The UN has expressed concerns about the swelling numbers of people fleeing English-speaking areas of Cameroon for Nigeria, saying it is particularly worried over the safety of women and children.

William Spindler, spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), decried the precarious situation of women and children, which made up about 80 percent of the approximately 10,000 registered refugees in Nigeria’s Cross River.

“Some of these are boys and girls who fled to Nigeria alone,” Spindler said, adding that unaccompanied and separated children are particularly vulnerable.”

“UNHCR has received numerous reports that children have to work or beg to survive or to help their families.”

“Many reported that they were unable to attend school, for lack of time and money.”

“Thousands more are among the population of unregistered Cameroonians in neighboring states, where some of the children are unaccompanied and vulnerable.”

“UNHCR is working with the Nigerian authorities to assist with the reunification of separated children with their families, to provide unaccompanied children with protection services and to restore the basic right of all children to education,” Spindler said.

He said some of the children fleeing to Nigeria told UNHCR that they had been out of school in Cameroon for all of 2017.

“For women, the lack of work combined with the over-stretched reception facilities, creates a higher risk of sexual and gender-based violence, particularly from survival sex.”

“While only a limited number of cases have been recorded, mainly in the Amana community of Cross River state, UNHCR is concerned that many more cases go unreported or are referred only to community elders.”

“Incidents of domestic violence, as well as cases of teenage pregnancies involving girls as young as 14, have also been reported,” the spokesperson elaborated.

He said in Benue, two school buildings were serving as temporary refugee accommodations, where women and their families sleep inside communal school halls – deprived of private space and the right to family dignity.

“For them, and for the rest of the population living in temporary tents hastily built next to local residences, sufficient and appropriate shelter is key to ensure adequate registration, systematic aid distribution and reduced protection risks,” Spindler stressed.

According to him, UNHCR and the Nigerian authorities are currently working to identify sites away from the border, where the refugees can live according to international standards.

“We are also establishing offices in the towns of Calabar and Adikpo to better provide assistance and protection to the women and children,” he said, noting that support includes food, basic relief items, water and sanitation facilities.

Since mid-2017, Cameroon’s Anglophone regions have seen demonstrations as tensions have mounted over what the country’s English-speakers see as discrimination against them in favor of the majority French-speaking population.

Source: Sahara Reporters

The Russian Defense Ministry has accused the US of fueling tensions in northern Syria by supplying arms to militant groups.

“The Pentagon’s uncontrolled deliveries of modern weaponry to the pro-US militants in the north of Syria contributed to the rapid escalation of tensions and prompted the Turkish special operation,” said a statement released by the ministry on Saturday.

The statement was released after Ankara began new air and ground operations around the area of Afrin in northern Syria aimed at ousting the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara views as a terror organization and the Syrian branch of the outlawed Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK).

The US’ “provocative actions” such as establishing “border forces” and other activities aimed at the “disintegration of Syrian sovereignty, and supporting armed militant groups” have resulted in Turkey’s “extremely negative” reaction.

A few days before the launch of Turkey’s northern Syria operations, Washington claimed that it was not supporting the YPG in Afrin.

“We are not operating in Afrin. We are supporting our partners in defeating remaining Daesh pockets along the Middle Euphrates River Valley, specifically in areas north of Abu Kamal, on the eastern side of the Euphrates River,” said spokesman for the US-led coalition Colonel Ryan Dillo.

Earlier in the day, the Russian Foreign Ministry released a statement voicing its concerns over Turkish military operations in Syria, in which it noted that Russian troops were withdrawing from Afrin “to prevent potential provocation and exclude the threat to the life and well-being of Russian military.”

Turkish tanks cross border into Syria

Meanwhile, several Turkish military trucks carrying tanks and other armored vehicles have crossed the border into the Syrian city of A’zaz in northern Syrian.

The deployment started after Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim announced that ground operations are expected to begin on Sunday.

Yildirim also said that Turkish “armed forces have started an air campaign in order to destroy elements” of the YPG militants in Syria.

The Turkish army also said in a statement that the airstrikes had struck 108 targets belonging to Kurdish militants, but it did not say whether the targets were all in Syria’s Afrin’s province.

According to an YPG spokesman, the air raids have killed 10 people, seven of whom civilians.

“Seven civilians were killed, including a child, as well as two female fighters and one male fighter,” said YPG spokesman Birusk Hasakeh, adding that the child was an eight-year-old boy.

YPG vows to resist Turkish airstrikes

Following Turkey’s Saturday night airstrikes on Afrin, the YPG announced that it had no choice but to fight back.

“We will defeat this aggression, like we have defeated other such assaults against our villages and cities,” said a statement.

While noting that Turkey was targeting civilian neighborhoods, the YPG called on the people of north Syria to unite and defend Afrin.

Source: Presstv

The Francophone Minister of Territorial Administration Rene Sadi has returned to Yaoundé with intelligence report suggesting that the Biya CPDM crime syndicate has lost its long-running diplomatic battle for the extradition of the leaders of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

Rene Sadi traveled to Abuja two weeks ago and has reportedly spent millions of US dollars fighting for the transfer to Cameroon of President Ayuk Tabe and his top aides in what has been described as La Republique du Cameroun’s longest-running extradition case.

A frustrated Minister Sadi arrived the Nsimalen International airport incognito late on Friday and is expected to brief the 84 year old Cameroonian dictator; President Paul Biya. Yaoundé had argued that the extradition would not violate any articles on human rights, relating to inhuman or degrading treatment and the right to a fair trial.

Lawyers representing the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia will begin with court action on Monday the 22^nd of January 2018. The legal team has successfully petitioned for a hearing.

The Ambazonian leaders – Sikiku Ayuk Tabe, Prof. Che Awasum, Barrister.  Barrister Nalowa Bih, Dr. Fidelis Che, Dr. Nfor Nfor, Dr. Henry Kimeng, Prof. Che Awasum, Mr Tassang Wilfred, Dr. Ojong Okonghor, Barrister Shufai Berinyuh, Barrister Eyambe Elias and Dr. Cornelius Kwanga – were arrested at Nera hotel by the DSS in Abuja on January 5 while holding a meeting.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai