organisations and reports by mainstream news media.
Analysis of primary and secondary human rights data leads to the research team to identify a range of pressing concerns, which include: the continued escalation of the conflict; the complexity of issues fueling the conflict, which stretch beyond a simple francophone/anglophone divide; the inadequacy of the Cameroonian government organised dialogue of September 2019; the lack of accountability for human rights abuses; the absence of remedies of human rights violations; and the wider implications of the conflict on peace in the broader Sahel Region.
The Report draws attention to the distinctive moral responsibility of the British government to respond to these concerns, which arises on at least three grounds: 1) Cameroon as a former colony of the British state; 2) The role of the British government in the creation of the Anglophone Problem; and 3) The prolonged and substantial presence of the British state in Cameroon through its developmental organisation, Voluntary Services Overseas, from pre-independence in 1958 until withdrawal in 2014.
In light of the evidence considered, the Report makes the following specific recommendations to the British government:
Support efforts to stop the violence
Support conflict resolution
Support the initiatives of peacebuilders
Ensure a return to the rule of law
Monitor detention conditions.
Precise ways that these recommendations might be achieved are suggested.
Culled from Oxford Human Rights Hub