Headline News

3, June 2022

IG urges South Africa to stop Biya’s war crimes in Southern Cameroons ⁰

The Vice President of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government has reportedly sent a letter to prominent MPs in the South African parliament, calling on the government of President Cyril Ramaphosa to take measures to stop the Biya French Cameroun regime forces from killing innocent civilians including women and children in Ambazonia.

Cameroon Intelligence Report gathered that in the letter to the South African lawmakers, Dabney Yerima called on the ANC administration to take immediate, concrete steps to stop the ongoing war in Southern Cameroons.

The exiled Southern Cameroons leader has also met with heads of parliamentary groups in South Africa including the much respected Julius Malema of the Economic Freedom Fighters party urging all to immediately take action against the despotic Biya French Cameroun regime in Yaoundé.

Yerima told an anti French rally recently in South Africa that the international community must hold the Biya Francophone government in Yaoundé accountable for its atrocities against the people of Southern Cameroons.

By Isong Asu

3, June 2022

Federal Republic of Ambazonia: Vice President Yerima’s father dies in Bamenda ⁰

Vice President Dabney Yerima’s father died on Thursday after falling ill in Bamenda the chief city in the North West, aged 80.

Yerima’s father the late Caleb Tamuh Yerima died after sharing a word of prayer with his family on their chat group, the Ambazonia Interim Government said in a statement.

Family sources at Papa Tamuh Yerima’s hospital bedside hinted Cameroon Concord News that he suffered heart problems.

The Vice President of the Ambazonia Interim Government, who has been on his legs for over five weeks now, will remain in South Africa where other close members of the family will meet him.

“It is with deep regret we can confirm that Caleb Tamuh Yerima died late on Thursday. He passed away shortly after he was rushed to the hospital in Bamenda where he was undergoing treatment,” the IG said in a statement.

Dabney Yerima, who took over as leader of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government from Dr Ikome Sako, said his father had been an inspiration to him.

By Enowtaku Ebanghatabi Christelle

2, June 2022

Yaoundé: Is Senator Mundi provoking Amba Defense Forces? ⁰

The Yaoundé Senator, Regina Mundi, once held by Ambazonian Defense Forces has gone back to the senate where she was received by the same crime syndicate which caused her to be arrested by Amba Defense Forces (ADF).

The senator had been arrested one month ago for illegally participating in the politics of an unfriendly and hostile neighboring country which has killed some five thousand Ambazonias in a war that is still ongoing.

The 80-year-senator seems to have forgotten that she had told the world that she was an Ambazonian in a video when she was in custody in the green jails of Ambazonia and, being Ambazonian, she is not supposed to be aiding and abetting the enemy in a war which has resulted in the death of thousands of Ambazonians.

Ms. Mundi was only released when a foreign government and her children worked together to pay CFAF 80 million, equivalent of USD 170,000, to the ADF.

But the Yaoundé government has been trying to persuade the world that she was released after a violent gun battle that never took place.

Ms. Mundi came out of where she was held very relaxed as if she was waiting for a limousine to take her to a party. She was well-dressed and she could be seen in the pictures released by Yaoundé forces hugging Yaoundé soldiers who were also very relaxed and neatly dressed.

There were no dead bodies and no wounded in the government’s violent release of a “hostage” and no ADF weapons were seized and displayed whereas the government claimed that it surprised ADF officers.

Though now living in exile in Yaoundé, Ms. Mundi should understand that the ADF can still pick her up if she violates the terms and conditions of her parole. She is not supposed to be seen with members of the Yaoundé-based crime syndicate and must end her political career in a foreign country immediately.

Speaking to the Cameroon Concord News Group’s Yaoundé-based correspondent, an Amba soldier who spoke on condition of anonymity said Senator Mundi was a repeat offender, adding that she would very likely return to jail if she did not put an end to her illegal political activities.

“Senator Mundi is still playing with fire. She now understands that there is an active war taking place between the Yaoundé government and Ambazonia, but she has opted to return to Yaoundé to continue helping the enemy. We are keeping an eye on her and her crimes and sins will not be forgiven this time around,” the Ambazonian officer said.

“The government paid CFAF 80 million to our bosses living abroad and her release was obtained, but next time we will double the amount as she is not complying with the terms of her release,” the angry officer concluded.

By Rita Akana in Yaoundé

2, June 2022

Tennis: Gauff becomes youngest Slam finalist for 18 years at French Open ⁰

Coco Gauff will face world number one Iga Swiatek for the French Open title after the teenager eased into her maiden Grand Slam final with a straight-sets victory over Martina Trevisan on Thursday.

The 18-year-old American claimed a 6-3, 6-1 win in a nervous match which saw both players featuring in a major semi-final for the first time.

Gauff is the youngest Grand Slam finalist since Maria Sharapova won Wimbledon in 2004.

