Around a hundred protesters rallied in Geneva on Saturday (July 17) against Cameroon’s President Paul Biya, who is staying in one of the Swiss city’s top hotels.

Police used tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets to disperse demonstrators who protested for several hours close to the Intercontinental Hotel, where the 88-year-old leader has been staying since at least Sunday.

The hotel is regularly used by visiting foreign leaders and was where US President Joe Biden stayed before his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin last month. Biya is an occasional private visitor.

A bitter independence struggle by English-speaking rebels has been raging in Cameroon’s Northwest and Southwest (Noso) regions since 2017.

Members of the anglophone minority in the country’s westernmost provinces have long complained of being marginalised by the French-speaking majority and Biya, in power for 38 years.

From 2017, their protests devolved into a bloody conflict.

Saturday’s demonstration in Geneva was initially authorised and then banned, with police fearing that that protest could spill over.

Road restrictions were imposed around the Intercontinental and the nearby square outside the United Nations headquarters in the city.

‘Biya get out’

Demonstrators were faced with a line of police officers in riot gear blocking the road from the square to the hotel.

They held up home-made signs saying, “Switzerland supports dictator Biya”, “Paul Biya: eternal dictator”, “We don’t want you in Switzerland anymore as long as Noso is at war”, and “Biya get out”.

One man wore a T-shirt reading “Stop genocide on Cameroonians”.

Another man was pulled down by police after attempting to scale the gates of the UN.

Swiss news agency ATS reported that protesters later tried several times to force their way through the police cordon and threw eggs at officers.

The police then deployed water cannon, rubber bullets and tear gas to clear the demonstration, forcing the protesters to disperse into several parks.

Two people were lightly injured and taken to hospital for checks, while one person was arrested, ATS said.

Since Biya’s visit began, several small groups of opponents have been broken up by the authorities.

Three people were arrested early in the week, while a dozen others were detained on Friday.

In Cameroon, UN and international aid groups say that since the unrest erupted in 2017, both army troops and anglophone rebels have committed abuses and crimes against civilians.

More than 3,500 people have been killed and over 700,000 have fled their homes to escape the conflict.

Culled from The Straits Times

A member of the Swiss Federal Assembly has reportedly painted the 88-year-old President Biya as the world’s number 1 dictator.

Reacting to a massive demo organized under the banner of the Anti-Sardinard Brigade (BAS) on July 17, 2021, at the Place des Nations Unies in Geneva, Stéfanie Prezioso of Liberal party said that “The President of Cameroon should no longer be welcomed in Geneva… We are talking about someone who has been in power for more than 50 years; we are talking about thousands of deaths, hundreds of thousands of displaced persons. We are talking about someone who is accused of war crimes. Switzerland is protecting a dictator” she added.

However, the demonstration had been banned by the Swiss authorities. Also, the forces of law and order had installed an impressive security around the Intercontinental Hotel where the Francophone President of Cameroon and his entourage are staying. But some demonstrators defied the ban and clashes with police were recorded. 

A few hours after the BAS demonstration, RTS, the Swiss national radio station organized a debate on President Biya’s continued presence in Geneva. As guests, two Swiss MPs Murat Alder and Stéfanie Prezioso, castigated the Cameroonian leader calling on the Swiss government to chase him out of Geneva.

By Isong Asu

Vice President Dabney Yerima says the Ambazonia Interim Government is not entitled to keep any La Republique du Cameroun soldiers in Southern Cameroons without the permission of Ambazonia Restoration Forces.

Yerima also stressed that all Francophone Cameroon government army soldiers’ presence in Southern Cameroons runs counter to British Southern Cameroons bill of health as an independent nation.

“The continues deployment of French Cameroun troops to Southern Cameroons is a clear violation of the declaration of independence by President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe,” Vice President Yerima told a South African radio host in Johannesburg on Sunday.

Vice President Yerima added that there is no agreement or approval for the presence of Francophone soldiers in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia and that the Southern Cameroons Interim Government has no right to keep any foreign soldier on Amba soil without the consent of the Ambazonia Restoration Forces.

