Cameron’s National Day on May 20 has been marked by running battles between government troops and separatists who imposed a lockdown, crippling business in English-speaking western regions. The military says at least 28 separatists who vowed to disrupt celebrations in English-speaking regions of the majority francophone nation were killed in violent battles. President Paul Biya is attending commemorations.

Cameroon’s military sings at a ceremony to commemorate May 20 in the capital, Yaounde, pledging loyalty to state institutions and expressing the readiness of troops to defend the country’s territorial integrity.

The government said the parade marking Cameroon’s 50th National Day was attended by at least 30,000 civilians, led by President Paul Biya. The government said it reduced the time for the military parade to 45 minutes for strategic reasons.

However, opposition political parties, including the Social Democratic Front, said the ailing 89-year-old Biya could not stand up for two hours to honor the military during its parade, as has been the tradition in Cameroon.

The government said the National Day celebration was successful in Cameroon’s French-speaking regions. Separatists said they imposed a lockdown in English-speaking western regions to protest May 20 celebrations, also known as the day of National Unity between the English-speaking minority and the majority French-speaking nation.

The government has denied its troops were transporting French speakers to English-speaking regions. The military says it lost six troops in battles within the past week and that 28 separatists who tried to disrupt May 20 activities were killed in several northwestern towns, including Oku, Kumbo, Bamenda and Nkambe.

Colonel Samuel Tabot Orock is a commander of government troops fighting separatists in Bamenda, the capital of Cameroon’s English speaking North-West region. Orock says the military made sure everyone who came out for celebrations was protected.

“Let the world, and Cameroon in particular, understand that the military in Bamenda know that the secessionist fighters will be doing everything in their powers to disrupt a successful 20th May celebration, that is why we are taking every single measure as far as security is concerned to make sure there is a hitch-free 20th May celebration in Bamenda,” Orock said.

Orock said running battles between government troops and separatists crippled activity in many northwestern towns and villages.

The government said prior to the day at least 35 people separatists suspected of preparing to commemorate the day were abducted by separatists in several towns of the South-West region including Mutengene and Tiko.

Bernard Okalia Bilai, the governor of the South-West region, spoke by telephone from Buea, capital of the region.

Bilai says local administrative authorities and civilians report separatists who abduct and threaten to kill people accused of disrespecting lockdown calls to the military. He says civilians have understood that separatist claims that fighters can create an independent English-speaking state in Cameroon are unfounded.

On May 20, 1972, Cameroon organized what it called a constitutional referendum, during which a majority of its citizens voted to abolish the federal system of government that had existed since 1961 in favor of a unitary state. Separatists say there has been an overbearing influence of French in English-speaking western regions since the 1972 referendum.

Source: VOA

As Cameroonians celebrate their national day today, many are really worried about the future of their country.

They are indeed not worried about escalating food prices, rising housing cost and security. They are worried about the real health status of their president whose health situation is shrouded in an unnecessary mystery.

For years now, the country’s president, Paul Biya, has been a colony of diseases and this has been a real concern, as his entourage is doing all in its power to conceal everything.

Biya has been a regular customer at various Geneva-based clinics and hospitals but the citizens of the country he governs, most of the time, remotely, have systematically been kept in the dark about the diseases that have, for a long time, been threatening to claim their president’s life.

The drama has been going on for too long and it is getting more ridiculous and grotesque by the day as scarce resources are employed to give a false image of the president.

Today’s drama has been carefully crafted by the national network, CRTV, which has provided some of the most blurry pictures of the event just to hide the truth.

Biya is old. At 90, he cannot be in the pink of health. He currently walks like a child who is learning how to walk. He is losing his mind, but this is just what age does to the human mind. Seeking to hide the obvious only makes Cameroonians to openly demonstrate their frustration and bitterness towards a man who has disappointed them on many levels.

CRTV has moved from the inefficient to the ridiculous. Nobody really trusts the images it is broadcasting about today’s celebration as the government is hiding lots of things which Cameroonians already know.

Who does not know that Biya has lost his energy and his greatest expectation is death? Who does not know that he is physically run down by time and stress? Why spend much time, energy and financial resources to prove a point that even a child knows the answers?

