Headline News

17, August 2019

Prominent Anglophone Scholar calls on Sako to quit ⁰

A key voice in the Southern Cameroons struggle, Dr. Joachim Arrey, is urging Dr. Sako Ikome to take a long and hard look at his leadership of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government.

Dr. Arrey who has resisted all pressure to publicly criticize his friend and junior brother, Dr. Sako has finally come out to urge Dr. Sako to conduct a veritable introspection with a view to saving the struggle.

Sako Ikome, who is currently in London to drum up support for the Interim Government, is not really making any impressive progress in the United Kingdom.

Southern Cameroonians know what Dr. Sako is selling, but not many of them are rushing to buy his products.

Dr Arrey Joachim pointed out that after every stage in our lives, we must conduct introspection. This also applies to the leadership of the Interim Government.

“Dr. Sako, who is a friend and brother, is making a commendable effort to meet the people so as to give the struggle a shot in the arm, but I am not seeing many Southern Cameroonians in London rushing to meet with him. The rain may be to blame. But true fans know no rain or shine.”

Cameroon Concord News Group understands that the numerous scandals and rumors seem to be having a serious impact on the man of God. “It is time to look back, but not in anger” observed Dr Joachim Arrey.

“As a gentleman and a dedicated Southern Cameroonian, I think Dr. Sako should be conducting an introspection that should help him make an informed decision about his leadership of the Interim Government” Dr Joachim Arrey added.

The African Development Bank technocrat opined that “Sako’s shine appears to be wearing off and I think handing over the baton of responsibility in a nice and decent way will not be a bad idea. It is always good to know when to leave or throw in the towel.”

Dr Arrey Joachim also stated that “Sometimes, despite our best efforts and intentions, we may not deliver to the glorious expectations of our people. The struggle is ours and it is incumbent upon us to ensure it does not get aborted by our own anger or actions.”

It should be recalled that Dr. Sako Ikome has become a lightning rod for controversy ever since allegations of financial malfeasance surfaced. He has been at the center of these scandals and some of his collaborators have publicly indicted him of corruption.

The dysfunctional nature of the IG under Dr Sako is spreading pain and death in Ground Zero where many rogue elements are gradually filling up the gap created by dwindling recruitments into the ranks of the Amba boys due to declining funding.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai in London

17, August 2019

Ambazonia fronline leader released after brief arrest in Ghana ⁰

One of the frontline leaders of the Ambazonia separatist movement Ebenezer Akwanga was on Friday arrested and questioned by security forces in Ghana before he was later released, sources have confirmed.

The Bureau of National Investigations, Ghana’s intelligence agency, is said to have taken in Ebenezer Akwanga for questioning which lasted for over an hour before he was released.

At the time of his arrest, Akwanga who heads the Southern Cameroons Defense Forces (SOCADEF), one of the armed groups in the restive Anglophone regions, was holding a meeting on the Anglophone crisis at the University of Ghana with some Cameroonians.

Sources say he was only later released after the intervention of former Ghanaian President John Rawlings but we cannot independently verify the claims. Ebenezer Akwanga has spent the past weeks in Ghana where they he has been lobbying support for international mediation into the crisis in Cameroon.

Source: Journal du Cameroon

17, August 2019

Two Catholic priests kidnapped in Southern Cameroons ⁰

Officials of Catholic Church in Cameroon said on Friday unknown gunmen have kidnapped two Catholic priests at Ibal village in the troubled Anglophone region of Northwest.

They were “kidnapped late at night on Thursday along Ibal — Jikejem road on their way to the town of Oku in the Northwest region,” said a statement by the Catholic Church in Northwest, calling on the abductors to release the clerics unharmed.

Local police said operatives were already combing the village with the view to rescue the priests and arrest the kidnappers who police claimed are members of separatists fighting for the independence of Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions of Northwest and Southwest.

The separatists have denied kidnapping the priests.

Kidnapping of priests has become widespread in the two regions since an armed conflict that has so far led to hundreds of deaths since 2017.

In 2018, a Kenyan priest was shot dead in front of the church of the Parish of St. Martin of Tours in Kembong, a locality in Cameroon’s Southwest region.

Source: Xinhuanet

17, August 2019

Equatorial Guinean denies media reports on border wall with Cameroon ⁰

Equatorial Guinea’s foreign minister, Simeon Oyono Esono Angue, on Friday denied reports that his country is planning to build a wall along the border with its neighbor Cameroon.

In early August, Western media reported that Equatorial Guinean soldiers had crossed the Ntem River that forms a natural border between the two countries and erected milestones in the town of Kye-Ossi on the Cameroonian side.

“The wall does not exist. The people talking about the wall lack information. When there is a problem between two countries, it is necessary to solve the problem through peaceful and diplomatic means. The media is free to propagate information but I insist that there is no wall,” Angue told reporters in the capital of Yaounde after meeting with Cameroonian Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute.

He said he was sent by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea to consolidate bilateral relationship which he described as “excellent” between the two countries.

In late July, Cameroon’s army chief Rene Claude Meka toured the 180-km border between the two countries and warned that Cameroon would not tolerate any “expansionist ambitions.”

Source: Xinhuanet

17, August 2019

Conflicting reports as 7 La Republique soldiers injured in Kumba ⁰

At least seven Cameroonian soldiers were injured Thursday afternoon after their armored car skidded and fell along the road in Kumba, a town in Southwest, one of the two war-torn English-speaking regions of Cameroon, according to local police.

“Some of them sustained life threatening injuries and others minor injuries. They have all been rushed to the hospital to receive medical attention,” police said. The soldiers, all members of Cameroon elite force, Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR), were on a mission to Mamfe, another town in the region where separatists are known to be operating when the accident happened.

Separatists claimed to have caused the accident with an improvised explosive, but the army denied, saying it was caused by “bad road”. Armed separatists have been clashing with government forces in the two Anglophone regions of Northwest and Southwest since 2017 in a bid to create an independent nation they call “Ambazonia”.

Source: Xinhaunet

17, August 2019

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Bali Park in Flames ⁰

The famous Bali park that hosted many shops has gone up in flames.

The park came down on Friday after a mysterious fire in the evening.

Though the cause of the is unknown, many people are blaming the military for this unfortunate event.

Some people are also blaming the newly minted criminals in town who are wreaking havoc and giving the struggle a bad name.

Kingsley Betek is already in Bamenda and will be heading to Bali to get more details.

16, August 2019

Ambazonia Politics: Disgraced former Acting President arrives UK, Attacks Camcordnews Editor ⁰

The disgraced former Southern Cameroons Acting President Dr Ikome Sako has sneaked himself into the United Kingdom to attend a dubious event advertised on social media as Ambazonia Cultural Festival. Sako entered the UK like a thief in the night and has taken up residence in Reading precisely with a blood relation to Irene Ngwa-his mistress-protégé.

The man of God who almost ruined the Southern Cameroons struggle decided upon arrival to launch a scathing attack on the chairman and editor-in-chief of the Cameroon Concord News Group, the Right Hon. Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai.

After he was received by some friends of Irene Ngwa residing in the UK who are planning to use the so-called Ambazonia Cultural Festival in London to enhance Sako’s battered political image, Sako exploited one of his fake facebook profiles to respond to Cameroon Concord News Group editorial published today the 16^th of August 2019 captioned “Majority of Southern Cameroons Militias Are On The Payroll Of CPDM Ministers”.

In his ill-disguised attempt at hiding his identity, Sako observed via his facebook profile that by invoking CPDM Ministers in the editorial, our chairman was reading from the same script with Eric Tataw and Mark Barata including President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe. Our IT consultants in Ohio and New Delhi after a joint operation have traced the IP address of the sender to Reading, UK.

Speaking to this reporter earlier today, Mr. Soter Agbaw-Ebai made a mockery of the disgraced Southern Cameroons pastor noting that “Sako must have skipped inspection of the guard of honour at Heathrow and now finds himself in Reading.”

By Chi Prundence Asong in London

16, August 2019

Majority of Southern Cameroons militias are on the payroll of CPDM Ministers ⁰

More facts are beginning to unravel about the level some Southern Cameroons political figures serving the Biya regime in Yaoundé are ready to go in order to stifle the Ambazonia revolution and stay in power including regaining their political relevance. Cameroon Intelligence Report has gathered that a majority of the local militias operating in Southern Cameroons towns and cities are on the payroll of Anglophone CPDM ministers in Yaoundé.

Our investigations have also found out that Mayor Patrick Ekema of the Buea City Council who is wanted by the long arm of the law for countless criminal acts in the University of Buea owns and runs a huge militia. Our chief correspondent in the Northern Zone of Southern Cameroons revealed that the Government Delegate to the Bamenda City Council, Vincent Ndumu with the support of Territorial Administration Minister, Paul Atanga Nji who has entangled in diverse act of criminality in both French and British Southern Cameroons are using private militia groups to torment every persons that crossed their path.

Armed men operating in the Kupe Muanenguba County and sponsored by Minister Paul Elung are wreaking havoc and causing mayhem. From the landslide of evidence available, Ministers Mengot Victor of Manyu and Paul Tasong of the Lebialem are now chairing the reign of terror in their various constituencies.

The criminality of these so-called CPDM cabinet ministers and barons has been downplayed by the local media out of fear that the media outlet that would be brave enough to do so might be visited with tragedy, including physical attacks that can lead to death of prominent figures in such organizations or the particular journalist who dares the devil.

It is also shocking to learn that even the diverse security agencies deployed to Southern Cameroons by the 86 years old President Paul Biya are helping the militias in places like Tiko, Limbe, Buea, Kumba and Bamenda. The emergence of a multitude of pro Yaounde militias in Southern Cameroons is not a strange phenomenon. The Francophone dominated government has always allowed popular crime perpetrators like Paul Atanga Nji to hold public offices.

Be reminded that some years ago, it was documented that a member of the Mukete Royal Family committed atrocities and deadly attacks across Kumba, the chief city in the Meme County for which unfortunately, he received a lot of accolades from some political players such as the late Governor Oben Peter Ashu and Hon. John Ebong Ngolle presently standing trial for fraud in SONARA. The Mukete was subsequently appointed national president of YCPDM.

One worthy to note was the alleged murder of Barrister Eseme Midiki. Although the Kumba police made some arrests at the beginning of the case, there were suspected foul play in the trial process and all those involved in the crime went scot-free and Chief Mukete himself became a Senator. That was the shocking end of that episode.

This editorial is in no way vindicating the smaller groups of criminals passing for Amba Boys said to be getting their financing from ransoms, extortions and illegal collection of revenue from innocent Southern Cameroons civilians. The criminal Ambazonia militia groups are different from the pro French Cameroun ones for the simple reason that the militias with backing from Yaounde and Cameroon government ministers have engaged in ranged from murder, attempted murder, intimidation, abduction, extortion and repeated threats of prominent oppositions figures. Their activities remain general knowledge to persons in the political terrain in Yaoundé.

Having been identified as a man who has reputation of feeding fat from crisis, the Biya regime brought Paul Atanga Nji to supervise Yaoundé’s genocidal campaign in Southern Cameroons. Adding salt to injuries, Paul Atanga is wanted by the Special Criminal Court for corruption. Regrettably the worst politician Southern Cameroons has ever had thinks that he will go away with these crimes.

We of the Cameroon Concord News Group are saying to Ministers Paul Atanga Nji, Paul Elung, Paul Tasong, Victor Mengot, Patrick Ekema and Vincent Ndumu that bullets fired from AK47s do not only travel distance but also through time.

