Headline News

7, July 2021

Yaoundé accuses C.A.R rebels of stealing cattle ⁰

Cameroon officials are accusing rebels from the Central African Republic of crossing the border and stealing cattle and abducting villagers for ransom. The officials say C.A.R. rebels are fleeing the country to escape post-election violence. Officials in Cameroon accuse C.A.R. rebels of entering the country’s territory and harassing civilians and others displaced by fighting in the neighboring country.

Officials say the rebels then take cattle and food from Cameroonian ranchers and farmers. About 30 civilians were abducted in June with demands for family members to pay ransoms of between $1,000 to $10,000 per person to guarantee their safe return.

Authorities say people suspected of collaborating with Cameroonian officials to denounce the rebels, who are hiding in villages along the Cameroon border, are also abducted and tortured in retaliation.

Kildadi Tagueke Boukar is governor of the Adamawa region of Cameroon that shares a border with the C.A.R. He visited Mbere, an administrative unit in the Adamawa region, on Monday. He says Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya, asked him to make sure that the military is deployed to protect host communities and people displaced by the fighting in the C.A.R. He spoke by the messaging app WhatsApp from Djohong, a commercial town in Mbere.

“The Mbere Division shares more than 160 Kilometers of border with Central African Republic [C.A.R.] and along this border rebels inrush [cross over to] our territory, steal cows,” Boukar said. “We have come to reinforce the forces of law and order [military], to encourage the population to be on alert and to inform the hierarchy [government] of the situation which is going on at this border.”

Boukar did not say how many government troops have been deployed to stop the C.A.R. rebels. He said the troops seize weapons illegally trafficked into Cameroon by the rebels.

Cameroon has not given figures on the number of cattle taken by the rebels. The government says economic activity is at a nosedive in Djohong and Ngaoui, villages with the largest cattle markets in Mbere. The markets sell about a hundred cows a week, down from at least 1,000 every week last year. Cattle ranchers accuse the rebels of either stealing money and their cows or they fear of being tortured. Buyers say they can no longer shop in border markets with the C. A. R. for fear they will be abducted, or their money taken.

Oumarou Issama is mayor of Djohong. He says civilians are held in the bush for several weeks until their families pay ransom to the rebels. He says C.A.R. rebels are escaping heavy fighting with government troops and crossing with weapons into Djohong. He says the fighting is increasing the number of displaced persons from the C.A.R. escaping post-election violence. He spoke by the messaging app WhatsApp from Djohong.

Issama says civilians at Cameroon’s border village of Yamba, near Djohong suffer most from the fighting in neighboring C.A.R. He says since June 15, 3,000 of the 6,500 people living in Yamba are displaced persons from C.A.R. He says the host community and displaced persons are again witnessing regular fighting over lodging, water, food and farmland.

Mbere is home to 21,000 people displaced due to the crisis in the C.A.R. Seven thousand of the displaced persons had returned to their country but came back to Cameroon within the past two months, following renewed fighting between C.A.R. rebels and the country’s regular troops.

Renewed violence erupted in the C.A.R. after the December 2020 elections, in which Austin-Archange Touadera was reelected president. Seven of the C.A.R.’s 14 rebel groups refused to recognize Touadera’s victory and have been fighting to seize power. The C.A.R. says much of the fighting is now in border areas, where rebels can cross over to neighboring countries due to porous borders.

Cameroon shares a 900-kilometer border with the C.A.R.

Source: VOA

7, July 2021

Iran starts enriched uranium production as US, European powers cite threat to reviving nuclear deal ⁰

Iran has begun the process of producing enriched uranium metal, the U.N. atomic watchdog said on Tuesday, a move that could help it develop a nuclear weapon and that three European powers said threatened talks to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

Iran’s steps, which were disclosed by the International Atomic Energy Agency and which Tehran said aimed to develop fuel for a research reactor, also drew criticism from the United States, which called them an “unfortunate step backwards.”

U.S. and European officials made clear that Iran’s decision would complicate, and potentially torpedo, indirect U.S.-Iranian talks seeking to bring both nations back into compliance with the 2015 deal, which was abandoned by former President Donald Trump.

The deal imposed curbs on Iran’s nuclear programme to make it harder for Tehran to develop fissile material for nuclear weapons in return for the lifting of economic sanctions. After Trump withdrew, Iran began violating many of the restrictions.

Tehran has already produced a small amount of uranium metal this year that was not enriched. That is a breach of the deal, which bans all work on uranium metal since it can be used to make the core of a nuclear bomb.

