Cameroon Concord News Group accurately predicted that the ploy by power seeking individuals to delegitimize the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia and to derail the Southern Cameroons revolution in a retreat held at Catholic University of America pompously called the reboot conference was bound to fail miserably and it did. The timid and incoherent final communique and a “memorandum of understanding” signed by Cho Ayaba, Edwin Ngang, Boh Hebert, Jacob Mbah, Ebenezar Akwnga, and one Frida Mambo creating an amorphous structure called Ambazonia Recognition Collaborative Council (ARCC) attests to this fact. John Mbah Akuro a key organizer did not attend and did not sign the memorandum of understanding.

Apart from replicating past statements made by Southern Cameroonians/ Ambazonians individually and collectively over the past fifty-seven years directed at the UN and the international community; the final communique provided an opportunity for some members of the constituent collaborative council who were probably complicit and rejoiced at the abduction of the President and members of the Interim Government to shed crocodile tears through the amorphous outfit.  The outfit failed to read the public mode calling for unity of Ambazonians strongly articulated by the Acting President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, Dr Samuel Ikome Sako in his maiden address. They failed to acknowledge that call for unity, therefore ignored the wishes and aspirations of an overwhelming majority of Ambazonians  On an anniversary of the public humiliation of Ambazonia so-called “youth day” the reboot conference played the ostrich by hiding behind sentimental statements aimed at an unspecified future while the ongoing genocide requires a strong response by a united one and indivisible Federal Republic of Ambazonia. The constituent movements in the so-called collaborative council some with no recognizable following within the territory of Ambazonia and even in the Diaspora, came out clearly stating that the Ambazonia quest for freedom can only be attained through a “political solution”.  This position which was made by the Consortium and the Interim Government was strenuously rejected by French Cameroun. The policy statement is at variance with statements made by Cho Ayaba during the same reboot conference claiming responsibility for the daring attacks in Batibo against the symbol of colonial power in Ambazonia.  He did not do that under or within the collaborative structure he with others just created, nor did the structure issue a statement of support of the actions of a constituent member organization. This underscores problems for the functioning of this structure.  All the remaining members of the collaborative council except Akwanga do not endorse the armed option, even when deployed in self defense. What justifies the membership of Ayaba and probably Akwanga in this structure?  

Cameroon Concord News for emphasis  reminds Cho Ayaba and the Ambazonia Collaborative Council that their policy statement underpinning the commitment of this structure  to  a  so-called “political” solution which has been rejected by French Cameroun which opted instead for a war and genocide  that is exterminating  thousands of Ambazonians and wiping out civilian settlements in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia from the surface of the earth, makes him an unreliable leader on which Ambazonians can rely on for their freedom.   Cho Ayaba should publicly renounce his membership of that treacherous platform to regain the hope which some Ambazonians placed in him.

In the past, he explained his opposition to the Interim Government alleging that the Interim Government did not come out with a clear statement supporting the military option for the self defense of our Ambazonia homeland.  By signing on to a “political” solution, by implication renouncing the military self defense option at a time that the genocide has intensified, and the Interim Government has finally embraced the self-defense option which he insistently craved for, his motives in opposing the Interim Government can now be called into question. He does not need to explain himself anymore. His actions speak for themselves. By joining a platform that clearly disavows what he used to justify his past actions and conduct, he has legitimized the fears of many who had serious doubts and strong reservations about his leadership and the veracity of some of the claims he made attributing the self-defense efforts of the Ambazonia Tigers and other groups aimed at protecting their communities to himself.

As for the rest of the members of the consultative council, Cameroon Concord News Group has stated previously that their appetite for power and money has sidelined them from public trust and popular support over the years. The consultative council itself appears to be one of several creative names attributed by Edwin Ngang to one of several failed structures he created over the years.  If Jacob Mbah and Edwin Ngang could not faithfully work as representatives of Ambazonia under Fon Dinka, how will anyone expect them to faithfully work under this amorphous structure?  From an ideological perspective, members of this structure are worlds apart.

The amorphous structure will not deter the constituent members from attempting to solicit funds supposedly to prosecute a war of self-defense which the platform does not clearly support.  Some of the constituent members have not presented an account of the funds they solicited and obtained through moribund structures for that purpose and with the same objectives. How this amorphous structure will ever be held accountable for anything remains a mystery. It is a stillborn. It is dead on arrival. Let no reasonable person live under the elusion that it can provide solutions to the Ambazonia crisis. The avenues for Ambazonia freedom movements to collaborate in intelligence, resources and diplomatic sharing have always existed and should be encouraged. But was a reboot conference required for this purpose?  Are the constituent organizations informing Ambazonians that they were operating in anarchy and a free for all?  That cannot simply be true considering the general mobilizations that presented our people at home and in the Diaspora as united in purpose about the total liberation of our land. It is that unity of purpose that has united our people to enforce ghost towns and massive protests on a world-wide scale. It is that unity of purpose and collaboration that has mobilized and motivated our social media communicators like Mark Barata, Ivo Tapong , Akoson Pauline and our vibrant Ambazonia Press to bring the messages of liberation to every Ambazonian on the face of the world and the international community. It is that collaboration that has exposed and brought the gas bag Issa Tchiroma, CRTV and French Cameroun genocide media to their knees. It is the sensitivity to this collaboration that has informed the call made by the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonians to all Ambazonia freedom movements to unite with the Interim Government to make the final push for the liberation of our leaders and citizens in captivity and our total freedom.  There was no need for a reboot conference with all the divisive and acrimonious rhetoric made by its organizers.

With the reboot sideshow over, Ambazonians at home and abroad should harken to the urgent call of the Acting President and the Interim Government to contribute towards our self-defense efforts against this colonial war of aggression. The Acting President made an urgent plea for unity. The Ambazonia Collaborative   Council should demonstrate their commitment to the Ambazonia cause by making a commitment to unity made by the Acting President. No action aimed at unity towards the self-defense and freedom of our leaders, our people and our homeland the Federal Republic of Ambazonia can be construed as weakness. Making a bold commitment towards unity as the Interim President did is an attribute of bold leadership and strength.  In the form it is presented, the collaborative council is an illusion and lacks strong wings on which our destiny can sail on.

The Interim Government of Ambazonia is widely recognized by the international community at large. If the Interim Government did not pose a serious threat to French Cameroun and French neo-colonial economic interests, there would have been no international conspiracy to abduct our leaders through cowardly criminal means. The proof of the legitimacy and successes attained by our Interim Government is discernible from the fact that  France, a super power and member state of NATO and European Union,  Nigeria , the most populous African Country and  continental economic and military power, and French Cameroun a French puppet neo-colony, resorted to multiple levels of complicity, complex  webs of corruption and criminality to abduct our President and members of the Interim government in  violation of multilateral treaties and international law. This shows how close the Interim Government of Ambazonia was to obtaining the recognition of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia by a number of sovereign states and obviously the international community.

Despite this coordinated act of brigandage and international criminality, the Interim Government is undaunted. The Secretary for Communication Hon. Chris Anu flew to Nigeria and organized world press conferences to deny our adversaries the legitimacy they sought to justify their criminal conduct and the fear they hoped to instill in us through their crime.  After weeks of silence hoping that the crime and its impact would fade away, Mohammed Babagana Mungano the corrupt superintendent of the criminal enterprise came out defending his actions and that of the crime syndicate in the Nigerian government that was responsible for the abductions in complicity with France and French Cameroun. His outing hoping to counter Chris Anu and the Interim Government effort aimed at sanitizing the crime and the huge sums obtained through corruption. This sensitization of Nigerian and world attention towards this criminal conduct backfired. It is unprecedented in constitutional governance which Nigeria is, for a national defense adviser to appropriate the powers of the Inspector General of Police, Comptroller of immigration, Attorney-General of the Federation, Minister of Defense and Minister of Foreign Affairs by overseeing a corrupt secretive criminal cartel at the center of state power to conduct criminal foreign operations with embarrassing consequences for the Federal Government. The attempt by Mohammed Mungano to explain and justify his actions publicly by making commitments of a legal, security and diplomatic nature with a foreign sovereign is treasonable and portrayed the Nigerian government and members it’s defense, judicial, intelligence and security services in very bad light.

