Looking at this flyer attached to this report, one must wonder what French President Emmanuel Macron will do if by some strange happenstance, Biya is not the president of Cameroon after October 7. Must Biya’s picture be included in the flyer? Will Macron still chair this forum with Akere Muna or Joshua Osih as president? Probably, Macron knows Biya will be president because in Cameroon, you cannot organize elections and lose.

What an irony. Fear of the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo government and its many-tentacled security apparatus is greater now in French Cameroun than it was during the Ahmadou Ahidjo days. Why should that be when the Yaoundé regime has told the international community that it has generously offered dialogue with the English speaking people of Southern Cameroons now known as the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. However, anyone who has a mastery of the activities of the 85 year-old Biya and the barons of his ruling CPDM crime syndicate  from the inside is aware that the Yaoundé regime’s generosity and dialogue is to be feared above all things.

When peaceful calls for some political adjustments and reform by Anglophone lawyers and teachers were met by crushing violence from the French Cameroun government, the Francophone regime thought all was over. The bravery of the Southern Cameroons lawyers and teachers in breaching the French Cameroun gendarmerie fear barrier even to take part in such demonstrations is beyond admirable. Ever since French President Emmanuel Macron instructed Biya in Abidjan, Ivory Coast to use force, more than three thousand Southern Cameroonians have been killed by troops loyal to the regime in Yaoundé, thousands of Ambazonians have gone missing, hundreds have been detained in prison some never seen again and some 50,000 have fled to neighboring Nigeria. The UN says 161,000 Southern Cameroonians have been internally displaced. Hundreds of Southern Cameroonians have been killed recently over the decision to stage the October 7 presidential elections in the territory not even because they were demonstrating against the Biya Francophone regime but simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The French sponsored French Cameroun counterfeit presidential election will be held on October 7 in Biya regime-held areas in French Cameroun- mindful of the fact that Boko Haram Camerounaise now controls part of the Far North region and part of the East region too is in the hands of the Anti Selaka rebel group from the Central African Republic. French Cameroun political elites including Biya and his gang know very well what it means. It is not so much an election – everyone including French President Macron knows the result after all – it is more like a head count of CPDM supporters. To be accurate, Macron knows Biya will be president because in Cameroon, you cannot organize elections and lose. To vote for anything other than the French Cameroun Monarch is to sign your own death warrant and that of your family.

ELECAM, the body responsible for guaranteeing Biya’s continued stay in power is in shambles. It is evidently clear that millions of French Cameroonians are not eligible to vote. Our London bureau chief who contributed to this report opined that Biya’s opponents may only win abroad if at all the embassies will host the dubious electoral process.

There are signs that the Francophone army is slowly but surely disintegrating on tribal lines. A senior military official from the Beti extraction reportedly told Southern Cameroonians and Northerners serving with the French Cameroun army that “If you are not for us, you are against us.” French Cameroonians living in France, the US, Germany, Canada, Belgium, Italy, Spain may dismiss the October 7 presidential election as plain fiction and a mockery of democracy. But fear is going to force thousands of French Cameroun civil servants and those operating in Cameroon’s funny private sectors in Douala and Yaounde to vote for Biya whose is currently enjoying himself in a Swiss Hotel in Geneva. For 35 years, the Biya regime has taken revenge on those whom it considered have betrayed it. In this October 7 presidential elections, even those who have done nothing and never taken sides will be at risk – all it takes is one fake security report written by one pro Biya security official who takes a dislike to you. It has already happened to several of many neutral Southern Cameroonians.

As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be, the French government will use the presidential elections to its advantage. The October 7 presidential election plays beautifully into the French narrative of supporting “whoever is elected by the Cameroonian people” and legitimizes their unwavering support for Biya. More than 2 million Southern Cameroons and including some 4 million Fulanis in the Far North have lost their livelihood under Biya.

By Soter Agbaw-Ebai with files from Ekinneh Agbaw-Ebai

After having been mired in a tough military, economic and social battle over the last two years, the Yaoundé government is facing serious economic and financial crisis and this is keeping the country’s officials awake all night.

The crisis pitting Southern Cameroonian separatists against the Yaoundé government has seriously eroded the government’s financial base.  The fighting is expensive and it has taken a huge bite out of the government’s fragile finances.

The soldiers who are battling a scary insurgency in the country’s English-speaking regions needed a pay increase and this caused the government to increase their per diem a few months ago. This is weighing on the government and the operation of heavy military equipment in the jungles of Southern Cameroons is costing the government an arm and a leg. This has been compounded by the economic sabotage that Southern Cameroonian fighters have engaged in.

Over the last six months, some of the country’s major state corporations which are great money spinners have had to deal with the angst of Southern Cameroonian fighters who are determined to bring the country’s economy to its knees.

Corporations such as PAMOL and CDC all require a shot in the arm, but the cash-strapped government of Yaoundé is incapable of providing the much-needed infusion. Priming the pump of these corporations will require huge amounts of money. PAMOL has completely shot down due to increased disruption by Southern Cameroonian fighters.

Some 3,000 PAMOL workers have been rendered jobless and the corporation’s equipment is gradually rotting. Some of the palm oil production corporation’s facilities have been burned down and threats from Southern Cameroonian fighters actually made some of the workers to throw in the towel even before the corporation announced its bankruptcy.

For the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC), its operation capacity has been diminished over the last seven months. Ghost town operations and violence against its workers have made it hard for the country’s second largest employer to operate at full capacity.

The separatists’ economic sabotage is actually producing the desired effect as the government has seen some of its revenue streams diminishing.  With many workers laid off from these two large corporations, the government has also witnessed a huge tax base erosion. The loss of more than 3,000 workers from these two corporations implies that income taxes paid to the government have diminished.

But the collapsing of these two corporations is not the worst news the Yaoundé government will be hearing. Southern Cameroonian separatists have their eyes set on the country’s lone refinery, SONARA, which is located in the southwest port city of Limbe.

They strongly believe that if they can successfully bring down SONARA, then they will be able to force the government to the negotiating table where some of the divorce issues can be discussed and addressed.

The government has therefore made it a policy to deploy troops around the refinery and this is costing it a pretty penny. This has been compounded by declining oil production and falling oil prices. Cameroon’s oil fields have been delivering some of the finest oil in the world and this has brought in billions of dollars into the government’s coffers.

Unfortunately, the Yaoundé government that is wont to mismanaging and misappropriating the country’s wealth cannot really show to the people of Cameroon what it has done with the country’s oil wealth over the last 40 years.

The country’s financial woes have been compounded by the flaking support of its allies. The regime’s backers are no longer forthcoming financially. Its European allies such as France are falling back on their financial pledges and this is pushing the government into a financial abyss.

Last week, the government got more bad news from rating agencies which classified it as an investment risk due the ongoing military violence in the two English-speaking regions of the country.

This implies that many investors will hold off on any investment plans they may have for the country. Similarly, any loans extended to the country will be coming with a huge price tag as the country is no longer credit-worthy. Left in the noose of a financial squeeze and a destructive military situation, the Yaoundé government is bound to look for alternative financial partners and investment resources.

The West has lost faith in a system that is highly dominated by old and destructive people. The country’s economy needs a new breath of life and this cannot be provided by a bunch of leaders whose time has passed. The majority of Cameroon’s leaders are actually suffering from senile decay and they lack the innovative ability to turn the country’s ailing economy around. China is, therefore, the regime’s last hope. The Chinese economy is losing steam because of its trade war with the USA.

The Chinese hold that weaving new partnerships around the world can bring the much-needed oxygen to their economy that is feeling the bite of American tariffs.

This is basis for the Sino-Africa summit that is taking place in the world’s second most populated country. While China is seeing trade, countries like Cameroon are seeing other things. Cameroon’s financial predicament is driving it into ridiculous actions.  Begging has become the regime’s sport of choice.

The regime needs money to continue prosecuting its war against Southern Cameroonian separatists and it believes that China might come to its aid. That’s why the country’s ailing President Paul Biya, had to discharge himself from a hospital in Switzerland just to be in China in the firm belief that the Chinese will pity him and grants him some financial resources.

The country’s leader also known as the monarch, rushed back to Yaoundé a few days ago to switch his wardrobe before undertaking the long trip to Beijing.

But China has its own ideas. Its economy is stalling and it needs a huge infusion. It will surely disappoint notorious beggars such as Mr. Biya who have carved out a negative reputation for themselves as irresponsible and dictatorial governments that lack the requisite ability to run a modern economy.

Mr. Biya who left with a large contingent holds that securing a huge sum of money from the Chinese will boost his chances of getting reelected. He holds that his begging bowl might yield some good results that might enable him to display something to his fellow citizens who have lost faith in him.

He, however, knows that he has a tough battle ahead of him. Not only is he out of money, he has to deal with some young and smart competitors. Among those running for this year’s presidential election are some good candidates who are capable of causing an upset in Yaoundé.

The Social Democratic Front (SDF) has fielded a young, knowledgeable and experienced candidate who is causing ruling party stalwarts to lose sleep. Joshua Osih, the SDF candidate, has the potential to bring about the change Cameroonians have been longing for. Mr. Biya’s poor economic performance might come back to bite him this year.

Corruption that has been his government’s hallmark has caused a lot of pain to many Cameroonians and they might want to use the upcoming election to punish a man who is noted for rigging elections and squandering the country’s financial resources.

Besides, the election will not take place across the entire country and, Mr. Biya being a symbol of failure for many Cameroonians; it is obvious that change is coming to Cameroon. Mr. Biya has mismanaged the country’s economy and his arrogance is tearing the country apart. A situation many French-speaking Cameroonians abhor.

They hold that if the two English-speaking regions of the country succeed to walk a different path, then the country will be losing about 60% of its wealth. They hold that inclusive dialogue could enable the country to stay intact, but with Mr. Biya behaving as if he is a colonial master, it is likely that Southern Cameroons will go a separate way.

Mr. Biya is a man under pressure. The world is tired of seeing him. The new global political arena is inimical to old incompetent leaders.  Mr. Biya is anything but competent. He has not only failed Cameroonians; he has also failed his foreign allies who are scared that his country might break up or become a terrorist haven in the sub-region.

Mr. Biya’s political and economic failings have transformed him into a clown and a beggar. While heading to China to look for money, he should understand that he who goes aborrowing will one day go asorrowing. He should also understand that he is mortgaging the lives of future generations by borrowing all over the world.

With the Chinese being crafty, it is likely that Mr. Biya will be returning home with an empty begging bowl.  Like the last time he was in China, he might only end up signing a series of cooperation agreements that might never yield the cash he so badly needs to corrupt voters in his native CamerooN.

By Kingsley Betek

For more than two decades, bad news has become the staple of many Cameroonians. If it is not a ghastly road accident, it is a serious case of corruption where a government official has absconded with state money. And there are unfortunately many government officials who have made pilfering their favourite sport.

Cameroon has successfully placed itself among the most corrupt countries in the world. Under Peter Mafany Musonge, the country’s Prime Minister in the 1990s, Cameroon topped the charts twice and ever since, many government officials have been trying to outdo each other.

But the current gloomy prognoses have very little to do with the ruling party’s favorite sport – corruption. It is more about their natural candidate’s health and the country’s declining economic situation. The news is not good for the ruling party and there is panic among party stalwarts.

Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya, also known as the “monarch” is fighting for his health in a Swiss hospital. At almost 86, Mr. Biya is no longer strong enough to put up a good fight against a failing heart and a heady prostrate that has been a nightmare to the ailing monarch.

According to a Cameroon Intelligence Report source in Switzerland that is very close to the ailing monarch’s entourage, the prognosis are gloomy and this is sowing confusion among those surrounding the monarch. Mr. Biya who has been sick for many years, now believes that the stressful Southern Cameroons crisis is finally taking its toll.

Last week, the very first test results clearly indicated that the “monarch” had a health crisis on his hands. A Cameroon Intelligence Report source in Switzerland has hinted that the situation is concerning and from every indication; the monarch has not got much time left.

The source added that the trip to Switzerland was prompted by the fact that his health condition was already spiraling out of control. The monarch’s heart was already beating like the engine of an old car and this was a major concern to his collaborators who count on him for them to keep their positions and to continue robbing the country blind.

There is pandemonium within Mr. Biya’s circle. Many of his collaborators fear that he might not be able to take the heat that comes with a strenuous exercise like an election campaign. The people around him are concerned and are working round the clock to ensure nothing filters out of the bad situation that is playing out in Switzerland. The location of his hospital has been kept secret for some time in the belief that angry Cameroonians will not show up to disrupt the monarch’s recovery.

But the anger that inhabits Cameroonians has driven them to locate the hospital where Mr. Biya is battling for his life. Any news about the monarch travels very fast. His poor economic and political performance has made him the most hated person in the country.

Many Cameroonians have seen their dreams washed away by Mr. Biya’s mismanagement and corruption. Millions of Cameroonians are unemployed in their own country and their parents are dying of preventable and curable diseases. Millions have fled the dehumanizing poverty that the ruling party has manufactured. The financial burden of Mr. Biya’s incompetence has fallen on the country’s Diaspora which is hell-bent on making the monarch pay for the destruction he has wreaked on the country.

Mr. Biya is currently hospitalized at the Hôpitaux Universaires de Genève where millions of dollars are being paid for his failing health. The Cameroonian tax-payer is footing the bill. Mr. Biya’s entourage is 50-man strong and all the staff accompanying him are lodged in world-class hotels. This is costing the country’s treasury an arm and a leg. That is why activists have set up camp opposite the hospital to ensure that the Swiss population is aware of the financial disaster he has hatched in his country.

Mr. Biya and his government burn through money like wild fire. Reserves left by the country’s first president were exhausted in less than two years. Much of that money cannot be accounted for. The news about his hospitalization travelled very fast, reaching many Cameroonians who are so disappointed with a man whom they thought held out a lot of hope for them. Social media is awash with pictures and videos of the hospital in which he is hospitalized.

Mr. Biya’s poor and declining health is on many lips at the Unity Palace where many fear he might not make it this time around. His party members, especially those of the Central Committee, are working hard behind the scenes to ensure that if the inevitable happens, they will be able to have a candidate who will unite the party and win the upcoming presidential election.

Mr. Biya’s dismal economic and political performance is leaving him and his collaborators in a permanent state of confusion, especially as the presidential election is in the offing. They have nothing new to deliver to the electorate. Their lies have caught up with them. The pressure is on and opposition parties are making hay while the sun shines.

Added to this is the pressure from the international community about the deteriorating situation in Southern Cameroons. The pressure has exacerbated things, and with state coffers drying up very fast, the monarch is losing sleep. The Southern Cameroons crisis has been very disruptive. The pressure is on. Evaporating financial resources imply the government cannot prosecute its war in Southern Cameroons convincingly and its foreign allies are no more forthcoming financially.

The unnecessary war in Southern Cameroons is taking up a huge part of the state’s budget and with no end in sight; the government is in for rough times. Southern Cameroonian fighters are as heady as ragweed. They keep on resurfacing on turf the government erroneously thinks it is its own. The road ahead is long, rough and bumpy. The signs are not good both for Mr. Biya’s health and the economy. The country is really going through a rough patch.

In Southern Cameroons, kids are not going to school and courts have been on and off as Southern Cameroonians fighters have been threatening to kill anybody who violates their injunction against the resumption of schools. With September fast approaching, the government knows that the international community will once more focus on the resumption of schools in the two English-speaking regions of the country.

There is also another concern. The presidential election is spreading fear among the population. Southern Cameroonians are simply not taking part in what they call a foreign election. At best, they consider the election a sham. The armed groups have already put out their message regarding this election. If you vote, yours will be the kingdom of death. Many Southern Cameroonians are aware of this and their apathy about the election is easy to notice.

Even government officials from the English-speaking regions are not keen on going to their constituency to campaign. They are aware of their fate. They have been warned and there is a huge price on their heads. The pressure is unbearable for many local administrative officials. Many chiefs are quietly abdicating. Many are seeking refuge either in Nigeria or East Cameroon. They are simply in exile. Senior government officials, for their part, are keeping a very low profile and many have already been kidnapped and taken to Southern Cameroonian “green jails”.

But it is the demise of State corporations in Southern Cameroons that might hammer in the last nail into the ruling party’s coffin. PAMOL has folded up. CDC is staring down the barrel of bankruptcy. The once upon-a-time goose that laid the golden egg has finally been brought down by a conflict it knows nothing about.

SONARA, for its part, is underperforming. Falling oil production coupled with declining oil prices have hurt the Yaoundé government big time. Its revenue streams are gradually drying up. CDC, PAMOL and SONARA constitute the government’s Automatic Teller Machines (ATM). These machines are simply out of service and this has hit the government like a ton of bricks.

Things may take a turn for the worse if Southern Cameroonian fighters follow through with their promise of sabotaging SONARA facilities and equipment. For more than 40 years, oil from Southern Cameroons has been lining the pockets of a few politicians in Yaoundé while the locals where the oil fields are located are still wallowing in abject poverty. To Southern Cameroonian fighters, ruining SONARA equipment and facilities will finally bring the government to its knees, after all, only a few politicians and their children have been enjoying this manna that God had given to the country.

The pressure is mounting on all fronts and the Southern Cameroonian Diaspora is not letting up. A protest in Washington over the weekend has sent shock waves down the ruling party’s spine. The unity of purpose displayed by the various factions involved in the Southern Cameroons crisis has struck fear into the government’s mind.

The Yaoundé government is not indifferent to this. Shortly after the demonstration, the country’s Prime Minister, Yang Philemon, immediately called a meeting at the Star Building (Prime Minister’s Office) to examine the reputational damage the government might have suffered as a result of the demonstration.

The demonstration, which was attended by thousands of Southern Cameroonians and sympathizers in front of the White House, has given the Cameroon government a very bad name. The event has prompted the U.S.A Congress to take a fresh look at the Yaoundé government that has been slaughtering its own people for close to a year.

The Trump Administration has been gathering evidence against a regime that has been anything but efficient. The numerous online videos, which reveal how Cameroonian army soldiers are killing their fellow citizens, have resulted in the U.S.A government revoking some of its military agreements with the Yaoundé government. Things seem to be falling apart for a government that is bedeviled by numerous challenges. The government is cash-strapped and some of its military partners are abandoning it mid-stream.

But the streak of bad news is not yet over. The U.S.A Congress will, in the coming days, deliver a deadly blow to the Yaoundé government whose human rights abuses across the country have drawn a lot of criticism from the international community. This streak of bad news has kept the ruling party permanently on edge.

With a presidential election less two months away, the ruling party is in a very bad shape. The debates about the country’s future are already underway, but the ruling party’s natural candidate and champion is battling for his life in a Swiss hospital.

Though Mr. Biya has never really campaigned, it is believed that his presence in the country could give his dying party a shot in the arm. So far, only his surrogates have been ranting on national TV and many cannot even convince a wary electorate. The political lies of the past have made the electorate sadder, but wiser, and the country’s current freedom of speech is enabling opposition parties to put the ruling party’s failings on the table for all to see. This has left senior members of the ruling CPDM with a bunch butterflies in their stomachs.

In a secret email to the Cameroon Intelligence Report’s global headquarters in the United Kingdom, a senior CPDM official said that it was time for the baton of power to change hands. The official who elected anonymity pointed out that without a change of personalities at the helm of state affairs, the country will continue its relentless slide down the path of economic and political crises.

“The current political leadership has failed Cameroonians. I am a member of the ruling party, but this does not imply that I must shy away from the truth. As a nation, we can make giant strides towards sustainable development, but this cannot happen with the current crop of politicians who have made lies and deceit their stock in trade. The ruling party must change its way. We are in this unfortunate situation because my party has flouted all the rules of good governance and economic planning. We need to rethink our strategies if we want to retain power. We are to blame for many of the things that have gone wrong with our beloved country,” he said.

