Scores of Cameroonians have been visiting mortuaries to identify and collect the bodies of relatives who perished in two bus crashes Sunday that left 39 people dead between the capital Yaoundé and the western commercial city of Bafoussam.

Flavien Awanou, a social worker in the western commercial town of Bafoussam said he has been in search of his two children since he was informed of Sunday’s accidents.

He said a phone call from the police informed him that his son and daughter were involved in a deadly accident in Nemale village in the Ndikinimiki administrative unit.

Awanou said after a fruitless search at Ndikinimiki and Makenene hospitals, he has come to Yaoundé to find out if his children are in any hospital or their bodies are in any mortuary. Awanou said his children were returning from Bafoussam where they had spent Christmas with him to celebrate the change from 2020 to 2021 with their mother in the capital Yaoundé.

Paul Atanga Nji, Cameron minister of territorial administration who was sent to the scene by President Paul Biya, described what he found.

Nji said the first accident occurred at 3 a.m. Sunday when a 70-seat bus from the western towns of Foumban and Bafoussam crashed on the Nemale bridge near the town of Makenene. The bus landed in a 30-meter-deep dry riverbed.

The second occurred when another bus hit civilians and rescue workers who were helping victims of the first accident.

“Two accidents occurred in the same place. We have come here to extend the heartfelt condolences of President Paul Biya to the bereaved families and also the wish of the head of state that the wounded should be treated quickly, Nji said. “We will have a report which will be sent to the head of state and to the prime minister head of government so that we can have further instructions.”

Cameroon transport minister Jean Ernest Messina Ngale Bibehe was also sent to the scene by Biya. He said the government has ordered investigations on the causes of the accidents.

Bibehe said it was a black Sunday in Cameroon as so many lives were lost in less than 24 hours. He said the government took all necessary measures to avoid road accidents during this end of year period when many people are traveling by warning drivers against excessive speed. He said unfortunately, some drivers disrespect the driving code especially on roads where there are no police officers who can charge the drivers for misconduct.

He said road users should respect driving norms and stop the many accidents and deaths that occur every year in Cameroon.

During the past 10 years, Cameroon has reported an average of more than 16,000 road accidents killing close to 2,000 people each year.

The government blames the over-importation of secondhand cars, mechanical failure, the use of old and worn tires, hazardous overtaking, excessive speed and the bad state of roads.

Source: VOA

Three French Cameroun gendarmes have reportedly been taken hostage by French backed rebels fighting the legitimate government in the Central African Republic. Local media says the incident took place on December 26, 2020 in a village in Adamaoua, near the border with the mineral-rich but poverty-stricken nation that has been unstable since independence 60 years ago.

Cameroon Concord News gathered that the rebels have demanded the sum of 15 million FCFA from each of the French Cameroun security agents.

The three gendarmes were put on mission to strengthen border security in the Adamaoua region when they  were ambushed by elements of the rebel faction loyal to General Abbas Sidiki, the leader of Central African Republic’s so-called “3R” (Return, Claim and Rehabilitation).

We understand the three French Camerounian gendarmes are currently being held in Ngaoui, a village in the Adamaoua region near the Central African Republic.

The group that is receiving financial and material support from France in its war against the regime in Bangui claimed via an audio message that “if the sum is paid, the gendarmes will be released but without their weapons or their vehicle.”

The 3R militia is the largest armed group in the Central African Republic. Its leader, Bi Sidi Souleymane alias Sidiki Abbas, is a Cameroonian who has presented himself on the CEMAC political space as the defender of the Fulani people.

In August 2020, the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions against General Sidiki Abbas. According to the US authorities, the 3R group has killed, tortured, raped and displaced thousands of civilians since 2015 and Mr. Souleymane himself is said to have participated in these atrocities.

General Sidiki Abbas is also on the UN sanctions list.

By Rita Akana

Thirsty-seven people died in a road accident in Cameroon early Sunday with 19 others seriously injured, according to local authorities.

The accident took place in Ndikinimeki of Mbam-et-Inoubou division in central Cameroon. A 70-seat bus oversped and crashed into a parked truck, according to Absalom Woloa Monono, prefect of Mbam-et-Inoubou.

“The bus then lost control and ran violently over Nemale Bridge and tumbled into the stream and stopped on the bank of the stream,” Monono told Xinhua on phone, adding that the 19 injured have been evacuated to a local hospital for treatment.

Police are investigating the cause of the crash. Such accidents in Cameroon are often linked to the poor state of roads and drivers’ ignorance.

The Ministry of Transport estimates that 1,500 people die in road accidents each year in Cameroon.

Source: Xinhuanet

After losing more than two thousand soldiers in a battle that will not be ending anytime soon, the corrupt and incompetent Yaoundé crime syndicate has announced that it will be recruiting thousands of poor and young Cameroonians who will be unleashed on the Southern Cameroonian population once they complete their 3-month sandwich military training.