“I think I’m a little bit in shock right now,” said Gauff. I didn’t know how to react after the match. I’m lost for words.”

The players made 37 unforced errors between them in a poor first set before Gauff upped her game in the second.

The 18th seed will be a heavy underdog against Swiatek, who is on a 34-match winning streak, in Saturday’s showpiece match.

But she will have nothing to lose as she bids to become the youngest Slam winner since Sharapova stunned Serena Williams in London 18 years ago.

“I’m just going to go into it like another match,” Gauff added.

“Yeah, it’s a Grand Slam final but there are so many things going on in the world right now, especially in the US, so I don’t think it’s worth stressing about it.”

Unseeded Italian Trevisan saw her fine tournament and 10-match unbeaten run end with a whimper, as she served four double faults and made 36 unforced errors.

Gauff made a fast start and broke in the third game for an early advantage.

She became rattled though after failing to persuade the umpire to overturn a controversial line call as errors flew off both players’ racquets.

But Gauff composed herself to take the set with a run of three straight games.

Trevisan was broken four times in a row, winning just three points in those games as her serve was taken apart.

The world number 59 took a medical timeout before the second set to have her thigh strapped, but Gauff took total control of the match when she won a 14-minute game with a backhand winner for a 3-1 lead.

She went on to secure a final berth in style, breaking yet again before a hold to love.

Source: AFP

2, June 2022

Tunisian president sacks dozens of judges, tightening grip on judiciary ⁰

Tunisia’s president sacked 57 judges on Wednesday, accusing them of corruption and protecting terrorists in a purge of the judiciary that comes as he seeks to remake the political system after consolidating one-man rule.

In a televised address President Kais Saied said he had “given opportunity after opportunity and warning after warning to the judiciary to purify itself”. Hours later the official gazette published a decree announcing the dismissals.

Among those sacked was Youssef Bouzaker, the former head of the Supreme Judicial Council whose members Saied replaced this year as he moved to take control of the judiciary.

The council had acted as the main guarantor of judicial independence since Tunisia’s 2011 revolution that introduced democracy and Saied’s changes prompted accusations he was interfering in the judicial process.

Another prominent judge on the list of those sacked was Bachir Akremi, whom some political activists accuse of being too close to the Islamist Ennahda party and of stopping cases against it. Ennahda and Akremi both deny that.

Last summer Saied dismissed the government and seized executive power in a move his foes called a coup before setting aside the 2014 constitution to rule by decree and dismissing the elected parliament.

He says his moves were needed to save Tunisia from crisis and his intervention initially appeared to have widespread public support after years of economic stagnation, political paralysis and corruption.

Saied, who has also replaced the independent electoral commission, has also said he will introduce a new constitution this month that he will put to a referendum next month.

However, nearly all Tunisia’s political parties have rejected the move along with the powerful UGTT labour union.

With Tunisia’s economy failing, and with public finances in crisis, Saied meanwhile faces the prospect of growing popular anger over high inflation and unemployment, and declining public services.

The UGTT said this week that public sector workers would go on strike on June 16, posing the biggest direct challenge to Saied’s political stance so far.

Source: REUTERS

2, June 2022

Ukraine war enters 99th day: Senegalese President to speak to Putin ⁰

The head of the African Union, Senegalese President Macky Sall, will speak with President Vladimir Putin in the southwestern Russian city of Sochi on Friday, Dakar said.

The visit is aimed at “freeing up stocks of cereals and fertilisers, the blockage of which particularly affects African countries”, along with easing the Ukraine conflict, Sall’s office said Thursday.

The visit was organised after an invitation by Putin, and Sall will travel with the president of the African Union Commission, his office added.

The AU will also receive a video address from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, though no date has been set.

1, June 2022

Biya regime detained thousands of Anglophones since the war started five years ago ⁰

The Southern Cameroons Department for Homeland Security says more than three thousand Ambazonians have been detained by French Cameroun since the war started in 2017.

A statement released recently by the Ambazonia Interim Government said on Monday that French Cameroun prison authorities and the National Gendarmerie have been committing brutal crimes against English speaking Southern Cameroons prisoners, including women, children, and the elderly.

Southern Cameroons prisoners are subjected to severe physical and psychological torture during the arrest, at interrogation centers, and in jails, the IG statement noted.

According to the Ambazonia Interim Government, nearly 175 Southern Cameroons detainees have been killed as a result of torture and medical negligence in Francophone jails in Douala, Yaoundé, Dschang and Mbouda.

Francophone prison authorities keep Southern Cameroons detainees and prisoners of conscience under deplorable conditions lacking proper hygienic standards. The Southern Cameroonians are subjected to other inhumane and degrading circumstances, including administrative detention, solitary confinement, and bans on family visits.

The Southern Cameroons prisoners have been held for over five years now without being charged, tried, or convicted.

By Isong Asu in London

1, June 2022

Senator Regina Mundi affair: Money has changed hands ⁰

Who says kidnapping is not a lucrative business? The release of Senator Regina Mundi has demonstrated that kidnapping is the business of some of the factions involved in the insurgency in Cameroon.

ADF, Cho Ayaba’s criminal gang, has just been made richer by a desperate Yaoundé government which has been seeking to demonstrate that it has the military muscle and that it is in control of its territory.

Regina Mundi had been kidnapped some three weeks ago and all attempts by the government to free her without losing any of its soldiers fell flat on their faces.

The armed ADF militants had demanded the release of some 80 Southern Cameroonians held in the Yaoundé Maximum Security Prison, but the government was reluctant to engage in such an arrangement.

The government instead delivered CFAF 80 million through an agent, then later went to where the ADF insurgents had told the government agent to meet the weary Mundi and staged a melodrama designed to save the government’s face.

It’s hard to believe that after a serious exchange of fire, the government soldiers did not register any casualty or lost any people.

Ms. Regina Mundi could not have come out of the lion’s den unscathed without the government engaging in a certain qui pro quod.

Money has changed hands and this might encourage other factions in the fighting to review their strategies.

A source close to the ministry of defense has informed Cameroon Intelligence Report that if the government had not paid such a huge amount, the old and frail lady would have still been in captivity.

“Those separatists are not people you joke with. Senator Mundi is happy to be out of the lion’s mouth and she has a message for the government – make peace with the insurgents or there will be no rest in Yaoundé,” the source said.

The source added that the “the senator looked healthy and from her clothing, it could be concluded that she was well-dressed and waiting for the military to come and pick her up.”

“There was no stress on her face and no fear. That clearly says that it was an arrangement between the government and the kidnappers. If the government has become a good customer in the business of kidnapping, then small kidnappers will have to step up their game to earn more,” he said.

“Nobody is free. There is money to be spent. All government officials should be ready now to head to the jungle. The boys are now more aggressive. There is money and who does not want it. The government has money to give away, but it cannot sit and dialogue with the same kidnappers. What an irony,” he concluded.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

1, June 2022

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Gunmen kill 24 in Akwaya Sub Division ⁰

Twenty-four civilians were killed and around 60 wounded in an attack by gunmen in Akwaya Sub Division in Manyu on Tuesday.

The death toll in the remote Southern Cameroons sub constituency is one of the bloodiest in a nearly five-year conflict pitting armed Ambazonia Restoration Fighters against Cameroon government forces in the breakaway West Cameroon.

The gunmen reportedly attacked Obonyi II, a village in Akwaya near the Nigerian border.

Unconfirmed reports say gunmen were separatists fighters who wanted the inhabitants to pay them money levy to support the armed conflict against the Francophone dominated military.

Local authorities placed the death toll at 24 with at least 62 wounded.

The attack was confirmed by the Divisional Officer for Akwaya and the Senior Divisional Officer for Manyu.

Cameroon Concord News gathered that after the attack, some people fled to Nigeria and others to the forest.

In 2017, Anglophone resentment over perceived discrimination radicalized and snowballed into a separatist movement that declared the two regions independent.

The country’s veteran president, Paul Biya, 89, responded with strong measures.

Clashes between militants and security forces have claimed more than 6,000 lives and displaced around a million people, according to the International Crisis Group (ICG).

The separatists have attacked police, soldiers, civil servants and schools, whom they consider to be symbols of the state, and often carry out kidnappings.

However, civilians have suffered abuses by both sides, according to international NGOs and the United Nations.

Earlier Tuesday, the Cameroon government army said it had freed a kidnapped senator. Senator Elizabeth Regine Mundi, 79, had been kidnapped along with her driver on April 30 in Bamenda, in the Northwest Region.

However, Cameroon Concord News sources hinted that the Biya government delivered CFAF 80 million through an agent then later went to where the ADF insurgents had told the government agent to meet the weary Senator Mundi and staged a melodrama designed to save the government’s face.

By Kingsley Betek in Mamfe

1, June 2022

Boko Haram kills 3 Cameroon gov’t soldiers, 4 civilians ⁰

Militants of the terror group Boko Haram killed at least three soldiers and four civilians in a raid early Tuesday in Cameroon’s Far North region, according to security and local sources.

A military official who opted for anonymity told Xinhua that militants armed with heavy weaponry arrived in Hitaoua, a locality in the region by 3 a.m. local time. They overran government forces, killing at least three soldiers and four civilians.

One person was also abducted.

Reinforcement troops arrived at the locality and repulsed the attackers who retreated into the mountain, according to the locals.

In another Boko Haram attack in the region Monday night, the militants wounded four civilians, members of the same family in Yabogo village. The militants have stepped up attacks on civilians and military in the region in the past one week, according to security reports.

Source: Xinhuanet