Clashes between separatist groups in Cameroon have killed at least six fighters, with one of the groups allegedly abducting close to 40 rebels of another camp.  Separatist leaders have blamed the clashes on infiltration by Cameroon’s military.  But the military says the clashes are an internal rivalry for power among the separatist groups.

Cameroonian rebel leader Chacha posted a video clip on social media Sunday calling for all separatists to unite under his Southern Cameroon Restoration Forces after clashes between rebel groups.

In the video, Chacha is dressed in a red suit, with a long black cross on the back, and standing with four supporters — all armed with rifles.

He says if anybody attempts to betray their struggle to gain independence, he Chacha will kill such a traitor as he is killing Cameroon soldiers that have been sent by President Biya to eliminate true separatist fighters.

Cameroon’s military says the self-proclaimed general posted the video after he killed several members of competing rebel groups.

Chacha admitted to killing other separatists.  Villagers on Saturday found six bodies in Meluf village, in northwestern Cameroon.

Local media and the Catholic Church in Cameroon report that Chacha has abducted close to 40 rebel fighters who he accused of helping the military.

Tapang Ivo Tanku is the U.S.-based spokesperson of the Anglophone Defense Forces (ADF), another Cameroon rebel group.  Speaking via a messaging app, he said the abducted and killed fighters were ADF.

Tanku said the clashes between rebel groups fighting to separate the English-speaking regions from the rest of French-speaking Cameroon played into the hands of the military.

“Our soldiers who were killed were initially kidnapped by Chacha and Chacha went on to kill them.  So, it is a war crime and it is strictly a crime against humanity and the violation of the Geneva conventions.  And this is exactly what the regime of neighboring Cameroon wants to see in Ambazonia.  It violates the Geneva conventions for the respect of prisoners or war,” he said.

Separatists have been fighting to establish a state they call “Ambazonia” since 2016.  Tanku accused Cameroon’s military of infiltrating rebel groups to instigate the separatists’ infighting.

But the military says the clashes represent a rivalry for power among the separatist groups. Brigadier General Valere Nka is commander of Cameroon’s military forces fighting against the separatists.

“I want to issue a strong warning to the so-called generals, the fake generals, Chacha, Tiger, Field Marshal and all the rest,” he said. “We already know their hideouts, their whereabouts.  We are going to step up military operations and, if they do not lay down their weapons, we are going to strike and crush them.”

Clashes between Cameroon’s rebel groups have intensified in the past two months, with a number of attacks reported in the northwest and southwest.

The Bamenda Center for Conflict Resolution’s Innocent Fomo says the infighting may mark the beginning of the end to the separatist conflict.  He says many people in the two regions are losing faith in the struggle for independence.

“The whole issue now is very confusing,” he said. “They say they are fighting for the Anglophones.  And now, they are fighting themselves and even the Anglophones.  It is terrible.  A lot of people are fleeing from the [English-speaking] regions because of the kidnappings and asking for ransom and there are the Amba[zonian] fighters kidnapping the people.”

Since December, several villages in Cameroon’s Anglophone west have launched assaults on rebel camps over attacks on civilians and looting villages.   The angry villagers say they do not know who to trust, as they say the military commits similar crimes against them.   The separatist conflict has killed about 3,000 people, many of them villagers caught up in the fighting.

Culled from the VOA

Starting in January 2020, the United States began its one-year secretariat of the G7++ Friends of Gulf of Guinea Group, with Gabon serving as co-secretariat.  This group coordinates the support of international partners for the maritime security standards agreed upon by West and Central African heads of state at a summit in Yaoundé in 2013.  The G7++ Friends of Gulf of Guinea Group helps secure the Gulf of Guinea against the threats of piracy, armed robbery, and other illicit maritime activities.  By creating the conditions for improved maritime security, this group fosters prosperity and economic growth for all countries along the Gulf of Guinea.

This is only the latest example of U.S. partnership for the security and stability of Cameroon and the subregion.  The United States has made significant contributions to Cameroon’s maritime security.  In 2016, the United States funded the creation of six maritime operations centers in Limbe, Douala, and Kribi that enable naval operations at sea, and we will continue to provide maintenance and training for these centers this year.  Through 2017, the United States provided several Defender class rigid hull boats to the Cameroonian military for maritime patrols.  One of the Defender boats was used in the August 2019 rescue of over 100 shipwreck victims after a boat coming from Nigeria capsized near Limbe.  In 2020, the Cameroonian Navy plans to purchase two 110-foot American patrol boats to greater extend its ability to patrol Cameroon’s economic exclusion zone.

Over the years, the U.S. has provided significant security assistance to Cameroon to achieve our mutual goals in maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea, countering violent extremism in the North, and supporting regional security initiatives.  Our partnership remains strong.  While we continue to aid Cameroon in its fight against Boko Haram and ISIS-West Africa, our role is changing as the threat from these groups evolves and the coordination and capabilities of Cameroon and regional partners mature.  We are proud to support Cameroon and the Gulf of Guinea region this year in our role leading the G7++ Friends of Gulf of Guinea Group.

Source:hstoday.us

Six people were killed and two others injured in Cameroon, reportedly by Boko Haram rebels who recently led an attack in that country’s Far North region.

Security sources said that three military control posts were destroyed in various attacks over the weekend.

The rebels stormed the locality of Ganse in Kolofata in the Mayo Sava Division on Saturday night and killed six people, injured two and took away with them food, as well as other material equipment.

On Friday night, Boko Haram insurgents set ablaze three military control posts in the locality of Hidoua-Touru in the same region, reports said.

On January 13 an international Christian aid agency, reported that seven Christians were killed as gangs of about 300 Boko Haram militants invaded five Christian villages in Far North, Cameroon.

The agency said that the first attacks began late at night on 6 January, claiming the lives of two men and two children kidnapped as heavily armed militants invaded the village of Hitere, Tourou district. Hitawa village, in the same district, was also raided and looted.

In Moudokou village, Moskota district, the agency reported, three Christians were killed in a raid and a ten-year-old boy was kidnapped. Another Christian man was murdered by the Islamists in an attack on Guitsenad village.

On January 7 a seventh Christian was murdered in a Boko Haram assault on the village of Guedjelé in Koza district.

The two church buildings, which the affected communities used, were sabotaged and burnt.

On the same day, a German broadcaster reported that 30 people were killed after a bomb ripped through a crowded market on a bridge connecting the Nigerian town of Gamboru and Cameroon’s Fotokol.

Authorities said more than 35 other people, including Nigerians and Cameroonians, were injured and taken to the local hospital in the wake of the attack, which struck a crowded market on the Nigerian-Cameroonian frontier.

Militant groups have long targeted military and civilian sites in the market town and its surrounding areas.

Source: IOL

After receiving more than a hundred million FCFA of public funds from Territorial Administration Minister, Paul Atanga Nji to lure back some of the Southern Cameroons Restoration Forces defending the Donga Mantung County, the CPDM I Section President Ngala Gerard Ndombang has instead pocketed the money and is now blaming Southern Cameroons Self Defense Forces for the brutal murder of a 7 year old pupil, Blaise Afanyu.

The Southern Cameroons chartered member of the ruling CPDM crime syndicate whose residence is now occupied by elements of the Rapid Intervention Battalion, BIR posted on his Face Book page recently that: “Blaise Afanyu, a young boy of at least 7 years, who began school two weeks ago, has been brutally and mercilessly murdered, and the hand of the mother Belinda Afanyu chopped off by terrorists “Ambazonian” fighters, this Tuesday January 21, 2020 in Mbot village Donga Mantung Division”

The Ambazonia Interim Government has condemned the alleged action by the Donga Mantung agent of the ruling French Cameroun party, terming it “political horse trading carried too far.”  In a show of desperation, the Biya Francophone regime rolled out an enticement package that promised villas to all senior political elites from the Donga Mantung constituency, a Far North West Region to be headquartered in Nkambe and 5 million to any Restoration Force leader who abandons the Southern Cameroons struggle for the One and Indivisible Cameroon. Cameroon Intelligence Report understand that the price tag for staging a peaceful election this coming February in Donga Mantung County is even higher.

The Ambazonia Vice President, Dabney Yerima however, said no amount of inducement would stop the change on the horizon as the long-suffering people of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia were ready and eager to get a divorce absolute from French Cameroun.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from Joseph Kum in Nkambe

Troops loyal to the Biya Francophone regime in Yaoundé say they have rescued 24 school children held hostage by Ambazania Restoration Forces in Meme County.

The so-called Senior Divisional Officer (SDO) for Meme, Ntou Ndong Chamberlain told state media that the children were kidnapped early on Tuesday from their school in the city of Kumba and “taken to the forest where the camp of the separatists is located.

The Meme SDO added that 2 armed separatists were shot dead during the rescue operation and weapons and ammunitions were found.

The children, aged 5-10, have reportedly been reunited with their families, the SDO added. Reacting to the news, a senior aide to the Southern Cameroons Vice President, Dabney Yerima told Cameroon Concord News correspondent in Kumba that “it is all Minister Atanga Nji kind of drama being staged by highly placed French Cameroun government officials to gain appointments and promotion.”

However, abductions have become rampant in Southern Cameroons as the twin poll announced by the 86 year President Paul Biya draw near.

Southern Cameroons Restoration Forces have been clashing with government forces since 2017 in an attempt to establish an independent nation now known as the Fedral Republic of Ambazonia.

By Oke Akombi Ayukepi Akap in the UK with files from Kingsley Betek