Headline News

1, June 2018

CAMEROON BILINGUALISM: A MIGHTY FRAUD AGAINST THE PEOPLE OF THE SOUTHERN CAMEROONS! ⁰

One of the things imperial Cameroon brandishes to the world as a success is its bilingualism. No one seems to see that Cameroon bilingualism is an act of fraud; that it disrespects the Anglophone component of the imposed nation; that it is an arch example of colonization and assimilation; that nowhere else in the whole wide world is this form of bilingualism practiced. Today, we lift the veil, so that the fraud may be exposed.

2. What is bilingualism? Bilingualism is a situation in which the administration of a country uses two languages to serve two groups of its users, each of which uses only one of the two languages in question. A country adopts bilingualism only when it has two groups of its population, each of which understands or is presumed to understand only one of the two languages in question, and not both. In that situation, the government makes it its responsibility to serve every user in one of the two languages of the country.

3. Bilingualism exists to honour and respect the identity of each of the linguistic groups of users; it recognizes the language of each of the groups as part of its identity and therefore will never impose upon each of the groups the language of the other group. Whether you take the example of Canada or of Switzerland, this is what you will find. In Canada for example, the official language in Quebec is French, not the English of the majority. It is only in imperial Cameroon that English is not the official language of the English speaking peoples! Nowhere else in the world is this form of fraud practised.

4. In Cameroon, bilingualism has taken the form of the imposition of French on the English speaking peoples of the Southern Cameroons; the refusal to recognize their own language, English, as the official language in the Southern Cameroons; the absence of any law which makes texts issued only in French illegal in the Southern Cameroons and therefore virtually no responsibility for the government even to translate official texts. No citizen can sue the government for issuing a text only in one language or reject a document served to him in French. Translation by government is done on an optional basis. They say that English is also used in La Republique du Cameroun, but this is a mere hoax since no English administrator dares serve anyone there a text in English. On the contrary, French is the language in which most administrative texts are served to Southern Cameroonians within the Southern Cameroons; French is the official language in the military and polices forces and virtually all professional schools; everywhere in the Southern Cameroons you find government sign boards in French, but you cannot see one single government sign board in English in Republique du Cameroun.

5. The absolute and primary condition for the existence of bilingualism (or the use of two languages in the administration of a country) is that each linguistic group should keep its own language as its official language and not be imposed the language of the other group. Once the two groups are forced to learn each other’s language, the administration is bound to become monolingual. It is the language of the minority group that will die, for the simple reason that the minority must first learn the language of the majority and thus establish communication in that language!

6. For bilingualism to exist in Cameroon (and not the assimilation that is now called bilingualism), English must become the official language in the Southern Cameroons and French to be the official language in
La Republique du Cameroun. This would dramatically increase the need for bilingual services, because all French documents must be translated into the official language in the Southern Cameroons and all English documents be translated into the official language in La Republique du Cameroun. Interpretation services will also increase because all conferences must be interpreted.

7. It is the monolingualism of individuals which forces the administration to be bilingual. That is to say, for the administration to be bilingual, those who use that administration must be monolingual or at least have the choice of using only their own language! Bilingualism of individuals must necessarily end the bilingualism of the administration or the state! If all or most citizens are bilingual, what need would there be for the government to translate any texts? In Cameroon, bilingualism was introduced only because there are Anglophones who don’t understand French. If Anglophones who don’t understand French continue to diminish in number every year, the need for bilingualism must also decrease! Translation of government texts is done only for this group! As you can see, it is only a matter of time before the generation of Southern Cameroonians who don’t understand French is phased out. When that happens, all Southern Cameroonians will be speaking French. At that point, it would be completely useless to use English in the Cameroon administration.

8. Language is simply a tool for communication. Once communication is established, there is no need for another language! The more so-called Anglophones learn French, the more communication is established in French, and the less need there is to use English any more, especially in the administration. Always remember that English was introduced into the colonial Cameroon administration only for the colonized Anglophones who could not yet speak French! It was not introduced so that Francophones should learn English! No, it was a measure to accommodate their colonized Anglophones while their assimilation is completed. Consequently, once communication is established through French, English must naturally cease to be valid as a means of communication in the administration.

9. If I can speak your language, what would be the need for you to learn my own? Even if you can learn my own, what purpose would it serve since we are already able to communicate in your own language?

10. In the current imperial Cameroon situation, translation and interpretation services must naturally dwindle and finally die. It is an impossibility to continue to translate texts and interpret conferences for those who already understand the original language in which the texts were written or conferences held! It would not be long before everyone would discover the enormous waste of time and resources, and also the hypocrisy involved.

11. When Southern Cameroonians meet people from La Republique du Cameroun, what language do they speak? French, of course! Why? Because Anglophones are the first to learn French and so communication must occur only in the language which both sides understand.

12. If most or all Southern Cameroonians begin to speak or even merely understand French, what would be the need to use English in the Cameroon administration? And if Anglophones continue to speak in French, who will speak their own language? Does this not tell you that English is programmed to die in the Cameroon administration?

13. Yes, only the language that is used in the administration counts as an official language or as part of the bilingualism. A sizeable portion of English people speak French; that does not make England a bilingual
nation. Similarly, a sizeable portion of Germans speak English, that does not make English one of the official languages of Germany. Many French people speak English, that does not make English an official language in France. An official language of a nation is only a language that is used in the administration or in public offices.

14. As further proof, let me ask you this question: In 1961 or even 1972 what percentage of Southern Cameroonians understood French? What is the percentage today? Probably in 1961 and later on in 1972, less than 20% of Southern Cameroonians understood French. Today, probably 70%! Does that percentage that understands French today need any translation or interpretation? If the need for translation and interpretation is constantly dwindling, what does that tell you about the future of bilingual services in colonial Cameroon?

15. The questions above prove to you that Cameroon is moving towards a single language, not bilingualism. Colonial Cameroon is therefore guilty of fraud, misrepresentation, swindle and cheating. Its version of bilingualism is an act of fraud against the people of the Southern Cameroons; it is part of its colonial and assimilation policy, not bilingualism at all.

16. The only way for bilingualism to survive is for English to be the official language in the southern Cameroons and French to be the official language in La Republique du Cameroun. That is what will promote bilingual services such as translation and interpretation.

17. Southern Cameroonians, you now see the gigantic fraud, the misrepresentation, the hoax, the swindle that is practiced on you by colonial Cameroon! Wake up and claim the right to your own language. No more should French be accepted as the official language in the Southern Cameroons; no more should French sign boards be accepted; no more should administrative texts be served in French in the Southern Cameroons.

18. Francophones learn English today, not so that it can be used in the Cameroon administration, but for the enormous advantages that English gives them in the world. Do not be deceived. Even Francophone Ministers who study in English countries use only the French language when serving in the Cameroon administration. The Anglophone Prime Minister uses only French and so do all other Anglophones in the administration. They must do this, to prove to their Francophone bosses that they have been thoroughly assimilated; to pretend to belong, to gain favours and so on. No one dares point out the programmed end of bilingualism in Cameroon.

19. There you have your so-called bilingualism, one more crime against the people of the Southern Cameroons

By Denis Atabong

1, June 2018

Trump attacks attorney general Sessions as fight builds over Russia probe ⁰

US President Donald Trump says he regrets naming Jeff Sessions as attorney general, as pressure on the White House grows from a special counsel’s probe into possible campaign collusion with Russia and obstruction of justice.

After The New York Times reported that Trump pressured Sessions to reverse his recusal from overseeing the Russia probe in March 2017, the US president confirmed his unhappiness over that decision in a tweet.

He quoted a Republican lawmaker as criticizing Sessions for not telling the president before becoming attorney general that he would have to recuse himself from the investigation.

“There are lots of really good lawyers in the country, he could have picked somebody else!” the lawmaker, Trey Gowdy, said.

“I wish I did!” Trump said in his tweet.

Trump has repeatedly lashed out at Sessions, who he hand-picked last year as the country’s top law enforcement official, as the probe into Russian election meddling, and possible obstruction, bores in on the White House.

On Sunday, Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, said the investigation could ultimately result in an impeachment effort in Congress over alleged obstruction by the president.

“Eventually the decision here is going to be impeach, not impeach,” Giuliani told CNN in an interview.

The president has made clear he believes Sessions, a former senator who was active in the Trump campaign, should be helping him fight the probe, rather than standing to the side.

The Times reported Wednesday that Trump’s push for Sessions to reverse his recusal has become a focus of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe.

The episode could put Sessions, whom Mueller’s investigators interviewed in January, in the position of being a witness against the president in the obstruction side of Mueller’s investigation, according to the Times.

Trump has gone on the offensive, seeking to paint the Mueller investigation, the Justice Department, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as biased against him, and is now calling the Mueller probe “illegitimate” and “rigged.”

