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Buhari, in last UN speech, slams Biya, others who cling to power

23, September 2022

Buhari, in last UN speech, slams Biya, others who cling to power 0

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday criticized fellow leaders who extend term limits to cling to power, saying this was having a “corrosive” effect, and promised free and fair elections when the country elects his successor in February.

Some of Buhari’s African counterparts are among the longest-serving leaders in the world. President Paul Biya of neighboring Cameroon has held onto power for nearly four decades, ranking behind Equatorial Guinea’s Teodoro Obiang who has ruled the small Central African country for 43 years.

Buhari, 79, who took office after defeating a sitting president in elections in 2015, will make way for a new leader in what would be another peaceful transfer of power, helping cement Nigeria’s democratic credentials in a region prone to coups.

Nigeria ended decades of military rule in 1999.

Speaking at his last United Nations General Assembly, Buhari said Africa’s most populous nation had invested heavily to ensure free and fair elections.

“We believe in the sanctity of constitutional term limits and we have steadfastly adhered to it in Nigeria. We have seen the corrosive impact on values when leaders elsewhere seek to change the rules to stay on in power,” said Buhari.

“As President, I have set the goal that one of the enduring legacies I would like to leave is to entrench a process of free, fair and transparent, and credible elections through which Nigerians elect leaders of their choice.”

Official election campaigning starts next week .

Source: CNN

Southern Cameroonians learned of Mrs. Chris Anu cancer diagnosis just days before her death

22, September 2022

Southern Cameroonians learned of Mrs. Chris Anu cancer diagnosis just days before her death 0

Lady Anu’s brave cancer battle was kept secret from the entire Southern Cameroons public both at home and in the diaspora until just days before her tragic death, Cameroon Concord News has gathered from sources close to the Ambazonia front line leader.

The Anu family in the USA announced early this morning that his wife had passed away following a heroic battle with cancer. 

Prominent Southern Cameroons leaders in Europe and the US including some friends of the couple have now revealed they only learned of her condition shortly before the tragic news was made public.

A senior Ambazonian figure in the US contacted by this reporter but who asked not to be named, said she knew about the diagnosis when she was called to make a donation for her recovery process.

In a conversation with Cameroon Concord News, a top aide of the Ambazonia Interim Government said no one within the Dabney Yerima administration knew what the late Mrs. Anu was battling.

He continued of her passing: ‘It is shocking and unbelievably sad.’

This item is still developing

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Mamfe Diocese: Bishop Abangalo calls for prayers in wake of St Mary Church attack

22, September 2022

Mamfe Diocese: Bishop Abangalo calls for prayers in wake of St Mary Church attack 0

“It took years for the Church to bring Jesus into this land and I am sure it will take years to bring Jesus back!! All I ask for is that we should pray for the release of the five priests, the religious and the two Christians who were all abducted” was the message from the Bishop of Mamfe, Dr Aloysius Fondong Abangalo, after he visited Nchang village following this week’s terror attack on St. Mary Catholic Church Nchang.

In a soul-searching presentation, His Lordship Dr Abangalo stated that there was an urgent need for the entire diocese of Mamfe to hold a service of prayer and seek penance.  The Bishop said that the atmosphere in his diocese was sombre and heavy and that things may never be the same as they were before.

The Bishop’s House is offering support to the Christians in Nchang and the families in pain, but Christians everywhere deep within the Mamfe Diocese should join us in prayer and in saying the rosary, Bishop Aloysius Fondong said.

Speaking on BBC radio, the head of the Bamenda Ecclesiastic Province, Archbishop Andrew Nkea, said that the Roman Catholic Church in Cameroon was in shock after the attack.

No Southern Cameroons armed group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Manyu Division had already been in a state of heightened alert since the beginning of the crisis in Southern Cameroons. But it is surprising that soldiers have not been guarding churches and public spaces.

Christian leaders in many parts of Cameroon and even beyond have condemned the terrorist attack on the St Mary Catholic Church in Nchang.

Bishop Bibi Michael of the Buea Diocese reportedly sent a message to the Bishop of Mamfe expressing his deep sorrow saying Christians in the Mamfe Diocese are in need of our prayers as they minister the love of God to the stricken village.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

China’s former justice minister faces life in prison for bribery

22, September 2022

China’s former justice minister faces life in prison for bribery 0

China’s former justice minister faces life in prison after a court handed him a suspended death sentence on Thursday for taking bribes and “bending the law”.

Fu Zhenghua’s death sentence will be commuted to life imprisonment after a two-year reprieve, the Intermediate People’s Court in the city of Changchun said in a statement.

The high-profile sentencing — part of a sweeping anti-graft campaign — comes just three weeks before a key political meeting where President Xi Jinping is expected to secure an unprecedented third term.

The court said former politician Fu had abused his power while in a range of senior positions from 2005 to 2021.

“(He is) deprived of political rights for life and all personal property should be confiscated,” it added.

Fu, 67, had accepted bribes worth over 117 million yuan ($16.5 million), the court said.

Between 2014 and 2015, when Fu was head of the Beijing Public Security Bureau, the court said he hid evidence of suspected crimes committed by his brother, Fu Weihua, and failed to handle the case in accordance with the law.

Anti-corruption drive

During his tenure as Beijing’s top cop, Fu is thought to have led the corruption investigation into Zhou Yongkang, the former security chief who was jailed in 2015 in one of the anti-graft campaign’s most high-profile cases.

Fu was a member of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission and the minister of justice before entering semi-retirement in May 2020.

He was serving as the deputy director of the social and legal affairs committee on the standing committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) — a largely ceremonial advisory body — when anti-graft authorities launched an investigation into his dealings last October.

More than a million officials have been punished under the anti-corruption campaign, which critics say has also served as a means to remove Xi’s political enemies since he came to power in 2013.

The Chinese leader has accelerated the pace of the anti-graft campaign in the run-up to the party congress in mid-October.

Three former police chiefs, all accused of graft, were given harsh sentences for corruption on Wednesday.

Gong Daoan, former police chief of Shanghai; Deng Huilin, former police chief of Chongqing; and Liu Xinyun, former police chief of coal-rich Shanxi province, were sentenced in separate courts in Hebei province.

Gong, former deputy mayor and director of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau, was given a life sentence for accepting bribes worth 73.43 million yuan ($10.4 million), state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Deng, the former director of the Chongqing Public Security Bureau, was jailed for 15 years for taking 42.67 million yuan ($6 million) in bribes, CCTV said.

Liu, the former top cop in Shanxi was imprisoned for 14 years for taking bribes worth 13.33 million ($1.9 million), CCTV reported.

Source: AFP

Battle For Southern Cameroons: Peace Foundation Fears for Anarchy as Militias Get Out of Control

22, September 2022

Battle For Southern Cameroons: Peace Foundation Fears for Anarchy as Militias Get Out of Control 0

Groups claiming to be fighting for the independence of the Northwest and Southwest English-speaking regions of Cameroon have been increasing in number, a situation that is running out of control, the leadership of the Catholic peace and charity foundation, Denis Hurley Peace Institute (DHPI), has said, and expressed concern that the Central African nation may be sliding into anarchy.

In a Tuesday, September 20 interview with ACI Africa, DHPI Director, Johan Viljoen, said that leaders of the various separatist groups who have been attacking locals are no longer able to manage “their own fighters”.

“It is clear that the leaders of the various groups of separatist fighters have no control over their own fighters. An attack happens and you see the leaders issuing statements condemning the attack carried out by their own people. The fighters have gone out of control and what we fear is that the situation in the Northwest and Southwest parts of Cameroon may be deteriorating into anarchy,” Mr. Viljoen said.

The DHPI Director recounted that what started in 2017 as a pro-independence movement in the Northwest and Southwest region of Cameroon known as Ambazonia, and supported by all locals, has since evolved into separate militia groups that have turned against locals in a series of kidnappings for ransom and, sometimes, killings.