The announcement was made last week when the Yaoundé government also discovered that thousands of its hastily trained and poorly paid soldiers had jumped ship once they got sent to fight seasoned Southern Cameroonian fighters in the dense equatorial jungles of Southern Cameroons.

Sources conversant with the country’s military have informed Cameroon Concord News Group that some 5,000 Cameroonian soldiers have simply vanished into thin air.

Initially, the unreliable and disrespected government informed parents of many soldiers who have disappeared that they were still battling insurgents in Southern Cameroons, but the truth started emerging when soldiers who survived some of the tough battles in the jungle sent videos of their friends who had been killed in battle to the families of the victims.

In the Mamfe jungle, lots of gruesome things took place and surviving soldiers are still suffering from post post-stress traumatic disorder because of the inhuman cruelty they noticed.

The jungle between Eyumojock and Nsanarakati in Manyu Division holds huge secrets whose details are only known by Southern Cameroonian fighters.

More than 20 Yaoundé soldiers are simply not resting in peace in a mass grave in which they were buried alive by Southern Cameroonian fighters.

These innocent soldiers were hastily dispatched to that part of Manyu Division without sound knowledge of the region or the terrain. They were surprised and rapidly overwhelmed and theirs became the kingdom of death.

Their remains may never be discovered and this is hurting their parents who have been having nightmares. Without proper closure, families of these soldiers will continue to ask questions, though each time they ask questions, military officials only threaten them with imprisonment.

In Akwaya, Otu, Ekondo-titi, Wum, Kumbo, Batibo and many parts of the northwest, army soldiers have been killed and their bodies dumped enabling wild animals to have a massive party. Human bones litter the forests of Southern Cameroons and it is rumored that those bones belong to young army soldiers who met their death in really unfortunate circumstances.

The war the government of Yaoundé thought it would wrap up in two weeks has gone beyond three years and thousands of army soldiers have disappeared.

But not all are dead. Some simply defected while others were aided by Southern Cameroonians for them to desert a military they described as bereft of a purpose.

Many of those who have deserted are in countries such as Gabon, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, United Arab Emirates and France where they are seeking to rebuild their lives.

Most of them argue that they cannot die for an old dying man whose objective is to keep power, adding that the war against Southern Cameroonians was baseless and that the conflict could have been settled through genuine dialogue.

But the fighting will not be over anytime soon. Some members of government and army generals have successfully established a war economy and they are in no rush to see the fighting come to an end.

Atanga Nji, the country’s territorial administration minister; Joseph Beti Assomo, the country’s defense minister and the architect of the war; and army generals in charge of the war are determined to prolong the agony of the population.

They have been unleashing poorly trained militiamen on innocent civilians just to intimidate the population. Some of the soldiers are even child soldiers from poor homes who desperately need a job just to help their poor families. Unfortunately, many of them hardly go back home alive!

 The government has been overwhelmed by the number of body bags returning to East Cameroon and the deafening grumbling of the parents is making government officials to be ill at ease.

But the damage done to the military will have to continue for a long time.  After four long years of prayers, the Russian killing machines are finally in most towns of Southern Cameroons.

There is total excitement in the jungles of Southern Cameroons where most insurgents are taking refuge. They now know that they have the fire power to counter any action by the Yaoundé military.

Southern Cameroonian leaders had started negotiating with Russian military officials in January 2020 after noticing that Western countries were in no rush to end the conflict that was triggered by the marginalization of the country’s English-speaking minority.

The talks had progressed to a point where both parties had to meet in Moscow in June 2020, but the Coronavirus pandemic that has spread pain and suffering across the globe, upended their plans.

Things were put on hold as most countries struggled to get out of the grip of the dangerous pandemic. With things looking up and a vaccine manufactured, both parties will soon be meeting to finalize arrangements.  

Russia wants to have a foothold in the Central African region, it needs oil and diamond and its need for a huge market for its product is increasing becoming overwhelming.

Southern Cameroonians are capable of facilitating Russian entry into the huge economic block by destabilizing Cameroon which is the engine of the region.

For now, Russians have a foot in the door in the Central African Republic by supporting the country’s current government in its efforts to flush out French-backed rebels led by former president Francois Bozize, and with Southern Cameroonian leaders willing to play ball with the oil-thirsty Russians who want to elbow the French out of the sub-region, it is clear that the dynamics in Southern Cameroons will be changing for good.

The corrupt Yaoundé government knows it has a lot on its plate. It understands Russians are simply not joking and it is scared of the alliance between the Russians and Southern Cameroonians.

It is on these grounds that it has launched a massive military recruitment to beef up security in its eastern border with the Central African Republic and to continue killing Southern Cameroonians in the Biya-owned killing fields in the country’s two English-speaking regions.

The year ahead holds a lot of suffering for Cameroonians. The incompetent Yaoundé government is still not in the mood to negotiate a way out of the four-year-old conflict and Southern Cameroonians are not yet ready to throw in the towel.