Cameroon Concord News Group is satisfied that the Interim Government is taking verifiable and credible steps towards uniting Ambazonia freedom movements and the people of Ambazonia at home and abroad around our common objective of freeing our leaders and people held in captivity and a vacation of our territory by the terrorist occupying forces forthwith. Cameroon Concord News is satisfied that the commitment of the Interim Government towards the self-defense of the entire territory of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, the intensification of diplomatic efforts aimed at the recognition of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia by the United Nations, the African Union, ECOWAS and all international organizations makes the Interim Government the most credible platform that all Ambazonians must unite around to attain these objectives.

Cameroon Concord News Group commends the Interim Government’s statement that the betrayal of our leaders is under investigations and that it is committed to all guarantees of fair process under international law and Ambazonia laws. These include presumption of innocence. Ambazonians should give this process its recognition and turn our attention towards contributing for our self defense objectives, assistance to our refugees, our internally displaced, our abductees in French Cameroun captivity, our wounded and maimed and our diplomatic efforts.

Ambazonians world-wide  must  be persistent in the organization of  demonstrations to alert the conscience of humanity towards  the genocide in Ambazonia and our irreversible quest for freedom and recognition  at the United Nations in New York, Geneva, European Union offices in Brussels, African Union Offices in Addis Ababa, African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Arusha Tanzania, The African Commission  on human and peoples’ rights in Banjul, Nigerian, French Cameroun, British and French Diplomatic Missions worldwide. We must file more complaints against Nigerian and French Cameroun individuals involved in these crimes at the ICC, in countries that have universal jurisdiction over international crimes like terrorism, abductions, genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, like the United States, Spain, Sweden, Finland and Belgium.

Ambazonians must make sure that all the people involved in these crimes should never know peace in and out of power in their countries and that their countries are held accountable for the crimes committed against Ambazonia.  Cameroon Concord News totally endorses the Ultimatum of the Interim Government of Ambazonia to French Cameroun to produce our Interim President and members of the Interim Government alive and urges the Interim Government to extend the ultimatum to release of all captives and a vacation of the territory of Ambazonia.

To this I put my name

Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Cameroon Concord News Group consistently advised the conveners of the so-called Reboot Conference to approach and work with the Interim Government if it intended to have legitimacy. Mistaking angry rhetoric, demagogy and self-importance for liberation strategy, they ignored the advice. The claim to power by some of the organizers is predicated on their longevity in the Ambazonia quest for freedom. This claim is based on a false reading of the history of the Ambazonia liberation struggle.

The Lawyers and teachers who took the struggle to the next level which has compelled the world at long last to start paying attention to the Ambazonia cause were not members of any of the platforms on which these individuals are relying on to justify their claims to leadership of the struggle. These individuals were taken off guard when the lawyers and teachers revolution occurred and transmuted to the Ambazonia freedom revolution, suggesting that the platforms and methods they provided were faulty; short sighted or simply lacked the humbling visionary ideology to rally the people towards reclaiming our independence.

Cameroon Concord News is therefore surprised that the so-called reboot conference is intending to reinvent the wheels of the Ambazonia liberation struggle by attempting to drag Ambazonia back to the divisive and visionless politics of self-fulfillment that stifled the cause for a sizeable period of our fifty-six years enslavement. Over a period of several years, these individuals solicited and obtained contributions from Ambazonians without accountability. None of them has contributed to the thousands of Ambazonian refugees in Nigeria nor have any of their appeals for funds targeted the welfare of the refugees.  Some of them spend time issuing threats to Ambazonians who have questioned their motives and their methods.

The involvement of CRTV journalists in the reboot conference poses serious problems. Can they be relied on to lead this struggle?

Cameroon Concord News Group requested to know the objectives of the so-called reboot conference, but their objectives are fuzzy. Coming at a time when Ambazonians have placed three critical issues on the agenda of our liberation struggle, the reboot conference as Cho Ayaba has stated in an audio message through a proxy, is to delegitimize the Interim Government and to validate their old wine in new skins which personalized power over the years.   Absent from their agenda are a clear strategy on how to defend our homeland, our refugee crisis, the liberation of our President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, members of the interim government, Mancho Bibixy and thousands of our citizens in captivity. Also absent is a credible diplomatic roadmap taking into consideration the sub-regional and international dynamics of our struggle and strategic interests.

The conveners of the reboot conference are strange bed fellows united by their search for power, access to contributions from Ambazonians and the delegitimization of the Interim Government.  The reboot conference may signal the last time the conveners agree on any credible strategy on how to prosecute our liberation struggle. Boh Hebert vehemently opposes the military solution, while Cho Ayaba and Akwanga support it. None of them has the credential or the means to conduct viable diplomacy. They lack the temperament and tack to venture in that field. So therefore, what will unite them after the conference? How will the conference resolutions be implemented?

The attention of the international community is turned towards the President and members in captivity that they recognize as the legitimate leaders of Ambazonia. The reboot conference cannot and will not reinvent new leaders acceptable to the international community outside the Interim Government. The abduction of the president and members of the interim government by a joint force of Nigeria and French Cameroon has greatly legitimized the interim government and its leaders in captivity. The involvement of Nigeria has internationalized the Ambazonia cause.  While they are in captivity, a dissident group of individuals cannot replace them, or even take away the focus from them. The abduction in Nigeria is a serious international matter and places Nigeria as a key factor in the Ambazonia crisis.

No one in the international community will seek out for Boh Hebert, Ayaba, Akwanga, John Mbah Akuro as credible interlocutors in the Ambazonia crisis. The international community rally around the abductions and the request to free our leaders to de-escalate the conflict for an all embracing dialogue to occur.  Had the reboot conference conveners been intelligent enough to read the international mood, they would have moved to work with the Interim Government to own the focus on putting pressure on Nigeria over the abductions, its support for the genocide in Ambazonia, the refugee crisis and the war efforts to defend and free our land.

The abduction of our leaders and the refugee crisis are already at the international domain and key world powers and the UN are already on the files. The war crimes and genocide in our homeland are already being condemned. If the reboot conference conveners think that they can pit one issue, armed resistance, and funding to attain it and hope to attract enough world support for our cause, them they need to go back to school and study strategic diplomacy and world politics. The refugee problems are a critical issue that quickly invites United Nations and world intervention in crisis. That too will put pressure on Nigeria and the abduction will hasten the focus and intervention.

Self defense and its funding which seems to be the focus of the reboot conference is a laudable objective. But the question is what unites Boh Hebert, Akwanga, Cho Ayaba and John Mbah Akuro around this objective? What? Cameroon Concord News begs to ask. Cameroon Concord News strongly advises the conveners of the reboot conference to urgently engage in a discussion with the Acting President and the Interim Government with a view to restructuring the Interim Government to accommodate them so that an inclusive conference can be called to move our struggle energetically and with a respectable visionary focus.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman, Editor-in-Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group

Cameroon Concord News Group is concerned that the reboot conference called for Washington DC may already have been infiltrated by agents of French Cameroun intelligence services. Cameroon Concord News Group has no reason to doubt or call to question the patriotism of some of the organizers or participants in the conference. We of this publication are however concerned about the indiscretion of some of the conference organizers and the apparent insensitivity towards the abduction of our leaders assembled in a Nigerian hotel and the consequences towards their freedom, that all our abductees and the total freedom of our Ambazonia homeland. Whether the indiscretion and insensitivity are intended or not, the potential consequences of such conduct may have untold consequences for the Ambazonia revolution.

For example, no reasonable persons are on record as advertising the convening of a conference open to all and sundry, intended to discuss strategy relating to their country at war.  They will anticipate that the enemy will infiltrate and gather the intelligence required to subvert their war efforts. Hopefully the conveners of the reboot conference are aware of this.

Cameroon Concord News Group does not make value judgment about whether the said conference is intended for best interest of the Ambazonian revolution. Indeed, Cameroon Concord News Group   accuses no one of treachery. Cameroon Concord News Group does not call the patriotism or loyalty to of the conveners to the cause into question.  Although planned before the abduction of our President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and members of the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia on 5th January 2018, Cameroon Concord News Group is concerned that coming so soon after the said abduction, the timing of the conference may call its legitimacy into question.  Some of the conveners of the conference have been adversely mentioned in the treachery that aided Nigerian and French Cameroons to abduct our leaders in a joint operation supervised by Martin Belinga Eboutou, President Paul Biya’s Director of Cabinet and Babagana Munguno, Buhari’s National Security Adviser.

Cameroon Concord News Group is not suggesting that similar abductions or disappearances of our frontline leaders who convened or are participating in the conference were it to occur, will take place during the conference or on American soil. What is obvious is that some of the participating organizations may already have been infiltrated by La Republique du Cameroun in several ways, known and unknown. This should not be a reason to dispel because the different organizations must have effective and efficient intelligence to confront the enemies on their own terms. Vigilance is however warranted.

Whether these organizations and their leaders are aware of the infiltration is not known; indeed, some of them may not be aware of this fact even when there are clear indicators within their reach. It may not be lost on them that they may consciously or unconsciously allow French Cameroun by proxy into the conference. The intrusion of French Cameroun might have commenced right from the moment of conception, planning and the holding of the conference.

Cameroon Concord News Group is aware that what united the organizers of the reboot conference when the idea was first conceived was their opposition to the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.  It was a false premise motivated by the search for power. It was not an honourable premise to seek a united front to prosecute the Ambazonia liberation agenda.  Today the conveners are ideologically, strategically and tactically far apart and a single reboot conference may not bridge the ideological, strategic and tactical gap between them.  What unites them as they attend the conference, is the common desire to mobilize Ambazonians to contribute generously towards the realization of the liberation and defense objectives of each organization. That goal can be better attained by reaching out and working with the Interim Government. Without the interim government on board, the objectives no matter how laudable will not be entirely successful.  If the liberation of the President, members of the Interim Government, all abductees or disappeared Ambazonians held in captivity by French Cameroun is placed on top of the agenda of the conference, it may attain the highly required legitimacy to rally many Ambazonians around the liberation goals which the Interim Government and a majority of Ambazonians stand for.  This regrettably so far seems not to be the prospective focus of the conference. In the result, the conference may come out with resolutions and structures that will not resonate with a majority of Ambazonians.

Again, Cameroon Concord News Group is of the considered opinion that serious and reasonable organizations do not summon conferences with high possibilities of infiltration to discuss strategy about the defense objectives of their countries at war. If they are under the illusion that they can discuss strategic matters of such sensitive nature in the reboot conference with the significant possibility of French Cameroun’s agents in attendance, then they must be mistaken.

The conference will surely lay an elaborate mechanism for Ambazonians to fund the war of liberation through structures which they will put in place. But the unintended consequences of the conference may occur weeks or months after the conference. If care is not taken, these unintended consequences may outweigh the gains obtained at the conference.  The elaborate strategies for the defence of the home land that will be discussed at the conference will almost immediately be betrayed to French Cameroun intelligence operating from its Embassies in Washington DC and in New York.  From then some of our over confident but unsuspecting leaders will be approached by all manner of persons and organizations with promises to assist them realize our defence needs and objectives. An uncritical acceptance of such assistance or endeavour may be very costly.

We learn from Mbah John Akuro who did not attend the meeting in Nigeria when our leaders were abducted that French Cameroun and their corrupt collaborators within the Nigerian Government played on the consistent request of our President and the Interim Government for an inclusive dialogue as opposed to war to resolve the conflict. All-inclusive dialogue which our President and the interim government endorsed, we all know, is the stated position of the United Nations, The African Union, The Commonwealth, The United States of America, Great Britain, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, France and most of international organizations. Our Interim Government endorsed this all-inclusive dialogue option over armed conflict. This position which is favoured by the international community and our interim government has been clearly endorsed by most of our people. This stated position of our interim government was rejected by French Cameroun on the one part and some of our constituent organizations participating in the reboot conference. To the extent that French Cameroun opted for war and indeed declared it; a number of our liberation organizations saw no need to claim an elusive all-inclusive dialogue while our people are systematically slaughtered in their thousands in their ancestral homes by French Cameroun’s terrorist regime.  They opted for self-defense, an option the interim government did not rule out but was slow to adopt. The interim President stated this in his end of year address to Ambazonians and the communication secretary Chris Anu re-emphasized this in his follow-up comments after the President’s widely received and applauded speech.

John Mbah Akuro did not attend the meeting in Abuja Nigeria in which the President and members of the interim government were abducted.  He was not invited but somehow knew that the objective of the meeting was not to discuss assistance to our refugees in Nigeria. According to his recorded and widely publicized audio address to Ambazonians, all and sundry, he said that the alleged conference was convened to commence preliminary discussions on the all-inclusive dialogue proposed by the international community and endorsed by the Interim Government. How he knew about this is not the subject of our enquiry now.

The information is important for two reasons.  Nigeria to whom the Interim Government made several entreaties to act as a mediator and to host the all inclusive dialogue proposed by the international community, upon receiving huge bribes from French Cameroun, abused the confidence placed on the Federal Government by the Interim Government by using the all-inclusive dialogue to lure and entrap the President and members of the interim government to be abducted by a combined force of Nigerian national intelligence operatives and French Cameroun’s special operations operatives. Nigeria provided operatives of French Cameroun’s special operation forces uniforms of Nigerian national intelligence operatives for the special criminal operation.

Our investigators in Abuja serving with Cameroon Intelligence Report have obtained credible intelligence reports from inside the National Security Adviser’s services who participated in the operation. According our intelligence sources whose have opted for anonymity to protect their identities,  Martin Belinga Eboutou bankrolled and oversaw the operations in Nigeria on behalf of  French Cameroun while Babagana Mungano the National Security Adviser to Buhari oversaw the operation on behalf of President Buhari and his Vice President Professor Yemi Osibanjo.  The captives were transported to French Cameroun the same day, after the option to execute them was scuttled by the alarm raised by Millan Atam twenty-four hours after the abduction.  Although Millan Atam who was supposed to participated in the conference failed to participate ostensibly for yet controversial reasons. He has so far not made a statement about the purpose of the meeting.  Cameroon Concord News Group investigators have   obtained information from sources close to the National Security Adviser’s services in Nigeria corroborated by other Nigerian and French Cameroun intelligence services about some details of the criminal operation.  At some point in time, Nigeria gave clear indications, that it could play a mediating role in the conflict, urged on by key international organizations and reached out to French Cameroun to convey its availability in doing so. While some members of the Nigerian diplomatic community were warm about this option and were preparing for it, through the influence of the French mission in Abuja and technical intelligence tending to show strong international support for such an initiative, French Cameroun opted to scuttle the international effort by corrupting the close circle of power around President Buhari, including the Vice President Yemi Osibanjo who influenced Buhari to go ahead and sabotage the mediation option through an abduction.