The Director of the peace entity of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) recounted that at the onset of the independence struggle in the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon, the most recognized pro-independence leader, Julius Ayuk Tabe, was imprisoned, but continued to enjoy widespread support even as the Cameroonian military engaged the fighters to stem the insurgency.

Today, however, infighting amongst pro-independence groups has resulted in what the DHPI Director has referred to as “breakaway interim governments” with each one claiming to be the legitimate representative of the Ambazonian people.

The various factions often engage in armed attacks on each other, Mr. Viljoen said, and explained, “Atrocities against civilians by the Cameroonian army hardly happen anymore. Kidnappings and attacks on villages are now mostly committed by separatists.”

According to the DHPI Director, the tide is turning in the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon as people who have undergone immeasurable suffering at the hands of the militias now express a preference for the President Paul Biya-led government over the separatist fighters.

“Grassroots sentiment is now turning against the separatists, with many locals saying that if these are to be the military and police force of an independent Ambazonia, then they are probably better off under the Biya government,” Mr. Viljoen told ACI Africa September 20.

He expressed concern that attacks against churches and kidnapping of church personnel including Priests and Nuns have been increasing, and said, “We really fear for the safety of our Priest, Sisters, Seminarians and other Church personnel.”

Asked about the reason behind the targeting of the Catholic Church, the DHPI Director said, “I have no idea. We can’t say that it is Christians that are being targeted because the Anglophone crisis has no religious bearing.”

He continued, “I would say the Church is a soft spot. There has also always been the perception that the Catholic Church has a lot of money. Anyone who works in the Church would say that this is a wrong perception.”

Mr. Viljoen made reference to the September 16 arson attack on St. Mary’s Catholic Nchang Parish of the country’s Mamfe Diocese during which five Priests and a Catholic Nun were among those kidnapped, and said that those kidnapped “have not been heard of since then”.

The Director of the peace entity of the Catholic Bishops in Botswana, Eswatini, and South Africa underlined the need for separatist fighters to cease attacking locals in order to regain the support of local communities in the English-speaking region.

“The pro-independence movement now faces two choices. Either unite, abstain from attacks and kidnappings against local people and churches and win back the hearts and minds of local communities. Or end up like Somalia, Eastern DRC or South Sudan, trapped in an endless cycle of internecine warfare and killing,” DHPI says in a report shared with ACI Africa on Monday, September 19.

In the September 20 interview with ACI Africa, Mr. Viljoen expressed concern that Cameroon could especially end up like South Sudan that has been experiencing war that was sparked by a disagreement between the country’s current President Salva Kiir and former opposition leader, Dr. Riek Machar in December 2013.

“At first, the leaders in South Sudan enjoyed the support of the locals because they were fighting for the independence of South Sudan. But the infighting between the leaders is what caused the current crisis in the country. I fear that Cameroon may end up this way,” the Director of DHPI said.

Culled from ACI Africa

St Mary Church Crisis: A ransom has been requested for the 9 people kidnapped

21, September 2022

St Mary Church Crisis: A ransom has been requested for the 9 people kidnapped 0

If we speak with the government, the secessionists accuse us of being pro-government; if we talk to the secessionists, the government accuses us of being with the secessionists.

The kidnapping of nine people in the attack on the church of Saint Mary, in the village of Nchang (see Fides, 19/9/2022) has been revealed a kidnapping for ransom. Msgr. Andrew Nkea Fuanya, Archbishop of Bamenda, stated this, affirming that the kidnappers have demanded a ransom. Monsignor Nkea added that there are groups that see the Church as an “easy target to make money”.

We remember that on the night of Friday, September 16, an armed group attacked and set fire to the church of Saint Mary, kidnapping five priests, a nun and three lay people (a catechist, a cook and a young woman) after the ambush.

Since 2016, the northwestern and southwestern regions of Cameroon have been in the grip of a bloody conflict between the English-speaking separatists and the military of the French-speaking majority state.

The violence has claimed more than 6,000 lives and displaced about one million people.

At the beginning of September, Bishop Nkea, who until May was apostolic administrator of the diocese of Mamfe (where the town of Nchang is located) and president of the Episcopal Conference of Cameroon, called for an intervention by the international community, which “seems having forgotten the English-speaking crisis”. “We try to encourage priests, men and women religious to continue to operate in the two English-speaking regions – he reported in an interview with the French section of Vatican News – but we Bishops receive daily messages that threaten our dialogue efforts: if we speak with the government, the secessionists accuse us of being pro-government; if we talk to the secessionists, the government accuses us of being with the secessionists. It is a delicate situation, but the Bishops must continue to mediate between the parties”.

Culled  (Agenzia Fides,

Cristiano Ronaldo says he has no plans to retire any time soon

21, September 2022

Cristiano Ronaldo says he has no plans to retire any time soon 0

Cristiano Ronaldo has set his sights on reaching Euro 2024 and the Portugal and Manchester United forward says he has no plans to retire any time soon.

“My journey is not over yet, you’re going to have to put up with ‘Cris’ for a while longer,” said Ronaldo on Tuesday, after receiving a trophy at the Portuguese football federation’s (FPF) Quinas de Ouro awards in Lisbon for being the top national team goalscorer of all time.

“I want to be part of the World Cup and the Euros … I feel very motivated. My ambition is great,” the 37-year-old said.

Ronaldo has scored 117 goals in 189 Portugal appearances and is expecting to play in his 10th major international tournament for his country at Qatar 2022.

The forward’s brace against the Republic of Ireland in September 2021 allowed him to overtake Iranian great Ali Daei’s haul of 109 goals as the record international scorer.

Ronaldo eventually stayed at Manchester United this summer despite speculation he would switch clubs, and despite being benched for Premier League matches he scored in the team’s last outing at Moldovan minnows FC Sheriff in the Europa League.

Source: AFP

Exiled Southern Cameroons leader hails Amba fighters

21, September 2022

Exiled Southern Cameroons leader hails Amba fighters 0

With the appointment of General Bouba Dobékréo and the deployment of Cameroon government’s Special Forces, Yaoundé has finally informed the international community that it has miserably failed in its devastating war against British Southern Cameroonians, said the exiled leader of the Ambazonia Interim Government Vice President Dabney Yerima.

“Our so-called French speaking brothers, through scores of military deployments and operations, arbitrary arrests and detentions, rape, murder and arrogance, want to weaken and force the Ambazonian nation to surrender. For five years, they have been trying to sap Ambazonia morale and create a sense of despair and complete defeat among the people of Southern Cameroons,” Dabney Yerima said in an interview with Cameroon Intelligence Report.

Dabney Yerima added, “Now that the Southern Cameroons comedy in Maryland USA has finally come to an end, with the support of the diaspora, the Ambazonia Interim Government will boost Ground Zero willpower, seriousness, and sense of responsibility and the French Cameroun enemy will get more frustrated, Yaoundé will feel heavily feeble, and will be eventually left with no option but to admit defeat and leave our homeland.”

Yerima highlighted that the Federal Republic of Ambazonia has put up fierce resistance against La Republique du Cameroun’s criminal acts and cruelty for five years and will continue to resist until independence is gotten.

Yaoundé waged the war on Southern Cameroons in 2016 to continue with the Francophone hegemony and crush the Ambazonia resistance.

The war, however, has stopped well short of all of its goals due to the Southern Cameroons resistance, despite killing hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians and turning the entire British Southern Cameroons territory into the scene of Africa’s worst humanitarian crisis.

“89-year-old Biya and his ruling Francophone CPDM gang, faced with Ambazonian infinite patience, have reached a dead end and suffered a humiliating defeat. Francophones in the Far North, Littoral, North, Central and South and in the West have realized such a fact, and it is now the talk of the town,” Yerima asserted.

“While the French Cameroun criminals backed by Paris have failed to achieve their goals and suffered failures in their bids against Southern Cameroons, the Ambazonian nation has recorded glorious victories. This aggression on Southern Cameroons is already providing a sound reason for the Federal Republic of Ambazonia as a nation to exercise patience and carry on its struggle,” Yerima told Cameroon Intelligence Report.

Elsewhere in the CIR conversation, Vice President Dabney Yerima said the UN and the European Union must take practical steps for peace in a way that would benefit the people of Southern Cameroons. The Ambazonian nation, having endured enormous suffering, deserves all forms of support, Yerima concluded.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Burning down of St. Mary’s Catholic Church Nchang: Why such barbarism?

21, September 2022

Burning down of St. Mary’s Catholic Church Nchang: Why such barbarism? 0

The news about the burning of a church in Nchang, a town some five kilometers from Mamfe, has depressed many people across the globe. The Southern Cameroons crisis which started some six years ago has nothing to do with religion. Burning churches and kidnapping clergymen speaks of the barbarism which belongs to a different epoch.

The church, especially the Catholic Church, has been pushing for dialogue and negotiations and this act by some irresponsible elements could alienate the Catholic Church which should be a key player in any and every negotiation on the this crisis which has been hijacked by some senseless and irresponsible elements.

From the time the crisis started, many people knew that the real fighters were protective of the population and were better organized to face the government which has been refusing to go to the negotiating table where a genuine and sustainable solution could be found.

In recent times, it has been noticed that some criminals have infiltrated the ranks of the fighters and these irresponsible elements are giving the rebellion a real bad name. 

Today, there is more of banditry than fighting in the two English-speaking regions of the country. This has been made more possible by the availability of assault weapons in the country.

Why would any reasonable human being burn a church and kidnap men of God whose role is to sow peace and unity in the country? What has the Catholic Church done for it to become a soft target in a war it knows nothing about? 

Today, there are calls from the kidnappers to leaders of the Catholic Church, asking for money. They had initially requested CFAF 50 million, but they seem to be facing huge problems as the Catholic Church is an institution which does not negotiate with criminals and does not pay ransom. 

Since the kidnappers are facing challenges, they are now asking for CFAF 25 million, but they will not be having any money from the Catholic Church which is currently looking for money to rehabilitate its schools which have been overwhelmed by wild weeds due to the crisis which has already consumed more than 7,000 lives and destroyed much needed and critical infrastructure.

Those who have kidnapped priests and burned the Nchang Catholic Church has crossed the reddest of all the red lines. The revolution has lost a key ally. Though the Catholic Church is not for any bloodshed, it has however been pushing for a peaceful resolution and this message was reiterated by Archbishop Andrew Nkea in his interview with the BBC.

Though the Archbishop reiterated the church’s willingness to call for peace and to urge both sides to come to the negotiating table, there are fears that the church might no longer be vocal in its condemnation of violence against the civilian population because of this heinous crime committed in Nchang.

Cameroon Concord News Group has dispatched a team to Mamfe to cover this incident and the Group is seeking to get in touch with those who have made this grievous mistake of burning a church and kidnapping the priests. Cameroon Concord News Group holds that those who control the kidnappers should immediately release the Men of God for their place is in the church and not in the bushes. 

The church’s role is to preach peace and call for calm and not to negotiate ransoms. Those who have committed this crime have clearly demonstrated that they do not really have any meaningful objective. They are giving the revolution a very bad name, the Cameroon Concord News Group’s Editor-in-chief, Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai, said.

He stressed that it was not yet late for those who are keeping the priests to do the right thing. “We cannot be complaining about violence by the military while other Southern Cameroonians are being kidnapped, tortured, and even killed by fellow Southern Cameroonians just because they have weapons. If this revolution will make sense to anybody, then the kidnappings and requests for ransom must stop. The population has suffered for too long and it is preposterous for any group to continue inflicting more pain on the people. Long periods of ghost town operations have robbed the regions of many economic opportunities and kidnapping for money is sending away any potential businesspeople who may want to give the anemic economy a shot in the arm. This barbarism must stop,” he underscored. 