Dabney Yerima pointed out that the French Cameroun regime forces are neither protecting any Southern Cameroons civilian nor providing security, but rather, they remain loyal to the crime syndicate in Yaoundé that have committed a series of crimes in Southern Cameroons.

The War in Southern Cameroons has already claimed at least 40 000 lives, almost all of them civilian children, men and women, murdered by Cameroun troops in a series of targeted killings, organized massacres, and killings by fire in over 400 villages burnt down to ashes across Ambazonia. Over half a million people have been forcibly displaced as refugees living in various countries and especially in refugee camps in Nigeria. Over another half a million people have become IDPs hiding in forests, caves and hills due to forced displacement. Additionally, over 1.5 million people are facing a humanitarian disaster.

La Republique du Cameroun uses not only arson and the destruction of food, livestock, and crops in the fields as weapons of war. It also uses rape. Rape of Ambazonian women and girls by Cameroun troops is systematic and widespread. This agonizing situation is compounded by the fact that a high percentage of Cameroun troops are HIV positive and also has other STDs. When they rape they infect the women and girls. This appears to be part of the genocide agenda of Cameroun. Reports are now emerging of scores of school girls raped, impregnated and infected by La Republique du Cameroun’s troops. This poses a nightmare not only of the HIV and STD infections but also of rampant teenage pregnancies. Cameroun troops have burnt down health facilities and killed health workers in rural and semi-urban areas. Accessing health facilities or health practitioners is a huge challenge for rural and semi-urban folks.

By Chi Prudence Asong

Four people have been killed in an ambush on a Cameroon government police convoy by Ambazonia Restoration Forces in Bali.

The victims were all police officers, officials said.

The attack happened at Bali, a municipality along the Bamenda-Mamfe main road.

Images posted on social media showed bullet-riddled police vehicle and bodies lying by the side of the road.

No Southern Cameroons self defense group has so far said it carried out the attack.

In the latest incident, the convoy had been patrolling the area to combat armed Southern Cameroons fighters operating in the area.

The War in Southern Cameroons has already claimed at least 40 000 lives, almost all of them civilian children, men and women, murdered by Cameroun troops in a series of targeted killings, organized massacres, and killings by fire in over 400 villages burnt down to ashes across Ambazonia. Over half a million people have been forcibly displaced as refugees living in various countries and especially in refugee camps in Nigeria. Over another half a million people have become IDPs hiding in forests, caves and hills due to forced displacement. Additionally, over 1.5 million people are facing a humanitarian disaster.

La Republique du Cameroun uses not only arson and the destruction of food, livestock, and crops in the fields as weapons of war. It also uses rape. Rape of Ambazonian women and girls by Cameroun troops is systematic and widespread. This agonizing situation is compounded by the fact that a high percentage of Cameroun troops are HIV positive and also has other STDs. When they rape they infect the women and girls. This appears to be part of the genocide agenda of Cameroun. Reports are now emerging of scores of school girls raped, impregnated and infected by La Republique du Cameroun’s troops. This poses a nightmare not only of the HIV and STD infections but also of rampant teenage pregnancies. Cameroun troops have burnt down health facilities and killed health workers in rural and semi-urban areas. Accessing health facilities or health practitioners is a huge challenge for rural and semi-urban folks.

By Fon Lawrence

Around a hundred protesters demonstrated in Geneva on Saturday against Cameroon President Paul Biya, who is staying in one of the Swiss city’s top hotels.

Demonstrators rallied close to the Intercontinental Hotel, where the 88-year-old leader has been staying since at least Sunday.

The hotel is regularly used by visiting foreign leaders and was where US President Joe Biden stayed before his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin last month. Biya is an occasional private visitor.

A bitter independence struggle by English-speaking rebels has been raging in Cameroon’s Northwest and Southwest (NOSO) regions since 2017.

Members of the anglophone minority in the country’s westernmost provinces have long complained of being marginalised by the French-speaking majority and Biya, in power for 38 years.

From 2017, their protests devolved into a bloody conflict.

Saturday’s demonstration in Geneva was initially authorised and then banned.

The police warned on Wednesday that as had happened two years ago during Biya’s last visit, when pro- and anti- demonstrators clashed, the protest could spill over and “cause inconvenience”.

The police urged local residents to close their windows and avoid moving around in the area.

Traffic restrictions were imposed around the Intercontinental and the Place des Nations square in front of the main United Nations building in the city.

Demonstrators were faced with a line of police officers in riot gear blocking the road from the square to the hotel.

They held up home-made signs saying, “Switzerland supports dictator Biya”, “Paul Biya: eternal dictator”, “We don’t want you in Switzerland anymore as long as NOSO is at war”, and “Biya get out”.

One man wore a t-shirt reading “Stop genocide on Cameroonians”.

Another man was pulled down by police after attempting to scale the gates of the UN.

Since Biya’s visit began, several small groups of opponents have been dispersed.

Three people were arrested at the start of the week, while a dozen others were detained on Friday.

In Cameroon, since the unrest erupted in 2017, the rebels have extended their violent attacks against police and soldiers to civilians.

UN and international aid groups say both army troops and anglophone rebels have committed abuses and crimes against civilians. In the past four years, more than 3,500 people have been killed and over 700,000 have fled their homes to escape the conflict.

Source: AFP

Cameroonian officials say anglophone rebels are taking a new tack in their fight to break away from the country’s French-speaking-majority. Officials say the separatists have started disguising themselves as military troops to infiltrate villages and launch attacks.

In a video widely circulated on social media platforms, including Facebook and WhatsApp, a group of 10 men armed with AK-94 assault rifles claim they are separatist fighters. The men, in civilian clothing, appear to brandish Cameroonian military uniforms, guns, ammunition and bulletproof vests they say they seized from Cameroon military. The men display a man’s head claiming it is that of a government soldier they killed and beheaded.

Cameroon’s military says the head displayed by the fighters as a trophy is that of one of its troops deployed to Babadjou, a French-speaking commercial town on the border with the English-speaking North-West region.

Awah Fonka, governor of Cameroon’s West region, where Babadjou is located, said more than 20 English-speaking separatists from Pinyin, a town in the North-West region, infiltrated the French-speaking West region Wednesday. He said the fighters attacked government troops and looted Babadjou shops.

Fonka said two government troops were killed by fighters disguised in Cameroonian military uniforms to fool the government troops.

Fonka visited Babadjou on Wednesday. He encouraged civilians who fled into the bush to return home.

Fonka said more government troops have been deployed to Babadjou and neighboring villages to find fighters hiding in the bush or among civilians.

The Cameroonian military warned both separatists and civilians against wearing military uniforms in a statement.

Separatists claim on social media they are in possession of several hundred Cameroonian military uniforms removed from the bodies of government troops they have killed. The fighters said some of the uniforms were seized from military camps they have attacked in the English-speaking western regions.

The military acknowledges that the fighters seized uniforms and military weapons from government troops but says the number of weapons and uniforms seized is low.

Peter Ngumulah, a 38-year-old college teacher, has been living in Babadjou for two years and says he fled fighting between government troops and separatists in the town of Bambili in the North-West region. Ngumulah says the government should increase the number of its troops in Babadjou.

“For heaven’s sake, how can just two soldiers be at the border [post between the West and North-West regions], knowing the sophisticated weapons the separatist fighters now possess?” he said. “Everything is going out of hand, and I pray the international community will step in and force both parties to sit at a roundtable for an unconditional dialogue.” Fonka said five troops were at the military control post at Babadjou when the fighters attacked. Three troops escaped, with one suffering injuries from the shooting. The military said he is responding to treatment in a hospital.

This is not the first time English-speaking separatists have infiltrated the French-speaking region. The fighters attacked the French-speaking village of Galim three times this year and killed at least seven government troops. The military said the rebels stole weapons and deployed additional forces to kill or arrest the fighters.

Cameroon’s separatists have been fighting since 2017 to create an independent English-speaking state in the majority French-speaking country’s western regions.

The conflict has cost more than 3,000 lives and forced 550,000 people to flee to French-speaking regions of Cameroon or into neighboring Nigeria, according to the United Nations

Source: VOA