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October 7: Opposition Moves to Safe, Holy Ground for Anti-Biya Protests

31, October 2018

October 7: Opposition Moves to Safe, Holy Ground for Anti-Biya Protests 0

Security forces in Cameroon have been cracking down on street rallies protesting the October 7 re-election of President Paul Biya. To avoid beatings and arrest, protesters have taken their message to safer, even holy grounds such as schools and churches.

Opposition protesters sang on Monday in front of the University of Yaounde in the capital of Cameroon.

FILE - Maurice Kamto, a presidential candidate of Renaissance Movement (MRC), reacts as he holds a news conference at his headquarter in Yaounde, Cameroon, Oct. 8, 2018.
FILE – Maurice Kamto, a presidential candidate of Renaissance Movement (MRC), reacts as he holds a news conference at his headquarter in Yaounde, Cameroon, Oct. 8, 2018.

 

The lyrics say that opposition leader Maurice Kamto won the October 7 presidential election and that longtime President Paul Biya should hand over power.

A massive deployment of police stopped the protesters from singing on the campus itself.

Twenty-six-year-old teacher Boniface Onana says they will continue demonstrating against Biya’s re-election.

He says Biya should know that the time he was ruling Cameroon with an iron fist, using divide and conquer tactics, is over. Onana says Cameroonians should know that a new nation with a new leader has been born and he will do everything possible to pass on the message.

FILE - Cameroonian President Paul Biya casts his ballot while his wife Chantal Biya watches at a polling station during the presidential election in Yaounde, Cameroon, Oct. 7, 2018.
FILE – Cameroonian President Paul Biya casts his ballot while his wife Chantal Biya watches at a polling station during the presidential election in Yaounde, Cameroon, Oct. 7, 2018.

 

Police say they detained four of the protesters and are investigating others who ran onto the university grounds disguised as students.

Opposition supporters are seeking safe areas to protest as Cameroon security forces have been cracking down on street rallies since the election.

Tens of protesters on Sunday entered the Our Lady of Victories Cathedral in Yaoundé, interrupting a service to sing that Biya should hand over power.

Sosthene Lipot is the information officer for Kamto’s Cameroon Renaissance Movement party. He says they took their protests to the university and the church because of the crackdown.

He says the military should know that Biya has not even won wars he declared on two fronts — against Boko Haram and against separatists fighting for the creation of an English-speaking state — yet he is sending his military to attack innocent people who are simply protesting for their rights.

Archbishop Jean Mbarga of Yaounde at his residence in Yaounde, Cameroon, Oct. 28, 2018.
Archbishop Jean Mbarga of Yaounde at his residence in Yaounde, Cameroon, Oct. 28, 2018.

 

Archbishop Jean Mbarga condemned the protesters who entered the church, calling it a desecration of a religious body.

He says the Yaoundé archdiocese is scandalized at the disrespect that some politicians have shown towards the church. He says the church is apolitical and should never be used for any political activity, reason why he totally condemns such acts that are instilling doubts in the minds of Christians as to the neutrality of the Catholic church.

The Roman Catholic church in Cameroon has issued conflicting comments on the presidential election. Mbarga on Sunday saluted Biya as the winner, while the head of the national Catholic bishops conference expressed suspicion at the official results.

Officials said Biya won the election with 71 percent of the vote. Kamto, his main challenger, received 14 percent.

Opposition parties accused Biya’s ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) party of massive electoral fraud.

Culled from The VOA

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The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons.  The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers.    However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization.  It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

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Interim Government Condemns the Killing of an American Missionary by French Cameroun Soldiers

31, October 2018

Interim Government Condemns the Killing of an American Missionary by French Cameroun Soldiers 0

The Interim Government (IG) of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia hereby condemns in the strongest possible terms the summary execution of Mr. Charles Trumann Wesco, a Baptist missionary of American nationality, by French Cameroun soldiers today, October 30th 2018, in the locality of Bambui, few kilometers from the town of Bamenda in the Northern Zone of Ambazonia.

The IG is reliably informed that Mr. Charles Wesco, a humanitarian and missionary was shot while in his car for unclear reasons. Mr. Charles Trumann Wesco succumbed to his wounds in the Bamenda Regional Hospital. Mr Wesco, who is the older brother of the US Representative from Indiana, Timothy Wesco, is survived by a wife, Stephanie Wesco, and 8 children.

The execution of Mr. Wesco reiterates the fact that, the ongoing genocide in Ambazonia is real and a testimony to the carnage Mr. Biya, President of French Cameroun and his regime have imposed on the peace-loving people of Ambazonia. The IG hereby reminds the US Government that soldiers of French Cameroun have no value for human life and that their citizen has been executed in the same manner that Ambazonians are being killed daily.

Soldiers from French Cameroun had early this year, on July 14 2018, killed a priest, Rev Father Alexander Sob and a Ghanaian Pastor, Isaac Attoh, under similar circumstances. The Interim Government is appealing to the US Government to act now and stop Mr. Biya and his brutal army from continuing their genocide by tabling the matter at the UN Security Council.

The IG is also assuring Mr. Biya and his military junta that they shall face the International Criminal Court for the gruesome atrocities committed against the peaceful people of Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia, as well as citizens of other countries.

The IG calls on Southern Cameroonians in the US and other countries to light candles this evening in memory of the great American who sacrificed his life to serve as a missionary in Ambazonia and West Africa. We express our heartfelt condolences to the Wesco family, the US Embassy in the capital of French Cameroun, Yaounde, and pledge to provide them with our support as they investigate this gruesome assassination.

Yours Sincerely

Chris Anu

Secretary for Communications & IT

Now that you are here

The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons.  The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers.    However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization.  It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

Bank transaction: Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

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The Board looks forward to hearing from the readers.

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Email: soteragbawebai@gmail.com

 

 


US: Trump to push end to birthright citizenship

30, October 2018

US: Trump to push end to birthright citizenship 0

President Donald Trump said he will seek to limit the right of citizenship for certain children born in the United States in a new bid to dramatically reshape immigration policies that appeared to run afoul of the US Constitution.

Seeking to shore up support for Republicans ahead of the congressional elections next week, Trump told the Axios news website he would try to end the right of citizenship for US-born children of non-citizens and illegal immigrants.

The president said in an interview published on Tuesday that he would make the move through an executive order, likely prompting a legal fight.

The right of citizenship is granted to US-born children under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, which cannot be changed by the president.

It was unclear what specific action he would pursue, and Trump gave no details. Representatives for the White House did not respond to a request for comment.

“This is blatantly unconstitutional,” Omar Jadwat, head of the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project told Reuters. “The president obviously cannot overturn the Constitution by executive order. The notion that he would even try is absurd.”

Changing an amendment in the Constitution would require the support of two-thirds of the US House of Representatives and the Senate and the backing of three-fourths of US state legislatures at a constitutional convention.

But Trump said he has talked to his legal counsel and was advised he could enact the change on his own. Asked about the dispute over such presidential powers, Trump said stood by his comments.

Sponsored

“It’s in the process. It’ll happen,” he told Axios in the interview, which will air in full on the HBO pay cable channel on Sunday.

Some conservatives have long pushed for an end to the guarantee of birthright citizenship, a view Trump echoed.

“It’s ridiculous. It’s ridiculous. And it has to end,” Trump told Axios.

Gearing up for fight

Trump, whose hard-line immigration stance helped him win the White House, has seized on the issue in recent weeks in the run-up to the Nov. 6 vote that has Americans sharply divided and grappling with race and national identity.

His latest comments also come after the deadliest attack on Jews in US history on Saturday and a series of bombs sent to top Democrats and other Trump critics last week.

The 14th Amendment allows for “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

A legal challenge would prompt the nation’s courts to weigh in on what would be one of the most sweeping moves of the Trump administration. It has already targeted immigration through a travel ban from several Muslim-majority countries, child-parent separations for migrants, refugee policies and other actions.

In 1898, the US Supreme Court reaffirmed the right of citizenship to children born to legal permanent residents. But conservatives say it should not apply to everyone, including immigrants in the country illegally or those with temporary legal status, Axios reported.

