Headline News

14, April 2018

Koffi Olomide secures Kenya concert after 2016 deportation over assault ⁰

Congolese music star Koffi Olomide is due back in Kenya to perform for the first time in two years since he was deported from the country on the orders of the police chief Joseph Boinnet.

In July 2016, Kenya detained and subsequently deported the 61-year-old to his country, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where he was slapped with assault charges.

On Friday, he announced that he will be back in Kenya to perform on April 24 at a devolution event, a national conference involving Kenya’s 47 county heads. The event is to be held at Kakamega, he thanked the organizers for inviting him to return to Kenya.

In a video announcing his return to Kenya Olomide said he loved his Kenyan fans so much and had missed them.

In the 2016 incident, a video of him kicking a female dancer in his group went viral on social media sparking outrage. He was at the time scheduled to hold a concert in Nairobi, but was arrested in front of television cameras outside the premises of a television station where he was granting an interview.

He was deported and the schow he was bill to attend went ahead without him. He initially denied the assualt claims and insisted that he was protecting his crew from an unspecified person who was threatening their security.

He has since apologized for the incident and even sang a song praising women and womanhood at a show in Congo Republic. Olomide in August 2012, was slapped with a three-month suspended prison sentence in Kinshasa for assaulting his producer.

Source: Africa News

14, April 2018

French Cameroonian soldier killed in attack, residents decry military crackdown ⁰

Localities in Cameroon’s southwest region experienced heavy gunfire exchanges between the state security forces and suspected separatists elements leading to the death of a soldier on Thursday.

Governor of the restive region, Bernard Okalia Bilai told the Anadolu news agency that the separatist elements had mounted road blocks in parts of the region, when the army went to clear them, the hostilities ensued.

“Armed gangs of “Ambazonia” (a terrorist group according to government) barricaded several roads in the region and when soldiers went down to clear the tracks, these terrorists attacked our forces,” he said.

The exchanges left residents stranded, some caught in the crossfire had to flee into the bushes whiles others also fled for fear of reprisals from the army, as has usually been reported.

While some officials have reported a death in the regular army, all day yesterday no official report was made public.

Civilians have borne the brunt of these armed confrontations in Cameroon’s minority Anglophone region. “Soldiers go from house to house and arrest young people suspected of belonging to the Ambazonia Defense Force (ADF). Those arrested are sequestrated, beaten and their homes burned,“said John Ngu, one of the villagers, adding that several villages have been deserted in the last 24 hours.

The allegations of security highhandedness has been dismissed severally by the army. Colonel Didier Badjeck, spokesman for the army insisted that “the army does its job professionally and with respect for human rights.”

About 40 security personnel – soldiers, police, gendarmes – and more than 500 civilians have been killed in English-speaking areas since the outbreak of the so-called Anglophone crisis in late 2016, according to the Network of Human Rights Defenders of Central Africa (REDHAC).

In addition, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), more than 7,000 people have reportedly fled to Nigeria’s Cross River State. The Nigerian Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) refers to the figure of 28,000.

Source: Africa News

14, April 2018

Syria comes under military attack on Trump’s orders, 13 missiles shot down ⁰

Multiple places in Syria have come under attack by US, British and French military forces after President Donald Trump ordered a military strike against the country despite international warnings against further escalation of the situation.

“A short time ago, I ordered the United States Armed Forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of” Syria, Trump said in a televised address from the White House on Friday evening.

He also warned Russia and Iran, which have been assisting Syria in its counter-terrorism campaign, to end their support for the Damascus government, but said, “hopefully, someday we’ll get along with Russia, and maybe even Iran, but maybe not.”

US officials said that Tomahawk cruise missiles and other types of bombs were used in the attack.

British Prime Minister Theresa May also said she authorized the British armed forces to conduct coordinated and targeted strikes, noting, “I have done so because I judge this action to be in Britain’s national interest.”

Britain’s Defense Ministry said that four RAF tornado jets took part in the attacks, striking a Syrian military facility near the Syrian province of Homs.

Likewise, French President Emanuel Macron also claimed the strikes target Syria’s capability to launch chemical attacks.

“We cannot tolerate the normalization of the use of chemical weapons,” he said in a statement issued shortly after huge explosions were heard in Damascus early Saturday followed by the sound of airplanes overhead.

The three countries used an alleged chemical attack in the Eastern Ghouta suburb of Damascus last week as a pretext for their military action. They blame the Syrian government for the attack, without offering any evidence.

Syria has strongly rejected any role in the suspected attack, which came just as the Syrian army was about to declare full victory against the militants operating in the region.

Russia said the chemical attack was staged by desperate militants to provoke further intervention in the conflict by the West.

The NATO military alliance also voiced support for the military action.

“I support the actions taken by the United States, the United Kingdom and France,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement, claiming … the campaign will reduce the ability of Syria to launch chemical attacks.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strikes hit bases and chemical research centers around the capital Damascus.

Syrian state TV said the attack hit the country’s army depots in the area of Homs, adding that Syrian air defense systems shot down 13 missiles.

A Reuters witness said that at least six loud explosions were heard in Damascus with smoke rising over the Syrian capital where a second witness said the Barzah district, the location of a major Syrian scientific research center, was also hit in the strikes.

US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said in a press briefing that the air strikes on targets in Syria were a “one time shot,” noting that future strikes will depend on whether the Syrian government uses chemical weapons.

The Pentagon chief added that the US and its allies struck Syria harder than they did last year.

General Joseph Dunford, the highest-ranking officer in the US military, said Russia’s forces in Syria had been warned through existing “deconfliction” channels that Western planes would be in Syrian air space.

There have been contradictory reports on the number of missiles fired on Syria. A pro-Syrian government official said 30 missiles were fired, but the Pentagon put the number at 100.

Source: Presstv

14, April 2018

The race for Nigeria’s presidency in 2019 ⁰

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari looks on during a joint news conference with Cameroon's President Paul Biya in Abuja, Nigeria, May 4, 2016. /REUTERS

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari announced on Monday he wants to seek another term in office in February 2019 elections.

With that declaration, the race to lead Africa’s largest democracy is underway. The path ahead could be tough for his All Progressives Congress (APC), the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) opposition and any other party that may contest the vote.

WHAT’S AT STAKE?

Buhari’s 2015 victory was built on three promises: to rid Nigeria of its endemic corruption, to fix the economy and to defeat threats to security.

The results have been mixed. He has not brought an end to the war with the Boko Haram insurgency, now in its 10th year.

The economy entered and climbed out of recession under Buhari, yet the average Nigerian is still getting poorer; and opponents say his administration is failing to tackle endemic corruption, targeting only the President’s enemies and ignoring allegations against his allies.

After spending five months in Britain last year being treated for an undisclosed ailment, Opposition groups and other critics said he was unfit for office and his administration was beset by inertia.

If Buhari wins again, his opponents say, Nigeria would be in for another four years of political torpor.

On the other hand, the President’s supporters say the opposition has little to offer beyond “Not Buhari” – a sign ofNigeria’s personality-driven politics.

FAULT LINES AND FRACTURES

Nigeria is deeply divided. One of the most fundamental rifts is between the mainly Muslim north and the largely Christian south, and the population is fairly evenly split between the religions.

Africa’s most populous country also has more than 200 ethnic groups, with the three largest the Hausa in the north, the Yoruba in the southwest and the Igbo in the south-east.

That has led to an unofficial power-sharing agreement among Nigeria’s political elite. The presidency, in theory, is to alternate between the north and south after every two four-year terms.

Buhari, a northern Muslim, has held the post since 2015. His predecessor, the PDP’s Goodluck Jonathan, is a southern Christian. In keeping with the accord, the PDP is set to select a northerner as its candidate for 2019.

Those divisions play into what could be one of the major issues of the 2019 elections: deadly violence between mostly Christian farmers and mainly Muslim nomadic herders that has broken out in the Nigerian hinterland states known as the Middle Belt.

Buhari’s critics say he is soft-peddling justice for the killings because he, like most of the herders, is from the Fulani ethnic group and is Muslim.

The presidency denies that criticism, which also largely ignores the fact that there have been deaths in both communities as a cycle of reprisal attacks shows little sign of ending. This could turn the Middle Belt, much of which voted for Buhari in 2015, into some of the most crucial swing states next year.

GENERATION GAP

With a booming young population, Nigeria’s median age is just 18, according to the United Nations. Many youth see Nigeria’s ageing leaders as out of touch.

Buhari, 75, is the oldest person to helm Nigeria since the transition to civilian government in 1999. That has sparked ‘Not Too Young to Run’ campaigns to allow younger people to seek office.

Nigeria’s former military leaders retain a strong influence over politics nearly two decades after the advent of civilian rule. Buhari himself is a retired general who was head of state from 1983-1985.

Other military-era chiefs continue to wield political leverage, including the likes of Olusegun Obasanjo, who led the country in the 1970s and was President from 1999-2007, and Ibrahim Babangida, who ruled from 1985-1993.

THE PARTIES

The two main parties, the ruling APC and opposition PDP, do not have clear ideological differences. Competition for control of national oil revenues by elites, patronage and complex rivalries between Nigeria’s hundreds of ethnic groups have played a much bigger role in elections than ideology.

The APC is the latest incarnation of the various vehicles Buhari used to run in 2003, 2007 and 2011. His eventual victory in the last race came after assembling a broad coalition across the north and southwest. Without Buhari, political insiders say, there would be no APC.

The PDP was the inheritor of decades of military rule in 1999, and held power until Jonathan’s defeat in 2015. Because of that, the party has traditionally appealed to Nigeria’s business community, which developed during the military regime.

No clear candidate for the PDP has emerged. Some members see Atiku Abubakar, who has signalled he may run, as the best choice.

A local tycoon and former Vice President for the PDP under Obasanjo, he has made numerous unsuccessful bids to become Nigeria’s leader. Abubakar became a key ally and funder of Buhari during the 2015 campaign, only to once again switch sides late last year and indicate his desire to contest again. It is also possible that a third major party may form, with rumours swirling of potential powerful backers including Obasanjo and Babangida.

ELECTION INTERFERENCE

Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal has hit Nigeria. The government has launched an investigation into allegations that the firm was hired to interfere with Buhari’s campaigns in 2011 and 2015, on behalf of the PDP and then-President Goodluck Jonathan.

Jonathan, through a spokesman, denied any knowledge of the alleged interference. Cambridge Analytica has not commented on the allegations.

The 2015 contest is the only time Nigeria has had a handover of power from a defeated incumbent since civilian government took over in 1999. Even then, independent observers saw evidence of vote buying, voter intimidation and other forms of corruption.

TURNOUT AND TIMETABLE

Voter turnout in the 2015 election was 29.4 million, or 44 per cent of registered voters, according to Independent National Electoral Commission data.

Party primaries run from August 18 to October 7. Campaigning will be held from Nov. 18, 2018 to Feb. 14, 2019, and the presidential elections are set for Feb. 16, 2019. The candidate with the most votes is declared winner as long as they have at least one-quarter of the vote in two-thirds of Nigeria’s 36 states and the capital. Otherwise there is a run-off.

Culled from Reuters

13, April 2018

Southern Cameroons War: Ambazonians facing humanitarian crisis ⁰

Cameroonians swept up in a conflict between anglophone separatists and the government are facing a humanitarian crisis, aid groups say as they struggle to reach people in remote areas that have become virtually off-limits.

They have “numerous humanitarian needs”, said Allegra Maria Del Pilar Baiocchi, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator for Cameroon. “Beyond the violence, (the crisis) has an impact on health, on employment,” she told AFP.

Separatist ambitions have long simmered in two minority anglophone regions in the west of the country, where people complain of being marginalised by the French-speaking elite. The push for separation was galvanised by a heavy deployment of government troops last August, spurring a low-intensity conflict with sporadic attacks on symbols of the state.

“As with any armed conflict, civilians suffer the consequences of the violence, insecurity and fear,” said Alberto Jodra Marcos, who heads the Swiss branch of the humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Cameroon.

According to UN estimates, tens of thousands of people are internally displaced in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon, a one-time German colony that was divided between France and Britain after World War I.

In the worst-hit areas of Mamfe and Kumba in the southwest, some 40,000 people are estimated to have fled their homes.

But some fear the numbers affected could be much greater, with one humanitarian worker saying it was impossible to quantify the displacement given the limited access. The government has imposed curfews on civilians in both regions, and aid groups are rarely allowed in.

‘War situation’

“It’s difficult for organisations like ours to carry out missions on the ground,” said Agbor Bala Nkongho, director of the NGO Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa. “We are in a war situation. We can’t send people everywhere.”

As well as those who are internally displaced, many Cameroonians have fled the violence to neighbouring Nigeria. SEMA, a Nigerian relief agency, said some 34,000 have taken refuge in Nigeria’s Cross River State.

The state has said it will set up and fund a refugee camp with UN backing, but for now local communities are sheltering the majority of the Cameroonian refugees, according to SEMA chief John Inaku. “The situation is very difficult for us,” said Peter Kechi, the village chief of Bashu, which is some five kilometres (three miles) from the border and whose population has ballooned from 1,500 to 4,000 in a few months.

“We are taking refugees into our homes and our bedrooms, with sometimes 20 people sleeping in the same room,” Kechi said.

Locals say the refugees cross the border on foot through heavily forested mountainous areas, making it difficult to record their arrival. The UN has registered 20,485 Cameroonians in Nigeria, according to Baiocchi, who added that “the arrivals are continuing”.

Following a fact-finding mission in Cameroon’s anglophone regions, “we know more or less where the needs are… the next step is how to respond to them,” she said, reached by telephone from the Gabonese capital Libreville. Jodra Marcos of MSF said its workers had carried out training on how to care for the “wounded and traumatised” and donated medicines and equipment in anglophone areas.

However, “many communities (are) in a precarious situation” after staff have fled and some clinics have closed, he noted. Separatists have been blamed for the torching of schools in the areas, while aid groups and residents also regularly accuse the army of carrying out abuses against civilians.

Early this month a human rights activist charged that soldiers killed several civilians by setting fire to their homes. A security source, for his part, accused “some aid groups” of spreading disinformation. The government in Yaounde has repeatedly denied accusations of excessive violence and extortion.

Source: France 24

13, April 2018

Pentagon cautions White House: Syria strike could trigger wider war ⁰

US Defense Secretary James Mattis has warned that a military strike on Syria carried the risk of spiraling out of control, cautioning the White House as it weighs how to respond to a suspected chemical attack outside Damascus last weekend.

Speaking before a House Armed Services Committee hearing on Thursday, Mattis said his primary concern in planning military action was avoiding anything that would trigger a wider war.

“On a strategic level, it’s how do we keep this from escalating out of control,” he said.

President Donald Trump initially threatened this week that he was committed to attacking the government of President Bashar al-Assad, which he accused of using chemical weapons in Douma.

However, Trump later softened his rhetoric, suggesting he was awaiting further advice and assessment before a final decision was made.

“Never said when an attack on Syria would take place,” he tweeted. “Could be very soon or not so soon at all!”

Mattis insisted the US policy in Syria still remained the same, which was the total defeat of the Daesh terrorist group without getting directly involved in the conflict.

“Our strategy remains the same as a year ago,” he said. “It is to drive this to a U.N.-brokered peace but, at the same time, keep our foot on the neck of ISIS until we suffocate it,” referring to Daesh.

The terror organization has been driven from most of the territory it held in Iraq and Syria, but pockets of militants remain.

On Thursday, Russia announced that the Syrian army had liberated Douma less than two months into its counter-terrorism operation in Eastern Ghouta.

“With every victory achieved on the field, the voices of some Western states are raised and actions are intensified in an attempt by them to change the course of events,” President Assad said after the announcement.

“These voices and any possible action will contribute nothing but an increase in instability in the region, threatening international peace and security,” he was quoted by Syrian state TV as saying.

The US has been in close consultations with Britain and France about launching a military operation in Syria as early as the end of this week, officials said.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday France had proof the Assad government launched chlorine gas attacks, and that it would not tolerate “regimes that think everything is permitted.”

British Prime Minister Theresa May met with her cabinet, agreeing that it was “highly likely” President Assad was responsible for Saturday’s alleged chemical attack in Douma.

May’s cabinet agreed on the need to “take action” against the Syrian government, but added that the prime minister would continue to coordinate with allies.

Mattis, however, told lawmakers that the United States still had no hard proof, but he believed the Syrian government was responsible for Saturday’s attack.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, based in the Netherlands, announced it was deploying a fact-finding team to Douma, which was expected to arrive Saturday.

US officials have not said whether the presence of the international investigators could affect the timing of a potential military strike.

The plans for military action have especially been complicated because of the presence of roughly 2,000 Russian troops, who have been stationed in the country since 2015.

Russia has raised the possibility of a military confrontation with the United States if Syria is attacked. Russia also has sophisticated air defense systems in Syria and has threatened to shoot down American missiles.

Source: Presstv

13, April 2018

Spain court rules proposed Catalan leader must stay in jail ⁰

Spain’s Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a request by Catalonia’s pro-independence presidential candidate Jordi Sanchez to be let out of jail and sworn in as regional head.

The Catalan parliament had been scheduled to hold a debate and vote on Sanchez’s candidacy on Friday, but after the court’s ruling Catalan parliament speaker Roger Torrent announced on Twitter he had suspended the session indefinitely.

Sanchez was remanded in custody in October pending charges over his role in last year’s failed Catalan independence bid.

An attempt to appoint him as president failed last month after Spain’s Supreme Court turned down a request for his release from jail.

But Torrent put Sanchez’s name forward as a candidate again earlier this month after the United Nations Human Rights Committee defended his political rights.

In letters sent last month to Spanish authorities and Sanchez’s lawyers, the UN committee requested the state take all steps to ensure he is allowed to exercise his political rights.

Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena once again turned down Sanchez’s request, arguing there were signs that he could “move in the direction of a rupture of the constitutional order”.

The judge argues it was justified in limiting Sanchez’s political rights given the risk that his release would pose to the collective rights “of the rest of the community”.

Torrent had appealed earlier on Thursday for the judge to agree to let Sanchez, a former leader of influential grassroots independence group ANC who was elected to the Catalan parliament in snap polls in December, leave jail to be sworn in.

“The court has the opportunity to take note of international law and the protection of political rights or write another dark chapter in the history of the Supreme Court,” he said in an interview to news radio station Cadena Ser.

The court ruling comes as Barcelona is gearing up for a huge protest on Sunday to mark the six month anniversary of the jailing of Sanchez and Jordi Cuixart, the leader of another separatist organisation.

(Source: AFP)

13, April 2018

Boko Haram has kidnapped at least 1,000 girls since 2013 ⁰

The United Nations (UN)’s children’s agency has slammed the repeated attacks by the Daesh-linked Boko Haram terrorist group against children in Nigeria, announcing that at least 1,000 children have been abducted in the African country since 2013.

More than 1,000 children, mostly under 15 years of age, have been abducted in northern Nigeria since January 2013, the UN’s Children’s Fund, UNICEF, estimated in a statement on Thursday.

“Children in northeastern Nigeria continue to come under attack at a shocking scale,” said Mohamed Malick Fall, UNICEF’s Nigeria head. “UNICEF is appealing for an end to attacks on schools and all grave violations of children’s rights.”

He also called for the release of those still held in captivity.

Boko Haram has been regularly kidnapping youngsters. In 2014, 276 schoolgirls were abducted from the town of Chibok, located in Nigeria’s northeast. The mass kidnapping triggered global condemnation and intense criticism of Nigerian officials in the country as well as an international “Bring Back Our Girls” campaign.

“Nigerian authorities have made a commitment to make schools safer and more resilient to attack, and UNICEF stands with them to implement the Safe Schools Declaration, by which Nigeria commits to protecting schools and universities from violence and military use during armed conflict,” Fall further said.

The agency also said that at least 2,295 teachers had been killed and more than 1,400 schools had been destroyed due to the militancy in Nigeria.

The Boko Haram terror campaign in Nigeria is in its tenth year and has so far killed more than 20,000 and forced the displacement of over two million others.

Most recently, more than 100 schoolgirls were kidnapped by the group in the town of Dapchi, which had previously been unaffected by the militancy. The girls were later released reportedly through quiet efforts by the government.

Four years since the Chibok abduction, however, some 100 of the schoolgirls are believed to remain in captivity. Nearly 60 of the abductees escaped soon after the incident and some others have since been released through mediation.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, a former general, came to power in 2015 on a platform of stamping out the Boko Haram militancy. Despite retaking swathes of territory from the group, though, the government has been unable to prevent attacks from continuing against both civilians and government targets.

Buhari plans to seek re-election in 2019.

Source: Presstv

12, April 2018

Southern Cameroons War: The Red Dragons of Lebialem strikes again ⁰

The Red Dragons of Lebialem staged a massive raid on the gendarmerie post in Alou on Wednesday the 11^th of April 2018 killing six officers who were in the locality to take part in the installation ceremony of the new commander of the Alou Brigade. Cameroon Concord News was reliably informed that the Red Dragons carried out the attack immediately after the top military officers left the area for Bafoussam.

We gathered that the Lebialem Red Dragons also made away with heavy ammunitions that were ferried into the county by soldiers loyal to the French Cameroun regime in Yaoundé. Meanwhile, 14 elements of the Rapid Intervention Battalion were killed in Beluah and Nchobenyae and two military truck destroyed.

A military source contacted at the time of filing this report revealed that 15 of the soldiers with life threatening injuries that were rushed to MHA Hospital at Nveh died from wounds sustained during the battle for Beluah. The French Cameroun government forces have reportedly placed Azi and Menji under high security surveillance after a huge explosion occurred at Moonhead Menji.

This item is developing

By Chi Prudence Asong with files from Azi

12, April 2018

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Government is overwhelmed ⁰

The Southern Cameroons crisis that started in 2016 has finally entered a very critical phase. The Yaounde government is in trouble as the two “cubes of sugar” refuse to melt.

According to a source in the military, many army soldiers have lost their lives and hundreds have been wounded in the jungles of Ndian, Manyu and Meme Divisions. The wounded are alive and are today telling their stories and many clearly indicate that there is something mystical in the way the Southern Cameroons fighters conduct themselves.

They are at a loss for words having witnessed the death and destruction the Southern Cameroonian ragtag army has inflicted on the government’s military. Our source adds that the Southern Cameroons crisis has become a business for many high-ranking army officers, especially the generals and colonels who are directly involved in efforts to roll back the advancing Southern Cameroonian army.

Today, many French-speaking Cameroonian soldiers are scared of going to fight in the restive English-speaking regions, having seen the type of wounds some of their colleagues have sustained in the battlefield. It’s now normal for junior officers to bribe their seniors so that they don’t get sent to Southern Cameroons which in the minds of many army soldiers is synonymous with death.

It is also being rumored that the country’s defense minister, Joseph Beti Assoumou, is making a huge fortune from the chaos that is playing out in southern Cameroons. A source close to the presidency has indicated that even the president is gradually questioning the rationale behind the fighting, as there is no light at the end of the tunnel.

Cameroon government officials are gradually coming to terms with the fact that the two “cubes of sugar” they thought would easily melt, will unfortunately not be melting anytime soon. The source added that the government was admitting that it had underestimated the role the Southern Cameroons Diaspora would play in the entire process.

Government officials, the source says, are aware that if the crisis has to fizzle out, the Diaspora must be appeased. But for now, they are not sure of who to talk to. The situation has spiralled out of control and it will be hard to stabilize the region without making peace with a Southern Cameroonian Diaspora that numbers well over three million and it is determined to give the government a good run for its money.

The human cost of the conflict is staggering. Soldiers and civilians have been killed in a conflict that could have been avoided. The government has simply stopped announcing the killing of army soldiers, as this may have a huge impact on those who are being sent to the restive English-speaking regions.

Besides, announcing the death of army soldiers could cause the docile Francophones to start asking questions about the essence of a war that was unnecessary. Despite this silence, Francophone Cameroonians are gradually becoming more vocal. The families that have not seen their loved ones or heard from them have begun asking questions about their whereabouts.

“It is unbelievable that I have not heard from my brother since he was sent to Ndian Division in January. I have called his number, but I keep on hearing that it is no longer in service. My brother was very communicative before he got deployed to the Southwest region. I have tried contacting the military, but none of those I have talked to has been able to give a clear-cut answer. I know the military is hiding something from us, but for how long will they do that. I know of a friend who was in the same situation and the top military brass kept telling them that their brother was on mission, until his friends sent them pictures of their brother having been killed by those ruthless Ambazonian fighters. The family has now got closure, but it does no longer trust the Cameroon army,” a relative of a soldier on mission told our correspondent in Yaounde.

While the physical wounds could be easily healed, the psychological wounds might never go away. Many army soldiers are now dealing with mental health issues and many of them have been caught in a nightmare that will not be going away anytime soon. For those who have killed civilians in the process, theirs appears to be the kingdom of tears. Many of them cannot sleep and are having a tough time eating.

Instead of dealing with these cases, the military has simply discharged some of these young men from the military to enable them find lasting solutions to their psychological crisis. But discharging them from the military does not look like a good decision. Some of these psychological cases are clearly exposing the government. They are telling the tales of agony that are coming from the war fronts in the English-speaking regions of the country.

The wounded are letting the world know the truth about the state’s finances. The government clearly lacks the resources to deal with the victims of a war it hastily declared. Many of the families affected by this situation are really questioning the wisdom behind this senseless war.

“Look at how my brother is suffering today. He was healthy before he left for Mamfe to fight those the government said were the enemies of the state. He got scarred both physically and psychologically and today, he has been abandoned by the government that promised to help them in the event of any casualties. He cannot sleep. He has not slept for days and he keeps on saying that he is seeing dead people around him,” the sister of a psychologically scarred army soldier told our correspondent.

But the government’s greatest problem is not the physically and psychologically wounded. It has found a way of ridding itself of this burden. According to the government, it suffices to give the affected family some money and discharging those scarred from the military. Since the system is not organized and data is hardly kept, it is a lot harder for the population to really figure out the truth.

The media is not developed and those who pass off as journalists, do not have the financial and intellectual capacity to conduct investigations that will clearly expose the government. This gives the government the feeling that it is off the hook. But the International Crisis Group and Amnesty International are carefully gathering information in this regard and this will surely embarrass the government when the time comes.

But this appears to be the least of the government’s concerns. Its focus is on its leaky treasury that is spelling hard times for the country’s burgeoning civil service. The country’s financial indicators are trending very low. Government coffers are empty, and many ministries do not have the resources to carry out some of the main projects that had been included in this year’s budget.

Many missions have been canceled and senior civil servants have been urged to reduce cost as much as possible. The Southern Cameroons crisis has hit the government like a ton of bricks. There is panic within government circles, as empty coffers spell huge problems for a government that is yet to recover from the punch it has taken to the liver.

Its image and reputation have been badly battered. Its noise about having one of the best military on the continent has turned out to be a bluff. Ambazonian fighters have put their young and poorly trained troops through their paces. They are simply not a match for these young, determined English-speaking fighters who are determined to take the war to East Cameroon.

The government is simply overwhelmed. It is out of resources and the French who have been supporting its military action are gradually back-pedaling. The French understand that the government has stirred a hornet’s nest and it will take time for it to find the appropriate solution to this problem. Even the government now knows that it is in for a long haul and if it has to successfully prosecute this war, then it must turn to other sources.

The French alone will not provide the much-needed resources to roll back the various armed groups in the English-speaking regions. This is being compounded by the government’s legendary corruption that has become its hallmark. The military generals are making hay while the sun shines, as the government heads abroad, cap in hand, to beg for money to prosecute a warthat was not even necessary.

Mr. Biya’s recent trip to China was designed for him to sweet-talk the Chinese into giving him money so that he could meet his domestic commitments. But the Chinese, noted for their craft and intelligence, carefully steered everything towards business and bilateral cooperation.

They understand the Biya government is a deep dry hole. They are simply not interested in pouring their money in a venture that will never yield any dividends. Mr. Biya might have been promised lots of things, but he knows that it will be an uphill task for him to get free money from the Chinese who themselves are dealing with some financial headwinds, especially as the global economy is facing some tough challenges.

The Biya government is clearly on the back foot. Its dwindling resources are keeping government officials awake all night. Ambazonian fighters just have to continue pouring pressure on the old and ailing government and it will crack very soon. With its treasury running short of money, it is clear that civil servants will soon be taking to the streets to call for the payment of their salaries. If this happens, even the docile Francophones will join Southern Cameroonians to kiss goodbye to the reckless and inefficient Yaounde government. The writing is clearly on the wall and with elections looming large, the government knows this year may be its last.

It might have held senatorial elections which of course do not represent anything. But parliamentary and presidential elections will surely be a tough test for a government that is cash-strapped. The Ambazonian fighters are prepared to disrupt the elections. The government lacks the military and policing capacity to ensure the elections hold across the entire country. Boko Haram is also messing up things in the north and Central African Republic fighters are sowing chaos in the east. It is clear that the government has a lot on its plate. Its best option, according to political experts, is for it to sue for peace. But will its legendary arrogance let it do the right thing?

Cameroon is treading a dangerous path. The international community can not continue to look the other way while this bomb continues to tick. If the world does not act fast, the bomb might go off and it will bring down the entire Central African region. The ordinary Cameroonian, who is an innocent victim, is calling on the international community to help protect him against his protector – the government – that has been maiming and killing its own people. If the international community does not step in very fast, Cameroon will end up being another basket case in a continent that has had more than its fair share of chaos.

By Kingsley Betek

Cameroon Concord News Group