More blood is in the forecast and those Russian killing machines that have been thrown into the mix will leave many military mothers in tears.

Cameroon is really in for a bleak future. It’s dying (mis)leader, Paul Biya, is prepared to take the entire country with him into his grave.

Despite calls by the international community for a negotiated settlement, Mr. Biya and the hawks running the show strongly hold that a military victory is in the cards, but how true is that when Russian guns have made their way into the country? Let’s wait and see.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

The wife of the leader of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government, Lilian Ayuk, has bluntly dismissed as irresponsible rumors on social media that she had secretly sued for divorced.

The Southern Cameroons iron lady also said that the article was not even worth reading as it was totally bereft of any modicum of truth.

Speaking exclusively to the Cameroon Concord News Group chairman, Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai, on Sunday, December 27, over the phone, President Julius Ayuk Tabe’s wife sounded a note of caution to all Southern Cameroonians, urging them to be vigilant, as the social media fake news is being spread by the Yaounde government in the hope that it might distract them and destabilize their jailed leader.

The objective of such a conglomeration of bunkum is to sow confusion among Southern Cameroonians with a view to stifling the justified struggle for independence.

Lilian Ayuk stated that the corrupt Yaoundé government, composed mainly of ancestors and con men, is unquestionably behind the slander with the objective of damaging the sterling reputation of Mr. Julius Ayuk Tabe.

The dissemination of such misleading and grossly false information could be damaging if Southern Cameroonians took their eyes off the cardinal objective  of the struggle.

She urged Southern Cameroonians to shun such rumor, adding that they must stay focused as victory is within reach.

A fake facebook user had stupidly claimed that Mrs. Ayuk Tabe had sued to divorce her husband, President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe.

This fake news will be the reason why Southern Cameroonians will continue to stand solidly behind their president and his lovely wife until key objectives are achieved.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Cameroon rights groups and activists say they are gratified that for the first time since 2016, parents no longer give children and teenagers toy guns as gifts during end-of-year feasts. In 2016, rights groups launched a campaign to ban toy guns, mostly imported from China, saying they lead to violence. Alternative gifts for children include educational electronic toys.

An educational electronic toy in the form of an electronic workbook helps five children in Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde, learn the letters of the alphabet and how to recognize and spell words. Six-year-old Christina Marfaw says her parents gave her the toy as a gift for the New Year.

“It is a touch and teach workbook that our parents bought for us,” said Marfaw.

“The book is asking us to find something that begins with the letter ‘R.’

In the past it was normal for many parents to give toy guns as gifts to little children like Marfaw.

Educational toys like this one have replaced toys like guns, knives and military vehicles that were in high demand and widely used as gifts for Cameroon’s children.   

In 2016, Cameroon rights groups and activists started advocating for a ban on toy guns, most of which were imported from China. China is the largest producer and distributor of toys, especially toy guns, in Cameroon.

 Last year, during the deepening Anglophone separatist crisis and Boko Haram terrorism on the northern border with Nigeria, the rights groups began urging Cameroonians not to buy children toy guns.   

Activist and gender expert Irene Chinje is among those who pushed to stop toy gun sales. She says it breeds violence. 

“It signifies violence. Children do not know the difference between it being a toy gun and the significance it carries,” Chinje said. “They just see it as a sign of bravery for them, and so if they can handle the toy gun, then they are encouraged in the future to handle the real weapon with bullets. They can use it in any careless manner. We do not have to encourage children with guns as toys. If we have to stop violence, we start from that youthful age. We must make the children understand that it is something which could in the future impact something very harmful. We have realized even people of the underworld use the toy guns, but you cannot identify it because you do not even have the courage to look at it when you see them stand before you.” 

Chinje says societies have ethics, so people should avoid toys that seem to encourage violence and consider ethics in their choice of toys. 

She says she is happy that Cameroonians are also avoiding toys that promote gender bias.

“We do not give girls those doll babies that we used to give because it makes them feel that they are girls, they have to cater for babies,” Chinje said. “So, no. We are trying to give what is more gender balanced to children”

Chinje and some activists have been visiting markets to express their appreciation to Cameroonians for not buying toy guns. 

Twenty-four-year-old Kum Yannick, a student at the university of Buea, is in a supermarket in Yaounde to buy gifts for his teenage siblings. He says he wants to buy and share books and toys that promote peace.

“As the new year 2021 is approaching, the wish of all Cameroonians is that peace should return in the troubled regions, and what I have to share is a message of goodwill and love, which I think the Bible is the key from which I shall have all these messages that I am going to share,” Yannick said.

Cameroon has always blamed the over-involvement of teenagers in crime on what they watch on TV, and some there say the sharing of toy guns as gifts promotes violence, especially during New Year’s celebrations.   

The crossover from an old to a new year is always widely celebrated in Cameroon, with Christians, Muslims and animists sharing gifts and exchanging visits. This year, gifts that promote violence are not found in the markets. 

Source: VOA