By Dylan Tambe Ashu and Alain Agbor Ebot

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Children should be able to return to school

21, September 2022

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Children should be able to return to school 0

Since 2016, fighting between separatist insurgents and the military has disrupted the education of over 700,000 children in Cameroon’s two Anglophone regions. As the school year starts in September, education in the conflict-affected regions is at risk again. The two sides should strive to protect schools from being attacked and keep classrooms open. 

At the start of Cameroon’s academic year on 5 September, schools in the two Anglophone regions kept their doors shut to comply with a general strike (locally known as a “ghost town” operation) imposed by separatist militias combating the government in Yaoundé. The following day, only a handful of schools offered classes, primarily in the relatively safe towns of Buea and Limbe.

School’s out

Some separatist groups have ordered public schools in the Anglophone regions to remain closed until at least 1 October. On that day five years ago, separatists proclaimed the independent Federal Republic of Ambazonia, as they call the North West and South West regions. In response to the boycott, government officials said they considered shuttering so-called community schools, which are run by volunteers in separatist-controlled areas.

Civilians have borne the brunt of the fighting between separatist militias and Cameroon’s security forces. The conflict has killed about 6,000 people, displaced more than 500,000 and severely disrupted access to government services in the Anglophone regions. Attempts by Anglophone peace campaigners and foreign facilitators to resolve the conflict peacefully have stalled. Sadly, as Cameroon’s conflict parties repeatedly use access to education to push their political objectives, children are paying a disproportionately high price. The UN estimates that two of every three schools in the North West and South West have closed indefinitely.

The Anglophone crisis began in 2017 when lawyers and teachers staged peaceful protests aimed at preserving the two regions’ distinct legal and educational systems. At the time, unions and civil society organisations called for a school boycott in order to push for negotiations with the government and demand the release of detained Anglophone activists. A heavy-handed army crackdown on protesters calling for the two regions’ secession from Francophone Cameroon then hardened the resolve of many Anglophones, triggering armed rebellion.

Yet, though popular at first, the school boycott quickly lost support as separatist militias began destroying schools and killing teachers who continued working. Tens of thousands of children were denied the chance to go to school for months on end, sometimes years. By 2018, an estimated 4,000 Anglophone schools had shuttered, eventually depriving over 700,000 children of regular classes for almost four academic years.

Some died in the mayhem, too. In October 2020, suspected separatists stormed a private school in the town of Kumba, slaughtering at least seven children and injuring thirteen others. In 2021, separatists killed four students and a French language teacher in Ekondo Titi.

The lack of access to quality education is worsening the already dire socio-economic crisis plaguing the Anglophone regions. Pressure from Anglophone civil society prompted some separatist groups to formally call off the school boycott in 2020, but attacks on schools continue unabated. Overall, the conflict has severely harmed the education system. Schools that are still operational are often damaged or overcrowded. Teachers have fled, without being replaced. Parents who can afford to do so are now sending their children to schools in the Francophone regions.

Disproportionate struggles

The targeting of schools has had a particularly pernicious impact on girls. Parents who have seen their incomes dwindle prefer to send their boys to school, keeping girls at home to help with chores or small trades. Yet others who have fled to Cameroon’s Francophone regions have to fend for themselves, sometimes leaving their daughters out of school and vulnerable to recruitment into sex work.

Despite successful campaigning against the school boycott by Anglophone communities and women groups over the past two years, the latest tug of war over education risks robbing thousands of children of the chance to learn yet again. More critically, it could set the scene for another military escalation by raising tensions ahead of 1 October, when separatist sympathisers typically hold anti-government protests.

Instead of calling for a school boycott or threatening to close voluntary learning centres, Cameroon’s conflict parties should use the start of the school year as an opportunity to mitigate the suffering of children in the Anglophone regions and build trust with local communities. Separatist activists in Cameroon and abroad should unconditionally call off all school boycotts. If they do so, the government in Yaoundé should acknowledge the gesture as a de-escalating measure.

For their part, international partners who are committed to resolving the Anglophone conflict should urgently remind the two sides of their obligations to protect civilians and ensure children’s right to education.

Culled from The Africa Report

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