To this I put my name

Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

16, August 2019

Russian pilots land plane in cornfield, earn highest praise from the Kremlin ⁰

Two Russian pilots safely landed an airliner carrying 233 people in a cornfield outside Moscow after striking a flock of birds, prompting the Kremlin to hail them as heroes who will receive top state awards.

The Russian authorities have said it was a miracle that no one was killed when the Ural Airlines Airbus 321 came down in a field, southeast of Moscow, with its landing gear up after hitting a passing flock of gulls, disrupting the operation of the plane’s engines.

Up to 74 people, including 19 children, were treated for injuries, six of whom have been hospitalized, Russian news agencies quoted the emergencies ministry as saying.

State television said the incident was being dubbed the “miracle over Ramensk”, the name of the district near Moscow where the plane came down, around one kilometer (0.62 miles) from Zhukovsky International Airport.

The Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid praised pilot Damir Yusupov as a “hero,” saying he had saved 233 lives, “having masterfully landed a plane without its landing gear with a failing engine right in a corn field.”

Some drew comparisons with U.S. Airways Flight 1549, which performed a landing on the Hudson River in New York in 2009 after striking a flock of geese.

“We congratulate the hero pilots who saved people’s lives,” Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said, adding that the Kremlin would see that the men were quickly given state honors. “There’s no doubt about this. They will be given awards.”

BELLY-FLOP LANDING

The plane’s engines were turned off when it executed the emergency landing and it also had its landing gear up, according to Elena Mikheyeva, a spokeswoman for Russia’s civil aviation authority.

Footage, shot by passengers, showed the flight lasted less than two minutes and that the engines had experienced difficulties almost immediately after take-off.

Vitya Babin, 11, who was on the plane with his mother and sister, said passengers had not been warned that there was going to be an emergency landing. There was silence in the cabin and then screams began when it touched down, footage showed.

“We were not warned,” said Babin.

An unnamed passenger interviewed by state television said the plane had started to shake moments after it took off.

“Five seconds later, the lights on the right side of the plane started flashing and there was a smell of burning. Then we landed and everyone ran away,” he said.

(Source: Reuters

16, August 2019

Biya French Cameroun regime Setting Up New Military Bases in Southern Cameroons ⁰

Recently in the Meme County, French Cameroun army soldiers erected a fortified position with a perimeter of large sand barriers and barbed wire in Kumba. The French Cameroun government understands that Southern Cameroonians are in disarray and are no longer contributing financially to the struggle so they are building military bases in all the major towns and cities in Southern Cameroons which were at the beginning of the revolution under the control of Ambazonia Restoration Forces.

Etoudi said on Monday that it was intensifying French Cameroun security apparatus in Southern Cameroons. The Biya regime has vowed to secure all the major towns and villages in Ambazonia and push for school resumption in order to wade off the pressure coming from the international community.

Cameroon government military spokesperson, Colonel Badjeck reportedly refused to comment publicly on the new plan and also noted to our undercover reporter in Yaoundé that the French Cameroun regime will not discuss specific movements and locations of French Cameroun forces in Southern Cameroons.

Colonel Badjeck observed that French Cameroun military commanders have been delegated the authority and the responsibility to position soldiers and resources needed to accomplish the back to school mission.

Scores of French Cameroun army jeeps each with dozens of soldiers on watch are now parading the streets of all major Southern Cameroons settlements. Previously, French Cameroun troops only patrolled the front lines in both the Northern and Southern Zones. But ever since the Sako Ikome financial scandal that rocked the Ambazonia Interim Government, more French Cameroun forces are now at new post all over Southern Cameroons.

The Senior Divisional Officer for Manyu was quoted as saying that “Before, government forces could hardly patrol the streets of Mamfe. Now it is better with the disunity in the exiled so-called Ambazonia Interim Government” he said.

Cameroon Concord News Group chief correspondent in Bamenda, Sama Ernest hinted that more of such French Cameroun army posts are expected to be built along the highway linking Bamenda to Mamfe.

By Chi Prudence Asong with files from Sama Ernest