Last week, another CPDM insider also delivered an ominous message to his own party in a secret interview with the Cameroon Intelligence Report. He chided his party for the country’s economic malaise, adding that his party chairman, Paul Biya, is a juggernaut that ruins anything in his path.

The member of the party’s central committee hinted Cameroon Intelligence Report that his party was gradually falling apart just as Mr. Biya himself who is gradually yielding to a failing heart and a distended prostrate. The party needs to carry out some fundamental changes, he said, adding that the country itself needed an extreme makeover. A sea change in economic policies will enable the crumbling economy to once more find its feet, he said.

“Our party which many erroneously think it is a great party is coming apart. The internal succession battles are ripping the party apart. With Mr. Biya’s health going south, it is clear that his days are numbered. He has been the one holding the party together and now that many party members suspect his health is failing him, they think that someone else should replace him so that the party can have a fair chance at the upcoming presidential election. Mr. Biya seems to wield a lot of power both within the party and the country, but honestly, he is not the person running the show. The country is in very unsafe hands and those who have warmed their way into Mr. Biya’s heart are clearly mismanaging things,” the desperate CPDM Central Committee Member said.

He added that “what our country is going through today in the two English-speaking regions of the country clearly offer us a manual on how best to mismanage a problem. We have already lost more than 2,000 young men and women, including our uniformed officers who should have not been sent to the English-speaking regions in the first place. We of the ruling party must learn how to listen to our people if we have to endear ourselves to the population.”

He also added that “I will never say this in public, but I think the arrogance that has become the hallmark of my party is due to the fact that we have always rigged elections. If the people actually had to decide on who has to win elections, I think my fellow party members will learn how to be humble. Arrogance and greed are suffocating our country and the ruling party. Some people think the country belongs to them and anybody who holds a contrary view is immediately branded a terrorist. That is not how to run a country and a party. We have only succeeded to transform Cameroonians into our enemies and this gives the opposition parties a clear advantage.”

Cameroon, he underscored, was headed in the wrong direction. “We cannot continue to slaughter each other and the president is behaving as if nothing is happening. He has lost total control of how to address this huge fire that he ignited when he declared war on Southern Cameroonians. From every indication, it is clear that the government has not got a plan to put an end to this crisis. The soldiers are all trembling and the fighters on the ground have succeeded to intimidate everybody. Many of my colleagues who are either senators or parliamentarians are all scared of going to their constituencies. They know what awaits them out there. They have been working with the corrupt government to rob the people of their happiness and the time of reckoning has come. None of them can really stand up to the people’s scrutiny.”

“We all are scared. The country is gradually imploding and if we are not careful, we may go the way of many of our neighbours. I am not from Southern Cameroons or Ambazonia, but the pain and suffering the crisis in that region is spinning into the French-speaking part of the country is a great concern even to the president. With huge crowds moving into East Cameroon, it is clear that the Amba boys or whatever they are called could use that opportunity to set up shop in many of our big cities. This is no good news for many of us who really want a peaceful resolution of this problem.”

“The fear is all the more unbearable when we see those videos of people being shot and killed at point blank in the country’s northern region. What will northerners be thinking of the country’s military which is predominantly Beti? The international community has clearly lost faith in us. Human rights groups such as Amnesty International are working hard to expose our government’s brutality and lack of respect for human life. I am indeed at a loss for words. The evil I see in our country leaves me awake all night. We cannot continue to pretend as if we are not human beings. If we cannot deal with the situation, then we should let the United Nations to come in and put an end to the needless killings that are giving our country a very bad name,” he regretted.

In his view, while Cameroon is falling apart, the country’s president is in Geneva, Switzerland, in search of proper medical attention for his failing heart and prostrate. He stressed that the 85-year-old monarch, who had presided over his country’s destiny for almost 36 years, had been dealing with a failing health for more than ten years and his country of choice when it comes to treatment is Switzerland.

“The president is suffering. His health is a serious issue to his collaborators and many fear that he might not make it to the end of the year. He is suffering from shortness of breath and he can barely stand and walk. His wife and children are all in fear, as the 85-year-old has been spotting a sorrowful and lonely figure. There is bad news on the horizon. The fear is that if the president disappears from the scene, there could be some chaos in the country. For now, there is a lot of confusion and many of his collaborators have already begun jockeying for recognition as the next-of-kin even when the constitution is clear about what will happen in the event of a vacancy,” our source said.

He chided the president for failing to build a state-of-the-art medical facility in his country. He said the president was more interested in his own well-being instead of working for every Cameroonian to feel safe at home.

“What does he think other Cameroonians are saying about him? Each time he is sick, he heads abroad for treatment. What if other leaders had not developed their own medical facilities? He behaves as if he is a special being. We are all human and it is wrong for him to be misusing state funds for his health. Cameroon deserves better. We have the human resources and our financial resources can grant us even the best medical facility in the world. We have a leadership crisis and Mr. Biya has clearly demonstrated that the fate of his compatriots is not important to him. How many women still die in our country while giving birth? How many children die even before attaining five years? We need new leadership in this country. We need people who can reverse some of the destruction the current government has wreaked on our people. You may not believe me. The CPDM has people with great vision, but they are hardly ever given a chance to display what they are capable of doing. Once this group of people leaves power, you will see a new CPDM,” he said.

The prognoses are truly gloomy for the ruling party and Cameroon. If no real changes are implemented, the economy will bottom out. Last week, major rating agencies delivered bad news to Cameroonians. It was another blow to the liver of the struggling economy.

The country’s economy is in a total mess. Major rating agencies of the world have just delivered bad news to Cameroonians. Their government is no longer credit-worthy and any loans delivered to the country, will come with a huge price tag.

Currently, Standard & Poor’s credit rating for Cameroon stands at B with a stable outlook. Moody’s for its part, rates the Central African country at B2 with a negative outlook. Fitch’s credit rating for Cameroon was last reported at B with stable outlook. Generally, a credit rating is used by sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and other investors to gauge the credit worthiness of a country like Cameroon. The lasting ratings thus have a huge impact on the country’s borrowing costs.

The ratings by these agencies are indeed a big punch to the country’s liver. Receiving a downgrade from Moody’s is the worst thing that can be happening at this time to a struggling country like Cameroon.  The change from stable to negative is a clear indication that the country’s economic indicators are trending very low.

A downgrade simply implies that credit rating agencies no longer have confidence in Cameroon’s financial future and its ability to continue servicing its debts. In other words, Cameroon’s default risk on its debts is getting higher by the day and even more worrying for Yaoundé is Moody’s reason for such a negative rating.

According to Moody’s, persistent political instability (the Southern Cameroons Crisis) in the country is a major worrying factor. In the agency’s view, there is heightened uncertainty. Credit ratings are like red flags to potential lenders. They give an idea to lenders on a country’s ability to pay back its debt. This implies that the lower the country’s credit rating, the less likely that institution will be willing to lend money to such a country.

This is a warning that should wake up the sleeping government in Yaoundé that is wont to doing only the wrong things. With that warning and the deterioration of things in the two English-speaking regions of the country, it is time for Mr. Biya and his men to take a totally different direction if they do not want the country to implode. But the fear remains. Will Mr. Biya come back alive to clean up the Augean Stable he has created?

By Kingsley Betek

It is more than a year since the start of the French Cameroun military campaign in Southern Cameroons, but that is unlikely to be an occasion for celebration in Yaoundé. Cameroon Intelligence Report sources have all opined that the war has created several military and CPDM billionaires and is estimated to have cost the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime billions of FCFA. Correspondingly, the Southern Cameroons war has eroded the international image of the so-called one and indivisible Cameroon and failed to achieve its objectives of containing the Ambazonian revolution and quest for an independent state.  At the same time, the people of Southern Cameroons have suffered immensely from the French-backed French Cameroun military campaign, which has claimed the lives of some 2000 Southern Cameroonians, destroyed Ambazonian towns and villages and has led to widespread disease and hunger. Biya’s recent trip to Europe offers an opportunity to bring this harmful campaign to an end.

For the French government, the newly created Federal Republic of Ambazonia is not only a historical target of influence, but also a critical arena for oil and gas security and stability. Southern Cameroons shares a long and porous border with the Federal Republic of Nigeria and also commands the entrance to the Atlantic Ocean. Consequently, in its onslaught against Southern Cameroons, the French Cameroun government enjoys intelligence and logistical aid from the French government and also from the President Buhari consortium of crime syndicates in Abuja. French Cameroun has one of the largest security budgets in the CEMAC region as well as advanced weaponry at its disposal donated by the French and US governments. Yet, Yaoundé is finding it difficult to defeat a determined enemy. In fact, in addition to holding on to many counties in the Northern and Southern zones, Ambazonia Restoration Forces have killed hundreds of French Cameroun soldiers and have made the entire Southern Cameroons territory ungovernable.

The gap between French Cameroun investment in the army and military performance ever since the Southern Cameroons war started led the 85 year dictator to replace the top level of the French Cameroun security establishment in Buea that was headed by General Melingui.  General Melingui’s replacement was presented as part of a strategic process, but it actually reflects growing frustration in the French Cameroun political elite with the Cameroon government army’s performance. The change has not brought any success or effect on the continued fighting.

Although it has an image of comparative success, the Ambazonian Interim Government (IG) headed by Dr. Samuel Ikome Sako is also encountering difficulty in operating in Southern Cameroons. The cooperation between Abuja and Yaoundé imposed on Nigeria’s Buhari by France—with European Union aid—is restricting the IG’s ability to dictate events on the ground and demonstrating the limits of its power. Since the IG is unable to break the Yaoundé-Abuja axis of evil, it has no choice but to smuggle money, and small kinds of weapons to Ambazonia Restoration Forces on Ground Zero.

Europe should see President Macron’s close relationship with Mr. Paul Biya and the French Cameroun Monarch’s visit to Switzerland as an opportunity to end this disastrous war: The French Cameroun army cannot win this war but it can settle the conflict on favorable terms, and the European Union should help Biya do just that.

Knowing that European Union and U.S. support will be withdrawn should incentivize the Biya regime to reach a political solution as soon as possible. The war in Southern Cameroons has been a disaster for all involved parties, and so ending it is both the smart thing to do as well as the right thing to do.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya, popularly known as the “Monarch” is in Geneva, Switzerland, where he is expected to receive treatment for his heart and prostrate problems. The 85-year-old monarch, who has presided over his country’s destiny for almost 36 years, has been dealing with failing health for more than ten years and his country of choice when it comes to treatment is Switzerland, where it is alleged that he has a horde of young girls who attend to him when he is there on treatment.

The Yaounde Nsimalen International Airport was blocked yesterday for more than five hours just for Mr. Biya and his huge entourage to travel abroad where they are supposed to spend millions of the tax-payer’s money at the Intercontinental hotel which is Mr. Biya’s hotel of choice. A source close to the hotel has hinted that once Mr. Biya and his bunch of kleptokrats are planning a trip to Switzerland, an ATM is set up for them, given their lavish lifestyle and huge appetite for exotic food and goods.  

According to a Cameroon Concord News Group source at the Unity Palace, Mr. Biya has a Ghanaian doctor in Geneva who helps Mr. Biya to screen all the girls who attend to him when he is in Switzerland. Our source, which elected anonymity, said that Mr. Biya has a special preference for Ghanaian girls and this has been facilitated by the Switzerland-based Ghanaian doctor whose address and phone number we have elected to withhold for security reasons.

Mr. Biya has been using his country’s treasury for more than three decades as his personal piggy bank to pay for his lavish trips abroad. According to a recent report published on Mr. Biya’s trips abroad, it is alleged that he has spent more USD 64 million ever since he came to power. Costs related to his wife’s expenses are yet to be determined, but it is alleged that Mrs. Biya’s flaming red hair is costing the country a pretty penny. For dresses and shoes, they are costing the tax-payer an arm and a leg.

While Mr. Biya is away in Switzerland basking in other people’s wealth and development, his country is gradually falling apart. The killings in Southern Cameroons are on the rise. Cameroon, a country once touted as an oasis of peace, has finally been caught up in the throes of a huge political and economic crises that are ripping the country apart.

The country’s English-speaking minority has engaged the government in a fierce battle for its independence. An issue that started as a protest by teachers and lawyers has quickly developed into a bloody battle that has already resulted in the death of some 2,000 civilians and 1,000 army soldiers, many of whom have been buried alive in the jungles of Manyu and Indian Divisions. The government, for its part, has kept on selling lies to the families of the dead, stressing that they have simply deserted the military.

The government thought using the military brutality it used in the 1950s and 1960s to quell a rebellion in the country’s French-speaking part of the country shortly after independence, would intimidate Southern Cameroonians into silence. It has, so far, burned down more than a hundred villages in Southern Cameroons, leaving thousands homeless and internally displaced, while hundreds of thousands have fled to Nigeria as refugees.

But this tactic is not working and it is not dampening the determination of the fierce Southern Cameroonian fighters. The strategy has fallen flat on its face. The English-speaking minority is united for a purpose. All attempts by the government and its agents to divide the people have failed woefully. Even money and food have not produced the miracle the government was expecting.

The government that is mostly made up of old and sick people is totally frozen in time. It has failed to figure out that changing times require different strategies. For the government, it only understands one language – an iron fist. But it is hard for old and sick people to deliver any real punches that will destabilize a well-oiled rebellion that is coordinated from abroad. An old person cannot have the right muscles to fight a war that will surely last for years.

The government has failed to understand that the dynamics are totally different. With the advent of social media, its atrocities will be clearly exposed. Southern Cameroonian fighters and the Diaspora are making the most of these technologies of freedom to fragilize a government that has lost its credibility.

But it is the financial role of the Diaspora that is hurting the government’s determination. The Southern Cameroonian Diaspora is large and rich. The Diaspora’s huge war chest is causing the government real nightmares. With some 4 million Southern Cameroonians living abroad, it will be hard for the government to easily wrap up this issue.

The huge fund-raising efforts out there are delivering incredible amounts of money. Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, London – England, Washington, Dallas, Houston and Atlanta have become money manufacturing sites for Southern Cameroonians who have vowed to destabilize Cameroon. The government stands a better chance negotiating than fighting enemies it is not seeing. The Southern Cameroons rebellion is an idea and not a person.

The very first victims of the raging conflict are the innocent civilians, but the Chiefs, Fons and so-called elites have also been made to lose their voices and influence. They have been declared non-grata in their constituencies, as they have been considered as government agents by the people of Southern Cameroons. The wave of kidnappings and drive-by shootings have clearly informed the government-created elite to shut up or else the fighters will come after them and their families.

Many of these elites have clearly been exiled from Southern Cameroons and Yaounde has become home to most of them while a few like Chief Etchu of Bachou Akagbe have simply fled to the United States. Chief Tabetando who doubles as a senator has been clearly advised to stay away from his native Bachou Ntai as there is a price on his head. Professor Elvis Ngolle Ngolle too is not having a good night’s sleep. He has received clear instructions. He is no longer a native of his village. Woe betides him if he fails to respect this clear warning.

Southern Cameroonians want to walk away from a fake union brought about by Foncha and Muna considered by Southern Cameroonians as traitors. They are sick and tired of being second-class citizens in a union they freely joined. After 56 years of marginalization, they think it is time to walk away. They have had enough and since the government had criminalized any discussion on federalism, they think a clear break from East Cameroon will bring them more peace and prosperity.

Southern Cameroonians will surely not be listening to any other stories from those who have messed up their lives for more than five decades. They have a rich sub-soil and they believe that they can build their own country.

They have been silenced for too long because of their natural resources. The South West region, in particular, is a receptacle of God’s blessings for the country, is very underdeveloped. The country’s oilfields are located in Ndian Division and there are huge gold deposits in Mbonge. Manyu Division has a huge expanse of forest that is the envy of the world and it is alleged that this division, noted for its learned minds, is sitting on huge oil deposits. There was some exploratory work in the region before the conflict broke out. This will surely continue when the guns stop spreading death and destruction.

The region’s waters are also home to large fish stocks. Its forest is home to unimaginable fauna and flora and it is not in error that the world also knows the country because of the Korup National Park which straddles Manyu and Indian Divisions. The South West region is also known for its fertile volcanic soil and this explains why agriculture is one of the many activities that have been yielding huge foreign earnings to the country. Many of the country’s neighbors have their food supply from the south west region.

Unfortunately, this region is one of the poorest in the country.  Its people are still living in abject poverty and what passes for medical, school and road infrastructure clearly belongs to another epoch. The South West deserves better, but years of marginalization have left the region in dehumanizing poverty.

While the country has been raking in millions of dollars from the region’s oil, residents of the region have been tied up in degrading poverty. The country’s lone refinery (SONARA) is located in Southern Cameroon, precisely in the Southwest port city of Limbe formerly known as Victoria, but the natives of the region have been reduced to sorry spectators of events in their own region.

The Southern Cameroons crisis is also born out of this injustice. More than 90% of the refinery staff are Francophones and to add insults to injury, staff of the refinery have their own neighborhoods that are well designed and very clean. Besides, petroleum products are more expensive in the South West region than in any other region of the country.

This economic apartheid that has been around since 1977 when oil was discovered in Ndian Division is one of the many reasons why Southern Cameroonians hold that a clear break with East Cameroon will be the ideal solution and they are willing to sacrifice their lives so that future generations will not have to deal with the same issues.

They want to walk away from this ‘political marriage’ that has brought them more pain than gain. They know it will take time to achieve such an outcome. Southern Cameroonians back home, now known as Ground Zero, hold that it is better to die trying than to sit and watch other people enjoy their God-given wealth.

If they succeed to walk away, then Cameroon will be losing about 60% of its wealth. Southern Cameroons is blessed with enormous wealth and the Yaounde government holds that it is by terrorizing the people that it will succeed to keep them in the dark of what is happening to their resources.

For almost 50 years, the Rio Del Rey estuary in the South West region has been the source of more than 90% and at times 100% of all the country’s hydrocarbons, specifically oil. Since 2014, Cameroon has exported more than US$5.88 billion worth of products, of which more than US$2.65 billion, about CFAF 1,650 billion, has been from crude oil alone. This is a significant amount of money and the Yaounde government cannot afford to lose such revenues.

The government is scared, especially as the possibility of a secession is there. All its efforts to lay the matter to rest have been futile. Its divide-and-rule strategy has simply fallen apart as North westerners and South westerners clearly understand that they are united for a purpose that will bring them happiness and prosperity. Not even the government’s military violence has succeeded to take the wind out of the fighters’ sail. The more the government kills, the more determined the fighters become.

The government had underestimated the will of the people of Southern Cameroons to right the wrongs of the past. For many of them, their fate is worse than death and they have very little time to be around this planet. They want to establish their own country and even ensure that future generations do not deal with such time-consuming and energy-sapping challenges.

But it is not only at home that the fighting is taking place. Southern Cameroonians abroad are using all the means available to them to draw attention to the genocide that is unfolding in their country. The United Nations and influential countries such as Canada and the United States are all aware of the mass murder that is taking place in the former West Cameroon.  

Last week, Southern Cameroonians in Canada called for the Cameroon government, the United Nations, Canada and the world to investigate so as to help find solutions to the ongoing crisis in Cameroon. The call was made during a joint protest organized by the Southern Cameroons Relief Organization (SCRO) for Southern Cameroonians in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal which took place on August 10, 2018.

The protest began at the Cameroon High Commission in Ottawa, Canada, with protesters singing both patriotic and sorrowful songs with placards in their hands carrying messages like, “enough is enough, say no to dictatorship”, “stop genocide in Southern Cameroons”, “stop raping our women” and many more.

A casket was also brought out as part of the protest materials. Protesters could be seen wailing over the coffin for those who have been killed, raped and jailed unfairly in Cameroon. While the protest continued in front of the Cameroon High Commission, with no official stepping out to talk to the protesters, the protesters brought down the Cameroon flag that was hoisted.

This act caused the officials to come out of the office, with the High Commissioner to Canada, Solomon Azoh-Mbi, taking the lead to frown at the act. There was nothing he could do as protesters kept singing at the top of their voices “no violence”. He walked away from the scene and came out for the second time to witness the Cameroon flag being burnt and the Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia) flag being hoisted.

Feeling they had passed on their message – though the officials made no statement – the protesters left the premises heading for the United Nations (UN) representative’s office. While there, a petition was handed to the National Development Director, James D. Lee, who in turn called on the protesters to keep asking for what is right while waiting for a response from the UN. He promised to present their demands to the United Nations. The protest continued to the streets and ended at the Parliament Hill.

Washington, New York and London have all had their fair share of the protests that have clearly given the government of Cameroon a very bad name. Today, the country’s government is being seen as a bloody government that is killing its own people. This has been made worse by the numerous videos that have been published on social media wherein Cameroon soldiers are killing women and children in the country’s northern region. The Yaounde government has come up with a new policy known in French as “rien ne bouge”, meaning nothing comes out alive. And they have been slaughtering Cameroonians in the thousands.

In a video that was released last week, the country’s army soldiers could be heard celebrating after they had burned down the homes of their fellow citizens and killing some 20 young men by shooting them point blank. Amnesty International and other human rights groups are working very hard on these videos and they have been doing a great job at exposing a government that is clearly predicated on corruption and intimidation.

Cameroon is clearly imploding, both economically and physically. All the country’s economic indicators are trending very low and the Southern Cameroons crisis clearly points to the fact that the country is not united and indivisible. But it is the killings in the north that will trigger a new wave of violence once the “Monarch” leaves the political scene. Northerners are already plotting their revenge. They have never been happy with the mass killing of their people after the April 6, 1984, coup d’état. But the recent videos of their people being eliminated by Beti militia and government troops tells them that they have to fight back. And their response might come in the form of a mushroom cloud.

The world must step in to ensure the country is not brought down by these multiple crises that are clearly conniving to ruin the development efforts of the last 50 years. Southern Cameroonians are as bitter as northerners and the people in the Eastern region have also started raising their fingers against a regime that has also robbed them of their resources. Cameroon is in for tough times. The pain and anger are immense. If the world does not step in, Cameroon will implode and it will bring down the entire sub-region with it.

 By Kingsley Betek

The dismissal of the DSS chief Lawal Musa Daura by the Acting President of Nigeria calculated to coincide with the absence of Muhammadu Buhari who is away in London may be music only to the ears of those who do not know how crime syndicates hide their paths.  Like his close associate Paul Biya of French Cameroun, Muhammadu Buhari on coming to power,  evince every effort to destroy the constitutional foundation of Nigeria democracy by deploying Lawal Musa Daura to abduct judges at night, to bribe or coerce gullible members of the election commission to doctor election results in favour of his acolytes, to deconstruct the economic baseline of Nigeria which previous administrations, though inept and corrupt in some regards placed the Federation on the path of sound economic growth;  and by transforming the war against terrorism into a cash cow for corrupt generals from his ethnic origin.

More than any government since Abacha, he disobeyed court orders, trampled on the rule of law and legitimized abductions for ransom or commercial abductions like that of the President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and members of cabinet who were in Nigeria under the protection of United Nations High Commission for Refugees. This commercial abduction guaranteed Buhari election campaign money from French Cameroun and France through its embassy in Abuja, Nigeria.  The execution of these crimes was perpetrated by DSS led by Lawal Musa Daura on the direct instructions of Buhari.

His dismissal with immediate effect for deploying masked operatives of the DSS to bar entry into the National Assembly of members of that constitutional arm of the government is not the first time such blatant violation of the constitution with impunity was carried out by the DSS and Nigerian intelligence services under the orders of Muhammadu Buhari. During his current mandate, DSS has interfered with the functions of the Police and the administration of justice. Buhari imposed a reign of terror equal only to that in his first term and that of Abacha combined, using the DSS and Lawal Musa Daura. Through his national security adviser, retired General Babagana Mugano and his clan’s men, Buhari bypassed the Minister of Defence, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Attorney-General to organize and execute a corrupt commercial abduction deal with Paul Biya that was facilitated by the French Ambassador in Abuja on behalf of his government. That deal led to Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia leaders who were in the protection of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees being illegally sent back to French Cameroun where they risk death sentences in a court-martial. They have since been detained under inhuman conditions and denied access to lawyers of their choice.

Prior to this corrupt deal, Mr Buhari who promised serving one term prior to being elected, was cash strapped to venture to break his election pledge to his party and to the people of Nigeria. Once the commercial abduction deal was sealed and delivered, he announced his intention to run despite strong opposition from his party and most Nigerians who believed he had run the economy aground; is vindictive and nit-witted in modern governance.  The steady desertion of his party by Nigeria political power-horses has dimmed his chances of surviving a gruesome election in 2019.

To stifle the criticism that he is a dictator, a treasonable violator of the constitution, and an economic and security risk to the nation, he instructed from his London sojourn Babagana Mugano to order Lawal Musa Daura to attack the very symbol of Nigerian popular sovereignty, the peoples’ parliament.  This action is indeed a treasonable felony for which Buhari needed to be impeached and removed from power.

Unfortunately for poor Lawal Musa Daura, due to his overzeal and the trappings of corruption he benefitted from his brutal violations and impunity, he did not know that this time around, he was being framed to whitewash the badly tarnished conduct of Buhari and his presidential record.  The intended result was to make a case to Nigerian voters that the whitlow that was afflicting the fabric of constitutionalism has been excised.  Be not be fooled, Nigerians.  The hangman of the Buhari dictatorship has simply been sacrificed and may soon find his place among his many victims in jail, if they are lucky to still be alive.

In relation to the criminal partnership that enjoined Buhari and Paul Biya to sign a pact to exterminate the people of the   Southern Cameroon-Ambazonia, the intention was to protect French oil and natural resources economy in the territory.  Cameroon Concord News Group previously provided details of the corrupt deal which make a mockery of Buhari’s purported fight against corruption. The fear of his predictable free fall from power in Nigeria and the eminent end on the weight of the Ambazonia war of the most ruthless crime mastermind in Africa, Paul Biya of French Cameroun, has forced both dictators to attempt the cover-up of their criminal tracks by sacrificing the most ruthless executioners of their criminal plans.  It was obvious even to the jaundiced eye that the bloodletting caused by the terrorists of French Cameroun with the support of Buhari on the civilian population of Southern Cameroons- Ambazonia had the official seal of criminals in power in Nigeria and French Cameroun.  Cameroon Concord News Group alerted the world to the criminal activities of this criminal minded leaders several times in the past.

In its investigative reports, Cameroon Concord News Group revealed that Paul Biya of French Cameroun and the French intelligence operatives present in the French Embassy in Abuja bribed the government of Muhammadu Buhuri a significant of money for the abduction and rendition of the President and cabinet members of the interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia from Nigeria to Cameroun.  French Cameroun and Nigeria have no extradition treaty.  In that occasion, on the instructions of Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, the Defence Adviser to Buhari, Babagana Mugano ordered the Director of the State Security Service (DSS) Lawal Musa Duara to proceed with hitmen from the Special Operations Unit in the Presidency of French Cameroun to abduct Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and members of his cabinet from Nera Hotel in Abuja. Their original objective was to kill the abductees but for the early frightful alarm raised by one of the double agents who were operating proximate to or from within the interim government.

These double agents have since refused to cooperate and provide information to an expert panel of investigators retained by the Interim Government of Ambazonia and the Ambazonia Criminal Investigation Services. Nevertheless, Cameroon Concord News Group can authoritatively disclose that very highly incriminating evidence has been recovered by the Investigators of the Interim Government from some Nigerian Intelligence services, and some foreign intelligence services outside of Africa. This evidence is so compelling that it will nail all the co-conspirators when the verdict of time dictates. That time is not far from now.

With this foreknowledge, Cameroon Concord News Group joins millions of Ambazonians to urge the Interim Government of Ambazonia not to attend the so-called Collaborative Conference in Canada called or organized to destroy the Ambazonia Revolution at a moment the freedom quest is intensifying and attracting world attention. There are no security guarantees from the Canadian Government that our Acting President and his cabinet members will be provided governmental protection. Furthermore, there exists a legal- cooperation agreement between French Cameroun and Canada unlike the USA.   Our leaders are safe in the USA but that may not be the case in countries which have legal cooperation agreements with French Cameroun.

Cameroun Concord News Group has previously revealed details of the scheming within the Nigerian and French Cameroon Security operatives to abduct or assassinate members of our Interim Government. Atanga Nji lately boasted that the plane that brought Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and members of his cabinet will bring some of our leaders to French Cameroun. Going by his criminal credentials, this must not be taken lightly. He is still the Secretary-General of the National Security Council overseeing shoddy criminal deals including abductions and assassinations.  The Interim Government must therefore check for governments that have legal cooperation agreements with French Cameroun. It must investigate the commitment of those governments to constitutional guarantees that occur in the US prior to falling into the traps set with the complicity of some among us.

Although a near illiterate, Atanga Nji an overseer of the underground Special Operations Unit in the Presidency of French Cameroun, is a ruthless assassin and abductor. He was intimately involved in the abductions of Captain Guerandi Mbaya and Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and his cabinet. The Special Operations Unit of the Biya crime syndicate is responsible for the abduction and murder of members of the clergy, arranged accidents, poisoning and enforced disappearances.