Immigrant advocacy organizations are gearing up for a legal fight against any move to end birthright citizenship, said Greisa Martinez Rosas, deputy director of United We Dream, a national immigrant youth group.

Over 5,200 US troops heading to Mexico border

But she noted that the Trump administration has managed to notch legal victories for its immigration policies. “He has done a lot of things we thought he was unable to do,” she said.

“We know that it’s unconstitutional but what I think in this moment what is most important is for people to organize and vote.”

Democrats and other critics have condemned the president’s rhetoric on immigration as inflammatory, urging Trump to tone down his language and calling on voters to use the elections as a way to reject such policies.

US Senator Chris Coons, a Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told MSNBC that Trump “was driving a false narrative on immigration” in many ways to stoke fear and turn it into an election issue.

On Monday, the administration moved to send more than 5,200 troops to help secure the border with Mexico as a caravan of Central American migrants, mostly on foot, makes its way there, although it is unclear how many would arrive at the border or when.

(Source: Reuters)

Now that you are here

The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons.  The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers.    However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization.  It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

Bank transaction: Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Banking IBAN: GB51 BARC 2049 1103 9130 15

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Signed by the Group Chairman on behalf of the Board of Directors

Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Email: soteragbawebai@gmail.com

 

 


American missionary killed in Bambui as Yaounde pushes to suck the US into Ambazonia war

30, October 2018

American missionary killed in Bambui as Yaounde pushes to suck the US into Ambazonia war 0

An American missionary who arrived Cameroon on the 18th of October 2018 with his wife and 8 children has been killed by forces loyal to the Biya Francophone regime. Charles Trumann Wesco was shot in Bambui some few kilometers from Bamenda the chief city in the Northern zone.

Cameroon Concord News sources revealed that the late Charles Truman did receive emergency treatment at Bambui and was referred to the Bamenda Regional Hospital but died from injuries sustained from gun shots aimed at him.

A District Medical Officer reportedly called for an ambulance from Bamenda this morning to transport a female student shot in the stomach by Cameroon government forces in Bambui but the rescue team were refused passage around Mile 6 Nkwen by Biya regime soldiers.

Our senior correspondent in Bamenda said there were civilian casualties in Bambili that could not be reached by the emergency team. We understand intense fighting is going on in Bambui and Bambili involving Ambazonian Restoration forces and Cameroon government troops.

By Asu Vera Eyere in Bambui

Now that you are here

The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons.  The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers.    However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization.  It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

Bank transaction: Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Banking IBAN: GB51 BARC 2049 1103 9130 15

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SORT CODE 20-49-11, ACCOUNT NUMBER – 03913015 Barclay PLC, UK

The Board looks forward to hearing from the readers.

Signed by the Group Chairman on behalf of the Board of Directors

Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Email: soteragbawebai@gmail.com

 

 


Southern Cameroons Genocide: Biya regime erasing evidence

30, October 2018

Southern Cameroons Genocide: Biya regime erasing evidence 0

The Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime has been destroying villages in Southern Cameroons and the physical evidence of its military atrocities committed against Southern Cameroonians. Cameroon Intelligence Report has gotten reliable information that Cameroon government troops were destroying villages in Menchum, Manyu, Ngoketunjia, Kupe Muanenguba and Donga-Mantung Counties where thousands of Ambazonian lived before either being killed or fleeing to Nigeria amid deadly violence in Southern Cameroons.

Military bulldozers donated to the Cameroon army by France and the United States of America are being used to bury Southern Cameroons civilians burnt to death by French Cameroun soldiers. The French government of President Emmanuel Macron with the support of diplomats from French speaking African nations has prevented the United Nations from sending an independent fact-finding mission to Southern Cameroons.

The Southern Cameroons Interim government headed by Dr Ikome Sako released a report recently and called for French Cameroun political and military leaders to stand trial for genocide against Ambazonians. The regime in Yaounde informed national and international public opinion that the deployment of military caterpillars and bulldozers were to assist the army access the remote areas in its war against separatists. But a well placed source in the nation’s capital hinted Cameroon Intelligence Report that the aim is to destroy the physical evidence that could be used in potential trials at the International Criminal Court.

More than 4000 Southern Cameroonians have been killed and several hundred injured, arbitrarily arrested, or raped by Francophone soldiers and militia created by the so-called Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji.

The United Nations has estimated that at least 161,000 Southern Cameroonians have been internally displaced ever since the 85 year old President Biya declared war on the English speaking communities.  Human rights lawyers in Buea and Bamenda have also been questioning the whereabouts of the dead bodies of innocent Southern Cameroonians killed by French Cameroun troops.

Meanwhile, a senior adviser to Acting President Ikome Sako told our London bureau chief that Biya regime’s destruction of evidence won’t help it avoid accountability as there is other evidence that crimes occurred and were systemic.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Now that you are here

The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons.  The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers.    However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization.  It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

Bank transaction: Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Banking IBAN: GB51 BARC 2049 1103 9130 15

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SORT CODE 20-49-11, ACCOUNT NUMBER – 03913015 Barclay PLC, UK

The Board looks forward to hearing from the readers.

Signed by the Group Chairman on behalf of the Board of Directors

Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Email: soteragbawebai@gmail.com

 

 

 


More body parts retrieved from Indonesia jet crash site

30, October 2018

More body parts retrieved from Indonesia jet crash site 0

Indonesian search teams on Tuesday recovered more remains at the site of a crashed Lion Air jet that plunged into the sea with 189 people aboard, as a report said it had suffered an instrument malfunction the day before.

The Boeing-737 MAX, which went into service just months ago, crashed into the Java Sea moments after it had asked to return to Jakarta on Monday.

Flight JT 610 sped up as it suddenly lost altitude and then vanished from radar 13 minutes after take-off, with authorities saying witnesses saw the jet plunge into the water.

Dozens of divers are taking part in the recovery effort.

Search teams have filled ten body bags with limbs and other human remains, Muhammad Syaugi, head of the Indonesian national search and rescue agency, told Metro TV, saying they will be taken to Jakarta for identification and DNA testing.

The remains of a baby were among those found, according to national deputy police chief Ari Dono Sukmanto.

Another 14 bags filled with debris have also been collected.

Shoes, items of clothing, and a wallet are among the items found.

“We hope we can see the plane’s main body — everything on the surface of the water has been collected,” Syaugi said.

Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC) said there were 178 adult passengers, one child, two infants, two pilots, and six cabin crew on board Flight JT 610.

Among them were the plane’s Indian captain, 20 Indonesian Finance Ministry employees, and Andrea Manfredi, an Italian former professional cyclist.

The search and rescue agency all but ruled out finding any survivors late Monday, citing the discovery of body parts that suggested a high-impact crash in water some 30-40 meters deep off the coast of Indonesia’s Java Island.

“We are prioritizing finding the main wreckage of the plane using five war ships equipped with sonar to detect metal underwater,” said Yusuf Latif, spokesman of the Indonesian search and rescue agency.

Both the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder — which could be key pieces of evidence — are still missing.

‘Unreliable’

The plane had been en route to Pangkal Pinang City, a jumping off point for beach-and-sun seeking tourists on nearby Belitung island, when it dropped out of contact around 6:30 am (2330 GMT).

The family members of the victims of the ill-fated Lion Air Flight JT 610 gather at a disaster victim identification unit at a police hospital in Jakarta, Indonesia, on October 30, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

 

Lion Air said the plane had only gone into service in August.

The pilot and co-pilot had more than 11,000 hours of flying time between them and had undergone recent medical checkups and drug testing, it added.

On Monday, Lion Air chief Edward Sirait acknowledged the plane had an unspecified technical issue fixed in Bali before it was flown back to Jakarta, calling it “normal procedure.”

A technical logbook detailed an “unreliable” airspeed reading instrument on the Bali-Jakarta flight on Sunday and different altitude readings on the captain and first officer’s instruments, according to the BBC.

Copies of several Lion Air technical documents have been circulating on social media, but they could not be immediately confirmed as authentic.

The company did not return phones calls seeking comment.

Boeing suspended release of the 737 MAX just days before its first commercial delivery last year due to an engine issue, according to airline safety and product review site airlineratings.com.

It said the engines were a product of a joint venture between US-based General Electric and France’s Safran Aircraft Engines.

Lion Air, Indonesia’s biggest budget airline, which has been engaged in huge expansion, announced earlier this year it was buying 50 Boeing 737 MAX 10 jets for $6.24 billion.

Indonesia’s air travel industry is booming, with the number of domestic passengers growing significantly over the past decade, but it has acquired a reputation for poor regulation and its airlines had previously been banned from US and European airspace.

Lion has been involved in a number of incidents, including a fatal 2004 crash and a collision between two Lion Air planes at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta airport.

(Source: AFP)

Now that you are here

The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons.  The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers.    However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization.  It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

Bank transaction: Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Banking IBAN: GB51 BARC 2049 1103 9130 15

Swift BIC BARC GB22XX

SORT CODE 20-49-11, ACCOUNT NUMBER – 03913015 Barclay PLC, UK

The Board looks forward to hearing from the readers.

Signed by the Group Chairman on behalf of the Board of Directors

Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Email: soteragbawebai@gmail.com

 

 


Message to Ambazonians: Milton Keynes Confirmed As Venue for Brazil v Cameroon Friendly

30, October 2018

Message to Ambazonians: Milton Keynes Confirmed As Venue for Brazil v Cameroon Friendly 0

Brazil’s November friendly against Cameroon will take place at the Milton Keynes Stadium, it has now been confirmed.

The Seleção were keen to play both of their November matches in Europe and confirmed Emirates Stadium as the location for the game against Uruguay on November 16 th .

The CBF lined up Cameroon as opposition for their second friendly game in the November international break, but were struggling to nail down a venue near London.

Talks took place to hold the match in Paris, but France will play there during the same week, while Seville and Madrid were also touted as destinations.

But Brazil will play Cameroon at Stadium: MK in Milton Keynes, meaning they can maintain their training base at Tottenham Hotspur’s training headquarters for the duration of the fixture list.

Source: Sambafoot

Now that you are here

The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons.  The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers.    However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization.  It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

Bank transaction: Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Banking IBAN: GB51 BARC 2049 1103 9130 15

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SORT CODE 20-49-11, ACCOUNT NUMBER – 03913015 Barclay PLC, UK

The Board looks forward to hearing from the readers.

Signed by the Group Chairman on behalf of the Board of Directors

Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Email: soteragbawebai@gmail.com

 

 


Biya’s Continued Stay in power: Opposition members freed, but others detained

30, October 2018

Biya’s Continued Stay in power: Opposition members freed, but others detained 0

Cameroon authorities have released around 50 opposition supporters detained in Douala, but also arrested others on Sunday in Yaoundé, their party said.

“They were freed,” said a member of Maurice Kamto’s party, Movement for the Rebirth of Cameroon (MRC) in reference to those arrested Saturday during an unauthorised march called to protest the results of a presidential election on October 7.

Kamto placed second in the poll with 14.23 percent of the vote, behind president Paul Biya, who has governed Cameroon for 35 years and was credited with 71.28 percent.

One of those arrested on Saturday was taken to hospital after he “fell from a police vehicle”, a relative said.

Meanwhile, other MRC supporters were arrested Sunday in the capital, Kamto spokesman Olivier Bibou-Nissack said.

“Several peaceful supporters arrested on the plaza of the Notre Dame of Yaoundé cathedral this morning,” he wrote on social media.

Opposition figure Michele Ndoki was among those detained the day before. She is one of Kamto’s lawyers who protested before the Constitutional Council against “massive and systematic fraud” during the election.

On Friday, minister Paul Atanga Nji warned that “any attempts to disturb the public order will be met with the greatest firmness.

“With the proclamation of the results, the process has ended,” Nji said, before adding that “public demonstrations must now take place in conditions set by law”. Protest permit requests are often rejected, however.

AFP

Now that you are here

The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons.  The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers.    However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization.  It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

Bank transaction: Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Banking IBAN: GB51 BARC 2049 1103 9130 15

Swift BIC BARC GB22XX

SORT CODE 20-49-11, ACCOUNT NUMBER – 03913015 Barclay PLC, UK

The Board looks forward to hearing from the readers.

Signed by the Group Chairman on behalf of the Board of Directors

Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Email: soteragbawebai@gmail.com

 

 



October 7 Polls: Roman Catholic Church issues conflicting comments

30, October 2018

October 7 Polls: Roman Catholic Church issues conflicting comments 0

The Roman Catholic church, the main religious body in Cameroon has issued conflicting comments on the conduct of the October 7 presidential election in which incumbent Paul Biya was declared the winner.

Church bells ring at Our Lady of Victories Cathedral in Yaounde, inviting Catholics to a mass to be said by metropolitan Archbishop Jean Mbarga. Mbarga says the special mass is to pray for peace in Cameroon and salute the victory of President Paul Biya in Cameroon’s October 7 presidential election.

He says people should congratulate Paul Biya for his victory especially as electoral disputes were handled in a transparent manner by the constitutional council. He says everyone should recognize Biya as the president elect, start preparing for the next election and thank God for the peace that was observed during the presidential poll.

The archbishop’s declaration that the election was transparent sharply contradicts the position of the episcopal conference of Cameroon Roman Catholic bishops of which Mbarga is a member.

Samuel Kleda, archbishop of Douala and president of the episcopal conference had criticized the election saying that the large turnout announced by the elections management body ELECAM along Cameroon’s northern border with Nigeria, was particularly suspicious.

Archbishop Samuel Kleda of Doulala on an outing with Protestant and Muslim clerics in Yaounde, Cameroon, Sept. 19, 2018.
Archbishop Samuel Kleda of Doulala on an outing with Protestant and Muslim clerics in Yaounde, Cameroon, Sept. 19, 2018.

 

Kleda said that the fighting in the English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions and the Boko Haram insurgency along Cameroon’s northern border with Nigeria had displaced large numbers of people and they could not vote.

Kleda says he is surprised at claims that the ruling party candidate Paul Biya scored overwhelming victories in many parts of Cameroon including the English-speaking northwest and southwest regions where they themselves said they were unable to go to campaign because of galloping insecurity.

He says petitions filed by opposition party candidates that the election were marred by massive fraud and did not even take place in several regions ought to have been taken seriously by the government because Cameroon’s unity is threatened.

Cameroon’s Roman Catholic bishops have been divided before, even though it has never been as public as it is now. When the separatist movement in the Anglophone regions became violent, Kleda condemned the government troops for brutality, while some bishops, including Mbarga, said it was legitimate defense.

An estimated 35 percent of Cameroon’s 24 million people are of the Roman Catholic faith.

Cameroon's President Paul Biya, of the Cameroon People's Democratic Movement party, waits to cast his vote during the Presidential elections in Yaounde, Oct. 7, 2018.
Cameroon’s President Paul Biya, of the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement party, waits to cast his vote during the Presidential elections in Yaounde, Oct. 7, 2018.

 

On Oct. 22 incumbent Paul Biya was declared the winner with 71 percent of the vote, with his main challenger, Maurice Kamto, only receiving 14 percent.

Several opposition candidates accused Biya’s ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) party of massive electoral fraud to keep the 85-year-old leader in office for another seven years. Biya is Africa’s longest serving president, having entered office in 1982.

Source: VOA

Now that you are here

The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons.  The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers.    However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization.  It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

Bank transaction: Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Banking IBAN: GB51 BARC 2049 1103 9130 15

Swift BIC BARC GB22XX

SORT CODE 20-49-11, ACCOUNT NUMBER – 03913015 Barclay PLC, UK

The Board looks forward to hearing from the readers.

Signed by the Group Chairman on behalf of the Board of Directors

Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Email: soteragbawebai@gmail.com

 

 


Yaounde: The monarch set to wear his crown of thorns

29, October 2018

Yaounde: The monarch set to wear his crown of thorns 0

Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya, also known as the monarch, returned to the nation’s capital on Sunday, October 28, 2018, after a short visit to his native Mvomeka’a where he was relaxing after a long bruising presidential election campaign that made his age and departure the central themes of the campaign.

Upon arrival in Yaounde, Mr. Biya immediately called the Speaker of the National Assembly, Cavaye Yegue Djril, to whom he gave firm instructions on the holding of a parliamentary session on Friday, November 2, in preparation for his swearing-in slated for November 7.

Over the last 20 years, the monarch has become very dictatorial and he has successfully deleted any lines that existed between the executive, judiciary and legislative branches of the government. It should be recalled that Mr. Biya appoints all magistrates and judges in the country and has a huge influence on members of parliament and senators, 30% of whom are directly appointed by him, while 70% are elected in a counterfeit election whose results are usually known many months ahead of time. And this same influence could be seen during the just-ended presidential elections.

Right from the beginning, it was clear that beating the incumbent through the ballot box will be a Herculean task. The electoral code is beautifully written to ensure that the incumbent is maintained in power. Even the election organizing body, ELECAM, is replete with members of the ruling party and this makes it hard for real impartial elections to be held in a country like Cameroon that lacks basic, transparent and fair election rules.

From every indication, ELECAM is just another wing of the ruling CPDM (Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement), a party considered by many Cameroonians are a crime syndicate due to the type of people who are its members. This party’s membership comprises ex-convicts, hardened criminals, murderers, business-people evading taxes and embezzlers. It has been banned in Southern Cameroons by the Ambazonian Interim Government and designated as a terrorist organization.

ELECAM, by its very nature, cannot organize free and fair elections in Cameroon and this explains why there were many irregularities in this year’s presidential polls, a fact recognized by the American government which clearly indicated in its congratulatory message to the contested winner of the rigged poll.

It should be recalled that Cameroon has just held a presidential election whose results were known by almost everybody, as members of the election-organizing body are appointed by Mr. Biya and most of them are members of his ruling party. Similarly, members of the Constitutional Council were also appointed by Mr. Biya in January and all of them had been compromised. All of them are members of the ruling party, and many of their spouses hold positions in government.

The president of the Constitutional Council, Clement Atangana, a retired Supreme Court judge, who was struggling with life while on retirement, had clearly indicated that he was there to serve the president’s interest. His appointment was indeed a resuscitation for him as this could be seen in a video in which he was rejoicing after hearing the “good news”. Of course he knew from the beginning that one good turn deserved another and this was obvious during the Constitutional Council’s deliberations. A villa is currently being constructed for him.

Other members of the Constitutional Council who did not inspire hope were Florence Arrey, a long-time girlfriend of the country’s justice minister, Laurent Esso; Foumane Akame, a one-time minster under Mr. Biya whose wife is also a ruling party parliamentarian; Joseph-Marie Bipoum Woum who was also a minster under the current president; Paul Nchoji Nkwi also a former minister and Jean-Baptiste Baskouda who has also served under the same president.

The Constitutional Council, whose decision is final and irreducible, had been set up to ensure the incumbent stayed in power. Despite attempts by the opposition during post-electoral fraud hearings in Yaounde to have the Constitutional Council members to recuse themselves because of several conflicts of interest, their appeals clearly fell on deaf ears. Members of this body are eternally indebted to the country’s president who is mockingly known by the public as the “monarch” for his haughty attitude and incompetence.

Not only was that application thrown out by the Constitutional Council for lack of any law to support the opposition’s claim of conflict of interest, all other applications by the opposition were also thrown out after a five-day deliberation. The presidential poll results that had been making the rounds on social media two weeks prior to the proclamation of the results by the Constitutional Council were simply confirmed and Mr. Biya who has been in power for 36 years, will be in power again for seven more years; a time many Cameroonians believe will bring more death and destruction to a country that is not only at war, but gradually heading to the bottom of the abyss.

Cameroon is replete with many problems and many of them are off-shoots of the mismanagement, tribalism and corruption that have become the country’s hallmark. Corruption has robbed the country of the financial resources it needs to undertake major development work. The country lacks good medical infrastructure. Most of its hospitals have become consultation clinics. The road infrastructure also leaves much to be desired. The roads are today death traps that are consuming the population at a rate never seen before.

The country’s economy too has taken a nosedive. Over the last 20 years, Cameroon’s economy has been caught in a tailspin. Unemployment has continued to rise, with university graduates not being able to find jobs. Many corporations have gone under, leaving many of their workers unemployed.

But the most difficult challenge is the Southern Cameroons crisis that is very likely to tear the country apart. For more than two years, Southern Cameroonians have engaged the government in a tough battle that has resulted in the killing of some 4,000 Cameroonians, including over 1,300 soldiers.

Following a demonstration by teachers and lawyers in 2016, the two English-speaking regions have become ungovernable. The government’s military actions have caused some 200,000 Southern Cameroonians to flee to Nigeria while millions are hiding in the bushes to avoid the government’s indiscriminate killings.

Many children are today seeking refuge in those bushes and many babies have been delivered in the process. The numbers of teenage mothers have increased and this spells another serious problem in the future. The government has not taken any efforts to convince the people for them to return to their homes.

On the contrary, soldiers have been torching many homes and killing any young Southern Cameroonians found in the territory in the hope that they could eliminate any threat Southern Cameroonians pose to the government.

Schools have been closed now for two years in the region and many of the students have simply been co-opted into the armed groups that have emerged. As the government turns down any appeals for inclusive dialogue, so too does the situation deteriorate. Even after solutions to the conflict would have been sought, security issues will linger for a long time. Many young men, who have lost hope in life, will continue to use their weapons as a means of eking out a living.

While Southern Cameroonians are struggling to break away from the Yaounde government, Boko Haram is bombing many northerners out of existence. The government’s repressive approach has only caused the people to run to Boko Haram whose methods are more appreciated by the population. The government is yet to understand that its repressive approach is not yielding the right results and this is exactly what caused the Southern Cameroons crisis to escalate.

Mr. Biya might have been handed victory by his Constitutional Council, but with that victory comes a crown of thorns that might keep him uncomfortable for seven years. The people of Cameroon have lost confidence in him. After 36 years in power, Cameroon has been put in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. It will take a miracle for most of the problems currently facing the country to be addressed by the same man who is responsible for these issues.

The world is watching Cameroon and many people will be keeping an eye on the monarch. Many want to see how comfortable he will be in his new crown of thorns. The country is out of cash. It has very few friends around the world and its finances are fast dwindling. With oil prices diminishing on a daily basis and separatists threatening to disrupt oil production in the Southwest region, it is clear that before long the government will be taking its begging bowl to other parts of the world for assistance.

Many of its corporations are bleeding money and those in the English-speaking regions of the country that used to haul in millions of dollars are unfortunately out of business due to the armed conflict that is unfolding in the region. The English-speaking regions are in a stand-still and this implies businesses are dying and the government is losing lots of revenue.

Mr. Biya might wear the crown, but it is clear that the hidden thorns in it will keep him permanently ill at ease. Most of country’s allies have called on the government to find sustainable solutions to the Southern Cameroons crisis and America has simply ended its military partnership with the country due to serious human abuses in the northern part of the country.  Mr. Biya will have to burn the mid-night candle on both ends if he has to post any results. His dwindling financial resources imply that he has a crisis on his hands and with the country awash with weapons, it is clear that the government’s military actions in the region will not deliver the military solutions it has been hankering after for two years.

Cameroon is in for a long dangerous walk in the desert. With its partners jumping ship, it is clear that the country will hit so many bumps on its path. As Prof. Kamto and his supporters continue to contest Mr. Biya’s victory, it is clear that the country has a lot on its plate. The future is bleak for a nation that many had once touted as an oasis of peace in a desert of chaos.  Many people have lost hope in Cameroon, but it is up to Mr. Biya to change tactics if he wants the world to see him as the man who left Cameroon a better place than he met it.  Long live the monarch in his new crown of thorns.

By Kingsley Betek and Soter Agbaw-Ebai

Now that you are here

The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons.  The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers.    However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization.  It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

Bank transaction: Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Banking IBAN: GB51 BARC 2049 1103 9130 15

Swift BIC BARC GB22XX

SORT CODE 20-49-11, ACCOUNT NUMBER – 03913015 Barclay PLC, UK

The Board looks forward to hearing from the readers.

Signed by the Group Chairman on behalf of the Board of Directors

Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Email: soteragbawebai@gmail.com

 

 


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