Headline News

26, January 2017

Supreme Court Judges protest CENER arrest of Lord Justice Ayah Paul ¹

Some judges of the Supreme Court of Cameroun have openly protested the arrest of Lord Justice Ayah Paul Abine by secret service agents loyal to the 83 year-old dictator, Paul Biya. According to the judges, Ayah’s arrest occurred in violation of article 629 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

The Supreme Court judges pointed out that the nation is now being run like a banana republic. The leaders of the judiciary also indicated via a Yaoundé based tabloid that the legal provision to which a judge of the Supreme Court or a magistrate of the judicial order is liable to be charged with an offense has been violated.

The Judges revealed that for any arrest to be carried out, the competent Attorney-General must submit an application to the President of the Supreme Court who has to appoint a magistrate responsible for examining the case and three others, with a rank at least equal to that of the defendant, with a view to the eventual judgment of the case.

Lord Justice Paul Ayah Abine was arrested last Saturday at his home by six armed men and taken to the Secretary of State for Defense (SED) where he remains detained. The executive branch of the government reportedly wrote a letter to the President of the Supreme Court claiming that Ayah Paul was involved in politics as leader of the People’s Action Party. The Cameroonian judges have however made it abundantly clear that this part of his life cannot justify the form of his arrest.

“He was arrested because he expressed his opinions. But when he was appointed to the Supreme Court, they knew who he was, what political ideas he had! Why pretend today to be surprised by his political struggle? “Said a Judge. For them, the arrest of Paul Ayah Abine shows them that no one is safe.

By Sonne Peter

26, January 2017

Anglophone Problem: Exiled American Computer scientist condemns the shutting down of internet services ⁰

The famous American computer scientist exiled in Russia for making public information classified as “top-secrets” by the CIA has denounced the shutting down of Internet services in the Anglophone part of Cameroon.

The former CIA employee, tweeted that “this is a form of repression, against which we must mobilize and fight, # keepItOn # BringBackOurInternet,” he wrote. The reaction of the famous American computer scientist, Edward Joseph Snowden, provoked an avalanche of comments on the web.

After this unexpected support from the American, many Cameroonians close to English cyber activists, changed their profile with the hashtag, # BringBackOurInternet #. The Francophone dominated government of the 83 year-old dictator Paul Biya cut Internet in the regions of South West and North West in a bid to stifle the growing Anglophone nationalism and demands for a Southern Cameroons state.

By Chi Prudence Asong

26, January 2017

Donald Trump signs directive to begin construction of wall on the border with Mexico ⁰

US President Donald Trump has signed a directive to begin the construction of a wall on the border with Mexico, taking the first step to deliver on one of his most divisive campaign pledges. “We’ve been talking about this right from the beginning,” the Republican president said as he signed the order during a ceremony for homeland security secretary on Wednesday, according to Reuters. The wall will be stretched across the roughly 2,000-mile (3,200-kilometer) US-Mexico border. Earlier, Trump said during an interview with ABC News that the construction was slated to begin within months, while planning would start immediately.

Trump also asserted that Mexico would reimburse “100 percent” of the wall’s costs. The American president took another step aimed at curbing immigration by signing a separate executive action on public safety for the interior of the US, authorizing a crackdown on US cities that shield illegal immigrants. The directive aims to strip federal funding from “sanctuary” states and cities that harbor illegal immigrants. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said earlier in the day that the orders were the new administration’s “first step to really securing our porous border.” “This will stem the flow of drugs, crime, illegal immigration into the United States,” he added.

During his campaign run, Trump repeatedly pledged to build a wall along the southern border to prevent more immigrants from entering the US illegally. The Manhattan billionaire even estimated that erecting the wall would cost $8 billion, pledging to force Mexico to cover it. Earlier this month, however, Trump joined other Republicans, saying US taxpayers may foot the initial bill for the proposed wall, insisting that Mexico would repay the US the money in the end. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto made it clear during a meeting with Trump in September last year that his country would not pay for the project. Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray repeated Nieto’s remarks on January 11, saying there was “no way” that his country would fund the wall.

Presstv

26, January 2017

Southern Cameroons Crisis and the Consortium: Know Where You Stand ⁴

The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium is about protecting Southern Cameroons and improving the lives of its people. It is thanks to the careful management of the Consortium that we now have a beaming Head of State signing an empty decree to promote bilingualism. The leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium have been arrested for demanding a return to the 1961 two state federal structure.

Southern Cameroons covers a huge area on Cameroun’s west coast and billions of dollars of profit is being made from West Cameroon oil and agro-industrial plants but the people have been excluded from every economic benefit the nation can offer. Instead their well established economic institutions inherited from the British, the German and the Dutch which had sustained livelihoods have all been devastated by the Francophone political elites. The West Cameroon Shipping Company, the West Cameroon Ports Authority, the Tiko International Airport, the West Cameroon Power Authority, the West Cameroon Bank, the National Produce Marketing Board, the PAMOL Plantations, the CDC etc

The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium is simply calling for a more humane environment to live in and a measure of political autonomy for Anglophone Cameroonians to manage their own affairs. The 83 year-old Paul Biya and his Francophone army generals, Governors, SDOs and DOs are saying that asking for federalism is sacrilege. To the Francophone political elites, giving West Cameroon a share of their own wealth means reducing the profits that goes into their private pockets. Giving Southern Cameroons any form of federalism means questioning the exploitative colonial, political and economic structures bequeathed by the French. Such demands have to be brutally repressed.

The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium has deeply crafted what we can now call the Southern Cameroons Bill of Rights to Resistance and it has captured the economic, cultural and political aspirations of every West Cameroonian. To be sure, the Consortium has put an end to the North West/South West divide and provided a road map for a Southern Cameroons nation where people will have the right to control their own resources and political life. The leaders of the Consortium believe firmly that Southern Cameroons and its resources belong to the Cameroonian people, not the Francophone political elites.

The Southern Cameroons resistance is not against Biya and his CPDM crime syndicate. It is not against the so-called Anglophone political elites in Yaoundé! It is a call to action to the people of West Cameroon to reject the French imposition of a colonial structure such as the appointments of Governors, SDOs, DOs and District Heads. It is a call for Southern Cameroonians to seek political autonomy and to be represented in all Cameroonian institutions as English Speaking Cameroonians rather than in two regions dominated by the Francophone political elites.

This bold demand is not a direct threat to ELF as the Francophone political elites want the French to understand. The call for self determination is only growing due to the delay and bad faith manifested by the regime in Yaoundé. The French government has the power to stop these arrest and extra judicial killings going on in Southern Cameroons. They can stop it at any time if they want to; the French have that kind of power in Yaounde. But from every indication, the French embassy in Yaoundé is basically encouraging state violence against the people of Southern Cameroons.

The Southern Cameroons National Council, SCNC and numerous Anglophone groups fighting for the independence of British Southern Cameroons should know that history often raises certain people over others, but the leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium have all been equal in this struggle and West Cameroonians have shown that they are a formidable force.

The repression in Southern Cameroons has not stop with the arrest of the leaders of the Consortium-the resistance too will not stop. The Francophone government has set up a fierce crack team of police officers and soldiers with the single duty of uprooting dissent. Military checkpoints have been erected all over Southern Cameroons and anyone suspected of being a member of the Consortium or SCNC is arrested and detained. Many of those arrested in 2016 have never been seen again. Women are being raped and properties looted. Those who can find their way out of Southern Cameroons are going into exile.

Southern Cameroons is the most deprived region in Cameroon. Schools in Ndian, Akwaya, Menchum, Bui and Fontem areas look like they belong in the 18th century. The roads are bad and medical care almost non-existent. The general hospitals in the divisional capitals can hardly be called a hospital. To have a minor medical procedure in places like Mamfe, Wum, Bali, Kumbo, Ndop Kumba, Ekok, Akwaya, Eyumojock, Njakiri people must provide their own power generator.

The government of La Republique and its French ally, ELF are thinking that if they killed the leaders of the Consortium and other Anglophone activists, the struggle would be over. It is not true as their blood will water the seeds of the revolution. The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium is teaching us to KNOW WHERE YOU STAND; how to take on the devil without losing your moral belief in the tools of nonviolence, the power of resistance and the power of people.

This is the plan of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium:

1. We continue keeping our children home to ensure that no school resume.
2. We continue observing Ghost towns on Mondays and Tuesdays
3. We prepare for the final destruction of 11th February by ensuring that on that day, it is very ghostly

All these actions are meant to ensure that the school year becomes blank which will soon happen, then the dynamics will change. It will also frustrate Government to call for a genuine dialogue as well as releasing our leaders unconditionally. Additionally, the Diaspora continues its pressure in foreign embassies.

The consortium is also putting and gathering a diplomatic push to some quarters as well as investing in media relationship especially foreign. The twitter strategy is also getting more foreign media involve in our case. Let us continue ensuring that schools remain closed, Ghost towns continue respectively, tweeting and preparing for 11th February boycott while diplomatic push continues in the background.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Editor-in-Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group

26, January 2017

Vice Chancellor of the University of Buea threatens students and lecturers ¹

The Vice Chancellor of the University of Buea, Dr Nalova Lyonga is reportedly threatening students and lecturers against staying away from the university saying that they are doing so at their own risk. In a release signed on January 24, 2017 the Vice Chancellor said students must come to school because studies are going on as planned in the congregation meeting of January 13, 2017. She added that staff and students who fail to come to school would have themselves to blame.

The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium which has legitimate authority over all of Southern Cameroons territory including its citizens have decreed that all academic establishments in West Cameroon should remain closed and ghost town operations will be observed every Mondays and Tuesdays until all Anglophone demands are met including the release of all political detainees.

Consortium sources say whosoever is going by that title Vice Chancellor should respect constituted authority in West Cameroons.

By Sama Ernest

26, January 2017

Consortium says 2 Human Rights experts have met with Chairman Agbor Nkongho ¹

The interim leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium have revealed that two of West Cameroon human rights experts have met with Chairman Agbor Nkongho Felix at his detention facility in Yaoundé. Dr Chemuta Divine Banda and Barrister Tambe Tiku of the National Human Rights Commission were quoted by the Consortium as saying that there was no Wednesday court hearing for the detained Consortium leaders.

Cameroon Concord News gathered from a statement issued by the Consortium that the National Human Rights Commission has requested for improved prison conditions for Chairman Barrister Agbor Nkongho Felix following several complaints he made about his shambolic treatment by the state guards.

The Consortium statement also stated that both English and French speaking lawyers visited the Chairman including Barristers Akere Muna and Ben Muna. The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium also observed that the Secretary General, Dr. Fontem Neba is being held at the Central Prison while Chairman Agbor Balla is in the principal prison.

By Rita Akana

25, January 2017

Anglophone Crisis: Consortium seeking travel bans on senior CPDM officials ⁰

The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium is reportedly drafting a document that will push for a UN resolution slamming the Biya Francophone regime for systematic unlawful killings of Southern Cameroonians since 2016. Our correspondent in Paris has gotten intelligence that some Southern Cameroonian legal practitioners will be meeting a group of French lawyers this coming week in a bid to begin legal proceedings against the Yaoundé government.

Cameroon Intelligence Report gathered that the resolution and the proceedings will include travel bans on senior government and military officials of La Republique du Cameroun. Inside sources say the group of French and Southern Cameroons advocates will be targeting the Director of the Civil Cabinet at the Presidency of the Republic, Martin Belinga Eboutou, the Minister of Higher Education, Jacques Fame Ndongo, Minister Atanga Nji, Prime Minister Philemon Yang and General Rene Meka.

We understand that some Anglophone lawyers based in the US have been contacted to join the team in Paris. The lawyers are expected to pressure France and the European Union to charge the Francophone regime with excessive and intentional force without justification against Southern Cameroons civilians including against Anglophone lawyers, journalists, activists and peaceful protesters.

Cases of deliberate fatal shooting of individuals who posed no imminent danger to life are being assembled by the group. Southern Cameroons has become so uninhabitable that many of its residents are migrating to French Cameroun and some to neighboring Nigeria.

Culled from Cameroon Inteligence Report

25, January 2017

Germany: Ex-European Parliament head to run against Merkel ⁰

Germany’s center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) has nominated Martin Schulz as its candidate to compete against conservative Angela Merkel for the post of chancellor in this year’s federal election. SPD leader Sigmar Gabriel announced on Tuesday at a press conference at the party headquarters in Berlin that the SPD committee had unanimously made the decision.

“Martin Schulz will be the SPD chancellor candidate for the 2017 federal elections. That is our unanimous party committee decision,” said Gabriel. Gabriel said Schulz “will also be the party chairman,” adding that the SPD is expected to confirm both his candidacy as well as his party leadership at a meeting on Sunday.

Following the announcement, Schulz said “it is an extraordinary honor that I, with pride and also with a natural humbleness, accept it and I will try and make the best out of it for our country.” Schulz also slammed Merkel austerity policies, which he said “have no doubt contributed to the deep crises in the EU since 2008, to the isolation of a dominant German government.”

Schulz, 61, a former president of the European Parliament, will run against Chancellor Merkel, 62, from the rival Christian Democratic Union (CDU), who will be running for a fourth term in the federal election slated for September 24.

The SPD and the CDU are the two main parties in the German parliament, known as the Bundestag.The SPD’s decision comes as opinion polls indicate Schulz is far more popular than Gabriel; however, other surveys suggest he still faces an extremely tough race against Merkel.

Presstv

25, January 2017

Finance Minister Alamine Ousmane chairs annual conference ⁰

The Minister of Finance Alamine Ousmane Mey has chaired the annual conference of officials of the central and external services of the Ministry of Finance. Ousmane Mey revealed that some areas within his department were in need of some form of structural adjustments. The Biya acolyte identified excessive debt as one of them.

He said the ministry of finance will in 2017; ensure that investment will not hinder growth. The CPDM regime plans to rely on contributions from financial vote holders to finance development projects without necessarily consuming public resources. The Minister recommended that public and external debts be maintained at reasonable levels. He identified the mobilization of tax revenue as means of sustaining the country’s internal debt.

Alamine Ousmane Mey said finance officials should be more vigilant and discipline in the handling of public expenditures. The Finance minister expressed satisfaction at the elasticity of the domestic economy. Between 2010/2015, the Cameroon’s internal debt has increased from 1904 billion to 4489 billion FCFA representing 26.7%n Gross Domestic Product.

CRTV

25, January 2017

Tumi calls for Biya to restart dialogue with the Consortium ¹

Cardinal Christian Tumi has called on the ruling CPDM government to listen to all shades of opinion in the ongoing Anglophone crisis. The 86 year old former Archbishop of Douala now retired made the declaration as guest on Radio France International on Tuesday, January 24, 2017. The renowned Prelate believes that everyone has something to say.

Reacting to the crisis that has rocked the Anglophone regions of the country over the last two months and the shutting down of internet services including the arrest of several Southern Cameroons leaders , the Cardinal said he was trying to understand both sides of the divide.

“I am trying to understand what is happening because I spent nearly thirty years of my life as priest and bishop in French-speaking Cameroon and I am from Anglophone Cameroon. I try to understand both sides. It is now young people, who have not yet become aware of reunification and have started to protest about working conditions, the conditions for living together, and they want us to go back to where we were at the beginning of reunification. That is federalism. The central power no longer wants this. So this is where we are and there is tension.”

The Roman Catholic Cardinal told RFI that the appointment of Francophone judges who do not have a mastery of the English language and who render their judgment in French is an indication that Common Law is not applied in Cameroon. The man of God pointed out that in his native constituency of Bui, the prefect, the sub-prefect and the first deputy are all Francophones, in a region that 99% of the population speak only English. The Retired Cardinal also noted that there are Francophone university lecturers who teach in the Anglo-Saxon Universities of Buea and Bamenda without having mastery of English. “There is need to reform the education system.’

Cardinal Tumi said the decision to outlaw the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium was ill advised. “Too bad. I am against any ban. Everyone has something to say, listen to them. There is no one who loves this country more than others. Even if others prefer federalism, let’s talk about it, to see what is best for everyone. When we repress, it is not a solution. We must try to convince them including those that have gone to the extreme to demand complete separation. There will always be extremists. But the majority of Anglophones want us to go back to where we were, that is, to federalism. They do not want separation, not at all.”

The Cardinal dismissed claims made by the Minister of Communication Issa Tchiroma Bakary observing that federalism is not division of a country. “The current system is showing its faults, with regard to corruption everywhere and we are seeing examples in the world where federated states are progressing well. There has to be dialogue because Anglophones are also Cameroonians. With violence, nothing is built, nothing at all.”

By Rita Akana with files from CIN