Tibor Peter Nagy Jr., the United States Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs says as the situation in Cameroon’s restive North West and South West Regions deepens, the belligerents must now “stop [the] violence and start talking.”

Taking to Twitter Monday, May 18, 2020, Ambassador Nagy says the killing of civilians is inexcusable, citing the killings in Ngarbuh attributed to state forces and the killing of the Mayor of Mamfe by armed separatists.

His words: “Government killing of civilians in Cameroon is inexcusable. I urge follow-through on Ngarbuh investigation and many other incidents of this nature. I also condemn separatist attacks on local officials such as the murder of Mamfe’s mayor. Stop violence, start talking. ”

 On February 14, 2020, at least ten children and three women were among those killed when soldiers carried out an operation in Ngarbuh, a village in the country’s North West Region.

Government initially blamed the deaths on the separatists. But on April 21, 2020, the report of the commission of inquiry into the incident faulted Major Nyiangono Ze Charles Eric, Commander of the 52nd Motorized Infantry Battalion (BIM) in Nkambe and all the servicemen who took part in the Ngarbuh operation.

It emerged that Major Nyiangono authorized the “reconnaissance mission” which was led by Sergeant Baba Guida commander of the Ntumbaw joint regiment. The detachment comprising three servicemen and two gendarmes enlisted seventeen members of a local vigilante committee.

In faulting the state forces, the inquiry said: “Following an exchange of gunfire, during which five terrorists were killed, and many weapons seized, the detachment discovered that three women and ten children had died because of its action. Panic-stricken, the three servicemen with the help of some members of the vigilante committee, tried to conceal the facts by causing fires. On his return to Ntumbaw, Sergeant Baba Guida who led the operation, submitted a deliberately biased report to his superiors, a report on which the Government initially based its statement. ”

We also recall that on May 10, 2020, armed separatists ambushed and killed Ashu Prisley Ojong, Mayor of Mamfe in Manyu Division. Two service men were wounded in the attack according to authorities. These are only isolated cases of the violence and abuses taking place in the restive area.

Many are those who have proposed a US led mediation to end the crisis.

Source: Cameroon Info.Net

Over the last two weeks, the death of Mamfe’s young mayor, Priestley Ashu Ojong, has dominated discussions in many parts of our country. Social media is awash with stories about his killing, but nobody has been able to clearly point out why he was killed and by who. 

The young businessman cum mayor had demonstrated that he had what was necessary to take Mamfe into a brand-new direction. He had been a deputy mayor, so experience was on his side. His success in the business arena helped him to have confidence in himself. But the most effective tool in his arsenal was his blind loyalty to the ruling Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement (CPDM) that has been in power for close to four decades.

With such a huge arsenal, Priestly felt that he had the best protection. Dead was for other people and not for him. But he failed to understand that success always comes with huge problems, some of which could be very challenging and may even lead to death. And it was one of such problems that led the young mayor to an early grave. But there are many questions which still linger and one of such questions is: Who killed the Mayor of Mamfe and why?

Of course, when news of his death hit social media, the entire country had only one suspect in mind – Amba boys. The young mayor, who was driven by vaulting ambition and arrogance, was, indeed, in the crosshairs of many armed groups in Manyu because of his blind loyalty to the ruling party, his youthful exuberance and bloated arrogance.

He had made the defeating of Amba boys in Manyu the cornerstone of his political agenda. He had wanted to prove that he could roll back the insurgency in that part of the country. Little did he know that the anger against the government was deep and complicated.

At 35, he could not figure out that many people in the former West Cameroon had been hurt by government policies. He was too young to understand and he had made up his mind that he would never listen to these songs of revolution which, to him, were simply heralding an end to his brilliant political career.

His ambitions were lofty and had blinded his reason. Despite advice given to him by many experienced politicians and elders, he went ahead to implement his reckless and egoistic agenda.

Many politicians in Southern Cameroons, especially those of the CPDM, have been very careful with their rhetoric. They love the free money the CPDM provides, but they also understand that the government lacks the capacity to defend them in the event of any attack.

Caught in this nasty situation, most of them have resorted to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds. They know their options are limited. They must please their masters in Yaoundé, but they must at the same time save their lives and those of their families. As a result, money has been changing hands under the cover of darkness and that is why some CPDM politicians feel save even when in Southern Cameroons.

But the mayor of Mamfe had vowed never to play such a game. He always counted on the military for his protection, failing to understand that having the military on your side is no guarantee of security. There is no military stronger than the people, especially those who operate under the cover of darkness.

Amba boys have been on the young mayor’s trail for a long time. He was a marked man even when he was the deputy mayor. His public pronouncements against the revolution that has made Southern Cameroons ungovernable clearly made him a dead man walking.

Many of the young fighters are brothers of people who have been killed by the military and the only language they understand is revenge. In their view, anybody who is collaborating with the military or the Yaoundé government must be reduced to a mass of flesh. It is difficult to have a discussion with these young fighters who have been empowered by their guns and the money flowing from North America.

Their courage has grown over the years and each time they kill a soldier, they only think victory is on the horizon. In their minds, Southern Cameroons must be free and there is no golden median, and this freedom must only come through bloodshed.

Anybody with a divergent opinion clearly belongs to the world beyond and they have demonstrated this by the numerous people they have killed or threatened. A philosophy also practiced by army soldiers sent to the two English-speaking regions of the country to roll back the insurgency.

In a place like Manyu, many people who have had intercourse with the Yaoundé government are clearly in the storm’s eye. They know death is locking very close to home and many have had to skip town just to know their peace.

Amba boys are turning the heat on many government officials and the killing of the Mamfe mayor has made many of them to know that the long arm of the Amba justice system will surely reach them wherever they are in Manyu. Some of them are looking at the possibility of quitting the towns and villages of Manyu, but others have already left, leaving behind vast properties they had acquired fraudulently.

Mr. Agbor Benson, the former deputy mayor of Mamfe and former Manyu CPDM president has shown Amba boys a clean pair of heels. He could not stand the pressure and it is rumored that he is walking the streets of Buea where he feels a little safe.

Others like Agbor Tabi Muller, a former deputy mayor of Mamfe, have left the country. Cameroon Concord News Group gathered that he left the country screaming and begging for his safety as Amba fighters trailed him. He now lives in the United States, hoping that things will one day calm down for him to return.

The late mayor’s problems were also internal. A source close to the Cameroon Concord News Group has hinted that the young mayor had made many enemies within his own camp and party by being overly ambitious and unnecessarily proactive. There was a lot of infighting in his party and he kept playing both sides against the middle.

By splitting his own team, the young mayor exposed himself to the bullets of an unknown assassin. When he fell out with the town’s drivers and motorcycle riders, Priestly weakened his information network, making it hard for him to get reliable intelligence. His bloated ego stood in the way of things and that cost him his life.

But no one can say for sure that he knows who killed the young mayor. The reasons for his death are many. Though his party issued a statement accusing Amba fighters, it is clear that any investigations must first look inwards.

The ruling CPDM has been quick to indicate that on that fateful day, the young mayor was heading to Eshobi, a village some 8 km from Mamfe, to receive some Amba fighters who had made up their minds to surrender, but a Cameroon Concord News Group source has said that the real reasons for that trip were related to his ambition of becoming a village chief.

According to the source, the young mayor had other plans that were rubbing up many people in Mamfe the wrong way. It is alleged that on that day, he was going to receive the title of “Sesekou” which would have opened the way for him to become the chief of Eshobi, a village some think is not his.

The Cameroon Concord News Group has gathered that Priestly Ojong, the late mayor, was not a native of Eshobi. His mother is a native of the village, but his father is not from Manyu. Our sources added that after a violent falling out of his parents, the mother brought him to Eshobi as a little boy and that is the only village he knows as his.

According to Manyu tradition, you can never be a recognized member of your mother’s family and your mother’s village is not necessarily your village. Priestly was oblivious of that and since he is a member of the ruling party, he felt he could change the order of things. His enemies in the village are also being suspected of being responsible for the ambush that robbed him of his life.  Cameroon Concord News Group cannot at the time independently verify such claims but promises to dig further in order to get to the bottom of things.

The death of the young mayor has left many people in fear and there is a lot of pressure in the town as nobody knows who will be next. For now, nobody has been arrested by the police for the killing of a young mayor, but Amba fighters are planning to carryout mass arrests of those who participated in a government-sponsored demonstration against the killing of the young, boisterous and arrogant mayor. 

The days ahead are bleak and only a negotiated settlement can calm down tempers and minds in the two English-speaking regions of the country. Mamfe is only the small tip of a massive iceberg that may drown Cameroon.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai in the United Kingdom and the Cameroon Concord News Group team in Mamfe

Panic has gripped several hundred people after a popular Cameroon pastor and candidate in the central African state’s last presidential election, Frankline Ndifor, died of COVID-19 following his prayers that hundreds of his supporters cured of the coronavirus. Cameroon police used force to gain access to his residence in the economic capital city Douala, as some of his supporters blocked entrances, praying for his resurrection.

Hundreds of followers sang Sunday morning at Ndifor’s Douala residence that the man popularly referred to as the prophet is not dead, but he is rather on a spiritual retreat with God and will return soon. Their singing and prayers were broadcast by several local radio stations.

Ndifor died and was buried in front of his residence Saturday by workers of Cameroon’s COVID-19 response team in Douala. Doctor Gaelle Nnanga said by messaging application from Douala that Ndifor died less than a week after being diagnosed with COVID-19.

He says that some members of Ndifor’s Kingship International Ministries Church called him to come to the pastor’s aid when they found out Ndifor was in agony, and that when the medical team he leads arrived, Ndifor was having severe respiratory difficulties. He says the pastor died less than 10 minutes after they treated him.

The governor of Cameroon’s coastal region, where Douala is, said in a release he deployed police to force their way to Ndifor’s residence when his followers chased medical staff away, claiming that the pastor was on a spiritual retreat with God, rather than dead, and should not be buried.

Ndifor follower Rigobert Che says the “prophet” last Wednesday prayed for him and several dozen people diagnosed with COVID-19, and some who suspected they were carriers or had symptoms. He says via a messaging application that Ndifor’s death has brought panic to the hundreds of people who have been visiting him for prayers for a divine cure.

“This is a pastor that has been laying hands [on the sick] and claiming that he cures COVID-19,” Che said. “If you, the person that claims that you are curing COVID-19, you are dead, what about the fellow people that were affected by the COVID-19? Now that he is dead, I do not know how the people that he was laying hands on will be healed.”

Medical staff are asking all those who came in contact with the pastor to report to hospitals to be tested for COVID-19.

Besides praying for COVID-19 patients at his home and his church, Ndifor was also donating buckets and soap to the poor to protect themselves from the coronavirus by washing their hands. His last public outing was on April 20, when he went out into Douala’s streets to distribute facemasks.

Ndifor had a reputation as a miracle healer, and he was a contender in Cameroon’s 2018 presidential election, emerging seventh out of nine candidates, with 23, 687 votes.

Source: VOA

The Manyu Divisional headquarters of Mamfe is going through moments of high tension, as the population gets wind of a plan by Amba fighters to carry out mass arrests in Mamfe following a fake demonstration organized and funded by the CPDM crime syndicate.

A Cameroon Concord News Group source in Mamfe has hinted that the tension is so thick that it could be cut with a knife as those who participated in the government-sponsored demonstration face the prospect of being arrested by Amba fighters who are determined to punish all those who participated in the stage-managed demonstration.

“The tension is high and many of those who joined the government-sponsored demonstration against the killing of the mayor of Mamfe are losing sleep,” the source said.

“Many are trying to leave the town but are confused as they know that they must be checked on their way out by Amba fighters who will like to enforce the law by arresting them,” he added.

“It is like Amba fighters have surrounded the Division with an invisible ring of fire and anybody seeking to run away from Amba justice might just end up in a green jail whose conditions are far from being good,” he said.

“With Amba fighters, justice is never delayed, so it is never denied. The Amba justice system seems to be fair and effective, but the death sentences are just too many and that is why everybody is jittery as if they are standing on tenterhooks,” he stressed.

“With Amba boys, you are never too sure. Not many people have left their courts smiling. They all seem to be judges and magistrates but none of them has ever been to a law school,” our source who elected anonymity said.

“Those who participated in the demonstration have already spent the CFAF 5,000 that they were given and the fear is that if caught by Amba boys, they would be required to deliver the money,” he said.

“It is hard to come by money these days which makes CFAF 5,000 look like a huge some of money. A friend who participated in the demonstration has not slept for two days and he is frequently visiting the bathroom. He is really losing weight at a very fast rate. It is like the fear of Amba is the most effective and efficient weight loss pill. I have never seen a man lose weight that fast,” he stressed.

Some Mamfe residents are already saying that the mass arrests could result in mass killings, especially as Amba fighters have stepped up their operations in the county ever since the creation of the Manyu Liberation Council.

Currently, there are leaflets across the county, advising drivers to determine the identity of any would-be passenger before driving them out of the main town. This is to ensure that nobody, who actually participated in the demonstration, leaves the town surreptitiously.

Drivers are being warned that failure to do their due diligence will result in flogging in a public place.

The leaflet, a copy of which was sent to the Cameroon Concord News Group office, clearly reminds drivers of the need to err on the side of the law.

The leaflet warns of dire consequences if any resident of Mamfe seeks to outsmart Amba fighters who have an uncanny way of picking out their enemies.

Speaking to a senior official of Manyu Tigers, an armed group that transformed itself into a nightmare to many army soldiers, the Cameroon Concord News Group correspondent in Manyu gathered that the group had reactivated many of its cells across the county with a view to hemming in residents of the Division who have been yielding to the temptation and corruption of the ruling CPDM party.

The official stressed that for some time now, residents of the region had been losing the discipline that was required of them.

“Everybody living in our territory is required to demonstrate the best possible behavior. Over the last few months, we have been noticing behavioral lapses and I and using this opportunity to call on our citizens to return to the days when army soldiers respected every Southern Cameroonian citizen because of our discipline,” he said.

“We have learned that our women are now playing ball with the military and in the process, they are betraying our boys. I would like to remind them that the honeymoon is over. They should look at what happened to the mayor of Mamfe to understand that there are huge risks working with the military. The military is here to fight and not to have sex with our women,” he underscored.

The Manyu Tiger official also stressed that they would continue to step up their patrol in the region to ensure that people who are COVID-19-positive do not come to infect the population.

He urged the chiefs who are on the ground to help sensitize their population on the dangers of COVID-19, adding that any chief who violated the rules would face the wrath of the law.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai in the United Kingdom