Cameroonians have lost faith in Biya and the institutions he has created. His dishonesty, corruption and incompetence have made of him the most hated African president. His collaborators and all those engaged in the charade that has been going on for too long are only helping to diminish the regime’s credibility if it has any.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

It is being reported that Cameroon’s (mis)leader, Paul Biya, has returned home after a quick patch-up in Switzerland where he is known to always get world-class treatment.

The 90-year-old tyrant also visited Paris where he had discussions on succession planning with French political authorities and the French secret service responsible for France oversea territories.

The French are very concerned about Mr. Biya’s health and they know that if a smooth succession does not take place in Cameroon, the entire sub-region could be enveloped in unprecedented chaos.

The French are pushing for a constitutional amendment which will result in the appointment of a vice president who will take over after Mr. Biya exits the scene unceremoniously.

The French are still skeptical about accepting an Anglophone as the president of Cameroon, but they also think that a Frenchified Anglophone like Yang Philemon could be a good president to help end the man-made catastrophe playing out in the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon.

Another name that is being floated is that of David Abouem à Tchoyi who has been the governor of the two English-speaking regions of the country and has in-depth knowledge of the Anglophone problem, as he was a member of the commission which was set up by the country’s first president to investigate grievances put forth by the English-speaking minority.

Abouem à Tchoyi is bilingual, flexible and very willing to negotiate with the country’s English-speaking minority which has total faith in him.

Biya’s forty years in power have created a complicated situation for the country and the international community.

Corruption, nepotism and tribalism have transformed the country into a ticking time bomb, with many parts of the country holding that they have been marginalized under Biya.

A Cameroon Concord News Group correspondent in Paris said that the discussions with the French authorities were tense, as Mr. Biya wants full protection of those who have been loyal to him over the last forty years.

Abouem à Tchoyi seems to be the ideal candidate because of his temperament and understanding of the issues confronting Cameroon, but some experts hold that he is from the Center region and this does not augur well for the country’s unity.

For now, no agreement has been reached, but the discussions are ongoing and in the days ahead, there could be a massive cabinet reshuffle that will change a lot and will prepare the country for a new republic.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

The Southern Cameroons Interim Government says the leader of the Ambazonian nation President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe rejected an offer of hush money by the Biya Francophone regime in exchange for turning his back on the Southern Cameroons struggle and ending confrontation with the occupying French Cameroun regime.

In a conversation with Cameroon Intelligence Report on Monday, the Vice President of the Ambazonia Interim Government Dabney Yerima said the Biya regime tried to negotiate with President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe many times through various channels.

There were discussions between the Ambazonia Interim Government and Yaoundé through intermediaries, but President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe informed the war cabinet that there is no need for negotiations as Biya and his French Cameroun regime are enemies of the Ambazonian people.

“Biya sent a delegation to Kondengui to negotiate a halt in attacks against Cameroon government forces. They told our leader with his top aides that they would pay them billions of FCFA and even allow them join the ruling government, an offer which President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe rejected out rightly” Yerima told Cameroon Intelligence Report.

Elsewhere in his remarks to Cameroon Intelligence Report, Dabney Yerima said, “We do not recognize the presence of French Cameroun military and administrative officers in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. Southern Cameroons is for Ambazonians.”

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Professor Carlson Anyangwe has sharply criticized the African and European Unions for exercising double standards on human rights, saying the two international bodies have remained silent on five years of French Cameroun atrocities against the English speaking people of Southern Cameroons as well as the horrendous criminal acts that the Francophone prison officials are perpetrating on Southern Cameroons detainees.

“While AU and EU officials accuse Mali and Central African Republic of committing war crimes, they tend to turn a blind eye to the atrocities committed against civilians in the war in Southern Cameroons. The regime in Yaoundé has carried out crimes throughout the entire Southern Cameroons, spanning from Buea to Bamenda, Bali, Batibo and Mamfe. Francophone army soldiers have attacked weddings in Southern Cameroons, turning them into funerals,” Professor Anyangwe told Cameroon Concord News.

Anyangwe added, “What have the AU or EU said about the massacres in Ngarbuh? What have they said about the killings in Kwa Kwa? What have they said about the massacres of Reverend fathers and missionaries in Southern Cameroons? What have they said about the killing of Anglophone journalists?”

Professor Anyangwe noted that thousands of trials should be held to bring French Cameroun military officials to justice for crimes committed in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

By Isong Asu