“Today, Iran informed the Agency that UO2 (uranium oxide) enriched up to 20% U–235 would be shipped to the R&D laboratory at the Fuel Fabrication Plant in Esfahan, where it would be converted to UF4 (uranium tetrafluoride) and then to uranium metal enriched to 20% U–235, before using it to manufacture the fuel,” an IAEA statement said.

A confidential IAEA report seen by Reuters said the agency had confirmed that Iran had taken steps to begin the process of producing enriched uranium metal.

Britain, France and Germany said on Tuesday they had “grave concern” about Iran’s decision, which violates the nuclear deal, formally named the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

“Iran has no credible civilian need for uranium metal R&D and production, which are a key step in the development of a nuclear weapon,” they said in a joint statement issued by Britain’s foreign ministry.

“With its latest steps, Iran is threatening a successful outcome to the Vienna talks despite the progress achieved in six rounds of negotiations,” they said, and urged Iran to return to the talks in the Austrian capital, which began in April and adjourned on June 20. No date has been set for a next round.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Washington was not setting a deadline for the talks, but noted “that as time proceeds Iran’s nuclear advances will have a bearing on our view of returning to the JCPOA.”

Price said the United States found it “worrying” that Iran was continuing to violate the agreement “especially with experiments that have value for nuclear weapons research.

“It’s another unfortunate step backwards for Iran,” he said. Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s ambassador to the IAEA, noted the agency’s report on Iran’s latest violation of the 2015 deal as well as the Biden administration’s decision to maintain the Iran sanctions reimposed by Trump, also violations of the accord.

“The only way out of this vicious circle is resumption of #ViennaTalks without delay and full restoration of #JCPOA,” he wrote on Twitter.

Source: REUTERS

6, July 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Interim Government Statement on the Murder of a Physicist in Kumba ⁰

Interim Government Statement on the Murder of a Physicist in Kumba

Last Thursday, 1 July 2021, 52-year-old Mr Fuh Max Dang, a Physics teacher at GBHS Kumba, Meme County, was murdered by unidentified gunmen in the presence of his children after returning from work. The Interim Government condemns this atrocity robustly. Our thoughts and prayers are with his close family and friends during this challenging time. The Interim Government of Ambazonia directed Ambazonia Intelligence Services to open an immediate and comprehensive investigation into the tragedy.

While the investigation was still ongoing, The Interim Government of Ambazonia aimed not to make any statements that may influence its outcome. Late last night, Ambazonia Intelligence Services briefed the Interim Government that initial reports attributing the murder because Mr Fuh was a teacher are unsubstantiated. The investigation into this tragedy is still inconclusive, and the Interim Government of Ambazonia will report soonest as more facts are made available.

On Sunday 4 July 2021, in Bamenda, the French Cameroon army opened fire and killed Mr Njibril Dula in an unprovoked attack in Below Foncha neighborhood in Bamenda. The victim was unarmed in his car. This attack bears similarities with the execution of Mr Fuh Max Dang. These executions of unarmed citizens going about their business are the hallmarks of a regime on its last legs. For a long time now, Ambazonia Intelligence Services have reported that local militias loyal to the regime in Yaoundé have been carrying out executions with the intent of pinning their criminalities on our self-defense forces. So, we call on our self-defense forces to remain vigilant.

Self-defense is a right, and it is a core component of our liberation struggle. However, The Interim Government wants to caution all genuine self-defense forces within Ambazonia that acts of violence on persons for being teachers are intolerable. We must not target any non-combatants also. We know our enemy and must remain focused as we march towards Buea. The Ambazonia we intend to build will need talents from all walks of life, and we cannot afford to waste lives.

To all in Ground Zero, the Interim Government of Ambazonia urges you to persevere, for victory is coming our way soon. Soon, and very soon, we will be free. We call on the UN to commission a Security Council Mandated Fact-Finding Mission to investigate the atrocities in this conflict. Such a mission will curb the loss of lives and bring this war to an end.

Thank You, and God Bless You

Dabney Yerima

Vice President

Federal Republic of Ambazonia

6, July 2021

US troops quietly left Bagram Air Base without notifying Afghan command ⁰

After American troops withdrew without notifying them, Afghan soldiers guarding the Bagram Air Base have been left with thousands of Taliban prisoners and a fear that the enemy will attack.

The sprawling military complex about 60 kilometres north of the capital, Kabul, was at one point home to tens of thousands of US and allied soldiers, and one of the most important military sites of the two-decade war in Afghanistan.

But the last of the US soldiers quietly left the base last week, effectively completing their withdrawal from Afghanistan and leaving a massive security vacuum that the Afghan military will struggle to fill.

The new commander of the Bagram base, General Mirassadullah Kohistani, on Monday spoke candidly about the challenges ahead, as reporters were given a tour of the largely deserted base.

“You know, if we compare ourselves with the Americans, it’s a big difference,” Kohistani said, admitting his forces could not be as “powerful” as the Americans.

“But according to our capabilities … we are trying to do the best and as much as possible secure and serve all the people.”

The lack of a clear handover or transition plan appears to have made the task even more challenging.

Kohistani said he only knew of the foreign forces’ exit after they had left.

“We did not know of their timeline for departure. They did not tell us when they left.”

The US announced Friday it had completely vacated its biggest airfield in the country in advance of a final withdrawal the Pentagon says will be completed by the end of August.

“We [heard] some rumour that the Americans had left Bagram … and finally by seven o’clock in the morning, we understood that it was confirmed that they had already left Bagram,” said Kohistani.

Rotting food where restaurants once bustled

The Bagram base is key to the security of the Afghan capital while also providing strategic cover to much of the country’s rugged north, where the Taliban have focused their recent offensives.

Kohistani insists his troops can hold the base from the Taliban and that he has “quite enough” soldiers.

But with roughly 3,000 troops under his command, the figure is a tiny percentage of the number of American and allied forces during its US-led heyday.

For US troops, morale was kept up in the then-buzzing mini-city with swimming pools, cinemas, spas and fast food outlets like Burger King and Pizza Hut.

For Kohistani’s men, the entertainment venues are closed, the warehouses are locked and the shuttered dining facilities offer only the stench of rotten food from boxes of expired meal packs.

In a sign of the challenges the Afghan military faces without US backing, 1,000 troops fighting the Taliban in the country’s north fled into neighbouring Tajikistan on Monday.

Taliban ‘will definitely try to attack here’

At Bagram, Kohistani said he was already receiving reports that the Taliban were making “movements in rural areas”.

One soldier, a private named Rafiullah, offered a clear picture of what he expected would come.

“The enemy are determined and will definitely try to attack here,” Rafiullah said as two Afghan military helicopters took off behind him.

“But we will not give them the chance.”

If or when the Taliban do mount an offensive to take Bagram, one of their targets will undoubtedly be a huge prison that holds up to 5,000 Taliban inmates.

“We haven’t come here to sleep. Everybody here is prepared to secure Bagram. Our morale is high,” insisted Rafiullah.

Another soldier also defiantly said he was ready to fight the Taliban but nevertheless signalled a feeling of unease over a lack of firepower and leadership.

“We will not surrender but we need weapons and strong backing from our leaders,” he said.

Witnessing history since the start of Cold War

If the Taliban do seize control of Bagram, it will be part of a longstanding pattern. The airfield was first built by the Americans for its Afghan ally during the Cold War in the 1950s.

The Soviet Union vastly expanded it after the Red Army invaded Afghanistan in 1979. After their withdrawal, the base was controlled by the Moscow-backed government and later by the shaky mujahideen administration during the 1990s civil war.

It was reported that at one point the Taliban controlled one end of the three-kilometre runway, and the opposition Northern Alliance the other.

Bagram ultimately fell into the Taliban’s hands after they overran large swaths of the country in the mid-1990s.

Following the September 11 attacks and the US invasion of Afghanistan, the Americans took control of the base and used it as the launching pad for air strikes against the Taliban and to protect Afghan forces.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and AP)

6, July 2021

Exposed: Cameroon gov’t military killing rampage on Southern Cameroons minors ⁰

In Bamenda on Sunday, a young man was killed by Cameroon government army soldiers in a neighborhood known as “Below Foncha” and the killing revolted young people in the city of Bamenda, sending thousands of them to the streets.

The latest killing resuscitated old demons, with many young people calling on the Francophone dominated military to pack and leave their homeland.

The Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime is notorious for excessive use of force, where any protest against the ruling CPDM crime syndicate might cost the protesters their lives – no matter how old, or young, they might be.

Since 1990 after the emergence of the Social Democratic Front, hundreds of young Southern Cameroonians have been killed by Cameroon government troops deployed to Southern Cameroons for participating in anti-government protests.

British Southern Cameroons has been the scene of peaceful demonstrations by the English speaking minority against social and political as well as economic discrimination.

The Yaoundé regime has executed thousands of teenagers from the North West and South West regions for their participation in peaceful protests against the Francophone dominated regime.

Thousands of Southern Cameroons teenagers have reportedly escaped to Nigeria and some to French Cameroun only because they took part in peaceful protests calling for reforms.

The Francophone dominated military and elements of the Rapid Intervention Battalion treat the people of Southern Cameroons in a drastic manner, and they think that they are slaves. French speaking Cameroonians use Anglophones and they prevent them from the simplest rights in a country they voluntarily came together to build.

Many of the Southern Cameroons young people arrested ever since the crisis started four years ago have been placed in solitary confinements and beaten so badly that most of them keep losing consciousness. To make the torture stop, they confessed to the charges against them.

In fact, Southern Cameroons young people in French Cameroun detention centers are the latest victims of La Republique du Cameroun’s deeply flawed justice system which regularly sees people sentenced after unfair trials.

By Isong Asu

London Bureau Chief

6, July 2021

Southern Cameroonians should reject call for peace with those killing them ⁰

A senior Southern Cameroons leader Prof Carlson Anyangwe has reacted to the latest remarks by the Francophone governor of the South West region Okala Bilai about holding dialogue among Ambazonian families emphasizing that the people of Southern Cameroons should immediately dismiss the call for family dialogue with French Cameroonians that are targeting and killing them on a daily basis.

The Southern Cameroons veteran leader was quoted as saying that “Ambazonians hate wars, hate attacks by French Cameroun army soldiers and their Atanga Nji Boys, as well as the call for peace with aggressors who are killing them every day,” Southern Cameroons Broadcasting Cooperation (SCBC TV) reported.

He added, “The hatred for French Camerounians and their invading military will end in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia as soon as its aggression stops, French Cameroun civil administrators withdrawn and an international peace conference held in a neutral country to determine the terms of separation. This is what the Ambazonian Leader and President of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government Sisiku Ayuk Tabe has long been demanding,” Prof. Anyangwe pointed out.

Professor Carlson Anyangwe’s remarks come as all efforts and collective action at the international level for establishing peace and ending the imposed war have failed.

The arrogance on the part of the Biya Francophone leadership in Yaoundé is hurting the two Cameroons. By not listening to the people, the Francophone dominated regime authorities have created a very nasty situation that might result in the splitting of a country that is expected to be a good example to other countries on the continent.

Arrogance could be a very bad ally if not well managed. It could result in self-destruction and excruciating pain. This is exactly what is happening in French Cameroun wherein appointments, even those negotiated in the most difficult circumstances, are seen as a sign of intelligence.

This mentality is consuming French Cameroun political elites and it is generating conflicts and giving tribalism a chance to rear its ugly head. The United Republic of Cameroon, once an oasis of peace in a desert of peace, is falling apart.

Disagreement is as old as time and negotiations are the easiest way to bring about peace and security when people disagree. This philosophy has been embraced by many around the world but the Yaoundé government seems to be frozen in time. It is stuck in the past and it clearly holds that the old tool in its toolbox that can bring about peace in the country is military violence.

But the government’s principle on peace-building and nation-building seems to clearly belong to the past. Its monopoly of holding weapons and spreading falsehood has been shattered by new technologies also known as technologies of freedom.

By Chi Prudence Asong with additional reporting from Soter Agbaw-Ebai

6, July 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Doctors Without Borders rejects claims of supporting Amba Fighters ⁰

International medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on Monday rejected claims that it is providing support for separatist fighters in Cameroon’s Anglophone region of Northwest that has been ravaged by an ongoing separatist conflict.

Last week, some Cameroonian news media quoting local authorities reported that MSF was providing assistance to separatist fighters who have been fighting since 2017 to breakaway from largely French-speaking Cameroon and create an independent nation in the Anglophone regions of Northwest and Southwest.

“We affirm as an absolute that we have never facilitated the transport of arms, ammunition, or armed combatants, and have never provided logistical or financial support to any of the parties to the ongoing crisis,” MSF said in a statement.

The news publications have put both patients and staff in “serious and immediate danger” with armed actors, MSF said, calling for “vigilance and accountability when issuing public statements and reports.”

Last year, Cameroon suspended MSF activities in the Northwest region following allegations of meddling in separatists’ activities.

“We also reiterate our call that the suspension of our activities be lifted in the Northwest in view of its impact on local communities,” the statement said.

Source: Xinhuanet

5, July 2021

Ambassadors in limbo in Yaoundé as they await accreditation from Paul Biya ⁰

Having an older leader has advantages and disadvantages. It has often been said that older leaders have had the time to build up knowledge and experience that can help them accomplish their policy goals. On the other hand, they may be more likely to struggle with health issues, face concerns about how fit they are for office, and may struggle to connect with younger citizens.

There are dozens of world leaders who are well into their 70s or their 80s. But the situation in Cameroon is now very disturbing as the number of foreign embassies waiting for accreditation from President Paul Biya keeps growing, much to the dismay of those concerned.

We reported recently that Mr. Paul Biya was rushed to a Yaoundé hospital and his sycophants responded by making the 88-year-old meet Nigerian business tycoon Aliko Dangote. Cameroon Intelligence Report can now reveal that President Biya is no longer administering the executive duties of the Cameroon government.

The French Cameroun politician, who consolidated his stay in power via election tampering, has refused to let it go for decades. Biya has forced out political opponents, bribed allies, and changed the laws governing Cameroon so many times to allow him to stay in power indefinitely.

With age telling on him and his body now a colony of diseases, diplomats from other countries are in limbo in the nation’s capital Yaoundé as they await accreditation from Biya who is reportedly spending his last days at the extension of his palace in Mvomeka’a.

By Rita Akana in Yaoundé

5, July 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Yaoundé plotting Yerima’s assassination ⁰

The Southern Cameroons Interim Government has once again accused the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime in Yaoundé of plotting to assassinate the Ambazonia Vice President Dabney Yerima.

Yaoundé is preparing a plan to attack the life of Comrade Dabney Yerima and that of important Southern Cameroons figures in the US and Western Europe, a senior aide to the Ambazonia Vice President, Dr Patrick Ayuk told Cameroon Intelligence Report.

Dr Patrick Ayuk suggested that a recent meeting in Yaoundé grouping senior intelligence officers among them Theophile Atengue Onana, Leopold Maxime Eko Eko, the Director of Intelligence, Colonel Joel Emile Bamkoui, Jacques Dili, the Director of the Judicial Police and Eloi Gaetan Puigui Ngosso Commander of the Death Squad was to finish preparations for a violent plan to assassinate Vice President Dabney Yerima.

Dr Patrick Ayuk said the Biya French Cameroun regime planned to assassinate President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and his top aides in Abuja, Nigeria but met with a stone wall erected by senior Nigerian intelligence officers.

“Paul Biya gave an order to kill President Ayuk Tabe in Nigeria” Dr Patrick Ayuk told CIR.

“We have again received information from very reliable Francophone intelligence sources that they were preparing to assassinate VP Yerima” Patrick Ayuk furthered.

By Isong Asu

5, July 2021

French Cameroun must stop looting Southern Cameroons natural resources ⁰

Dr Ngassa Anyangwe, a senior Southern Cameroons medic in the Federal Republic of Germany has called on French Cameroun to end its plunder of Southern Cameroons natural resources and concentrate on the deteriorating health situation of their leader, the 88-year-old Paul Biya.

The prominent Southern Cameroons activist who also moonlights on the Southern Cameroons Broadcasting Cooperation (SCBC TV) stated in a recent conversation with Cameroon Concord News that Southern Cameroonians in Germany firmly support the Ambazonia Interim Government headed by Vice President Dabney Yerima in its efforts to wipe out the occupying French Cameroun military with the Big Rubbergun Project.

Dr Ngassa Anyangwe stressed that top Southern Cameroons academics in Germany are legally providing support to the suffering Ambazonians in Ground Zero and Ground One, while some in the US and parts of Europe are busy helping indirectly the occupying forces on the pretext of fighting for Amba leadership.

The renowned medical practitioner went on to say that any Southern Cameroons group purportedly formed to fight French Cameroun colonization should foremost eliminate the French Cameroun threats against our homeland, help in stopping the occupation of a large proportion of Southern Cameroons towns and villages as well as looting Ambazonia natural resources. “But what I see are so-called front line leaders who only rush to respond to what President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe says to Jeune Afrique” Dr Ngassa added.

The Southern Cameroons was one of the territories set for decolonization in the context of the UN decolonization agenda. Britain’s devious handling of it and the British wheeling and dealing at the UN in 1959 and 1960 caused a great historical injustice to the people of the Southern Cameroons. That injustice continues to cry out for redress. British action resulted in the unconscionable imposition of an unnecessary and precipitated plebiscite with dead-end alternatives. Speaking through Lord Perth, Britain shamefully said the Southern Cameroons and its people were “expendable”.

The plebiscite was imposed in the teeth of opposition by the leadership of the trust territory. It offered a Hobson’s choice of ‘joining’ either Nigeria or French Cameroun. The internationally-prescribed political status option of sovereign independence was deliberately excluded. There was no good reason for doing so. On 11 February 1961, a skewed plebiscite was foisted on the people of the Southern Cameroons. Faced with the Hobson’s ‘choice’ that was forced down their throat, the people opted for independence in political association with Republique du Cameroun. It was agreed in writing between the two countries and to the knowledge of Britain and the UN, that the political association would take the form of an aggregative federation of two states, equal in status.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai