Headline News

20, August 2019

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Leader given life sentence on separatism charges ⁰

The Yaoundé Military Tribunal has sentenced the prominent leader of Southern Cameroons, President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and his top aides to life imprisonment for promoting separatism.

It’s the harshest sentence handed out ever since the Ambazonia struggle and quest for independence started many years ago. President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe an IT professor seen as a moderate within the Southern Cameroons Interim Government and his colleagues were kept in the court room till 6 am this morning following a so-called marathon trial that started yesterday the 19^th of August 2019 at exactly 11:30 am.

The French Cameroun military court also ordered the Ambazonia leader and 9 of his cabinet members to pay 250 billion FCFA to La Republique du Cameroun and an additional 12.5 billion cost for civil party.

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe was arrested in the Nigerian capital Abuja, along with 9 of his senior aides by a joint operation that included the Cameroonian and Nigerian secret servicemen and women. The Southern Cameroons leaders were transferred from Abuja to Yaoundé, capital of La Republique du Cameroun to face charges of organizing a separatist group.

During his detention, the Ambazonia Interim Government say, President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe was tortured, denied basic amenities for months and shackled for more than 75 days. The Southern Cameroons leader has long maintained that his goal was to build a Federal Republic of Ambazonia from the suffering and marginalized British Southern Cameroons minority population that was forced into a union with French Cameroun. Yaounde has always said Cameroon remains one and indivisible.

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe was denied access to lawyers for the first five months of his detention, rights groups say, and members of the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR) raided his home in Ewelle village in the Manyu County and killed members of his family.

By Sama Ernest

19, August 2019

Southern Cameroons: Trial of Ambazonia leaders fraught with political baggage ⁰

Yaoundé is still not prepared to launch a campaign that would explain to the world that the trial of the Ambazonia leader, President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and his senior aides will be held with total transparency as it unfolds. The Francophone regime headed by 86 years old President Paul Biya has not realize how much is at stake and that they have to do things right.

The whole process of abduction and extradition to Yaoundé from Abuja has discredited both Nigeria and French Cameroun democracies and the Biya Francophone regime as well. The President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and the NERA 9 trial is the most politically explosive in modern French and Bristish Cameroons history.

The Ambazonia-French Cameroun trial also reflect how divisive the so-called one and indivisible Cameroonian nation has become : while the Cameroon government and its ageing leadership insist the trial of the Ambazonia leader is an exemplary demonstration of justice in action, the Ambazonian Interim Government has warned it will prove that French Cameroun’s judiciary is not fit for purpose.

Ten prominent leaders of the Ambazonia Interim Government are in the Yaoundé Military Tribunal and the whole trial process has been shameful, disgusting and disgraceful. They could face the death penalty or a jail sentence of up to 25 years if found guilty of charges of terrorism presented by public Francophone prosecutors predominantly from the Beti-Bulu tribal extraction.

The Vice President of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government Dabney Yerima has warned that the outcome of the trial is a foregone conclusion, because, he claims, the judiciary is controlled by Biya and his French Cameroun political elites who are determined to punish not just an alleged violation of Francophone law but Southern Cameroons nationalism as a whole.

Vice President Dabney Yerima told Cameroon Intelligence Report that the NERA 10 trial is not against a crime, because no crime was committed against French Cameroun. He opined that the Yaoundé Military Tribunal Theater remains a political trial and a prosecution of pro-independence ideology.

Dabney Yerima pointed, for example, to the fact that the NERA 10 have been in Nigeria and French Cameroun custody for more than a year and the Yaounde court keeps changing its trial judges. Another major bone of contention has been the charges themselves particularly that of terrorism, which implies the use of violence, something that President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe has always publicly rejected.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

19, August 2019

Federal Republic of Ambazonia: Vice President to address nation tomorrow ⁰

Ambazonia Vice President Dabney Yerima will be addressing Southern Cameroonians in Ground Zero tomorrow Tuesday the 20^th of August on the issue of school resumption. Comrade Dabney Yerima is also expected to say that Ambazonians will continue resisting French Cameroun colonization including its economic and political wars in Southern Cameroons.

Mr Dabney Yerima will also speak of the controversial trial of the Ambazonia leader President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and his top aides currently going on at the Yaounde Military Tribunal. The VP’s address will be made public live by the Southern Cameroons Broadcasting Corperation (SCBC)

In a rare public conversation over the week end in Berlin, Vice President Yerima observed that standing and resisting the French Cameroun genocidal campaign in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia is the only way forward.

Tensions between the Southern Cameroons Interim Government and the Biya Francophone regime have soared in the past month following Yaounde’s decision to remilitarized Southern Cameroons towns and cities.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

19, August 2019

US: Trump slams Fox News over unfavourable polls ⁰

US President Donald Trump has slammed his preferred news network over its recent poll results.

Trump, who always attacks news media writing against him, claimed on Sunday that Fox had turned against him.

In a poll released on Wednesday, Fox, which is notoriously identified by the public as a supporter of Trump’s policies, revealed that Trump’s disapproval rating had risen to 56 percent following the recent mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio, which left 31 people dead.

Trump said something wrong was going on at Fox news.

He said he didn’t “believe” the poll results that Fox News had published.

“Fox has changed. My worst polls have always been from Fox,” he claimed.

“There’s something going on at Fox, I’ll tell you right now. And I’m not happy with it,” Trump complained.

Trump said he was of the opinion that the recent disapproval ratings were erroneous. “I think Fox is making a big mistake.”

Trump’s criticisms of Fox News is a small fraction of his unending attacks on the news media. Trump has accused the media of deliberately giving him negative coverage to damage his approval ratings in the run up to the 2020 presidential election. Trump accused US news media of chasing what he called a “racism witch hunt.”

He claimed the US news media were shifting their focus “from their Phony Russian Collusion Narrative (the Mueller Report & his testimony were a total disaster), to a Racism Witch Hunt.”

Source: Presstv

19, August 2019

Filipino, not Chinese, sailors kidnapped off Cameroon ⁰

Most of the sailors kidnapped off the Cameroon coast last week were Filipinos, not Chinese as first reported, according to an official document seen by AFP Sunday.

On Friday, an official in the port of Douala told AFP that 17 crew had been abducted, including “nine Chinese civilian sailors” from one of the two ships attacked, along with Ukrainians.

The attacks took place on Thursday in Cameroonian waters off Douala, located at the apex of a gulf that has become a hotspot of seaborne crime. The port document said instead that “nine hostages, all Filipinos,” were seized from a Greek-owned ship while “eight (three Russians, four Filipinos and a Ukrainian)” were taken from a German-owned vessel.

Noel Choong, head of the information service of the International Maritime Bureau based in Kuala Lumpur, confirmed the figures but said he could not be sure of the nationalities on the second ship.

“The IMB has issued a warning to all ships at Douala. We ask all ships to take additional precautions,” Choong said Friday.

In Moscow, press reports citing the foreign ministry said three of the victims were Russian.

The Gulf of Guinea, whose coastline stretches in a huge arc from Liberia to Gabon, is notorious for piracy as well as oil theft, illegal fishing and human and drugs trafficking.

Source: AFP

19, August 2019

Dubai: Cameroonian man loses appeal against 10-year jail term for killing wife ⁰

He was found guilty of murdering his wife and then trying to end his life by stabbing himself several times. A 27-year-old expatriate, who stabbed his wife to death, has lost his appeal against a 10-year prison term for a murder conviction.

The Dubai Court of Appeals has upheld a 10-year imprisonment sentence, ordered by a lower court against the defendant, a guard from Cameroon. It also upheld an additional three-month jail punishment for attempted suicide, as well as the convict’s deportation.

In October last year, the Dubai Court of First Instance found the guard guilty of murdering his wife and then trying to end his life by stabbing himself several times with a knife. Al Barsha police station was alerted about the domestic tragedy on September 7, 2017.

A 27-year-old Cameroon man, who witnessed the incident, said: “I was at my flat watching TV when my roommate (the defendant) and his wife came. I left them alone in the room. The accused was lying on the bed while his wife was busy with her mobile phone.” About 45 minutes later, the witness came back to the room and saw several men at the door.

“Those were maintenance workers. They knocked on the door and got no answer. I knocked on the door and called out my roommate’s name, to no avail. I then called his number and he did not pick up either. A repair engineer opened the door with a spare key. As the door partially opened, we saw the defendant on the floor and clearly injured. The wife was also there in a pool of blood,” the eye-witness recounted.

“They were a happy couple and I had never seen them fighting,” he added.

According to a police corporal, a murder report came from a building located on the Dubai-Al Ain Road.

“When we reached the crime scene, we found the building security staff and paramedics already there. Blood splatters were all over the room and on the walls. The bed sheets were on the floor. The husband was leaning on the bed, looking injured, with a stab wound in the abdomen and a knife next to him. A cleaver was found in the room.”

A forensic expert said the accused underwent surgery for the internal wounds he inflicted upon himself. He had six stab wounds – some of them had cut through the intestine. Those wounds could have been fatal had he not been rushed to the hospital, the forensic report stated.

The expert ruled out that the defendant could have been stabbed by another person because his hands and arms were free of any cuts.

The husband admitted to investigators that he stabbed his wife multiple times, including in her back, when she tried to run away from him. The ruling was considered final as the defendant did not contest it at the Court of Cassation within the legal deadline.

Source: khaleejtimes

19, August 2019

The US shouldn’t make Southern Cameroonians on the border wait in vain ⁰

Americans are well acquainted with the influx of Central American asylum seekers along the southern United States border. But the Central Americans are not alone. Lost in the news cycle are people of many nationalities who have crossed continents to seek refuge in the United States. One such group from Cameroon has been forced to flee in part by contradictions in U.S. policy, only to have America slam the door in their face.

The longstanding marginalization of the country’s Anglophone minority gave way to violence in 2016 when the Cameroonian military met peaceful protests with excessive force. This overreaction strengthened separatist sentiment, and Anglophone pro-independence groups took up arms.

With government forces wrongly assuming that most civilians support the secessionist cause and separatist groups attacking people who have not joined the fight, civilians are trapped and face arbitrary detention, torture, and the destruction of their homes. It is hardly surprising that more than 1,000 Cameroonians, who have every reason to flee their country, have found their way to the southern border of the United States.

The U.S. government has recognized and responded to abuses in Cameroon. The Department of Defense cut ties with Cameroonian forces earlier this year, citing human rights abuses and the U.S. House of Representatives passed Resolution 358 this month, condemning human rights abuses by both government security forces and armed groups in Cameroon. The U.S. Department of State has acknowledged the excessive use of force and targeting of civilians by Cameroonian military forces in its 2018 Human Rights report.

Regrettably, and despite this U.S. recognition of severe problems in Cameroon, there has been little U.S. action to help the millions left in the crossfire or to address their mounting humanitarian needs. In fact, the United States has contributed a mere $300,000 toward the $93.5 million required to assist the 1.3 million people in need.

So between January and May 2019, 1,023 Cameroonians arrived in Mexico. Nearly all arrived on foot. Most traveled by air to Ecuador, and then traveled north through Central America and Mexico to make their way to the U.S. border. They are relieved to have finished the worst of their trek, having made it without any knowledge of Spanish and little food or water on the dangerous journey. Many report robberies at the hands of armed groups and deaths along the way.

Cameroonians in Tijuana waiting to cross into the United States include lawyers, teachers, entrepreneurs, and members of Cameroon’s opposition party — people who had thriving careers before violence broke out at home.

I met with those in Tijuana waiting to have their claim heard, and they serve as proof that ignoring a far-away population in need doesn’t mean they won’t show up on your doorstep.

Once in Tijuana, the Trump administration’s new Migration Protection Protocols (‘Remain in Mexico’) policy, requires Mexican authorities to compile a list of asylum-seekers and assign them a number for their place in line.

While at the Tijuana border-crossing last month, I saw hundreds of Cameroonians gathered around the port-of-entry to San Diego every day, despite knowing they wouldn’t be called for weeks or even months. They’re desperate for any information they can get on the next steps in the difficult process.

Asylum-seekers wait three to six months before they’re called to the border for their “credible fear” interviews. This process used to be overseen by asylum officers from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, it is now increasingly overseen by armed Custom and Border Patrol agents who are not trained on how to conduct interviews about traumatic events.

Moreover, immigration lawyers say the United States is refusing Cameroonians’ asylum requests for reasons as insignificant as not having official translations of French-language documents into English. For this, they’re being deported back to Cameroon, where many are immediately detained upon their return. There have even been reports of torture.

The United States cannot have it both ways. It cannot both condemn widespread human rights abuses faced by civilians in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions and tell asylum-seekers fleeing these abuses that their claims are not valid.

Even with greater U.S. support for humanitarian assistance for Cameroon, which is essential, Cameroonians are likely to continue to flee their country. Having recognized and criticized serious abuses of human rights in Cameroon, the U.S. government must now provide asylum to those who would face certain danger if forced to return home. And our government would also do well to remember that ignoring far-away humanitarian crisis means you may be compelled — politically and ethically — to address them closer to home.

Source: The Hill

19, August 2019

Chinese medical team provides free treatment in rural Cameroon ⁰

In early August, on the eve of the arrival of a medical team with free services, villagers gathered in groups of twos and threes, buzzing with tales of the wondrous Chinese doctors.

“Without them, I would have been dead” said Christophe Ndi Owona, the 76-year-old chief of the southern Cameroonian village of Ngat-Bane.

Before Chinese doctors came to his village, Owona had been suffering from severe headache for years. “Everybody thought I would die.”

The team gave him medicine and advised him to stop drinking alcohol, Owona told his folks. “Thanks to the Chinese, I am now as healthy as a baby.”

Ngat-Bane, like many other Cameroonian villages, has abundant wildlife and dispersed thatched huts, but zero hospitals. Villagers are often troubled by such health problems as rheumatism, typhoid, malaria, but most of them cannot afford medical services in Mbalmayo, the nearest town.

The next day, in the heartland of Ngat-Bane, a good number of patients from nearby villages gathered in a makeshift, but free and comprehensive clinic, lining up to see doctors from various departments, who are here as members of the 19th Chinese medical team to Cameroon.

For the first time in almost a year, 69-year-old Liliane Mfoumou felt relieved from her back injury after an acupuncture treatment. Before this, the mother of six had visited doctors several times in Mbalmayo, a major city in Cameroon’s Central Province.

“Medical checkups and treatments in hospitals are quite expensive, and I can’t afford them again,” Mfoumou said, expressing gratitude to the free clinic.

A Chinese acupuncturist inserted fine needles in Mfoumou’s skin at specific points. Thanks to this traditional Chinese method, which is applicable to many health conditions, Mfoumou said she “now can feel my back and legs.”

Michel Ndi has insomnia and heart problems, making it difficult for the 59-year-old to trek to his farm. He consulted almost all the specialists and was offered free treatments, including medicine, for his multiple conditions.

“Their kind and friendly manner heals you even before you start treatment,” said the father of 10 children, “I am sure that in the next two or three days, I will be able to go (to) the farm without difficulties.”

A total of 100 patients, aged from 20 months to 98 years, received diagnosis and treatments worth 1,500 U. S. dollars.

The free clinic ran for more than five consecutive hours, after which the folks offered the Chinese medical team a local dish called Kpem, a traditional meal made from cassava leaves.

China started to dispatch medical teams to Cameroon in 1975 and hundreds of medical professionals have worked in Cameroon since then.

Source: Xinhuanet

18, August 2019

Ambazonia: Vice President Dabney Yerima warns French Cameroun after Kumba Military deployment ⁰

Southern Cameroons Vice President Dabney Yerima has issued a stern warning to the French Cameroun regime following its recent military deployments in Kumba in the Meme County and the Cameroon government army onslaughts in Menchum and Manyu counties.

Last week, the French Cameroun head of state president Paul Biya ordered the Cameroon military to set up a mechanized division in Kumba in the Meme County. Ambazonian Restoration Forces fire injured 7 Cameroon government army soldiers immediately the troops got to Kumba. Cameroon Concord News correspondent in Fiango, Kumba said several Southern Cameroons civilians suffered critical injuries in the attack.

Vice President Dabney Yerima reacted on Saturday in Berlin, saying the atrocities being committed by Francophone soldiers in Ambazonia is threatening to push the Southern Cameroons war into a more intractable situation.

The French Cameroun army has carried out several attacks on Southern Cameroons towns and villages ever since President Biya declared war on the people of Ambazonia. Vice President Dabney Yerima also said that the Southern Cameroons resistance can only be stopped if Yaoundé withdraws all its troops from the Federal Republic of Ambazonia and end its atrocities and acts of terrorism and genocide.

The Southern Cameroons Vice President praised the international community for breaking their silence and inaction over the crisis in Southern Cameroons. Dabney Yerima thanked the European Union and the United States of America for the pressure they are mounting on the French Cameroun regime in Yaounde.

By Asu Isong in Berlin

18, August 2019

FAO: Former Director-General Jacques Diouf dies aged 81 ⁰

Senegalese politician and diplomat Jacques Diouf, who was Director-General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) from 1994 to the end of 2011, died at the age of 81. announced Senegalese President Macky Sall.

“Senegal has lost one of its most valuable sons with the death of our countryman Jacques Diouf. He was an effective collaborator for me at the beginning of my first term, “the Senegalese president said on Twitter, offering his condolences.

Senegal has lost one of its most valuable sons with the death of our compatriot Jacques Diouf.
He was an effective collaborator at the beginning of my first term. I salute his memory and offer my heartfelt condolences to his grieving family.

Born August 1, 1938 in Saint-Louis in northern Senegal, diplomat known for his pragmatism, Jacques Diouf died in France after a long illness, said his family, quoted by Senegalese media.Married with five children, he had a post-graduate education in France (agronomist degree, master’s degree in tropical agronomy, doctorate in social sciences) and a higher management diploma in New York.

16 years at the head of FAO

Appointed Secretary of State for Scientific Research of Senegal by President Léopold Sédar Senghor in 1978, he was deputy for Saint-Louis from 1983 to 1984. He then left Senegal to work at the Research Center for International Development in Senegal. Ottawa, at the Central Bank of West Africa, before becoming, in 1991, ambassador of his country to the United Nations headquarters in New York.

Elected to head FAO in 1993, he was to serve three six-year terms. Under his leadership, the UN organization sought the collaboration of the private sector and stars by launching spectacular operations to raise funds for World Food Day. We need to ” let humanity know that it is no longer possible to treat these vital resources as if they were infinite, ” he said about the degradation of land and water in one his most recent interventions as Director General of FAO in November 2011.

That same year, while the famine raged in the Horn of Africa due to an exceptional drought, Jacques Diouf said he could not bear to ” see the image of a child who is at risk of starving “, adding: ” We would not wish that for our children, I do not see why we would accept it for the children of others.”

Source: Agencies