Since Cameroon Cconcord News Group exposed the details of the commercial abduction deal signed by Buhari and Paul Biya that has led to the abduction of hundreds of Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia refugees from Nigeria to French Cameroun, the purge of the executioners of the criminal commercial abductions and other crimes has indeed commenced in earnest. In French Cameroun, Martin Belinga was pushed further into the shadows.  He occupies himself more with overseeing the mystical governance of the crime syndicate. That makes him even more influential and more powerful.  The passion in assassinating clergy men who had previously benefited from his evil blood money largesse and bringing in grand masters to control the soul of gullible within the CPDM and to claim the nation for Paul Biya bears his hallmark from the shadows.   Rene Sadi was brought to the shadows to help jumpstart the memory of the demented and wasted Al Capone of French Cameroun politics Paul Biya.  Laurent Esso, Fame Ndongo, the Minister of Defense, Beti Assomo and a plethora of genocide ideologues that include Issa Tchiroma, Owona Nguini and the recently recruited and initiated Jean De Dieu Momo, Atanga Nji, George Tabe Tando, and an elaborate network of civil and military co-conspirators are overseeing the effective execution of the genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.  Atanga Nji possesses the overzealous ability of Lawal Musa Daura to be sacrificed son soon by Paul Biya the same way his crime acolyte Buhari has done with Lawal Musa Daura.

Cameroon Concord News Group is confident that with the sacrifice of Lawal Musa  Daura who may soon be held to account for the commercial abductions of Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and other Southern Cameroons leaders and citizens, Buhari will again explain to the international community that he was not aware of the criminal acts of his DSS director, the fact that his national security adviser Babagana Mugano confessed to his role in the crime notwithstanding.   That reader is the world of shoddy politics where the overzealous crime executioners almost always pay the supreme price for their own buffoonery and turpitude.  As Lawal Musa Daura meditates his fate, let Atanga Nji and the others start marking time for the day of reckoning, and ultimate sacrifice by the very vampire that they fed with the blood of the innocent, the weak and the helpless.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman/Editor-in-Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group

In less than two months, the Southern Cameroons crisis that has put the country in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons will be two years old and despite criticism by the international community, the Yaounde government’s ferocious brutality is still going on. Indeed, there is no sign that the government is thinking of any other solution that can result in a peaceful resolution of the conflict that has already killed some 3,000 civilians and about 1,000 military men.

Despite the government’s radio silence over what is happening in the two English-speaking regions of the country, there are indications that the government is losing sleep over the situation. Instead of seeking peace, the government is still prepared to take military action that might only make matters worse. The government’s arrogance and greed are to blame for the deterioration of the situation in the English-speaking regions of the country and it has been working hard to disguise its frustration.

But it is always challenging to hide frustrations and issues. Speaking recently during a press conference in Yaounde, the country’s communication minister, Issa Tchiroma, struck a different note. While insisting that Cameroon was one and indivisible, he urged Cameroonians – Anglophones and Francophones – to remain united so as to face an imaginary foreign attack.

Mr. Tchiroma who has been very uncompromising when it comes to the Southern Cameroons crisis, insinuated that the ugly fighting playing out in the North West and South West regions of the country was the handiwork of foreign countries and agents whose sole interest is to have a grip on the country’s gold, oil, diamond and other natural resources.

But his message is not getting through. It is clearly falling on deaf ears. Southern Cameroonians will surely not be listening to those stories from a man who has worked so hard to ensure Southern Cameroonians get killed for their resources. The South West region, in particular, is a receptacle of God’s blessings for the country. The country’s oilfields are located in Ndian Division and there are huge gold deposits in Mbonge. Manyu Division has huge expanse of forest that is the envy of the world and it is alleged that this division, noted for its learned people, is sitting on huge oil deposits. There was some exploratory work in the region before the conflict broke out. This will surely continue when the guns stop spreading death.

The region’s waters are also home to large fish stocks. Its forest is home to unimaginable fauna and flora and it is not in error that the world also knows the country because of the Korup National Park which straddles Manyu and Indian Divisions. The South West region is also known for its fertile volcanic soil and this explains why agriculture is one of the many activities that have been yielding huge foreign earnings to the country. Many of the country’s neighbors have their food supply from the south west region.

Unfortunately, this region is one of the poorest in the country.  Its people are still living in abject poverty and what passes for medical, school and road infrastructure clearly belongs to another epoch. The South West deserves better, but years of marginalization have left the region in dehumanizing poverty.

While the country has been raking in millions of dollars from the region’s oil, the residents of the region have been tied up in degrading poverty. The country’s lone refinery (SONARA) is located in Southern Cameroon, precisely in the Southwest port city of Limbe formerly known as Victoria, but the natives of the region have been reduced to sorry spectators of events in their own region.

The Southern Cameroons crisis is also born of this injustice. More than 90% of the refinery staff are Francophones and to add insults to injury, staff of the refinery have their own neighborhoods that are well designed and very clean. Besides, petroleum products are more expensive in the South West region than in any other region of the country.

This economic apartheid that has been around since 1977 when oil was discovered in Ndian Division is one of the many reasons why Southern Cameroonians hold that a clear break with East Cameroon will be the ideal solution and they are willing to sacrifice their lives so that future generations will not have to deal with the same issues.

They want to walk away from this ‘political marriage’ that has brought them more pain than gain. Though it will take time to achieve such an outcome, Southern Cameroonians back home, now known as Ground Zero, hold that it better to die trying than to sit and watch other people enjoy their God-given wealth.

If they succeed to walk away, then Cameroon will be losing about 60% of its wealth. Southern Cameroons is blessed with enormous wealth and the Yaounde government holds that it is by terrorizing the people that it will succeed to keep them in the dark of what is happening to their resources.

For almost 50 years, the Rio Del Rey estuary in the South West region has been the source of more than 90% and at times 100% of all the country’s hydrocarbons, specifically oil. Since 2014, Cameroon has exported more than US$5.88 billion worth of products, of which more than US$2.65 billion, about CFAF 1,650 billion, has been from crude oil alone. This is a significant amount of money and the Yaounde government cannot afford to lose such revenues.

The government is not only frustrated, it is scared, as the possibility of secession is there. All its efforts to lay the matter to rest have been futile. Its divide-and-rule strategy has simply fallen apart as North westerners and South westerners clearly understand that they are united for a cause that will bring them happiness and prosperity. Not even the government’s military violence has succeeded to take the wind out the fighters’ sail. The more the government kills, the more determined the fighters become.

The government had underestimated the will of the people of Southern Cameroons to right the wrongs of the past. For many of them, their fate is worse than death and they have very little time to be around this planet. They want to establish their own country and even ensure that future generations do not deal with such time-consuming and energy-sapping challenges.

And they are receiving huge support from the Diaspora that has transformed this issue into an opportunity for its strength and influence to be felt. With some 4 million Southern Cameroonians out of the country, it is likely that more money will be flowing to Cameroon to feed the war that has rushed many young men and soldiers to an early grave.

The government had never thought the Southern Cameroonian Diaspora could be this influential. It had also underestimated the anger of those living abroad. Southern Cameroonians started living the country as far back as 1965 when the country’s first president, Amadou Ahidjo, displayed his huge appetite for dictatorship. For many Southern Cameroonians, it was better to live abroad a free man than to live at home in invisible chains.

Today, that Diaspora has reduced the Yaounde government into a symbol of mockery. The Diaspora is financing the war in the country and it is willing to bring down the entire country. Gradually, the Francophone Diaspora is also joining in. Francophones now know that if the current system is not brought down, their own children will be caught up in a pretty mess, as Southern Cameroonians already have a foot out of the fake union that was put together by Ahidjo, Foncha and Muna who are all dead and gone.

Cameroon seems to have been caught up in a terrible mess. 2018 may be the year the country might implode. With presidential elections scheduled for October, it is clear that things might spiral out of control, especially as the country’s ailing and aging president, Paul Biya, is running in an election, many observers say, will never be free and fair.

Mr. Biya has ruled the country for 36 years and he has nothing to show for the time he has led the country. The country’s roads have become death traps, its hospitals have been reduced to consultation clinics, its schools clearly belong to another era and its people are suffering from all types of ailments. Today, the country is beset by many diseases that have been eliminated in other parts of the world. Cholera is killing many people in the nation’s capital, Yaounde, due to poor water supply and sanitation.  The roads in the city are clearly begging for an extreme makeover, but the government has clearly run out of money.

The Southern Cameroons crisis has hit the Yaounde government like a ton of bricks. The country’s economy is suffering. Its Automatic Teller Machines (ATM) seem to be out of service. State corporations located in Southern Cameroons are already feeling the heat. Pamol, a palm oil production corporation located in Lobe, a small town in Ndian Division, has finally shut its doors as the fighting between Southern Cameroonian fighters and army soldiers takes a turn for the worse. This revenue stream has stopped flowing and Yaounde is really ill-at-ease.

Pamol’s closure is bad news for the government. More than three thousand Pamol workers are today unemployed and living in permanent fear, as the fighting between the warring factions rages on. Schools and courts in the region have been closed for almost two years and it is increasingly obvious that the Yaoundé government has lost control of certain parts of the two English-speaking regions.

But it is not only Pamol’s closure that is causing the government nightmares. The Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC), one of the country’s major employers, is also going through a rough patch. Some of its factories have closed shop, while the fighters have deliberately set some of its infrastructure ablaze as part of their economic sabotage campaign. Malende, a small town located some 6 km from Muyuka, has witnessed huge unemployment rates. The corporation’s rubber factory was set ablaze sometime last month by some unidentified men and this has hit CDC like a ton of bricks.

In other plantations, many workers have simply deserted. The fighting is disrupting economic activities in those plantations and many workers hold that it is better to quit than be caught up between the devil and the deep blue sea. The fighting, coupled with the derisory salaries the corporation pays to its workers, has made CDC unattractive and this is gradually eroding the government’s tax base.

Similarly, government revenue has taken a nosedive, as the national oil refinery located in the Southwest region is also facing some major challenges. While falling global oil prices are spreading pain and suffering among oil exporters, the declining oil output and constant attempts by Southern Cameroonian fighters to bring down the country’s lone oil refinery are leaving the government in a huge messy economic quandary. The crisis is a true nightmare to this once-upon-a-time oasis of peace. It is indeed a millstone around the government’s neck.

The government is gradually recognizing that declaring a war on its own people was a big mistake, as the impact of the war is spreading into East Cameroon. With a large influx of internally displaced people into East Cameroon, housing and food have become very expensive in those cities receiving the internally displaced. Douala and Yaounde have been home to most of this internally displaced people and these two cities lack the proper infrastructure to handle such situations.

Declining oil revenues and falling production of some of the country’s major employers like CDC and Pamol implies that the government is heading for a financial squeeze. This is exactly what is causing frustration within the government and the frustration is now manifest.

While the government is putting on a brave face in public, it is indeed worried that Southern Cameroonians might walk away from the union that was stitched together in 1972 between West and East Cameroon. Southern Cameroonians hold that the union has been predicated upon lies right from the beginning and that a review of the system is long overdue.

Reports from international rights groups such as Transparency International, Amnesty International (AI) and The International Crisis Group (ICG) have clearly indicted the Yaounde government and this is already hurting. The government has always been very critical of Amnesty International and the ICG, but this week, its spokesperson and communication minister, Issa Tchiroma, revealed that The International Crisis Group will never be allowed to set foot in the country. This is prove of its frustration and guilt. Instead of seeking to get it right, the government seems to be chasing the wrong shadows.

Cameroon is indeed at the crossroads. With elections around the corner and the fighting in the English-speaking regions raging on, it is clear that a disaster is lurking somewhere and before long the country could be transformed into an inferno. The frustration in East Cameroon is also mounting, as many people fall into abject poverty. It is becoming increasingly clear that Mr. Biya is not the man to lead the country to the land of promise. His time is up and there is a consensus around the world that he has overstayed his welcome.

It is time for him to bow out if he does not want the country to sink into a bitter civil war; the type that has destroyed many African countries ruled by dictators. The scourge of war seems to be advancing towards Cameroon and many people around the world are worried that if the Sword of Damocles descends on Cameroon, the entire sub-region might be pushed into unprecedented chaos. Tempers are already flaring in the country. For 36 years, Mr. Biya has only favored people from his own region. Though the center and south regions constitute less than 10% of the country’s population, they make up 80% of the country’s government; a situation that is hurting many Cameroonians from other regions of the country.

The world has to jump in right now. There is still time to fix a few things. If Mr. Biya stays in power, the country will never be stable. If he dies in power, Cameroon will never be a peaceful country again, as there will be revenge killings all over the country. The world cannot be blind to this unfortunate situation that has reduced the country into a ticking time bomb. There is still time to defuse this bomb. The world will have itself to blame if things really fall apart in Cameroon.

 By Kingsley Betek and Irene Nanyongo

Two years ago, when Anglophone lawyers and teachers called for a protest against the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime, there were few signs that they would have an impact. More than two years later after the protests transformed into a war, one that is yet to draw in the international community, it seemed a matter of when, not if, Biya would go the way of his fellow strongmen in former Zaire and Gambia. Biya appears now closer to leaving office than he was in the 1990s.

To be sure, Biya has kept his position, at great cost to his so-called one and indivisible Cameroon. But it would be wrong to say he is in control. It’s true that he, with the support of France and the CEMAC nations, has held on to power even after the English speaking regions declared independence from La Republique du Cameroun. Most of the Southern Cameroons population that has escaped the Ambazonian war now lives in areas controlled by the Biya regime and the Southern Cameroons Interim Government. But Cameroon as a one and indivisible nation has effectively collapsed.

Before Biya took over from the late President Ahidjo, the country was by international standard solidly middle income. It is estimated that it will take another five decades after the war in Southern Cameroons ends, whenever that happens, for French Cameroun to regain its Ahidjo economic status. The price tag to rebuild Southern Cameroons alone is already being estimated at billions of US dollars or more if the fighting endures—money that neither the 85 year old Biya, nor his patrons in Paris or the European Union, have to spare.

Then there is the human cost: More than 1,200 Southern Cameroonians have been killed, 161, 000 internally displaced, over 50,000 seeking refuge in the Federal Republic of Nigeria and entire towns and villages flattened. There are few signs the fighting is close to stopping. Troops loyal to the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime continue to kill innocent Southern Cameroonians in counties held by the Ambazonian Restoration Forces. The Southern Cameroons death toll since the most recent assault on Menka Pinyin, Kwa Kwa and Bekora began last month exceeds 1,200. With the international community doing nothing to stop Biya, it is all but certain the war will sooner or later transform into a full scale civil war. The fact that the capital city Yaoundé is in Biya’s Beti Ewondo constituency continues to give him the feeling that he is defeating the resistance.

It’s very difficult for both French and English speaking Cameroonians who have watched this Southern Cameroons war from the beginning of the revolution.  It’s unclear—and highly unlikely—that Biya can survive in power without French and CEMAC countries support. Biya says he wants to regain control of all of Southern Cameroons, but may have to settle for only a bit more than he has now. The Ambazonian Restoration forces are unlikely to give up the counties they’ve gained in the Southern and Northern zones. Some pro Biya gangs sponsored by the Cameroon government to counter the Southern Cameroons revolution are now turning their guns on each other. We of the Cameroon Concord News Group can now reveal that at least three more potential conflicts are playing out on Southern Cameroons territory, that which pits Mayor Patrick Ekema-Atanga Nji militia against the Amba Boys, Cameroon government troops against the Ambazonian Restoration Forces, and the Francophones and Anglophones within the armee Camerounaise.

The Republic of Cameroon was once the power broker in Central African Republic and a major force in the CEMAC region but is now dependent on the largesse of its few allies such as Chad and Gabon. Biya’s military forces are depleted. The most effective pro-Biya fighting forces are Fulani soldiers recruited from the Far North region by Vice Prime Minister Amadou Ali. With Buhari’s departure imminent in Nigeria, international players will get involved in the Southern Cameroons war—and it will prolong the fighting and make the outcome far more difficult to obtain.

Frankly speaking, CEMAC countries are already preparing for life without Biya in Yaoundé—no matter how distasteful that may sound to them. As for the population that’s left in Southern Cameroons, 80 percent of Ambazonia lived in poverty and life expectancy has fallen. The Chinese including International funders are reluctant to give Biya their money for fear it will benefit a regime accused of war crimes.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chief Charles Achaleke Taku who was recently elected president of the International Criminal Court Bar Association has broken his silence on the Southern Cameroons crisis. In a conversation he shared with the Gideon, the Southern Cameroon royal and Man of Law revealed that the world with the help of the French Cameroun government has documented crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

PAV: What is your reading of the political situation in your native Cameroon especially on the fighting and gross human rights abuses in the North West and South West regions of the country?

Chief Taku: On the basis of statements made by Cameroon government officials themselves which are well documented, the scale of the crimes committed by government soldiers and operatives are crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide. I have come to this conclusion based on statements and evidence made public by civilian and military government officials and commanders. Of course, there is a lot more evidence out there from credible reports filed by Amnesty International and other human rights organizations, diplomatic missions accredited to Cameroon and the physical perpetrators themselves. I have examined the declaration of war statement made by President Paul Biya on his arrival from a conference in Abidjan Cote D’Ivoire in November 2017. He clearly defined the enemy he deployed the army to take out as Southern Cameroons civilians whom he called terrorists. Although he in subsequent speeches attempted to nuance his definition, that was insignificant and did not affect the orders to exterminate and commit crimes on a massive scale under the pretext of waging war against terrorism. He was aware of the definition of terrorists in the war against terrorism against Boko Haram carried out by an international alliance in which Cameroon is a party. Characterizing Southern Cameroonians freedom seekers as terrorists placed the direct responsibility for the crimes perpetrated on the President and his subsidiary civilian and military commanders.

PAV: Is the ICC aware of the situation in those regions and would you say some of the excesses there fall in the category of cases the ICC could entertain?

Chief Taku: Cameroon signed unto the Rome Statute establishing the court but did not ratify it. Cameroon is therefore not a state party to the Rome Statute. Does this preclude the ICC from intervening in the situation in Cameroon? The answer is no. The Security Council may refer the situation to the ICC. If crimes against citizens of Cameroon are committed by Cameroon in the territory of a state party, the ICC may intervene. The abduction of Seseku Ayuk Tabe and others who were under the protection of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and their deportation to Cameroon are criminalized by the Rome Statute. The massive deportation of Southern Cameroons civilians from their ancestral homes in Manyu division towards Nigeria and the cross-border abductions and targeted killing of many of them in the territory of Nigeria falls within the jurisdiction of the Rome Statute. A senior member of the Nigeria intelligence service Babagana Mungano a national security adviser to President Buhari confessed his involvement and that of his government to these crimes, suggesting a coordinated inter-government policy of criminality. These crimes occurred at a time the ICC Prosecutor is conducting a preliminary examination in the crimes committed by Nigerian soldiers and security operatives against civilians in the war against Boko Haram. The crimes of the multinational forces in which Cameroonian forces are participants are surely under the radar of the preliminary investigation which has been on since 2010. The recent execution of a woman of Nigerian nationality and her child by Cameroon soldiers deployed to the multinational force against Boko Haram and its outcry must surely have attracted the attention of ICC investigators. The unsuccessful denial by Issa Tchiroma whose key role
in inciting genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes are well documented against provides an official character to the crimes.
The magnitude of the crimes committed and its progression towards a wider escalation in the Gulf of Guinea, and the entire region may irresistibly end in the United Nations establishing a Special Court for Cameroon. I do not see an alternative to the creation of this court if the international community genuinely wants to abate this genocide and the international crimes that will sooner or later engulf the entire sub-region. The magnitude of the crimes and the resolve of the Southern Cameroons to fight on may already have made any form of dispute settlement that will retain Cameroon as one nation impossible.

PAV: Thanks for granting this interview Chief
Chief Taku: You most welcome.

Extract from the Gideon No O36/July 30th/18 pages 6 and 7
FAR

When Cameroon’s long-serving dictator, Paul Biya, declared war on Southern Cameroonians in January 2018, little did he know that government casualties will become the next crisis he will be dealing with. His defense minister, Joseph Beti Assomo, had overtly declared that his troops would implement the president’s decision without batting an eyelid. A veiled threat that did not cut ice with Southern Cameroonian fighters who had secretly hatched a plan to get weapons that would leave the country’s military in grief for a long time.

Today, some 1,000 soldiers, police and gendarmes have been sent to an early grave by poorly trained Southern Cameroonian fighters who have shown great valor and determination to keep the country’s military in permanent fear. The government is yet to come out of its shock. But that is the truth. Those who have died will never come back. They died doing what they loved doing. Fighting for their country even when the ruler is a bloody dictator whose interest is to stay in power.

Currently, there is a bill at the country’s national assembly for the approval of some CFAF 600,000,000,000 for the compensation of families that have lost loved ones. This is a very guarded secret, but a source at the National Assembly that has elected anonymity has hinted Cameroon Concord News Group that this has become a hot potato, as those who sold the idea that a fast military action in the two English-speaking regions would produce the best results are clearly disappointed. Their so-called professionally trained military has not lived up to its billing.

There is fear within government circles that when Cameroonians will understand that they have lost so many soldiers, they would rise up against a government that has been working so hard to hide the truth.  The government had felt that by killing a few Southern Cameroonians and by burning down some villages, Southern Cameroonians would be silenced forever.

Unfortunately, their best effort has been counter-productive. Southern Cameroonians have displayed a lot of bravado that has left the government in shock. Their unity of purpose has forced admiration on the docile Francophone population that thought the government’s action would only be second to Hitler’s blitzkrieg.

The government had clearly underestimated a lot of things. Southern Cameroonians are a very determined people and nothing short of a true and sincere resolution of this crisis that has been on the horizon for more than half a century will bring peace to Cameroon.

Cameroon has lost its charm. Its peaceful nation image has been shattered. Southern Cameroonians are still prepared to take on the government. The killing of their people and burning of their homes will not deter them.

Today, it is reported that more than three thousand Southern Cameroonians have been sent to an early grave by government militia and soldiers who have been working in close collaboration to decimate the English-speaking region’s population.

The number of atrocities and deaths has continued to rise as the government keeps on dilly dallying on the creation of the right conditions for the holding of the inclusive dialogue that the international community has called for.

According to Humans Rights Watch in its July 19, 2018, report published in New York, “Government security forces and armed separatists have committed grave abuses against residents of Cameroon’s Anglophone region, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The region has been rocked by protests and violent clashes rooted in long-standing political grievances by the country’s Anglophone minority.”

The report, based on research in the region, satellite imagery and video analyses and entitled, “These Killings Can Be Stopped’: Abuses by Government and Separatist Groups in Cameroon’s Anglophone Regions” found that both government forces and armed separatists have abused civilians in the western part of the country, displacing over 180,000 people since December 2017.”

“Anglophone separatists have extorted, kidnapped and killed civilians, and prevented children from going to school. In response to protests and violence by armed separatists, government forces have killed civilians, used excessive force against demonstrators, tortured and mistreated suspected separatists and detainees, and burned hundreds of homes in several villages,” the report also adds.

“The human rights situation in Cameroon has reached crisis level and could still get much worse,” said Mausi Segun, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “International action is needed to ensure that both sides protect civilians and ensure justice for crimes against them.”

Human Rights Watch documented abuses by both government forces and a variety of separatist between late 2016 and May 2018. It interviewed 51 victims, relatives of victims, or witnesses of abuse, as well as 31 education and medical professionals, lawyers, and key international sources. The interviews were conducted in the northwest and southwest regions of Cameroon in April.

Southern Cameroonians have seen the worst and they strongly hold that if they do not stand up to the bully that the government is, they will never know their peace. They are determined to walk away from a poorly stitched marriage with a dishonest and ineffective Francophone government that has been robbing them of their natural resources.

Initially, Southern Cameroonian fighters depended on hit and run tactics, but after more than five months in the jungle, they now believe they can take on government troops that are properly equipped, but poorly trained. In the last week, they have been moving from one city to the next, chasing out faint-hearted government army soldiers who have already begun asking why the government is killing its own people.

Southern Cameroonian fighters have made their presence felt in the city of Buea which was considered by the government as impenetrable. Limbe, Southern Cameroon’s port city, was considered off limits to the fighters, but last week, they broke the myth and sent many residents running in different directions. Even soldiers and policemen had to flee for their dear lives. It is even reported that policemen and gendarmes are those who are helping to enforcement ghost towns declared by Southern Cameroonian fighters for fear of being targeted by the merciless fighters.

The pseudo-peace in Limbe has vanished. Southern Cameroonian fighters who were initially lurking in forests around the region have made up their minds to come to the cities and Limbe is now hosting lots of them. They are sick and tired of constant attacks from mosquitoes and poisonous reptiles who consider their presence in the jungle as an unfriendly intrusion into their private space and territory.

With an influx of people coming from other cities, it is obvious that Southern Cameroonian fighters have used the opportunity to establish a foothold in the city. Residents of the city are now respecting ghost town orders from the Southern Cameroons Interim Government that is widely considered as the legitimate authority in region to the letter.

The Southern Cameroons crisis stems from events in late 2016, when local lawyers and teachers mobilized over demands for respect of the region’s educational and judicial systems. This escalated into armed confrontations following heavy-handed repression by government security forces. The Cameroonian government negotiated with lawyers and teachers’ unions in early 2017, but its security forces continued to clamp down on Anglophone protesters, including the arrest of two prominent negotiators on January 17, 2017.

This caused the crisis to escalate. Calls for a federal system quickly turned into demands for secession. This rapidly metamorphosed into a full blown civil war, making the independence of the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon a certainty, especially as the government engaged in targeted killings.

Ever since the crisis, started, the country’s economy has taken many punches. State corporations located in Southern Cameroons have been significantly affected. Pamol, a palm oil production corporation located in Lobe, a small town in Ndian Division, has shut its doors as the fighting between Southern Cameroonian fighters and army soldiers takes a turn for the worse.

More than three thousand Pamol workers are today unemployed and living in permanent fear, as the fighting between the warring factions rages on. Schools and courts in the region have been closed for more than two years and it is increasingly obvious that the Yaoundé government has lost control of certain parts of the two English-speaking regions.

The Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC), one of the major employers in the region, is also going through a rough patch. Malende, a small town located some 6 km from Muyuka, has witnessed huge unemployment rates. The corporation’s rubber factory was set ablaze last week by some unidentified men and this has hit CDC like a ton of bricks.

In other plantations, many workers have simply deserted. The fighting is disrupting economic activities in those plantations and many workers hold that it is better to quit than to be caught up between the devil and the deep blue sea. The fighting, coupled with the derisory salaries the corporation pays to its workers, has made CDC unattractive and this is gradually eroding the government’s tax base.

Many of the fighters hold that it is time to target the country’s lone refinery located in the region’s port city of Limbe. They hold that they have never benefitted from it and they will have no remorse for burning it down to ashes.

In a taped message sent to the Cameroon Concord News Group’s Global Headquarters in the UK, the fighters say that is their target and they are prepared to bring Cameroon to its knees. They argue that their God-given wealth has never trickled down to them.

The last two years have really been challenging to the government, its revenue base has been eroded, as the national oil refinery located in the Southwest region is also facing really challenges. The crisis is a true nightmare to this once-upon-a-time oasis of peace. It is indeed a millstone around the neck of the government which is gradually collapsing under its weight.

While the government is putting on a brave face in public, it is indeed worried that Southern Cameroonians might walk away from the union that was stitched together in 1972 between West and East Cameroon. Southern Cameroonians hold that the union has been predicated upon lies right from the beginning and that a review of the system is long overdue.

Southern Cameroonians stress that much blood has already flowed and this makes it hard for the warring factions to sit around a negotiating table to narrow their differences. The killing of many Southern Cameroonians and the burning of their homes have left Southern Cameroonians with just the option of quitting their French-speaking counterparts.

Walking away from that ‘political marriage’ implies taking with them about 60% of the country’s wealth. Southern Cameroons is blessed with many resources, including oil, gas, diamond and timber. Its rich sub-soil has brought lots of economic benefits to the country. For almost 50 years, the Rio Del Rey estuary has been the source of more than 90% and at times 100% of all the country’s hydrocarbons, specifically oil.

In 2014, Cameroon exported US$5.88 billion worth of products, of which US$2.65 billion, about CFAF 1,650 billion, was from crude oil. This is a significant amount of money and no government can afford to stay on the sidelines and watch manna vanish into thin air.

But the government’s indifference to calls for an inclusive dialogue is giving secessionists more confidence and time to spread their gospel. The government’s military action has transformed it into a monster and this has pushed the civilian population into the arms of secessionists who are making hay while the sun shines.

However, with international pressure mounting on the government and the fear that the presidential election scheduled for October may be derailed, the government is gradually considering smoking the pipe of peace. But how possible is it to make peace in less than three months with all the blood that is all over the place?

Experts argue that the first step to such an effort is to ensure that the killings and burning of homes stop. They posit that this could be possible if the government grants a general amnesty and releases all Southern Cameroonians that are currently being held in jails across the nation. For the moment, everybody is holding their breath, hoping that the country’s president who has been indifferent to many calls for inclusive dialogue will finally see wisdom in the advice the world has given him.

By Kingsley Betek in Yaounde