Last weekend, he tweeted 14 times about the investigation, alleging that Democrats were behind what he called the “plant” of a law enforcement informant in his campaign.

Giuliani said Trump and his team have to take the fight to the public with an eye to a possible impeachment fight.

“”Members of Congress, Democrat and Republican, are going to be informed a lot by their constituents. So, our jury is the American — as it should be — is the American people,” he said on CNN.

(Source: AFP)

1, June 2018

The 2 years Southern Cameroons war may never end ⁰

The United Nations and some renowned media houses in the West have started reporting on the deteriorating situation in Southern Cameroons barely two years into the conflict. Prof Patrice Nganang in a recent televised interview described the war in Southern Cameroons as an eroding stalemate in which the Ambazonian Interim Government and its Self-Defense Council Restoration Forces have not only been able to expand, but also consolidate, the territory they hold.

However, recent developments, including the barbaric attack by Cameroon government forces on a Hotel killing more than 30 unarmed Ambazonians in Menka-Pinyin are reminders of the need to assess the Southern Cameroons crisis in more than binary terms. Frankly speaking, the picture painted by French Cameroun’s US-based Prof Patrice Nganang as eroding stalemate is morphing into an uglier, more complicated conflict, that may soon resemble the Rwandan civil war or even the present, intractable war in Libya, due to the absence of a holistic strategy by the French backed Biya regime and military escalation by Francophone army commanders.

Ever since the crisis started, the Trump administration has been consistently inconsistent with its dealing with the malicious regime in Yaoundé. First, it supplied the Biya Francophone regime with war equipment including two fighter jets mindful of a CIA report to the White House stating that Cameroon government troops combating the Nigerian Islamic sect, Boko Haram have all been moved from the Far North region and redeployed to Southern Cameroons. Secondly, Ambassador Peter Barlerin attacked the Interim Government of the people of Southern Cameroons saying that they were “…a very tiny minority of Cameroonian-born individuals living in the United States” responsible for the crisis in Cameroon. And then recently the US ambassador made a dramatic u turn and accused the Biya regime of “targeted killings” in Southern Cameroons. Peter Barlerin during an audience with Mr. Biya advised the 85 year old tyrant to step aside.

Judging from this regular change of the United States position, it is evidently clear that the West does not have a solution to the Southern Cameroons crisis. The US and their European allies have notionally embraced the modest aims of the French government and the Biya regime: the elimination of transnational terrorism threats and weakening of Boko Haram that it feels compelled to ignore the numerous Biya excesses. Toward this, the Trump administration and the European Union have allowed Biya to expand Yaounde’s use of blunt military force against Southern Cameroonians, a targeted increase in troop’s presence in Southern Cameroons, and various forms of diplomatic pressure on Nigeria hosting more than 40,000 Southern Cameroons refugees.

The presence of US forces in the North of Cameroon and the numerous military donations from the US government to the Cameroon army may be view as less charitably. For some time now, the US has been seeking to know what the Russians and President Putin are doing in the Central African Republic, CAR. Russia is currently supplying the Bangui government with arms under UN approval and Russia has several military advisers stationed in the war torn country. CAR President Faustin-Archange Touadéra has been to Moscow twice recently and this is disturbing to the French and the US.

Let us, however, assume that US’s aims in Cameroon are indeed limited to destroying Boko Haram and the so-called Islamic State of West Africa. Even with these modest goals in mind, the grim reality may be that the Trump administration is giving Biya another chance as head of state in Cameroon that he actually doesn’t really have. And as a result of its military-first strategy, the United States will end up making things worse in both French and Southern Cameroons.

The US has erroneously joined the self-perpetuating ecosystem of violence in Cameroon. It rejects the 85 year old leader, Paul Biya but empowers his war machinery that is helping to breathe life into the CPDM crime syndicate. The Cameroon government army is a Francophone Fulani- Beti- Ewondo army and these warlords have abused the local populace in Southern Cameroons, kidnapped young boys and girls, making them into sex slaves and killed hundreds.

The supposed gains made by Cameroon government forces in Buea and Bamenda in recent months are easily reversible once the Interim Government starts attracting international partners. Correspondingly, the Cameroon government military would collapse if the Southern Cameroons crisis drags for another year.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

1, June 2018

Uganda imposes tax on social media use ⁰

Uganda’s parliament has imposed a tax on the use of social media in a bid to raise revenue but opponents of the law say it aims to stifle criticism of President Yoweri Museveni, who has been in power since 1986.

Users will be charged 200 shillings ($0.0531) per day for services such as Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp. That amounts to around $19 per year in a country where gross domestic product per capita was around $615 in 2016, according to World Bank figures.

The tax was passed on Wednesday as part of an overhaul of an excise duty law due to take effect next financial year which starts in July, parliament spokesman Chris Obore told Reuters.

A junior finance minister previously told journalists the tax would be levied daily by mobile phone operators on each SIM card used to access any of the targeted social media platforms.

There was no immediate comment from cell phone operators or social media companies, but rights advocates denounced the move.

“It (tax) is a new tool of stifling free expression and citizen organising that has been beyond the control of the state,” said Nicholas Opiyo, a Kampala-based lawyer who also heads a local rights organisation.

“It’s intended to curtail the ever increasing central role of social media in political organising,” he said.

A government spokesman did not return a call seeking comment but authorities have previously denied such accusations.

About 40 percent of Uganda’s 40 million people use the internet, according to data from the regulating body Uganda Communications Commission. Facebook and WhatsApp are widely used in Uganda and many other African countries.

Digital advocacy group the World Wide Web Foundation says data costs in Africa are among the world’s highest, a fact blamed for slow internet penetration and limited use even for those connected.

“Data right now is essential in nearly every worker’s day to day business, a responsible government should be lowering its price not the opposite,” said Diana Taremwa, a charity worker in the capital Kampala.

Critics of Museveni, 73, say his government employs a wide array of tactics to limit political debate, trample on civil rights and stifle the opposition.

Museveni has won a series of elections but his opponents say these have been rigged in his favour. His main rival, Kizza Besigye, has been jailed dozens of times since he first run against him in 2001.

Some opposition critics have in the past been charged for allegedly insulting him in posts on Facebook.

In the last presidential election in 2016, authorities also blocked access to Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp saying the platforms would be used by the opposition to mobilise protests. ($1 = 3,770.0000 Ugandan shillings)

(Source: Reuters)

1, June 2018

Nigeria: Conviction of former governor boosts anti-corruption hopes ⁰

The conviction of former governor Jolly Nyame has boosted hopes of change in Nigeria which has battled against corruption for a long time.

Nigerian lawyers and activists on Thursday welcomed the jailing of a former state governor for corruption, hoping it will set a precedent for a string of other high-profile suspects.

Jolly Nyame was sentenced to 14 years’ jail on Wednesday for looting millions of dollars as governor of northeastern Taraba state between 1999 and 2007.

The judge at the court in Abuja condemned his crimes, which included inflated contracts for office equipment and stationery, “outright theft”. Nyame, a church pastor, was one of more than a dozen governors who left office in 2007.

They were questioned at the end of their tenures by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Theirs and dozens of other high-profile graft cases, some dating back to the early 2000s, are still before the courts, having been delayed by repeated adjournments.

‘Conviction will boost anti-corruption efforts’

But EFCC spokesman Wilson Uwujaren said Nyame’s conviction would boost anti-corruption efforts and potentially help to speed up pending cases.

“There are a number of former governors still being prosecuted by the EFCC for corruption,” he told AFP. “Some of the cases have progressed substantially.’‘

“With the diligence of the EFCC in prosecuting these cases, hopefully the nation will witness more conviction of former political office holders.”

The Buhari factor?

President Muhammadu Buhari, a no-nonsense former military ruler, has vowed to recover what he said were “mind-boggling” sums of public money looted by officials over decades.

The Nigerian statesman is the African Union’s anti-corruption champion, with the continental body having chosen to dedicate this year 2018 to the fight against the vice.

The EFCC, the country’s main anti-corruption agency, has been at the forefront of efforts to stamp out the practice, and has brought dozens of high-profile individuals to court.

But with many of them members of the former administration of Goodluck Jonathan and his Peoples Democratic Party, Buhari has been accused of conducting a political witchhunt.

The conviction of Nyame whose prosecution began before Buhari took office, and the renewed spotlight on the other outstanding cases from more than a decade ago indicate that corruption is not just a recent phenomenon.

Two years ago, Buhari’s government claimed just 55 people stole more than $6 billion between 2006 and 2013.

Nigeria’s highest-ranking judge, Chief Justice Walter Onnoghen, has instructed courts to devote more time to hearing corruption cases across the country.

AFP

31, May 2018

Repression is worsening in Cameroon- The Economist ⁰

THE parade featured singing schoolchildren and goose-stepping soldiers. A giant presidential portrait was wheeled along the boulevard. To some observers it must have looked like a comic sketch about an event staged by an African dictator. But no one dared snigger. The celebration of Cameroon’s national day on May 20th was lorded over by President Paul Biya, who at 85 is Africa’s oldest head of state.

He hoped the parade would show national unity. But it hinted at a deep fissure dividing Cameroon. In the country’s two English-speaking regions a simmering uprising has been met by brutal repression. As members of the main opposition party, the Social Democratic Front, marched past the president they showed their indignation. Placards were banned, so the marchers pulled up their shirts to expose pictures taped to their bodies of people tortured, mutilated or murdered by the government.

The conflict started in October 2016, when English-speaking lawyers took to the streets complaining that legal documents were not being translated from French and that English-speakers were discriminated against. The country has been officially bilingual since its two constituent parts voted to form a federal republic after gaining independence in 1960 and 1961. But English-speakers, who make up less than a fifth of the population, say their regions get less than their fair share of public money and that the government forces them to use French in schools, courts and other public institutions.

Mr Biya’s government responded by arresting activists and cutting off the internet in English-speaking regions. In doing so it fanned secessionism, transforming peaceful protests into a vicious war, with kidnappings and beheadings. Atrocities have been committed by both sides. More than 100 civilians have reportedly been killed, as have more than 40 members of the security forces.

Peter Henry Barlerin, America’s ambassador to Cameroon, says April proved the bloodiest month. He accuses the government of authorising “targeted killings” and the “burning and looting of villages”. Thousands of people have fled, many of them across the border into Nigeria.

The strife is also affecting the fight against Boko Haram, a jihadist insurgency that has spilled over from Nigeria into neighbouring countries. The dense swamps that surround Lake Chad in northern Cameroon give the jihadists cover. Elite Cameroonian soldiers, who are among the most effective fighters in the region, have been removed from Lake Chad and redeployed to English-speaking regions in the south.

There are few signs that Mr Biya is trying to find a peaceful solution. For much of the year the ageing president reportedly rules Cameroon from a luxury hotel in Switzerland, a country he likes to visit with his wife Chantal (known for her designer dresses and signature hairstyle).

In March Mr Biya called his first cabinet meeting since October 2015 and gave a speech that sounded as if he had already hit the campaign trail for the presidential election scheduled for later this year. Mr Biya has not yet said whether he will stand, but if he does run it would be for his seventh term in office.

In any case, the government is wasting no time clearing his path. Ahead of senatorial elections in March it arrested several journalists and opposition activists. On May 25th seven activists were convicted on charges of rebellion and acts of terrorism. They were given jail sentences of 10-15 years. Cameroon’s war over words seems likely only to intensify.

Source: The Economist

31, May 2018

Naija: Buhari approves Not-Too-Young-To-Run Bill ⁰

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari, 75, has approved a law to reduce age limits to serve in political office, making it easier for younger candidates to run in next year’s election.

The Not-Too-Young-To-Run Bill says a 35-year-old can serve as president – the previous threshold was 40.

Anyone who is 25 or above can be state and federal representatives. Previously it was 30.

Youth groups had waged a strong campaign to reduce the age limit, saying it would encourage youth participation in politics.

Mr Buhari is running for a second term in elections due next year.

Source: BBC

31, May 2018

Heartless France: Pensioner goes on trial for helping African migrants ⁰

A 73-year-old Amnesty International volunteer appeared in court in France on Wednesday charged with helping two underage Africans illegally enter the country, the latest case involving activists assisting migrants on the move through Europe.

The trial of pensioner Martine Landry is the first of its kind in France involving a member of Amnesty.

It comes a day before three activists — two Swiss and one Italian — appear in court for helping a group of migrants cross from Italy to France through a pass in the Alps in April.

Landry is the coordinator of Amnesty’s refugee response in southeast France. She risks up to five years in prison and a fine of 30,000 euros ($34,700) if convicted of illegally assisting two Guinean youths in July 2017.

She is accused of helping the pair, both aged 15 according to Amnesty, cross back into France after they were arrested and returned to Italy during a raid on the home of olive farmer and activist Cedric Herrou, where they had been sheltering.

Landry claims that she did not help the teens re-enter France after they were turned back at the border by Italian police.

The white-haired campaigner said she stepped in only after they crossed onto French soil and took them to the police to register for asylum.

‘Solidarity is not a crime’

Her case, like that of the Alps campaigners, has become a cause celebre among critics of President Emmanuel Macron’s tough stance on migration.

Several dozen activists gathered outside the courthouse in the city of Nice holding banners reading “Solidarity is not a crime”.

In April, MPs voted to soften laws criminalising acts of solidarity with illegal migrants, to exempt those who provide them with free food, shelter or medical care.

Helping migrants illegally cross the border remains a crime, however.

Amnesty condemned the case against Landry.

“Dragging a compassionate pensioner before the court on these surreal charges makes a mockery of justice. Acts of solidarity should be promoted, not punished,” its senior campaigner on migration, Maria Serrano, said in a statement.

The three activists on trial Thursday in the Alpine town of Gap are accused of helping a group of migrants reach France after dozens of anti-immigrant campaigners blocked another pass on the trans-alpine migrant trail.

They face up to 10 years in prison and fines of 750,000 euros each as well being banned from France if convicted.

NGOs have contrasted the treatment of the campaigners with that of “Spiderman” Mamoudou Gassama, the illegal Malian migrant who was fast-tracked for French citizenship this week after rescuing a young boy hanging from a balcony in Paris.

“A few symbolic gestures mask a policy of repression and expulsion,” said migrant support campaigner Michel Rousseau.

(AFP)

31, May 2018

French Cameroun tyrant nears day of reckoning ⁰

The French Cameroun despot sent army soldiers to burn down villages and towns in Southern Cameroons and to kill hundreds of Ambazonian civilians as his hated regime looked increasingly likely to fall. Biya is resorting to sorties by his still ill-equipped ground forces to resist what appears to be the final gambit of a senseless war he orchestrated against the people of Southern Cameroons.

After two years of fighting to crush the Southern Cameroons resistance and a death toll of nearly 2000, a combination of political errors, international isolation from the Trump administration and a well-organized Ambazonia Self-Defense Council Restoration Force, we of the Cameroon Concord News Group can now say Biya’s days look numbered. Only reticence in France about the prospect of an Anglophone taking over in Yaoundé appears to be holding back a CIA-French intervention as witnessed in places such as Libya and Zaire.

The genocide currently going on in Southern Cameroons has enabled the opponents of the Biya regime in Yaoundé to secure US support for regime change. Earlier last week, it was rumored that the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia has recorded a major diplomatic breakthrough deep within the US Congress for the restoration of the state of Ambazonia.

There are fears in some capitals within the Sub Saharan and CEMAC region that without a regime change in Yaoundé thousands more will die. Yet the Biya Francophone Minister of Communication and so-called Cameroon government spokesman, Issa Tchiroma Bakary continues to blame the killings and sufferings of Southern Cameroonians on the Interim Government and the Southern Cameroons Diaspora.

Signs of a stranglehold being tightened on the Biya regime could be seen recently with the US ambassador Peter Barlerin stating that the two US warplanes handed over to the Francophone dominated army should be used only to counter Boko Haram insurgency.

A number of Nigerians have been killed on Southern Cameroons soil since the revolution started and Abuja is slowly but surely moving away from Biya, but Nigerian ailing President Buhari maintains the strategy is not a step towards intervention in Cameroon’s domestic affairs. Cameroon government forces have continued to kill innocent Southern Cameroonian citizens in both the Northern and Southern Zones. The army also fired bullets at several villagers in nearby Bamenda suburb of Santa.

As well as the growing Southern Cameroons challenge, Biya faces an alliance of young Western-backed militants of his ruling CPDM crime syndicate who have openly stated that he should step aside.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

31, May 2018

Nigeria: A study of Boko Haram’s public communications offers hints on its strategy ⁰

In July 2011, the Nigerian government unveiled plans to make telecommunications companies dedicate toll-free phone lines so civilians could report Boko Haram activity. Months later, insurgent spokesman Abu Qaqa threatened to attack service providers and Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) offices.

“We have realized that the mobile phone operators and the NCC have been assisting security agencies in tracking and arresting our members by bugging their lines and enabling the security agents to locate the position of our members,” Qaqa announced, according to a 2013 article by Freedom Onuoha on the E-International Relations website.

Eight months later, Boko Haram made good on Qaqa’s threat. The militant group launched a two-day attack on telecommunications towers belonging to several providers in five cities: Bauchi, Gombe, Kano, Maiduguri and Potiskum. Qaqa announced that Boko Haram launched the tower attacks “as a result of the assistance they offer security agents.” Of the 530 telecommunications base stations damaged in Nigeria in 2012, Boko Haram was responsible for 150.

The attack on telecommunications providers illustrates an important aspect of Boko Haram messaging. The group often has used its public messaging as a harbinger of things to come. Although it might sound foolish to telegraph likely attack targets, Institute for Security Studies (ISS) researcher Omar S. Mahmood told Africa Defense Forum the gambit could help Boko Haram achieve two important goals. First, it can help gain a concession through intimidation, such as the release of detainees.

“The other is I think it’s a pretty powerful message if Boko Haram comes out and says, ‘I’m going to attack X because of this,’ and then they go out and they do it,” Mahmood said. “It just serves to make their next warning even more intimidating and effective.”

MESSAGES PORTEND ATTACKS

Mahmood, in his March 2017 paper for the ISS titled “More than propaganda: A review of Boko Haram’s public messages,” showed that a significant number of Boko Haram messages between 2010 and 2016 issued warnings and threatened violence. In fact, warnings and threats constitute the second-most-common theme of the group’s messaging out of the 145 messages studied.

“Given the proliferation of warnings in Boko Haram messaging, especially during [leader Abubakar] Shekau’s extended rants in which he accuses essentially all opposed to him, it can be difficult to discern between a legitimate threat and bluster,” Mahmood wrote. “But a careful reading of the situation may determine what Boko Haram’s next target could be, which is more likely to result in action when linked to a specific and articulated grievance.”

Boko Haram demonstrated this tendency further in its threat against schools. In January 2012, Shekau complained publicly about alleged mistreatment of Islamic schools and students, and he threatened to launch attacks.

Again, Boko Haram followed through. From January to early March 2012, militants destroyed at least a dozen schools in the Maiduguri region of Borno State. About February 20, 2012, the first three schools were set ablaze. Six days later, Boko Haram said the attacks were in retaliation for state raids on Islamic schools, according to Human Rights Watch. From February 26 to 29, militants burned at least four schools, and on March 1 torched another five.

Ties between messaging and attacks also can be seen in Boko Haram’s assault on Nigerian media and the nation’s oil industry. As Qaqa complained that the media misrepresented Boko Haram, insurgents bombed This Day newspaper offices in Abuja and Kaduna in April 2012. Boko Haram’s anger at This Day stemmed from a 10-year-old column on the Miss World pageant published in the paper, which some Muslims found to be blasphemous. Peaceful protests already had taken place in the runup to the pageant, but the column sparked violent clashes between Christians and Muslims that resulted in about 250 deaths, according to Human Rights Watch.

The 2002 pageant, originally scheduled to be held in Nigeria, eventually was moved to London, but Boko Haram’s anger culminated in the attack years later.

A month after the This Day attack, Boko Haram issued an 18-minute video that sorted Nigerian media into three groups based on its perception of their transgressions. This Day stood alone in the first tier because of the Miss World incident and other perceived offenses. The second tier included several newspapers and a radio station. These outlets would be attacked soon, the narrator stated. The third category included media organizations that faced attack if they were not careful, listing more newspapers, an international radio service and a website.

In June 2014, a suicide bomber detonated a bomb outside a Lagos oil refinery. Mahmood wrote that the decision to attack the refinery so far from Boko Haram’s home base likely was an assault on government wealth sources rather than evidence of a grievance with the oil industry. Similar attacks did not follow, and oil interest messaging rarely has been repeated. “Rather than emerging out of nowhere, the assault was foreshadowed in Boko Haram messages in February, March and May that year [2014], indicating its commitment and ability to follow through even on pledges considered to be unrealistic at the time,” Mahmood wrote.

HOSTAGES AND PRISONERS

Boko Haram’s highest-profile action is the kidnapping of 276 Chibok schoolgirls in 2014. On April 14, militants attacked a boarding school in Chibok, Borno State, in the middle of the night. Insurgents raided dormitories, loaded girls into trucks and drove away. Some girls jumped into bushes as trucks rushed away, leaving 219 children held captive. The atrocity drew worldwide condemnation and parallels a long-standing grievance of Boko Haram: the desire for the release of incarcerated members.

Negotiations and conditions comprise the third- most-frequent theme appearing in messages Mahmood studied. “Specifically, the demand for all incarcerated Boko Haram members to be set free has been a recurrent refrain in messaging,” he wrote.

In the rampup to the Chibok abductions, Shekau referenced the wives and children of insurgent detainees no less than seven times in 2012 and 2013, and accused federal officials of kidnapping insurgents’ family members. In 2012, spokesman Qaqa stated: “We would soon start kidnapping the wives and children of all the people that have had hands in the arrest of our wives and children.”

In October 2016, after months of negotiations, Boko Haram released 21 of the Chibok girls in exchange for a monetary ransom, Daily Trust reported. In May 2017, insurgents swapped another 82 of the girls for five militant leaders.

EXPANDING VIOLENCE, JOINING ISIS

Boko Haram grew as a local insurgency from 2009 to 2012. In 2013, a willingness to expand into regional operations emerged with the kidnapping of a French family in Cameroon, the insurgent group’s first foray across the border of Nigeria’s neighbor. The kidnapping, the group said, was a response to the arrest of Boko Haram members in Cameroon. From there, operations increased in Cameroon in 2014, and by early 2015, Shekau was openly taunting the presidents of Chad and Niger as well.

“This coincided with the first violent Boko Haram operations in both countries in February 2015, again demonstrating the close convergence between messaging and group action, and confirming the extension of its struggle to the Lake Chad region,” Mahmood wrote.

It was about this time that the insurgent group pledged its allegiance to ISIS. A new Arabic-language Twitter account claiming to be the official outlet for a new Boko Haram media group launched, called Al-Urwah al-Wuthqa, the BBC reported.

The ISIS alignment was the beginning of big changes in messaging for Boko Haram. Until then, messaging was closely associated with what the group was going through or accomplishing. Ernest Ogbozor, a Nigerian doctoral student at George Mason University in the United States, said his research points to three distinct phases of Boko Haram messaging, culminating with the ISIS alignment.

The first phase, roughly from 2009 to 2012, focused on grievances, recruitment and revenge. In 2009, Nigerian forces killed founder Mohammed Yusuf, destroyed mosques and disrupted a micro-credit lending scheme. “Now the group was left with nothing,” Ogbozor said, adding that messaging sought to parlay these grievances into popular support.

Boko Haram’s most powerful period was from 2013 to 2015, when it was capturing and holding territory, and dealing setbacks to military forces. Messages at this time focused on praise for territorial and military achievements.

By late 2015 and through 2017, Nigerian and regional military assaults began to take their toll on Boko Haram. “So instead of praising itself, the message changed to seeking relevance,” Ogbozor said. “This is when Boko Haram pledged allegiance to Islamic State.”

GROUP, MESSAGING SPLIT

In August 2016, Boko Haram split into two factions: One is led by pugnacious spokesman Shekau; the other by Abu Musab al-Barnawi, ISIS’ choice for leader. Although Shekau pledged allegiance to ISIS in 2015, the group soon grew tired of his management of the war against regional forces and his propensity for targeting civilians, Mahmood said. The al-Barnawi faction broke off, and with this change came differences in messaging.

Shekau had been featured prominently in Boko Haram messages. Soon after pledging allegiance to ISIS, that ended. Al-Barnawi’s faction started releasing themed batches of photos through social media that highlight nonmilitary aspects of the group’s struggle, such as governance, justice and services that Boko Haram can provide as part of ISIS.

The split also has left al-Barnawi’s ISIS-aligned faction the clear winner in terms of potential longevity and lethality, Mahmood said. Shekau’s wing is just trying to survive, but it still uses ISIS logos in messages.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ACTION

Mahmood said more research is needed to see how Boko Haram messaging resonates with local populations. It’s possible, he said, that Boko Haram messaging might not be particularly effective locally. If so, then countermessaging efforts may not work either. However, he writes: “Boko Haram messaging provides a window into a group that otherwise remains largely enigmatic and obscure. … Messaging can thus expose important insights beyond simply serving as a propaganda tool, and thus should be closely monitored.” He suggests that observers:
Continue researching the effects of Boko Haram messaging on local populations, focusing on recruitment. Doing so will lead to more effective programs to reduce this influence.
Analyze Boko Haram messages to see changes in group divisions or the identification of new targets.
Continue frustrating Boko Haram messaging by detaining media operatives or removing social medial posts. Such tactics can reduce messaging or discontinue certain practices, such as social media use.
Reduce penalties and stigmatization for those who watch Boko Haram messages to keep from enhancing its appeal. Long-winded rants may actually present the group as negative and volatile.
Balance factual press coverage of Boko Haram messages with the need to limit its outreach. Careful reporting guidelines can keep the media from becoming a propaganda tool.

“The messaging says a lot about their strategy,” Mahmood said. “It goes hand in hand, so it’s important to really look at these aspects because they can tell you a lot about the movement.”

Culled from Defenseweb