African Nations Championship (CHAN) continues in Cameroon despite Ongoing conflict. Cameroon’s government has deployed its troops to serve as security for the African Nations Championships (CHAN), which began on January 16, 2021, citing concerns of violence from threats levied by separatist groups.

The factions vow to stop the football matches in English-speaking regions, just the latest development in a nearly five-year-long armed conflict. The Cameroonian government, led by Paul Biya and regional governors of English-speaking areas such as Bernard Okalia Bilai in South West Cameroon, is ensuring the public that games will be played in safety (Africanews 2021). Securing the games is a complicated endeavor, though, because it forces officials to guard against hazards from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as well as the possibility of violence from dissenters.

While the Cameroon people are, sadly, somewhat accustomed to violence stemming from Boko Haram that grips the Northern part of their Nation, they now face an increasingly dangerous conflict from the separatists. Cameroon’s government officially declared war against the Anglophone separatist movement at the end of 2017, yet the conflict continues. As of 2019, as many as 20 emerging separatist groups, including the Ambazonia Military Forces (AMF), joined the fight to carve an independent nation out of Cameroon along the Country’s Nigerian border (Foreign Policy 2019). It has drawn little international attention despite the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people since the beginning of the Nation’s internal struggle in 2016 (UN 2020).

The Anglophone Conflict has pitted Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions, the Northwest and Southwest, against the Francophone-dominated government. It began due to frustration and resentment toward the French-speaking government among Cameroon’s English-speaking communities due to what they see as systemic, Anglophonic discrimination in the Country’s education and legal systems. The government violently cracked down on Anglophone minority protests five years ago, and these disputes soon turned into a full-fledged armed conflict in 2018 (IDMC 2020).

Aggression has not been one-sided, however, as the separatist groups have launched many attacks. In October 2020, it was likely a group of these fighters who attacked an international bilingual school, Mother Francisca, in the Southwestern region of Cameroon that killed eight children and injured a dozen more (UN 2020). In response to these types of raids, government forces have often resorted to using live ammunition, detainment, torturing, and other tactics on English-speaking, military-aged men and those they suspect to be AMF collaborators.

In addition to these human rights violations, the vital economic and military routes from Cameroon to Nigeria have become the primary pathways for refugees fleeing unrest caused by both separatist and government forces.

Innocent civilians in rural areas are suffering, and many are out of reach of aid organizations (FP 2019). The fighting is displacing Anglophone and Francophone communities. This upheaval has depopulated vast rural, Anglophone regions and brought the combat closer to urban centers (FP 2019).

Cameroon Football Federation in the English-speaking southwest region, are working with government officials to keep the CHAN events safe. Thus far, this has been relatively effective. A year-long pandemic, years of Boko Haram terror in the North, and other pressing issues facing Cameroon notwithstanding, the main priority during CHAN will be continuing to prevent the separatist threats of violence from materializing. This reality highlights just how pervasive this conflict has become.

Source: The Organization for World Peace

Navy Captain Atonfack Geumo Cyrille Serge, Head of Communication Division, Cameroon’s Ministry of Defence says four children killed by security forces in Bamenda on Saturday, January 23, 2021, were “terrorists”.

In a press release Wednesday, January 27, 2021, Atonfack said elements of the 5th Gendarmerie Region carried out Saturday’s killings at Meta Quarters in Bamenda.

“The Ministry of Defence hereby informs: in the afternoon of Saturday 23 January 2021 at about 2:00 pm, and following some information received from the population, elements of the 5th Gendarmerie Region carried out a preventive control operation in the Meta Quarter neighbourhood in Bamenda II subdivision, Mezam Division of the North West Region,”  Atonfack wrote.

“The objective of this operation was to capture a group of terrorists gathered in an abandoned building on the orders of the nicknamed ‘General Tiger’ who were planning an assault on the T-Junction Police Post,” the military spokesperson furthered. “As military vehicles approached, these armed individuals who were busy consuming hard drugs were taken by surprise, and immediately opened fire on the elements of the Defence Forces, who provided an energetic and appropriate response.”

Atonfack said, “The confrontation led to 04 terrorists neutralized, several others injured and on the run, while tens of M21 S and FAL type weapons were retrieved. Investigations carried out by local authorities reveal that the abandoned building which was the epicenter of the skirmish was regularly used by the terrorist group as a confinement centre for kidnapped persons before their transfer to fortified camps located in the forest.”

Locals say those killed were not separatist fighters

On Tuesday, the mortal remains of 18-year-old Fon Blaise, one of the four teenagers killed by security forces in Meta Quarter, was paraded along the streets of Bamenda. The young people bearing the casket said their peers killed had nothing to do with the separatist movement.

Fon Blaise who lived in Meta Quarter was killed along with Ngalim Alucious, Ntakah Nelly Mbah, and Sale Sadam from Old Town in Saturday’s raid. Local reports however confirm that the quartet was smoking weed in an abandoned building usually used by armed separatist fighters.

Informed of the presence of separatist fighters in the said building, soldiers reportedly arrived when the outlaws had fled leaving behind the four killed.

“However, the armed fighters, two in number as reported by eyewitnesses in the vicinity seemed to have been tipped of the coming of the military into Meta Quarter. As they were running away from the abandoned building, they fired two shots into the air, confirming their presence in the area. It would appear the military received the gunshots as a red light and decided to fire at whoever was in the building or around it,” journalists Sah Terence reported.

“A popular petrol seller who goes by the name Tanyi and keeps his fuel somewhere in the abandoned house was almost shot by the military as he went on his knees with hands up shouting in French “je suis venu pour prendre mon petrol” he was searched and noticed to be telling the truth and asked to get away.”

Soldiers however shot and killed those who were met smoking weed in the abandoned building. Although locals say those killed were civilians, the military maintains they were armed separatists.

Source: Cameroon Info.Net

Victor Fotso’s daughter is reportedly seeking a probe into the circumstances of his death, Cameroon Concord News has gathered from reliable sources with ties to the Bamileke family.

After having fought bitterly over the will of the French Cameroun business tycoon, who passed away in an American Hospital in Neuilly-sur-Seine in France on 19 March 2020, the Fotso dynasty is now heading in for more turbulence, reports Africa Intelligence.

One of Victor Fotso’s daughters has written to the public prosecutor in Paris, to complain about the circumstances in which he died and also raising a finger against Victor Fotso’s high-speed burial and the validity of the French Cameroun oligarch’s wills.

As was with the case of the late Soppo Priso, the hostilities now concern the validity of the different wills Fotso made.  Victor Fotso’s end has precipitated a three-act inheritance war being played out between Paris, Washington and Bandjoun under the watchful gaze of his partner in crime President Paul Biya.

By Chi Prudence Asong

At least two policemen were injured by a roadside improvised explosive device in Southern Cameroons, according to local officials on Tuesday.

The members of the Francophone dominated security were conducting a routine patrol in the Ambazonia seaside resort city of Limbe when the device exploded, officials said.

They were taken to Limbe Regional Hospital for treatment. There was no word on their condition.

Ambazonia Restoration Forces, who claimed responsibility for the attack, released a video of the blast on social media early Tuesday stating that it was part of their strategy to disrupt the Africa Nations Championship (CHAN) which is underway in the Central African nation.

Togo and Rwanda are scheduled to clash in their final Group C match in Limbe Tuesday evening despite repeated threats by separatists who have been clashing with government forces since 2017 in a bid to create an independent nation in Cameroon’s two Anglophone regions of Northwest and Southwest.

Residents said, streets have been deserted and most of the CHAN matches in the town played in scanty stadiums after separatists announced a lockdown last week.

Source: Xinhaunet with additional editing from Camcordnews

At least 53 people died of burns when a passenger bus collided with a truck carrying adulterated fuel in western Cameroon on Wednesday. The collision led to the two vehicles going up in flames, governor of the region, Awa Fonka Augustine said.

“The dead are not identified, they are all burned,” he said at a press briefing. The governor also said 29 people were seriously injured in the accident which occurred in Dschang.

Awa Fonka Augustine added that this could “be due to fog” and that the van had “a braking defect”, according to initial findings.

The 70-seater bus hit the oncoming van around 3:30 a.m. local time at the Dschang Cliff, an area known to be dangerous for drivers because of its many hills and gullies.

At the end of December 2020, at least 37 people, including 10 women and four children, were killed in another bus accident in this Central African nation.

Source: Africa News

The Coalition for Dialogue and Negotiations congratulates Secretary Antony John Blinken for his Senate confirmation today as the 71st Secretary of State of the United States.

Secretary Blinken is deeply qualified and is no stranger to Africa and the situation in Cameroon. During his Senate confirmation hearing he spoke in great detail on the importance of deepening United States engagement with Africa. Regarding the escalating conflict in the Southern Cameroons, we particularly welcomed Secretary Blinken’s commitment to being fully engaged in seeking a durable solution.

The Coalition for Dialogue and Negotiations reiterates its deep commitment in working with Secretary Blinken and the entire United States government in seeking a lasting, negotiated solution that addresses the root causes of this armed conflict. We offer our heartfelt congratulations and best wishes to the Secretary as he undertakes a very difficult challenge.

About the Coalition for Dialogue and Negotiations

The Coalition for Dialogue and Negotiations (CDN) is an international non-governmental organization (NGO) with specific goal to facilitate dialogue and negotiation towards ending the war in the Southern Cameroons. CDN is made of professionals from all walks of life and over 20 partner organizations worldwide advocating for an end to the war. CDN members will work with its partners to strengthen international involvement in resolving the conflict and building durable peace in the conflict affected territories.