Headline News

12, June 2018

How the ADF and MoRISC are ruining the Ambazonia uprising against French Cameroun ⁰

No one in both French Cameroun and the Federal Republic of Ambazonia expected the Southern Cameroons struggle to last this long or be this deadly, but after approximately 2,000 dead, 40,000 refugees in neighboring Nigeria and two years of unrest including 160,000 internally displaced persons, there is still no end in sight. While President Paul Biya’s brutal response is mostly to blame, the Southern Cameroon’s chronic failure to form a viable front against the French Cameroun regime has also allowed the conflict to drag on. And there are two anti-French Cameroun groups that are largely responsible for this dismal state of affairs: the ADF of Cho Ayaba and MoRISC of Boh Herbert.

Throughout our coverage of the Southern Cameroons revolution, our cream of reporters and intelligence officers both in the West and on Ground Zero have held discussions with Southern Cameroons figures, activists including foreign diplomats about how the ADF and MoRISC were influencing the struggle negatively and hampering the work of the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. Both the ADF and MoRISC had been massacred out of existence and were only on paper and helping migrants to acquire refugee status in Europe and North America. ADF and MoRISC saw their presence in Europe and North America including on Ground Zero wither to almost nothing. But since the Southern Cameroons uprising erupted on October 2016, ADF and MoRISC have both moved adroitly to seize the reins of power of the Southern Cameroons resistance and self-defense factions.

The ADF and MoRISC have all along been hesitant to join the Interim Government under the leadership of the His Excellency Sisiku Ayuk Julius Tabe. The two obscure groups have nonetheless participated in conferences summoned by the Interim Government and have taken steps to form funny fighting groups inside Southern Cameroons, attempting to recruit potential Ambazonian freedom fighters to destabilize the Ambazonia Self-Defense Council Restoration Forces.

As the idea of a unified Southern Cameroons liberation movement to lead the popular revolt gained momentum, Ayaba Cho of the ADF and Boh Herbert of MoRISC became more involved and for the wrong reason. A month after the election of Interim President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe to head the revolution and the resistance, the ADF and MoRISC organized scantily attended conferences denouncing the Interim Government. Ever since, the ADF and MoRISC have subsequently organized several forums that created opposition sentiments within the struggle and helping French Cameroun troops to exterminate hundreds of Southern Cameroons communities. All what the reckless and tactless Cho Ayaba and Boh Herbert are interested in, is to beef up their presence in political bodies of the Southern Cameroons resistance.

The Great Prof. Carlson Anyangwe remains the silent force that pushed for the creation of an exiled government to support the Southern Cameroons struggle. His contributions continued to hatch, and a few months after, a conference in Nigeria formed the core of the Interim Government (IG), an umbrella group that ostensibly represented all Southern Cameroonians both in the Diaspora and on Ground Zero. The Interim Government set aside seats for both the ADF and MoRISC that were rejected and Boh and Ayaba declared that the IG was illegal. That position appears to be their common pattern till date.

Additionally, these two figures that have strong ties with the Biya regime via Minister Paul Atanga Nji have been airing out conflicting stance on the Southern Cameroons resistance. Recently, Boh Herbert launched a repeat of the radio program Cameroon Calling using the same pattern and style in French Cameroun’s CRTV leaving many in Europe to wonder if his intention is really genuine.

Cho Ayaba and his quest for leadership of the struggle became more pronounced when his ADF claimed every self-defense action that took place on ground zero. As we write, the remnants of the Cho Ayaba gang on ground zero are now terrorizing the people of Southern Cameroons they are suppose to be protecting and the big man himself who is extremely lacking in political and organizational finesse has lost control due to lack of funds. The Boh and Ayaba strategy is only helping Biya and French Cameroun army soldiers. The ADF arrest French Cameroonians collect money let them go scot-free but abduct Southern Cameroonians and kill them. This is pushing the local population away from the resistance.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with intelligence files from Sama Ernest and Rita Akana

12, June 2018

Spain offers to take in stranded refugee ship ⁰

Spain has offered to take in a ship stranded in the Mediterranean with 629 refugees aboard after Italy and Malta refused to let the vessel dock, as an NGO raised fears for their safety due to deteriorating weather conditions.

Aid workers warned that fresh food and drink supplied by the Maltese navy to the Aquarius on Monday would only last until Tuesday.

The refugees, including pregnant women and scores of children, were saved by French charity SOS Mediterranee on Saturday.

“This mobilization is a very positive signal although reaching Spain would require several days of sailing. With so many people on board under deteriorating weather conditions could become critical,” the NGO said on Twitter late Monday.

“Safety of all rescued people should remain the priority before all.”

Malta and the new populist government in Italy both refused to take the refugees in, accusing each other of failing to meet their obligations.

The refusal to accept the Aquarius in Italy was the first major anti-refugee move since far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini took office this month.

Salvini tweeted “VICTORY” after two days of confrontation with Malta over the refugees ended with Spain’s offer of help.

The new Spanish administration headed by Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez agreed to allow the Aquarius to dock at its eastern port of Valencia, insisting that it was an “obligation” to do so.

But Spain’s new foreign minister, Josep Borrell, said the gesture was also intended to underline the need for solidarity from the entire bloc.

“Italy has received an enormous influx of migrants and so far other European countries haven’t shown much solidarity,” Borrell told a news briefing in Madrid.

There was, he said, a “need for Europeans… to face up, in a united and coordinated manner, to a problem that is a problem for all, and not just for Greece one year and for Italy the next”.

A handout picture taken in the Mediterranean Sea on June 10, 2018 and released on June 11, 2018 by the SOS Mediterranee NGO shows a Doctors without borders (MSF) member giving food to a refugee on board the French NGO’s ship Aquarius. (Via AFP)

Fresh supplies

SOS Mediterranee director general Sophie Beau earlier warned that the ship would have to travel some 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) to reach the Spanish coast — which AFP estimates could take at least four days — and that by Tuesday “there will be no more food (on board) apart from energy biscuits”.

“The Aquarius has just received a resupply of 950 bottles of water, 800 packs of noodles and snacks from a vessel of the Maltese navy,” the SOS Mediterranee tweeted Monday, adding that this would only allow for one more meal on Tuesday.

Malta and Italy thanked Spain for stepping up, but maintained their dispute over who was responsible.

Malta’s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat tweeted his thanks to Sanchez “for agreeing to accept the Aquarius after Italy violated international law and caused an impasse”.

He added, “It will be necessary to sit down and discuss how to prevent this kind of thing from happening in the future. This is a European issue.”

Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said his country had “asked for a gesture of solidarity from Europe and this gesture has been made”.

Conte is set to head to Paris for talks with French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday ahead of the European summit on June 28-29, with a particular focus on migration, Macron’s office said Monday.

But Beau said that under maritime law the ship should be allowed to dock in one of the nearest countries, Italy or Malta.

‘Close the doors’

The UN had called on Malta and Italy to immediately allow the boat to dock, describing the situation as “an urgent humanitarian imperative”.

The EU and its biggest member state Germany made similar pleas.

“The priority of both the Italian and Maltese authorities should be ensuring these people receive the care they need,” European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas told reporters, calling for a “swift resolution”.

But Salvini refused to back down.

“Saving lives is a duty, turning Italy into a huge refugee camp is not. Italy is done bending over backwards and obeying, this time THERE IS SOMEONE WHO SAYS NO,” he wrote on Twitter followed by the hashtag #closethedoors.

Despite his refusal to accept Aquarius, the Italian Coast Guard ship Diciotto, carrying 937 refugees, was expected to dock in Sicily Tuesday or Wednesday.

‘Vulnerable patients at risk’

MSF Sea (Doctors Without Borders) said the medical situation of those on the Aquarius was “stable for now but unnecessary delay to disembarkation in safe port puts vulnerable patients at risk.”

“Particularly seven pregnant woman, 15 with serious chemical burns and several critical drowning hypothermia patients,” MSF Sea added.

Conte said Sunday that Rome had sent two patrol ships with doctors on board “ready to intervene and ensure the health of anyone on board the Aquarius who might have the need”.

The refugees were rescued in six separate night-time operations in the central Mediterranean on Saturday.

‘Land of refuge’

Under EU rules, refugees must apply for asylum in the European country where they first arrive.

That has put pressure on Italy and Greece, the entry points for hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia since 2015.

EU leaders in December had set an end-of-June deadline for an overhaul of rules to create a permanent mechanism to deal with refugees in the event of a new emergency.

(Source: AFP)

12, June 2018

US attacks on PM Trudeau spark anger in Canada ⁰

The lower house of Canada’s parliament has unanimously condemned the recent personal attacks on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau by US President Donald Trump and other American officials, which have offended Canadian elites and ordinary citizens amid a dispute over trade.

Lawmakers at the House of Commons on Monday unanimously adopted a motion backing Canadian steel and aluminum trade policies, as well as the supply management system that supports key agricultural sectors.

The motion, introduced by the opposition New Democrats, also rejected “disparaging and ad hominem statements by US officials, which do a disservice to bilateral relations and work against efforts to resolve this trade dispute.”

They also endorsed with a standing ovation the Trudeau government’s decision to impose tariffs on US goods in retaliation for the Trump administration’s levying of tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum.

The vote of solidarity came as top White House advisers lashed out at Trudeau on Sunday a day after US President Donald Trump called him “very dishonest and weak” and withdrew support for a Group of Seven communiqué issued at the summit Trudeau hosted in Quebec on Saturday.

Trump attended that summit and only later withdrew support for the communiqué.

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow accused Trudeau of betraying Trump with “polarizing” remarks.

Trade adviser Peter Navarro attacked the Canadian prime minister even more personally.

“There is a special place in hell for any leader that engages in bad faith diplomacy with President Donald J. Trump and then tries to stab him in the back on the way out the door and that’s what bad-faith Justin Trudeau did with that stunt press conference, that’s what weak, dishonest Justin Trudeau did,” Navarro said on CNN.

Trudeau’s government has ignored the personal insults.

US President Donald Trump (L) and Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (R) stand together during the welcome ceremony on the first day of the G7 Summit, in La Malbaie, Canada, on June 8, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

The US barbs come after Trudeau said at a news conference at the end of the G7 conference that Canada would not be pushed around on tariffs — a point he had made several times before.

Other Canadian politicians have also decried the attacks by the US officials. Canadian pundits, celebrities, and ordinary citizens have also taken offense, and have pledged to take part in consumer boycotts of American goods and brainstormed insults of Trump on social media.

“Something strange and wonderful has been sparked by @realDonaldTrump’s dishonorable comments about this country. I think it might be a Canadian identity,” newspaper columnist John Ivison said on his Twitter account.

Source: Presstv

12, June 2018

Amnesty International says Southern Cameroons gripped by deadly violence ⁰

Armed separatists in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions have stabbed to death and shot military personnel, burned down schools and attacked teachers, while security forces have tortured people, fired on crowds and destroyed villages, in a spiral of violence that keeps getting more deadly, Amnesty International said today.

In a new report on Cameroon’s Anglophone crisis, ‘A turn for the worse: Violence and human rights violations in Anglophone Cameroon’, which is based on in-depth interviews with over 150 victims and eye-witnesses, and material evidence including satellite images, the organization documents how general population is paying the highest price as violence escalates in the North West and South West regions of Cameroon.

“People in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions are in the grip of a deadly cycle of violence. Security forces have indiscriminately killed, arrested and tortured people during military operations which have also displaced thousands of civilians. Their heavy-handed response will do nothing to calm the violence – in fact it is likely to further alienate Anglophone communities and fuel further unrest,” said Samira Daoud, Amnesty International Deputy Director for West and Central Africa.

“For their part, armed separatists have killed dozens of members of the security forces. They also carried out attacks designed to strike fear amongst the population, going as far as burning down schools and targeting teachers who did not enforce the boycott.”

The Anglophone regions of the Cameroon – the South-West and North-West – make up approximately 20% of the country’s population. Many of their grievances date back to the early 1960s, when these regions were included in the newly established, mostly French-speaking, Republic of Cameroon.

Violence and unrest escalated in late 2016 after a series of strikes and protests against what teachers, lawyers and students viewed as further discrimination against Anglophones. Between 22 September and 1 October 2017, large-scale protests were organized across the Anglophone regions to symbolically proclaim the independence of a new state of “Ambazonia.”

Torture and killings by the military

Cameroon’s military has responded to these protests with arbitrary arrests, torture, unlawful killings and destruction of property. In one striking incident, satellite images and other photographic evidence obtained by Amnesty International show the complete destruction of the village of Kwakwa, which was burned to the ground by Cameroonian security forces following an operation conducted in December 2017 in connection with the killing of two gendarmes by suspected armed separatists.

In some cases, following these security operations, people were arbitrarily arrested and tortured while detained in illegal detention facilities and in secret. For instance, at least 23 people, including minors, were arrested by the security forces in the village of Dadi on 13 December 2017 and spent three days in incommunicado detention. They told Amnesty International that during this time security forces tortured them to extract “confessions”, to force them to admit having supported the separatists.

Victims described being blindfolded and severely beaten with various objects including sticks, ropes, wires and guns, as well as being electrocuted and burnt with hot water. Some were beaten until they lost consciousness, and Amnesty International documented that at least one person has died in custody.

One man who was arrested on 13 December 2017 in Dadi gave a harrowing account of the torture he suffered:

“… They tied our hands behind our backs, gagged us and tied our faces with our towels and shorts, which they tore. They, then made us lie in the water, face down for about 45 minutes… During three days, they beat us with shovels, hammers, planks, and cables, kicked us with their boots and poured hot water on us… when I tried to move and shouted, one of them used the cigarette he was smoking to burn me.”

Amnesty International also received information about numerous instances of deaths in custody. In one case, on 3 February 2018, the bodies of four men, who had been arrested in the town of Belo by the security forces the day before, were found at the Bamenda Regional Hospital mortuary, bloodied and with signs of torture.

Amnesty International has also documented unlawful killings, including during three security operations conducted by the army in the villages of Dadi, Kajifu and Bodam (South-West) in December 2017.

Attacks on schools and teachers by separatists

The report also documents how teachers and students have been targeted by separatists for not participating in a boycott of schools perceived by many as a symbol of how the English language and cultures in the Anglophone regions have been marginalized by the authorities. At least 42 schools were attacked by armed separatists between February 2017 and May 2018.

Amnesty International has documented various attacks on students and teachers. On 30 January 2018, a masked gunman, suspected to be a member of an armed separatist group, stormed the Government Primary School in Ntungfe (North-West region). Armed with a locally-made gun, he shot one teacher in the legs, and set fire to a motorbike before escaping.

The wounded teacher told Amnesty International:
“The assailant […] told me that I was still coming to school in defiance of calls for a schools boycott. […] He then asked me to raise my hands, but before I could do so, he shot me. I fell to the ground…”

Between September 2017 and May 2018, at least 44 members of the security forces were killed in attacks at checkpoints, in the streets, or on their duty stations in both the North-West and South-West regions.

In one attack, on 1 February 2018, in the locality of Mbingo, North-West region, two gendarmes manning a checkpoint were stabbed to death by a group of young separatists armed with knives and machetes.

Amnesty International has also documented five attacks on traditional chiefs, who separatists accuse of sympathizing with the government.

“The armed separatists repeated targeting of the general population demonstrates a total disregard for human life, and is another example of the threat faced by people in the Anglophone regions,” said Samira Daoud.

“Authorities must ensure accountability for crimes committed by the security forces as well as by the armed separatists. They must immediately end the use of unlawful, unnecessary and excessive force and ensure that people are protected.”
Source: Amnesty International

11, June 2018

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Government is confused ⁰

What started as a joke some eighteen months ago has finally become a hot potato on the government’s hands. For many decades, Southern Cameroonians have been complaining about marginalization with a view to seeking a peaceful resolution of the issues facing them. But the Yaounde government has been ignoring them, holding that the country’s minority could be easily brought under control.

Despite numerous letters to the country’s president, Paul Biya, for more than three decades, the situation has never been the subject of any discussion in Yaounde. Mr. Biya and his government have never considered the Southern Cameroons question as an issue that can threaten national security and integration.

Mr. Biya and his bunch of ministers are used to looking down on their citizens and they hold that paying attention to all the memos on Southern Cameroonians issues will be dignifying a bunch of people who are just second-class citizens.

They simply did not get it right. They failed to understand that those who make peaceful change impossible, only make violent change inevitable and this is what is happening today in Cameroon. The refusal to listen to the plea of the people of Southern Cameroons has finally exposed the government and made the country ungovernable.

The issue that started way back in the late 70s finally got to a head in October 2016 when Southern Cameroonian lawyers and teachers who had thought that they had explored all peaceful means to address the issues raised decide to call for strikes across the region. They thought it was time to use strikes as weapons to bring the government to the negotiating table.

But the Yaounde government was not in the mood to talk peace. Despite the peaceful means used by lawyers and teachers, the Yaounde government resorted to its legendary brutality as a way of striking fear into the minds of a people who were already sick and tired of their situation. Things were compounded by reckless statements by irresponsible government officials such Laurent Esso, Issa Tchiroma and Fame Ndongo.

Statements by these officials only served as fuel for an already burning house. The anger of the people of Southern Cameroons had flared up and it reached its apex when videos of Buea University students being tortured by soldiers and dragged through raw sewage went viral on social media.

Since the conflict started, the Yaounde government has made one mistake after another. In January 2017, it arrested and jailed Southern Cameroonian leaders who had called for a federal system that would guarantee that the people take ownership of their own development projects.

Barrister Felix Nkongho Agbor-Balla, Dr. Fontem Neba and Mr. Mancho Bibixy were captured and hastily taken to Yaounde in the belief that the population’s anger would be doused. This only inflamed Southern Cameroonians, and things actually took a turn for the worse.

To ensure that its atrocities in the region were not captured on video, the government cut off Internet and other communication systems. In the process, many businesses were killed and the unemployment rate in the region reached alarming rates. Silicon Mountain, a hub for many start-ups in the South West regional headquarters of Buea, was put out of business. The disconnection of the Internet created many Internet refugees and ever since, Silicon Mountain has become a thing of the past.

Rather than seek to appease a people who have been hurting for decades, the Yaounde government proceeded to employing tricks in the hope that it will come out of the conflict victorious. After more than six months in jail for no crime committed, Barrister Felix Nkongho Agbor-Balla, Dr. Fontem Neba and others were released, while Mr. Mancho Bibixy was left in jail. He was later convicted of many flimsy crimes, including terrorism.

Once the leaders were released in 2017, the ruling party’s propaganda immediately kicked in. It portrayed the releases as an act of magnanimity on the president’s part. But the tricks of the past could no longer work the miracles they had produced in the past. The people were sick and tired of the government’s manipulation and trickery. Southern Cameroonians no longer want to have anything to do with their unfortunate past. The calls for federalism had developed into independence and secession.

On September 22, 2017, Southern Cameroonians surprised the entire world by staging a show of force. Thousands of Southern Cameroonians took to the streets with peace plants, calling for the total liberation of their land. The world was taken aback and the Southern Cameroonian crisis finally made its way into the global arena.

On October 1, 2017, Southern Cameroonians came out en masse to declare their independence and this met stiff resistance from the Yaounde government. Many innocent Southern Cameroonians were sent to an early grave and this changed the dynamics. Southern Cameroonians were full of rage and revenge was in the air. That was how the killing of soldiers started. Arms were purchased and shipped to Southern Cameroons without the Yaounde government noticing anything, as its ministers were busy embezzling whatever little money was still in the state’s coffers.

Instead of seeking to address the issues, the government hastily brought out its 1996 constitution and brandished it to the international community, advising that the decentralization policy would be rushed so as to address many of the issues raised by Southern Cameroonians.

But for many, the government was once more trying to close the barn when the horse had already bolted. The country’s decentralization policy was supposed to have been operational since 1996, but the government decided to shelve it for decades. To many people, the 1996 constitution clearly belongs to the past.

Southern Cameroonians have moved on. To them, an independent Southern Cameroons wherein the people must play a critical role in the management of state affairs is their focus. But the Yaounde government felt such a scheme would not work out in its territory.

In January 2018, Mr. Biya declared war on Southern Cameroonians, calling them terrorists. He followed this up by arresting Southern Cameroonian leaders in Nigeria and shipping them to Yaounde where they have been held incommunicado for months in total defiance of international law.

With the Southern Cameroonian president, Julius Ayuk Tabe, in jail, the government felt it had cut the “snake’s head.” But it was mistaken. The Southern Cameroons crisis is a hydra. It develops a new head each time the old one is cut off. With this new mentality, the floodgates for the killings on both sides had been thrown wide open.

From January 2018 to June 2018, more than one thousand civilians have been killed, 75 villages burnt, and more than four hundred soldiers killed by Southern Cameroonian fighters who claim they are defending themselves against a government that is incapable of protecting its own people.

The fighting is currently going on and the killing is still ongoing. Cameroon, once an oasis of peace in a desert of chaos, has finally become a massive killing field. The two English-speaking regions are awash with arms. The Southern Cameroonian Diaspora is living up to its word. It had promised to destabilize Cameroon and the country has been caught up in a downward spiral.

The Diaspora is still pouring weapons into the country and this is giving the pool of willing fighters on the ground, a reason to fight to a bitter end. The Diaspora has the capacity to reduce Cameroon to a small unstable nation. Many Southern Cameroonians are living abroad because of the marginalization that the government had orchestrated against them and, today, the government is being hoist in its own petards. The pouring of weapons in the region has reduced the country’s army into a boys scout team. The pressure of the fighters is being felt even in Yaounde. The Diaspora is finally punishing the Yaounde government.

Their decision to ridicule the Yaounde government is a sort of punishment to the irresponsible Yaounde government for having put Southern Cameroonians through tough emotional, economic and financial times. And the punishment is actually producing the desired results. The Yaounde regime is losing sleep. Its language is gradually changing.

The once banned federalism is now being considered by government insiders such as Fame Ndongo as a way out of the crisis that has put Cameroon in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Fame Ndongo has discovered that the “two cubes of sugar” will not be melting anytime soon. He is already eating his own words. But he seems to be talking to a wall. Southern Cameroonians are not listening. Their minds are somewhere else.

Southern Cameroonians are no longer looking at federalism. They have already crossed the threshold of independence and they will not be staging any possible return to their former demands. A lot of blood has flowed. Beti soldiers have killed innocent Southern Cameroonians. Since they are a no-match for the tough and determined Southern Cameroonian fighters, they always vent their frustration on a population that is already facing tough economic times.

Lot of homes have been destroyed and there is revenge in the air. This is going to make any dialogue challenging. Southern Cameroonians want dialogue too. But they want dialogue that will only enable them to discuss divorce issues.

To step up the pressure on the government, the kidnappings have been stepped up. Many Yaounde government collaborators are being kidnapped on a daily basis by Southern Cameroonian fighters and this is spreading fear among the country’s French-speaking population. Southern Cameroonians have invented green jails. Senior police and administrative officers have been taken to these jails.

The police commissioner of Muea, a small town located some three kilometers from Buea, is currently trying out the effectiveness of the new green jails. He has been critical of the freedom fighters and this will surely complicate matters for him. The government is permanently on edge.

Gun fire is a constant presence in many towns in the English-speaking regions and many residents of the area have migrated to the bushes to avoid government brutality that comes each time a soldier is killed. Despite government actions, the population is with the fighters and it is not yet tired of running.

The people of Southern Cameroons have become real athletes. Running now comes very easily to many Southern Cameroonians. Even the old and sick have learned how to run and live in the tough conditions that the forests are offering.

But despite the protection the forests do offer, many vulnerable people have lost their lives in the bushes due to illnesses and lack of proper medication. This is only fuelling the anger in the region and this will work against any efforts to bring peace to the region. Federalism is an idea whose time has passed. Southern Cameroonians are no longer looking in the same direction like their East Cameroonian counterparts.

But the rebellion is also consuming its own people. There have been some summary executions by the Southern Cameroonian fighters which are gradually becoming a cause for concern. Last week, Ayuk Marshall, a Mamfe Council Worker, was gunned down point blank in front of his home in Ndekwai, a small village located some two kilometers from the city of Ossing.

It was alleged that he was collaborating with Yaounde government agents. But many people at home and abroad are questioning the wisdom behind the killing of fellow Southern Cameroonians when East Cameroonians are being kidnapped and released on a daily basis.

Many argue that the fighters may start losing support if they do not exercise restraint in their punishment of perceived traitors. Many Southern Cameroonians in the Diaspora are calling on the fighters to provide evidence that makes some of those killed guilty as charged. Southern Cameroons is not and will never be a territory where the power of the gun will prevail.

Some of those killed could have simply been taken to the green jails where they should be given a fair trial. That is how justice should work. Killing fellow Southern Cameroonians may ruin the unity of purpose that has kept Southern Cameroonians together ever since the revolution started.

In the city of Ossing, a few citizens were promptly rounded up and given a public flogging for helping the Yaounde government. Ossing has been quiet ever since the struggle started and this has been thanks to the city’s chief, General James Tataw Tabe-Orock, who is a retired military general.

The flogging of Ossing citizens is creating a lot of controversy and even city officials disapprove of such acts. They have decided to take this up with the interim government and they are calling on Dr. Samuel Sako and his cabinet to provide a formal explanation for such acts which might ruin the people’s collective effort.

The victims of the public flogging are already making up their bags to quit the city as they consider the flogging a foretaste of what might soon happen to them if care is not taken. Their family members are already accusing the fighters of running an Islamic state where public floggings are an essential part of such a state.

The southern Cameroons crisis is gradually taking a turn for the worst. The Yaounde government needs to come out boldly to acknowledge its mistakes in this drama that has already consumed thousands of people. No trick will solve the crisis. An apology to Southern Cameroonians and amnesty to all Southern Cameroonians living abroad might de-escalate the situation and create the right climate for any inclusive dialogue.

Without dialogue, there will never be elections in that part of the country. Southern Cameroonians have clearly manifested their anger. No bullying or trickery will distract them from their objective. They know what they want and they will stop at nothing when it comes to achieving that goal.

Today, Southern Cameroons is ruled by the Interim Government from the United States and not the incompetent Yaounde government that has proven that brutality is the only language it understands. It is never too late. The government must step up to the plate to provide the right leadership that this situation requires. Its confusing responses will never address the matter.

Cameroon will never be the same again. That is a message the Yaounde government is yet to understand, but it must understand it if it wants peace to return to that region of the continent. Southern Cameroonians have crossed the Rubicon and they are not ready to make any giant steps backwards. The government must shake off its confusion and accept the reality on the ground. It will never win this war. The Diaspora is a huge factor and it will continue to play its role until the Yaounde government collapses.

By Kingsley Betek in Manyu

This item is still developing and Kingsley Betek is en route to Ossing and Ndekwai to investigate

11, June 2018

The Holy Father’s official itinerary for Irish visit in August revealed ⁰

Pope Francis’ official itinerary for his visit here in August has been revealed.

Among visits on his agenda will be with President Higgins at the Aras, the Capuchin Day Centre and Knock.

He will be in Ireland for just over 36 hours.

His full agenda is:

Saturday 25 August 2018