A plan was therefore conceived and put in place for President Buhari and Vice President Osinbanjo to abuse the faith placed in Nigeria to mediate in African conflicts for pecuniary reasons. The amount of the money offered them was such that they could not resist the humiliating bait at the cost of the honour and dignity of Nigeria whom they represent.   With the evidence of the criminal operation coming out to the public domain, and the possibility of an investigation in Nigeria  and internationally after Buhari leaves office, it is increasingly obvious that Nigeria must do so much hence to be trusted as a credible player in the mediation of African disputes.

Cameroon Concord News Group having corroborated in part, the narrative provided by John Mbah Akuro, is conscious of the fact that John Mbah Akuro is one of the organizers of the reboot conference.  He has publicly stated that he will not be attending the conference because he is fleeing for his dear life and may have left Nigeria. It should concern other organizers and attendees that one of the proponents and organizers of the reboot conference will not be attending due to security challenges that he is facing prospectively from French Cameroun and its Nigerian partners.  He should provide his reboot colleagues with intelligence relating to the forces deployed by the enemy to go after him and the reasons why.

The reason for revisiting the abduction of the President and members of the interim government is to explain to the reboot conference organizers and members of the constituent organizations to be careful of persons or organizations coming to them proposing to help realize their objectives.  If the peace option that was genuinely proposed and pushed by the international community hoping Nigeria will play a mediating role can be manipulated to abduct the President and members of the interim government, the armed option that some have been forced by necessity and self defence needs of our people to embrace, can equally be manipulated to abduct or harm leaders of the organizations that are firmly committed to that option. French Cameroun indeed used the same strategy under different circumstances to drug and abduct Captain Guerandi Mbara with the complicity and treachery of some of his own people he hoped to liberate, and he disappeared ever since.

French Cameroon special intelligence bankrolled and overseen by Martin Belinga aided by the French Cameroons conventional intelligence units under Eko Eko the director general of the external research directorate and husband of the President of the Military Court-martial trying our abductees will send out paid agents from all sorts of organizations to reach out to some of the leaders of the composing organizations who if care is not taken, may end up the way Captain Guerandi Mbara ended.   The defence of our homeland is a task that must be done. Cameroon Concord News Group supports collective efforts towards the realization of that sacred objective. The reboot conference organizers should as a matter of extreme urgency meet with the Acting President and the interim government to discuss better ways of attaining the unity required to mobilize all Ambazonians home and abroad towards the realization of our self-defence objectives and the total freedom of our fatherland. The freedom of our President, members of the interim government, Mancho Bibixy and thousands of our abductees and the total liberation our free Ambazonia homeland must be attained at all costs.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman, Editor-in-Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group

Cameroon Concord News Group strongly supports the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. Cameroon Concord News urges Nigeria and French Cameroun to free our leaders held in captivity and all Ambazonian captives in their dungeons with immediate effect; failing which they will bear the consequences of the conflagration caused by their reckless and illegal conduct.

Although Nigeria has declined to make a public admission of its abduction of Ambazonian leaders who were legally within its territory under the protection of international law, French Cameroun in its published admission of the crime, incriminated Nigeria in the crime. French Cameroun confessed that the impugned criminal conduct was in furtherance of cooperation agreements it had with Nigeria which they relied on the perpetration of the abduction and rendition of our leaders, and in furtherance and support of French Cameroun’s genocide of Southern Cameroons/ Ambazonia.

Cameroon Concord News can confirm that Nigeria’s support of French Cameroun’s war efforts, crimes against humanity and genocide against Southern Cameroons/ Ambazonia goes far beyond the abduction and rendition of our leaders to the French Cameroun’s terrorist regime. Apart from information at our disposal, French Cameroon has by its actions and public statements provide a reasonable basis for Cameroon Concord News Group to conclude that this allegation has merit.

Within a month, Paul Biya paid two visits to the President of Nigeria. Subsequently, French Cameroun’s Minister for Territorial Administration a certain Rene  Sadi was received by the Vice President of Nigeria Professor Osinbanjo and the Nigeria Ambassador was received by Paul Biya. This is a deal wrapped in one of the most scandalous corruption deals in history whose details will emerge with time although there are sufficient indices to conclude that it took the intervention of France for the final deal to be sealed. It is no wonder that the visit by the French Ambassador in Abuja to the Nigerian Foreign Minister shortly after the abduction carried symbolic weight.  The poor Minister who like the Attorney General of the Federation and the Inspector General of the Police although aware of the abduction were kept out of the loop because the pecuniary interests of the inner circle of the corrupt circle of power around the President controlled the process, provided a cursory statement relating to the abduction in troubling language signifying his apparent distaste for the prurient criminality surrounding it. He did not know how to characterize it. Was it an arrest? And invitation for investigation? And abduction? That equivocal response provided by the Minister cast a slur on the soul of the Nigerian Government on whose head the blood of Southern Cameroons leaders and its people arising from this crime and more must lie.

The international crimes and violations committed by French Cameroun against Southern Cameroons go back as far and fifty-seven years.  On 19/9/63, French Cameroon signed the Geneva Conventions 1949 on the protection of civilians in armed conflicts 1949.  It signed the Convention on Statutory Limitations to War Crimes 1968 on 6/10/72 and the Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance, 2006 on 6/2/2007.

French Cameroon signed an agreement of friendship and cooperation on February 6, 1963 and on the 27 March 1972 Nigeria and French Cameroon signed a Mutual Agreement regulating relations between the two countries.

French Cameroun signed the Rome Statute creating the ICC on 17 July 1998 but took no further action to ratify the treaty. However, Nigeria ratified the treaty on the 27 September 2001 as a result became a state party to the Rome to the Statute. By its willing participation in the crimes coming before the Rome Statute by French Cameroun against Ambazonia, part of which have been jointly committed within the territory of Nigeria, the International Criminal Court has jurisdiction over these crimes.

French Cameroun has justified the abduction and rendition of Southern Cameroons leaders who were lawfully in the territory of Nigeria under the protection of international law to French Cameroon on alleged cooperation agreements it signed with Nigeria in 1963 and in 1972. French Cameroun characterized these agreements as the foundational judicial basis for abduction and rendition. The purported agreements do not qualify as treaties under the Vienna Convention of the Law of Treaties 1969.  They are not extradition treaties as such for an extradition request to be valid.  For an extradition request to be valid and considered, it must conform to the norms of international law and must be submitted to a judicial process within the territory of the country to which the request is submitted.  Cameroon Concord is not aware of any judicial process that was initiated in Nigeria to justify the rendition of Southern/ Cameroons captives to French Cameroun to face a court-martial and potential death sentence.

Even if the agreements put forward by French Cameroun to justify the terrorist style abduction of Ambazonian leaders and rendition to French Cameroun were to be construed as valid, rendition under the spurious agreements would still be circumscribed by the treaty obligations of French Cameroun under the Geneva Conventions 1949, Convention on Statutory Limitations on War Crimes and the Convention for the protection of Persons from Enforced Disappearances 2006. Nigeria was barred from the Rome Statute from engaging in the criminal acts of abduction and aiding and abating genocide, enforced disappearances, crimes against humanity and war crimes against Ambazonia within its national territory and in the territory of Ambazonia.  There have been credible allegations that French Cameroons soldiers and gendarmes crossed into Nigerian territory to abduct and massacre Southern Cameroonians and Nigerian civilians in Cross River State, and Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria. These crimes coming within the jurisdiction of the Rome Statute but Nigeria in complicity with French Cameroun has allowed these criminal acts to continue unrestrained. Nigeria has not provided adequate protection to these persons at risk within its national territory.

There is a pecuniary motivation for the criminal conduct of decision makers within the Nigerian Government. This motivation facilitated the perpetration of international crimes for which they and their co-conspirators in French Cameroun bear criminal responsibility. It is troubling that the international community is slow to intervene to investigate, prosecute and punish members of the criminal cartel in the hands of whom it has entrusted the prosecution of the war against Boko Haram which they are the main sponsors and beneficiaries.  This misplaced trust has blinded them from intervening with the urgency it requires to abate the ongoing genocide against Southern Cameroons and other international crimes.  The warning alarm raised by the Catholic Bishops of the Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province, African Bar Association and lately the very poignant ultimatum given by the Communication Secretary of the Interim Government of Ambazonia Chris Anu to Nigeria and French Cameroun to produce our leaders by the dateline of Monday February 5, or face an energetic response making that which was make by the survivors of the Rwandan Genocide a child’s play must be taken seriously, and urgently too.  Cameroon Concord News applauds the Interim Government for providing the window of opportunity for Nigeria and French Cameroun to abide by the International Rule of Law and release our leaders and abate the crimes in Ambazonia.

Cameroon Concord News calls on citizens of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia to stand resolutely by our Interim Government and to staunchly defend our territory and our leaders in captivity.  Our President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe stated that no one is above the revolution and the freedom of Ambazonia. His abduction should rally all Ambazonians around the Interim Government to free our leaders and all abductees in French Cameroun’s dungeons.  As we prosecute this revolution, let us not forget the fact that we shall prevail. In our moment of victory, our president and abducted leaders and all our abductees will be with us but Paul Biya, and his Nigerian co-conspirators will not be there to enslave us anymore.

Cameroon Concord News Group wishes to take this opportunity to caution and advise our people to not fall into the trap of the enemies through their agents in our midst.  Cameroon Concord News Group with its cream of intelligence officers serving with Cameroon Intelligence Report has carefully investigated the spurious allegations made against Mr Millan Atam as the person who betrayed our Interim leaders and found them to be false. If anything, it is part of the efforts deployed by French Cameroun and its co-conspirators to undermine the Interim Government and destroy the revolution and our unstoppable quest for freedom.

It is troubling that the persons peddling these allegations have made or done things which fit the agenda aimed at destroying or distracting the Interim Government from its stated efforts of securing the release of our leaders and the freedom of our land.  Cameroon Concord News has carefully listened to, analyzed and investigated audios and statements made by key members of the gang of individuals wrongly accusing Millan Atam in efforts to deflect attention from their culpable and treacherous conduct.  The Southern Cameroons Radio Television which Millan Atam hold in trust for Ambazonia and which is one remarkable symbol of our sovereignty and communication with our people and the world at large is a great source of worry to French Cameroun.  Millan Atam is therefore one of French Cameroun’s staunchest enemies.  Efforts deployed to prevent the broadcast to our people have failed. Had he been abducted in Nigeria, that crucial tool of communication would have been eliminated.  Cameroon Concord News Group has investigated his travel itinerary and found it to accord with his narrative. Efforts by the messengers of doom who had made public statements predicting the abduction of our President before it occurred to trace his where about while in Nigeria so that he too be abducted failed leading to panic in their camp.  Millan Atam’s presence in Nigeria was God sent because he was the one who immediately alerted our lawyers and set in motion the mobilization of the Interim Government to step in and move the revolution on while fighting to free our leaders.

In a last-ditch attempt to scuttle the Interim Government, the same persons floated the idea of disbanding the Interim Government, electing a new government and above all they are relaunching the reboot conference in Washington DC to enable them take over power while the President is in the cruel dungeon of French Cameroun. The question has been asked by Mr Mbah John Akuru why Millan Atam arrived late for the meeting.  Back to sender.  Why did he who is a member of the Interim Government and residing in Nigeria not attend the meeting? Where did he get all the facts with which he announced the execution of the President and our leaders? Was his intention to prepare Ambazonians for such an eventuality or was it aimed at sowing confusion and justifying the takeover of the revolution by proxies of French Cameroun and their allies within the Nigerian Government?  Chris Anu the communication Secretary went to Nigeria with his American passport and took credible initiatives for the protection and defence aimed at securing the release of our leaders. He granted received press interviews. He mobilized international awareness of the abductions and about our case. Nigeria hoped that the abduction and the rendition would scare Ambazonians not to venture into Nigeria and hold it accountable for her role in this international crime. Chris Anu braved the odds and went there and jumpstarted the battle for the release of our leaders.  Additionally, he has lately issued a strong ultimatum to French Cameroun to show proof of the existence of our leaders.

In the face of published statements aimed at preparing the minds of our people towards the potential execution of our people, the Interim Government rightly acted to save their lives and make sure a plan to fail and there are indications that such a wicked ploy for which our minds were being prepared has failed.  That is one victory on the part of our Interim Government. However, persons who were complicit in making publications aimed at facilitating such an eventuality and who have never strongly joined the Catholic Bishops, President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, the Interim Government  through its Communication Secretary Chris Anu, the Southern Cameroons television under the mandate of Millan Atam, activists like Mark Barata, Tapang Ivo and many others in denouncing the genocide in Ambazonia, or have never visited the refugees or contributed to their well being, suddenly commenced a timid attack against this much applauded ultimatum. If that ultimatum is a precursor of a bold response to the genocide and crimes committed in Ambazonia from now hence by the Interim Government, then we in Cameroon Concord News Group will stand resolutely behind our Interim Government. We call our people to ignore all distractions and redouble all efforts to free our leaders and all our abductees held by French Cameroun. We must free our land and people from the bondage of slavery and colonial rule to which we have been subjected for the past fifty-six years.

Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman and Editor-in-Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group

RFI

The Cameroon minister of Communication, Issa Tchiroma, has finally ended speculation about Nigeria’s extradition of the President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, Ayuk Tabe, along with some other 46 Southern Cameroonians to Yaounde where they are expected to be judged according to the laws of the Republic of Cameroon. News about their extradition has been the subject of debates and analyses over the weekend and this has resulted in increased tension both in Yaounde and Southern Cameroons, with many Southern Cameroonians vowing to fight on despite their leaders’ detention in Yaounde.

Speaking in Yaounde on Monday, January 29, 2018, a subdued Tchiroma said the arrested Southern Cameroonians would be judged in accordance with the law. This therefore implies that lawyers will be granted access to the detainees and their identities will be established. Though the information has been made official, many across the globe still doubt the government’s version and argue that the same government has been manipulative and deceptive for many decades and it will be hard to believe its version.

However, despite the sad news, many Southern Cameroonians argue that the battle must continue as the revolution is bigger than any single individual. Speaking to a dejected Southern Cameroonian in WashingtonDC over the phone, our West African Bureau chief was advised that the revolution was an idea that would not be crushed through intimidation and military violence. The Southern Cameroonian, who elected anonymity, added that things only escalated when Felix Nkongh Agbor Balla, Fontem Neba and Macho Bibixy were arrested and that the current situation would only escalate attacks on the military.

He argued that Nelson Mandela was in jail for over three decades, but South Africans did not relent in their effort to unseat the racist bastion that had reduced them to second-class citizens in their own country. He said Southern Cameroonians would, over the coming days, designate their new leaders and would be informing the boys on ground on what steps to follow.

Also speaking from London, Sesekou Asu Isong, said that Southern Cameroonians should not believe that they could attain their objective without loss of life and imprisonment. He stressed that “freedom has never been attained through courteousness and gentlemanliness, adding that loss of life is and has always been part of such a struggle.”

He called on Southern Cameroonians to pour money and energy into the struggle. “As it is apparent that we are now in an armed struggle, we have a duty to pour money and energy into this cause. We have a duty to arm and train young determined fighters on the ground. If we don’t, the lives of the departed and those in incarceration would have been a waste,” he stressed.

Mr. Isong’s point of view ties in well with what is currently happening in many Southern Cameroons community across the globe. It is worth stressing that huge fundraising efforts are currently underway in most Western capitals. Southern Cameroonians across the globe are making significant financial contributions to support the tough Southern Cameroonian fighters who have become a nightmare to government forces in Southern Cameroons. In California alone, more than half a million dollars was raised last week to secure more aid and arms for the boys who are determined to roll back government forces that have been deployed across Southern Cameroons.

Also writing from Boston in the United States, Mr. EkinnehAgbaw-ebai, a graduate of the prestigious Harvard University, pointed out that “Irrespective of whatever anyone thinks, let it be said again with emphasis that Ambazonia will never die. Ambazonia is a spirit which animates our yearning for freedom and even if Biya kills all eight million Anglophones and raze all our villages, our ghosts shall rise from our graves to seek freedom and demand justice. Mandela was jailed, but the ANC continued until Apartheid was defeated. Bin Laden is dead, but that has not stopped Al Qaeda; rather ISIS was born. If Biya sincerely believes, as he claims, that a majority of Anglophones want to remain in bondage and servitude in a united Cameroon, let him organize a referendum. Voting should take place only in Anglophone regions under international supervision as was the case in 1961,” he pointed out angrily.

It should be noted that Mr. Ayuk Tabe had said that the struggle was his life and that he was prepared and willing to lay down his life for the total liberation of Southern Cameroons, though he has always advocated non-violence. Many Southern Cameroonians are of that opinion and there are many meetings currently taking place across the globe to step up the pressure on the government.

It is also worth noting that Mr. Cho Ayaba, the man who leads the military wing of the Southern Cameroons struggle, had earlier called for the fighters on the ground to step up military actions against government troops following the arrest of Southern Cameroonian leaders in Nigeria and the attacks have increased significantly across the entire Southern Cameroons. Cameroon military personnel have in recent days been attacked and killed in various cities in Southern Cameroons and as late as today, some of them were attacked in Bangem in the Kupe Manogouba Division in the South West region where even the senior divisional officer was taken hostage.

Currently, there are reports that following Mr. Tchiroma’s announcement, there have been heavy gun fire in several villages in Manyu Division which is the birth place of Mr. AyukTabe who is revered and loved by his people. The days ahead would be challenging for Cameroon as many Southern Cameroonians are yet to accept that their leaders are in jail in Yaounde.

Meanwhile, many young fighters who have flooded refugee camps in Nigeria are already indicating their intention to return to the jungle to continue operations as advised by Mr. Cho Aya more than two weeks ago. Today’s statement by Mr. Tchiroma has fired many of them up. Speaking to Cameroon Concord News Group on Monday, January 29, a young Southern Cameroonian fighter who unexpectedly showed up in Abuja said the fighters needed more sophisticated war machines so as to take the fight to the enemy.

He pointed out that with rudimentary equipment, the fighters had given government troops in Manyu Division a run for their money, adding that sophisticated equipment would enable them to post more impressive results. “We are ready to turn that country into a huge fire ball. Southern Cameroonians have been marginalized for more than five decades and the government is refusing to acknowledge this. Since the government thinks it cannot dialogue with our leaders, we are determined to split the country so as to put an end to the marginalization that has brought death and destruction to our parents,” he said, adding that “once we lay our hands on sophisticated war machines like AK-47s, we will be able to get into the Littoral and West regions where we would be able to create hordes of refugees; a situation that will surely catch the attention of the international community.” “We are not scared of death and we have been informed that our brothers in the Diaspora are raising funds to ensure we get the tools for our job. This is a huge challenge and it requires a huge tool box,” he stressed.

It has been reported that some three hundred government troops have already been sent to an early grave since Ambazonian Tigers decided to take up arms against a regime that is tone deaf to calls for an inclusive and sincere dialogue. As a response to the losses, the government has decided to deploy more troops to the regions. But many analysts hold that the more troops the government deploys, the more targets it creates for the fighters. The situation in the two Anglophone regions is getting more complex by the day.

Currently, there are more than five militia groups operating in many parts of Southern Cameroons and this is troubling to the international community that is already seeing the phenomenon of warlords playing out in Cameroon. It should be recalled that Somalia that has been a hotspot for more than three decades went through a similar situation like the one unfolding in Cameroon following the ousting of the country’s dictator, Said Barre, in the eighties.

Today’s statement by the country’s communication minister sounds like a huge victory for the beleaguered government of Mr. Paul Biya, but the days ahead seem to be gloomy and the road ahead is bumpy. It will be too soon for the government to cry victory. The Southern Cameroons revolution is like a hydra. You may be happy that you have cut off its head, but it is confident it will grow a new one. Mr. Biya and his government must agree that dialogue holds out more hope. Arresting people and dumping them in jail or killing innocent civilians just to send home a strong message will not address the issue. There are more than seven million Southern Cameroonians, and many are already lining up to take on the mantle of leadership.

The Southern Cameroonian Diaspora is wealthy, and it will continue to destabilize the government if the government does not work hard to make peace with it. After more than one year of a bloody contention, the Yaounde government should understand that Southern Cameroonians will not be surrendering anytime soon.

A Cameroon Concord News Production

After more than one year of an unnecessary tug of war between the Biya government and Anglophone Cameroonians, the country is gradually sliding to the brink, with its economy taking a hit. Scarce resources that could have been put into development projects are today being used to pay huge per diems to soldiers and to settle other expenses just to prosecute a war that could have been averted if the country’s leaders had listened to the international community and fostered dialogue as a tool of choice in the management of a country that comprises people of various cultural backgrounds.

The chaos playing out in the Anglophone regions has now made the country to become a byword for anarchy and chaos. A simple dispute that could have been addressed through frank and sincere discussions was allowed to degenerate due to the government’s arrogance, violence and condescension.

Today, many lives have been lost and the anger has gone up by many notches. The Anglophone minority no longer believes it is part of a country that has marginalized it, killed its people and sent many into exile in countries they never thought they could live in.

There are currently more than 32,000 Cameroonian refugees in Nigeria and many are still thinking of fleeing Nigeria following the arrest and detention of Anglophone leaders in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, some two weeks ago; a situation that has altered the entire equation and made it hard for any reasonable solution to be found to this crisis that spells doom to the Biya regime.

Today, government troops are engaged in running battles with Ambazonian Defense Forces who are determined to inflict as much pain on government troops as possible and though the government has decided not to release figures of fallen soldiers, it is alleged that more than 200 army soldiers have been rushed to an early grave by the determined and feared Ambazonian Defense Forces also known as “Amba Tigers”.

Their hit-and-run tactics have taken a huge toll on the military and news of their success in Manyu Division has been spreading like wild fire across the region. While Manyu has noticed some respite, the fighting has been exported to Meme Division where army soldiers have taken huge casualties. These victories by the Amba Tigers have infuriated the government and they have triggered a wave of revenge in many parts of the South West region of Cameroon.

The soldiers’ retaliatory measures which, in many cases, consist in intimidating the local population and setting houses ablaze like they did last week in Kwa Kwa, a little village less than 50 km from Kumba, the Meme Divisional headquarters. The burning of an entire village resulted in the death of a 96-year-old lady and this has resulted in more revenge attacks, especially in Kombone, Meme Division, where a colonel and two of his colleagues were attacked on Sunday, January 21, 2018, while picking up the remains of their fallen colleagues in an ambulance.  It should be recalled that army soldiers have been running amok in Kwa Kwa following the killing of nine of their colleagues by the Amba Tigers who have proven to be experts at hit-and-run tactics.

Instead of winning hearts and minds, government troops are working hard to radicalize the local population which was initially for a federal system of government. But ever since the government opted for violence and repression as its weapons of choice, many Anglophones have gradually migrated from federalism to secession; a movement that has gained a lot of traction in recent months. This is really motivating the young fighters who hold that this is the time to put an end to the Francophone domination and government marginalization that have dogged the country’s English-speaking minority for over 55 years.

With Anglophone leaders still sitting in a luxurious villa in Abuja, the young and determined fighters who have been infuriated by the arrests are continuing to give the government a lot of food for thought. They hold that by using the forest to inflict pain on government troops, the Biya regime that is unpopular at home and abroad will finally sue for peace and call for the genuine and comprehensive dialogue that many around the world have been urging it to embrace.

Speaking to one of the fighters who has recently shown up in Abuja where he has sought asylum, it could be figured out that despite their lack of appropriate weapons, the young fighters are high on courage and determination and this is driving them into achieving many of their objectives.

“We do not have the right weapons. If we had AK-47s, I think we would have successfully exported the fighting into French Cameroon. Cameroon soldiers may be well trained, but they lack the courage and experience to fight in a dense equatorial forest. We have rattled them in the Manyu jungle and this has caused many to flee and desert the army. Some have defected and are helping to organize our efforts. I am sure that in six months’ time, we will be able to bring the government to the negotiating table against its wish,” the young Mamfe fighter who elected anonymity said.

He added that “I am using my asylum case as an excuse. My objective is to ensure that Southern Cameroons becomes independent. I hear our brothers and sisters in the Diaspora are quietly raising funds to get us more sophisticated weapons and once we lay our hands on those killing machines, the government of Cameroon will regret its decision.”

“Many people thought that the arrest of our leaders would dampen our determination. It has only ramped up our desire to inflict more pain on the soldiers who have been killing and maiming our people. The Southern Cameroons crisis is an idea. Our movement is bigger than anyone. It will be hard to kill the idea even if the government arrests the entire North West and South West regions. Every day, there are many young university graduates who are heading to Nigeria to carry weapons against a government that has reduced us to second-class citizens. You can see the joy on their faces. I am also a graduate, but when soldiers came and killed my brother in Mamfe, I knew it was time for me to revenge and I think my brother’s spirit should be happy wherever it is today,” he said. 

With such language, it is clear that the days ahead will be rough. Cameroonians want peace, but their leaders have opted for war, a war that is consuming soldiers and civilians in huge numbers. While the country’s economy has taken huge blows, the country’s politics is gradually taking a different shape. New players are joining the race for the Unity Palace scheduled for this year and the news of a single opposition candidate seems to be appealing to many Cameroonians, though it is a nightmare to the government and the ruling CPDM which have for 25 years rigged every election.

Though it seems like the clouds of self-destruction are gradually gathering over Cameroon, many political analysts still hold that there is still time for the government to spare the country an unnecessary bloodbath. The government’s arrogance and violence have pushed the country to the brink. A little introspection on the government’s part might reverse the storm that is gathering over the country. 2018 is the year that will make or mar Cameroon. The choice is the government’s and Mr. Biya, according to many observers, is the only person who can defuse the bomb and pull the country from the brink.

By Kingsley Betek

West Africa Bureau Chief (Abuja, Nigeria)

Cameroon Concord News Group

The Southern Cameroons crisis that has split the country and put the country on a downward economic and political spiral is gradually destroying the country’s military. According to our source in the military, there is growing disgruntlement within the military, especially among Anglophones who are not happy with what is being done to fellow Anglophones in the two English-speaking regions of the country.

According to our source, money is very likely to cause huge cracks on the military’s wall. Top military officials are, according to our source, taking advantage of the military actions that are currently playing out in the South West region. It is being rumored that the defense minister, Joseph Beti Assomo, and his friends are robbing the country blind. While the foot soldiers are being killed in the South West region, the generals and government officials are making hay while the sun shines.

It is alleged that Mr. Assomo is now taking financial decisions without following national procurement rules. He claims that the country is at war and if processes and procedures have to be followed, the president’s decision to eradicate the separatists will not be implemented to the letter. Many observers hold that the war could just be an excuse for some government officials to implement their personal agenda and this is causing many foot soldiers to question the rationale behind the killing of innocent civilians and the burning of their homes.

Our source further adds that even among the rank and file, there is a lot of frustration. Most of the government soldiers claim that they are not properly paid and that the risk of having to fight those tough “Ambazonian Tigers” was causing many of them to develop mental issues. Many are sleep deprived, especially those who have witnessed the killing of their colleagues, our source add. He intimated that the soldiers whose duty posts are in the South West region are not being paid per diem, but those coming from Yaoundé are entitled to huge per diems and this is gradually destroying the unity the military needs to prosecute the war.

Our source stressed that the soldiers who are permanently resident in the South West region are now helping Anglophone fighters who are known for their toughness. It is alleged that in Mamfe, the “Odeshi boys”, the fighters who have killed close to two hundred army soldiers have been aided and abetted by government troops who are not satisfied with their financial arrangements.

It is alleged that some government troops have been informing the fighters of troop movement and this accounts for the heavy casualty that government troops have taken over the last two months, especially in the Manyu jungle that has been a tough terrain for most army soldiers.

Meanwhile, discussions between arrested Anglophone leaders and government officials are continuing in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, despite the numerous hitches deriving from differences of opinion. The Cameroon government delegation, led by Mr. Rene Said, the country’s territorial administration minister, is still trying to sell its decentralization policy that is being rejected by Ambazonian leaders. The arrested leaders argue that the decentralization policy is enshrined in the country’s constitution, but for over twenty-two years, it has not been implemented and this, in their opinion, makes it hard to trust any word from the government.

According to our source which elected anonymity, Mr. Rene Sadi has threatened on many occasions to quit the negotiations as Ambazonian leaders keep on arguing that their objective was to get the government of Cameroon to discuss divorce issues. Some of those divorce issues include, debt-sharing, oil revenue, general amnesty and the peaceful return of refugees to the Federal Republic of Ambazonia; things that are not sitting well with the Cameroon delegation at the negotiations.

The Ambazonian President, Julius Ayuk Tabe, for his part, is insisting that it will be hard working with the government of Cameroon that is wont to deceit, intimidation and corruption. He argues that the concentration of power in the hands of one man in Cameroon is responsible for all the issues Anglophones have faced in Cameroon. He insists that it will be hard for the Francophone leadership to understand that centralization has only bred corruption and intimidation. He points to the general malaise in the country as evidence of the negative effects of centralization. He argues that Mr. Biya and his people have pauperized Cameroonians and their love for power and control has rolled back the country by at least five decades.

While the negotiations are not producing any meaningful results, both sides are at least talking and agreeing that the fighting was not necessary, as many lives have been lost. UN and Nigerian negotiators, for their part, are asking both parties to meet each other halfway. Both the UN and Nigeria have very little appetite for separation, but are hugely in favor of a federal structure that will bring powers to the regions, while reducing the red tape that has been the hallmark of the centralized system that has been the bane of people’s lives in Cameroon.

It should be recalled that the Southern Cameroons crisis started in October 2016 with calls from lawyers and teachers for better working conditions. But the government’s brutal reaction to these peaceful calls only made matters worse, especially when the Anglophone Diaspora jumped into the fray following the arrest of the leasers and the banning of the Anglophone Consortium that was negotiating with government officials.

By Kingsley Betek

West Africa Bureau Chief (Abuja, Nigeria)

Cameroon Concord News Group

There seem to be a lull in the fighting in the Manyu jungle following the arrest of Southern Cameroons leaders last week, despite skirmishes all over the entire Anglophone region, with gunmen attacking uniformed officers and chasing kids from schools. The most recent drama played out in Muea, Buea and other surrounding towns on Monday, 15 January 2018 and the gory images emerging from the running battles speak to the determination of the fighters to demystify the crack squad that the country’s defense minister, Joseph Beti Assomo, had declared would implement the president’s decision without batting an eyelid. His predictions have been proven wrong on many occasions and the military’s losses just like those of the fighters have been huge and unfortunately so.

However, what is on many minds remains the whereabouts and the future of the arrested leaders. The lawyer for the arrested leaders, Femi Falana, informed the interim government that the Nigerian foreign affairs ministry and the country’s national security adviser had said that the said leaders were still in Nigeria and that Nigeria would not deliberately violate international law by extraditing the leaders to Cameroon, a country noted for its repressive laws and brutal dictatorship. Mr. Folana added that he would be seeing the arrested leaders on Monday, 15 January 2018 and this has brought a lot of joy to many Southern Cameroonians who had been saddened by the arrests.

However, regardless of these latest developments, the damage of the arrests to the Nigerian and Cameroon governments will linger for a long time. The Buhari government is under enormous fire for sanctioning the illegal arrest of people considered to be freedom fighters. In defense for the Nigerian government, stories are emerging that several units of the Nigerian intelligence and security community were not aware of the operation or were not informed after it occurred. It is also alleged that several members of the federal government, including the President, were not aware of the drama that played out in Abuja last week.  This is however surprising as intelligence sharing is a critical security operational imperative.  However, the fact that neither the Attorney General of the federation nor the Inspector-General of Police made a statement on the abductions may also be seen as a credible indicator.

But these mitigating circumstances do not seem to be convincing the Nigeria media which has been tearing apart the image of the federal government and shooting at the Cameroon government for its legendary brutality. The silence of key figures in both countries seems to be the connecting tissue that speaks of connivance to commit a crime under international law. They seem to have agreed to be mute on this and this is not helping matters. Their indifference is drawing more flak and it is causing the rumor and anger to stick around for a long time.

Many prominent Nigerian figures are already chiding the federal government for its role in the arrests. The latest criticism comes from the Chairman of the Nigerian House of Representatives Committee on IDP, Refugees and Initiatives on North East, Sani Zorro, who has clearly indicatedthat Nigeria will be clearly committing a major illegality if it deports the arrested leaders to Cameroon.

His statement came last week following the illegal arrest of Ambazonian President, Julius Ayuk Tabe and members of his government. He added that some of the refugees were less than two kilometers from the Cameroonian border and Cameroonian soldiers cross the border in pursuit of these refugees, which in his opinion, is illegal.He warned that hostilities could break out between Nigeria and Cameroon if Cameroon continued to act recklessly on Nigerian territory.

In Yaounde, the silence is ominous. The country’s ailing and aging leader, Paul Biya, has become reclusive and this is causing nightmares to many of his collaborators. Ministers such as the defense minister, Joseph Beti Assomo, and Higher Education Minister, Fame Ndongo, who gave the impression that a hard line would be the best option for dealing with the crisis, are gradually losing sleep as things keep falling apart. It is alleged that Mr. Assomo is using the war to enrich himself and his friends and this is costing the government a pretty penny.

For Mr. Ndongo, the die seems to have been cast. He has been responsible for the escalation of the Anglophone crisis and he is currently caught up in a computer scandal that will surely cut him out of the government. The computer scandal has caused him to fall out of favor with the president and last week’s presentation of New Year wishes to the head of state served as the testament to the many cracks many people say have been appearing on the government’s wall. The humiliation Mr. Ndongo received from the president speak to the deteriorating relations between the two men.

The Southern Cameroons crisis has finally put the government on a downward spiral. It has not only left the government cash-strapped, it has also brought divisions within the group that thought power belonged to it. The crisis is also stalking the Yaoundé “strong man” like a stubborn shadow. Mr. Biya is gradually transforming the Unity Palace into a hermitage. All the options he has employed to keep the restive Anglophones in check have collapsed like a pack of cards. Corruption, intimidation, brinkmanship and violence are all failing to deliver the results the government was expecting. 1960 strategies and solutions are clearly not working. Southern Cameroonians have proven to be tough cookies and have displayed the type of strength and determination the government never thought they could.

The government had underestimated the determination and will of a few to bring about change in society. Their unity of purpose and determination to mess up Mr. Biya’s legacy have left the country’s president with many illnesses. His health is failing and based on inside reports, the Yaoundé strong man has become a colony of diseases. With a failing heart and a distended prostrate, Mr. Biya is having a tough time having a good day. Sources at the presidency indicate that his is a kingdom of medication, adding that if the diseases don’t kill him, then the sedatives will help to rid Cameroon of this brutal and inefficient dictator whose thirty-five years in power have brought death and destruction to a country many thought was an earthly paradise. Thirty-five years of misrule have really transformed Cameroon into a real “shithole”, with many Cameroonians running away to seek greener pastures elsewhere. Today, they are being considered as the “Roving Jews” of Africa and they are all heart-broken to see a country with such a huge human and natural resources potential spiral into inexplicable chaos.

Mr. Biya is seeing an end to his reign. Many Cameroonians secretly say that he has been leading a crime syndicate for more than three decades. Others hold that the country’s national unity has been predicated on intimation and corruption, adding that the drama playing out in Southern Cameroons is just a logical outcome of the misrule and mismanagement that have been the hallmark of his government. His efforts to get things under control have so far proven to be sterile. The adage that the day a monkey has to die, all trees and branches will become slippery is gradually applying to the Yaoundé regime that is already running out of steam.

While the government is trying to put on a poker face in public, it is gradually coming to terms with the fact that negotiating could be the best way out of the mess it has created for itself. The silence from both Yaoundé and Abuja clearly speaks to the negotiations that are currently underway in the Nigerian capital, Abuja. According to our sources which elected anonymity, the United Nations and Cameroon government negotiators are already on the ground to convince the arrested leaders to walk away from their hard stance. Our source adds that the UN, Nigeria and Cameroon have no appetite for secession and that they are pressurizing the Ambazonian leaders to accept the government’s offer – decentralization – which will still leave the Yaoundé government with extensive powers.

The Anglophone leaders, for their part, are insisting on having frank discussions on the future of the new Ambazonian nation. They have clearly indicated that the government of Cameroon cannot be trusted, as it has always spoken from both sides of its mouth. They point to the unimplemented 1996 constitution that had provided for extensive decentralization, arguing that the best they could settle for would be American or Canadian-style federalism that will grant the regions full autonomy.  The government of Cameroon, noted for its love of power and control, is also not yielding any ground and this is causing the negotiations to stall. This is why there is a deafening silence, as all stakeholders want to keep everything under wraps in order not to ruin any efforts made.

But their silence is not helping matters. Cameroonians – both Francophones and Anglophones – are looking forward to a possible way out of the crisis and the fighters on the ground are still committed to fighting. If they get informed that there are negotiations underway, this could lead to a long truce and many more lives will be spared. The solution to the Southern Cameroons crisis will never be found in the battlefield. Both parties must understand that fighting has never really addressed any issues. On the contrary, it creates new problems even after the battles have been fought and abandoned. The proliferation of arms in Southern Cameroons will be the next issue that will haunt both parties after the fighting.

While many observers hail the secret negotiations, they however call on the Cameroon government to swallow its pride and play its role as a responsible government by making key concessions that will take the wind out of the fighters’ sails. Many Southern Cameroonians have been hurt and for more than five decades, they have never found an appropriate medium to express their frustration. The current crisis therefore offers them a platform to tell their story. Unfortunately, this story is being written with blood instead of the finest ink on the market. They have been pushed to the wall for too long and they hold that fighting back is the only option available to them; after all, their fate is worse than death.

The tension and disaster playing out in Cameroon remain major concerns to many peace-loving Cameroonians. Many experts hold that it is time for the government to change its rhetoric and strategy so as the win hearts and minds. They argue that it must understand that those who make peaceful change impossible only make violent change inevitable. They stress that military brutality will not deliver the right results, as it will only radicalize many and swell the ranks of the secessionists. It will also only help the fighters to be frozen in their positions. They hope the government will come to its senses.

By Betek Kingsley

West Africa Bureau Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group