Two police officers were killed by suspected separatists in a restive English-speaking region of Cameroon, the authorities said Thursday, raising to 10 the total number of security officials who have died in attacks this month.

“Two police were killed overnight at a border post in Southwest Region,” said government spokesman Issa Tchiroma Bakary, blaming English-speaking separatists.

Another police officer and a soldier were wounded in the attack. Bakary said a group of police and soldiers were carrying out “routine checks and searches” during the night when they were ambushed by gunmen.

A regional police source said the attack took place in Otu, which is in the same region where four soldiers from the army’s motorized infantry battalion were killed early on Wednesday. The ambush brought to 10 the total of security forces killed in suspected separatist attacks since the start of the month. Five were police and five soldiers.

The bloodshed is the latest episode in an escalating crisis in the Southwest and Northwest regions, home to a large minority of English-speakers in the francophone-majority nation. Resentment among Anglophones over perceived discrimination has fed a spiral of political demands and also a government crackdown, leading to calls for secession.

Source:  AFP

Suspected separatists in a restive English-speaking region of Cameroon have killed four more soldiers as violence continues to plague government efforts for reaching a settlement with the secessionists.

Army and government sources said Wednesday that the four soldiers were “murdered” in Mamfe, a city in Cameroon’s Southwest Region, by those who promote “terrorism.”

“Four soldiers were killed around 2:00 am around Mamfe,” said an army source angrily, adding, “They murdered our soldiers. If that’s not terrorism, what is it?”

A government source also confirmed the deaths although there was no more information on how the soldiers were killed.

The deaths are the latest to hit the ranks of Cameroon’s security forces as they struggle to contain a growing insurgency in the Southwest and Northwest regions, where a large minority English-speaking people lives. Calls for secession have escalated in recent years as the community members lament about more discrimination and their leaders say the government has repeatedly ignored their political demands.

International monitors say up to 40 people have been killed since violence erupted in the two regions in late September. The government puts the death toll on a maximum of 12 while maintaining that eight members of security forces have been killed this month alone.

The central government in Yaounde has rejected calls for secession or a return to Cameroon’s previous federal system of governance. It has tried to reach out to key separatist leaders for political dialogue although nighttime curfews, restrictions on movement, raids and body searches remain in place in the anglophone regions.

The anglophone community comprise a fifth of the francophone-dominated Cameroon of 22 million people. Its presence is rooted in the colonial past of West Africa and in a decision by France and Britain after the World War I to divide Cameroon, a then German colony, under the mandates of the League of Nations.

Source: Presstv

There is a complete breakdown of law and order in the French Cameroun city of Douala as individuals are killed, raped and assaulted every day in Japoma, a locality in the third district. This drama has been unfolding for several weeks but the Francophone regime in Yaoundé is maintaining a kind of deliberate silence.

A girl, who was kidnapped on leaving a bank, said she was saved after bribing a member of the gang with the money she had withdrawn from her bank account. According to a testimony from a family member of the victim who is currently in hospital, she went to make a withdrawal last Friday and the motorcycle that she boarded to return home changed direction into the bush. Feeling at risk, the young lady called for help, but no one heard her calls.

Later, she was thrown into a yellow vehicle with smoked windows including a lady in her 40s, and a girl of about 14 years old and taken to an unknown destination. They arrived an abandoned building where she revealed that she met a young lady with many other girls and even boys. Some were already dead, and the smell of their bodies filled the dark room.

According to some residents interviewed by Radio Balafon, the lack of electricity in Japoma and drugs that circulate within the area is promoting these attacks.

By Rita Akana

Journalists covering the French Cameroun National Assembly were ordered to leave the premise during a stand-off between the Prime Minister and SDF Members of Parliament. The media gurus were present at the National Assembly during the plenary session today Wednesday, November 29, 2017 when Prime Minister Philemon Yang was assaulted by members of the SDF parliamentary group.  The so-called head of government was about to present the economic program when the MPs told him to shut up.

Immediately journalists and cameramen were ordered to stop coverage and French Cameroun security apparatus was deployed in the box reserved for the press. Some of the journalists had their phones switched off by security forces and as the voices rose between the Prime Minister and the SDF MPs, so also was the case between the media men and the men in uniform. A senior correspondent with the Cameroon Radio and Television was expelled from the building and banned on the spot from covering the National Assembly.

Meanwhile, the French Cameroun Prime Minister did not let go. He delivered his speech while the SDF deputies chanted anti regime songs loudly.  The Social Democratic Front party has thus continued its operation “Blockade” launched last week.

By Rita Akana