Headline News

18, May 2019

Why would Francophones burn almost 250 Anglophone villages and are still burning more yet pretending to call for disarmament ⁰

Southern Cameroonians, I shall never stop reminding us, Southern Cameroonians what would happen should we surrender. Mind you that our boys called Amba boys have killed many French Cameroonians. Those killed are fathers, husbands, wives, mothers, uncles, etc to French Cameroon citizens. If we surrender, French Cameroon will say “Never Again”. How will never again be accomplished: they will make sure not one Southern Cameroonian on GZ shall live again to invoke this scene in the future.

If the media is telling lies now, it would not need to tell any lie because there will be no need. The would have been fed up with people who were at the verge of getting their freedom but gave it up for stupidity or cowardice. Let me cite a true story: a Nigerian couple in the US, broke off; after some time the woman traveled to Nigeria. On her return, she called her mother requesting to be picked up at the airport; the mother who had reconciled with her son-in-law, sent the son-in-law to pick up the daughter who was the son-in-law estranged wife. The son-in-law went and picked up the ex-wife but instead of taking her to her home, he took her to his home and slaughtered her. I pray Southern Cameroonians don’t make that mistake. It would be the worst mistake ever made by a group of people.

French Cameroon soldiers are still killing Southern Cameroonians civilians as I write. If people can go to a hospital and drag a wounded figher, pick up a baby and throw in a boiling pot of oil, break doors, meet an old woman and shoot her to kill her, etc those are not the type of people you want to reconcile and want to leave with them. God forbid, we accept to return to live with them, there will be total and complete Genocide! In the next two decades, there will be no Southern Cameroonian and no more English language in Cameroon. These actions will be silently implemented.

No Southern Cameroonian in diaspora would ever step their foot in the Republic of Cameoon. Some people will classify me as a hard liner. Tell me if I am wrong, why would they burn almost 250 villages and are still burning more yet pretending to call for disarmament. Their soldiers parading the villages, towns and cities well armed to shoot and kill? Federalists and unionists shall not be spared in the massacre. Anything Southern Cameroon will be eliminated and French Cameroonians come over and take the land. After all, they have always considered us Biafrans who came and took their land. This struggle must be executed to its logical end – Restoration of Southern Cameroon independence. NO MORE NO LESS.

17, May 2019

Another Brazil dam on verge of collapse after 230 killed ⁰

Brazilian iron ore miner Vale SA told prosecutors in the state of Minas Gerais that a dam is at risk of rupturing at its Gongo Soco mine, about 40 miles from where its Brumadinho dam collapsed, killing more than 230 people.

According to a document published on Thursday, prosecutors said Vale is predicting the dam in the city of Barao de Cocais may collapse next week if the current rate of movement in the embankment of the mine pit close to the dam is maintained.

The warning underlines ongoing concern about the stability of dams in Brazil’s mining heartland of Minas Gerais in the aftermath of the Brumadinho accident, which itself came less than four years after another deadly dam collapse at a joint venture between Vale and BHP Group.

Vale said in a late afternoon statement it remained unclear whether the slippage in the embankment would actually trigger a collapse of the nearby Sul Superior dam, but said it was raising its level of alert and readiness for such an extreme case.

Earlier this week, Vale had identified movement close to the mine, which has not been active since 2016, the prosecutors said. About 500 people seen at risk from a collapse of the dam have been evacuated from their homes since February under orders from mining regulator ANM.

Aerial view showing emergency crews using an amphibious vehicle and heavy machinery as they continue the slow process of picking through the mud looking for bodies, 99 days after the collapse of the Corrego do Feijao dam in Brumadinho, Minas Gerais State, Brazil, on May 3, 2019. (Photo by AFP)

The dam holds 6 million cubic meters of mining waste, roughly half the amount that was released when the Brumadinho tailings dam burst in late January, burying nearby buildings including a company cafeteria and a bed and breakfast.

“If the movement of the northern embankment of the mine pit continues at the same pace, the rupture may happen between May 19 and May 25, which could cause liquefaction of the south dam,” the prosecutor’s document said.

Liquefaction, in which a dam’s barrier gets weakened as it turns to water, has been pegged as a likely cause of the Brumadinho collapse. Like Brumadinho, the dam at Gongo Soco has an upstream structure, known as the cheapest and least stable type of tailings dam design.

Vale shares fell 3.2% on Thursday, accelerating their drop after the reports on the potential dam burst. Prosecutors ordered Vale to issue urgent warnings about the risks to the local population.

Authorities in Brumadinho are still recovering bodies from the collapse of the Vale tailings dam there.

(Source: Reuters)

17, May 2019

Buea Amba attack delays Dion Ngute’s Meme County Mission ⁰

The so-called Prime Minister and Head of Government Joseph Dion Ngute on Thursday witnessed firsthand the insecurity in Southern Cameroons as he continues his poorly initiated peace crusade.

Joseph Dion Ngute was supposed to hit the road early Thursday to Kumba to continue his mission but got stuck at his hotel room following deafening gunshots in Buea. Journalists as well as members of the Prime Minister’s entourage accompanying Mr Ngute to Kumba had to wait at the hotel to get security clearance.

Gunmen reportedly invaded the Mile 17 motor park fired shots and headed to Molyko forcing traders, drivers and passengers to flee.

Journal du Cameroun reported that the gunshots lasted for hours but calm has ever since returned.

Source: Journal du Cameroun

17, May 2019

UN urges support for displaced Southern Cameroonians in Nigeria ⁰

UNHCR has called for urgent support for Cameroon’s displaced as violence in the north and south-west regions continues to force thousands to flee.

Violent clashes between Cameroon’s military and armed separatists have displaced some 437,000 within the country’s borders and forced about 35,000 like Agah to seek safety in Nigeria. The displaced, the majority of whom are women and children, are mostly from English-speaking areas. They face great hardship in both countries.

Having fled with very little, their presence in already impoverished host communities is straining food resources and already limited health, education, water and sanitation facilities in these areas.

UNHCR has launched an urgent appeal to increase support for displaced Cameroonians who have survived nearly two years of ongoing violence. But of the US$184 million required for UNHCR’s operations in Cameroon and Nigeria – including US$35.4 million needed urgently for critical life-saving assistance to newly displaced Cameroonians – just four per cent has been raised.

One of three refugee sites hosting Cameroonian refugees has doubled its capacity of 4,000 and currently hosts more than 7,000 refugees. The numbers have further increased as many refugees who previously lived in the host communities have relocated to the settlements since November.

UNHCR is working closely with the Nigerian government to register all new arrivals and provide basic assistance. This includes the harder to reach refugee population living in the host communities in over 47 villages along the border, who make up over 60 per cent of the refugee population.

Source: TVcnews

17, May 2019

Southern Cameroons refugees flee clashes and find safety in Nigeria ⁰

When armed men swept into her village in North-West Cameroon, mother-of-four Loveline only had time to gather up her children and run.

“I could not take any clothes. There was shooting – they killed my uncle and shot my cousin,” says the 39-year-old.

As she fled into the bush, gunmen shot dead her husband. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the armed men douse their house in petrol and set it alight.

In another village, Myriam, 22, looked on as gun toting men stormed into her community and opened fire.

“You could see the bullets passing in front of you,” says Myriam, who escaped into the bush with her family. Returning to the house to try and retrieve their belongings, they were met with gunfire.

“You could see the bullets passing in front of you.”

“Staying in the bush with the kids is not easy,” Myriam says. “There are mosquitos, there is hunger.”

Loveline and Myriam are among some 26,000 civilians who have fled the southwest and northwest regions of Cameroon and sought safety in Nigeria’s south-eastern Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Benue and Taraba states. Women and children account for four-fifths of the population.

Anglophone residents of the country’s restive provinces have long had greivances against the largely Francophone central government. They say the country’s French-dominated legal and educational systems have left them on the margins.

This crisis erupted some three year after protests turned violent, with some calling for secession. So far this year, some 400 civilians have been killed in escalating attacks between separatatist groups and government forces, according to rights groups.

In March, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, warned that the plight of the refugees in Nigeria was becoming increasingly desperate. While the government has given land for refugee settlements, it is now fully occupied and more will be developed. At the same time, the provision of shelter, food, water and sanitation by UNHCR and its partners has been constrained by severe underfunding.

“The government recently provided us with other settlements but we need more resources in order to establish the settlements and receive further refugees,” says the head of UNHCR’s field office in Ikom, Mohammad Rafiq Nasry.

As the response struggles, many refugees have found support within host communities. The inhabitants of small border villages share what they have with them – food, a room to sleep or work in the cocoa plantations. Some received a piece of land to cultivate. However, solidarity alone is not enough for people who have lost everything to re-start their lives.

“I would like to receive support to start a business to allow my children to go to school.”

“To make a better living, I will have to move,” says refugee Elias Enu, a nurse turned farmer, who struggles to feed his family of 10.

Meanwhile Myriam and Loveline, who reached Nigeria empty-handed and scared after weeks in the bush, were initially given a place to stay by a local resident in Ajassor, along with their children and relatives. Together, they took turns to work and care for the children, shared food and patiently endured sleepless nights due to a lack of space.

Then, last month, the women boarded a bus to reach the Adagom refugee settlement in Nigeria’s Cross River State. They could barely hide their excitement, laughing and smiling.

“I want my children to go to school,” said Loveline, from the front seat. “I would like to receive support to start a business to allow my children to go to school.”

Myriam, too, is looking forward to a happier future. Although one day she hopes to return home to Cameroon, she knows she is stronger with Loveline by her side.

“I am happy to be here. That is why when we were told to relocated we did not hesitate to pack. Because we know the burden we have been carrying. It will be lighter here.”

Their hopes for a stable future depend in large measure on funding.

Source: United Nations High Commission For Refugees

16, May 2019

Southern Cameroons Crisis: American Diplomat Takes Yaounde Government to Task ⁰

The American undersecretary of State, Tibor Nagy, who has brought the plight of the suffering Southern Cameroonian to the fore, has just addressed a foreign affairs forum in Washington DC where he urged the international community to take urgent action against the Yaounde government which has continued to inflict pain on the people of Southern Cameroons.

“Cameroon has done nothing to resolve the conflict, The military still continues to burn down villages and towns while armless civilians are forced to flee into the bushes.The US must redouble its efforts and commitment to see an end to the conflict,” he said.

Mr. Nagy who has worked in Cameroon as a technical adviser to the then American ambassador, Frances Cooke, has been calling for change in Cameroon.

He has also called on the government to establish a federal system that will enable the country’s Anglophone minority to take control of its destiny.

Last month, following the collapse of the Bashir government in Sudan, Mr. Nagy congratulated the Southern Cameroonian Diaspora for the marvellous job it has done to put the Southern Cameroons crisis on the front burner.

It should be recalled that America, Canada, the United Kingdom and some EU countries are working hard for the Southern Cameroons crisis to be addressed, though the Yaounde government has been very reluctant.

Some of these countries are for a regime change, but would like the UN to take the lead on any efforts aimed at addressing the conflict.

Meanwhile, the violence in the two English-speaking regions has continued despite calls from the international community for an inclusive dialogue.

Soldiers loyal to the Yaounde regime have continued their rampage, burning homes and killing anybody who crosses their path.

Today, several homes were burnt in Mankon and other towns in the region. Recently, a group of young men celebrating reggae music and Bob Marley in Muyuka were all gunned down by some trigger-happy soldiers.

A heavy exchange of fire has also been reported in Buea and Kumba today and it has also been reported that three army soldiers have lost their lives in Buea.

Violence and insecurity have become the constants in that part of the country, with women and children being the primary victims.

Though the country’s Prime Minister is on a tour of the region, it is clear that his trip will not change much in the region, as Southern Cameroonians do not trust him and his government.

The Prime Minister is in the region to sell peace, but not many people are buying the blood-tainted product he is selling.

His peace plan is doomed to failure given that those clamouring for a separate Southern Cameroons state have been excluded from any dialogue.

Speaking to the Cameroon Intelligence Report correspondent in Buea, a senior government official who is on the Prime Minister’s delegation said on condition of anonymity that he was not sure they would achieve any success.

“I fear we are flogging a dead horse. The people of the two English-speaking regions are not buying into the peace plan we have come to sell to them. They don’t trust the government and it is clear that our objective will not be attained,” he said.

“The government had underestimated the problem and today, it has taken epic proportions. From every indication, the government will have to go to the negotiating table with the same people it has branded as terrorist,” he said.

“The people trust their leaders and only those leaders who are in jail will help the government find a way out of this impasse. The government has to listen to the international community if it wants to end the bloodshed,” he concluded.

By Bamba Gaoussou and Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

16, May 2019

UN chief concerned nuclear ‘coffin’ leaking in Pacific ⁰

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres raised concerns Thursday that a concrete dome built last century to contain waste from atomic bomb tests is leaking radioactive material into the Pacific.

Speaking to students in Fiji, Guterres described the structure on Enewetak atoll in the Marshall Islands as “a kind of coffin” and said it was a legacy of Cold War-era nuclear tests in the Pacific

“The Pacific was victimised in the past as we all know,” he said, referring to nuclear explosions carried out by the United States and France in the region.

In the Marshalls, numerous islanders were forcibly evacuated from ancestral lands and resettled, while thousands more were exposed to radioactive fallout.

The island nation was ground zero for 67 American nuclear weapons tests from 1946-58 at Bikini and Enewetak atolls, when it was under US administration.

The tests included the 1954 “Bravo” hydrogen bomb, the most powerful ever detonated by the United States, about 1,000 times bigger than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

Guterres, who is touring the South Pacific to raise awareness of climate change issues, said Pacific islanders still needed help to deal with the fallout of the nuclear testing.

“The consequences of these have been quite dramatic, in relation to health, in relation to the poisoning of waters in some areas,” he said.

“I’ve just been with the President of the Marshall Islands (Hilda Heine), who is very worried because there is a risk of leaking of radioactive materials that are contained in a kind of coffin in the area.”

The “coffin” is a concrete dome, built in the late 1970s on Runit island, part of Enewetak atoll, as a dumping ground for waste from the nuclear tests.

Radioactive soil and ash from the explosions was tipped into a crater and capped with a concrete dome 45 centimetres (18 inches) thick.

However, it was only envisaged as a temporary fix and the bottom of the crater was never lined leading to fears the waste is leaching into the Pacific.

Cracks have also developed in the concrete after decades of exposure and there are concerns it could break apart if hit by a tropical cyclone.

Guterres did not directly address what should be done with the dome but said the Pacific’s nuclear history still needed to be addressed.

“A lot needs to be done in relation to the explosions that took place in French Polynesia and the Marshall Islands,” he said.

“This is in relation to the health consequences, the impact on communities and other aspects.

“Of course there are questions of compensation and mechanisms to allow these impacts to be minimised.”

AFP

16, May 2019

Vietnamese and Cameroonian authorities attempt to resolve Nexttel crisis ⁰

Vietnamese and Cameroonian authorities have begun talks to resolve the managerial crisis at Nexttel, the brand name of Viettel Cameroon, ITweb reported. It is a joint venture by Viettel Global Investment Joint Stock Company, a subsidiary of Vietnamese military telecoms company Viettel, and local shareholder Bestcam. The crisis stems from disagreements in the management of the company by the Vietnamese and Cameroonian stakeholders.

Vietnamese shareholders have denied allegations by their Cameroonian counterparts that they had flouted Cameroonian business laws, including the OHADA law. El Hadji Baba Danpullo, chair at Bestcam, has accused the general manager of Viettel Cameroon “of running Nexttel like his private business”. He said the Vietnamese were recruiting their counterparts at the expense of unemployed Cameroonians.

The dispute also concerns issues such as signatures for financial transactions, engagement of foreign partners, purchase of telecoms hardware, and transfers of technology, amongst other things. The Nexttel crisis has resulted in several litigations in local courts between conflicting parties and has pitted Viettel Global against Bestcam. They owned 70 percent and 30 percent stakes respectively at the onset of Viettel Cameroon in 2014.

The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam, special envoy of the Prime Minister of Vietnam, Nguyen Quoc Cuong, has held talks with the Prime Minister of Cameroon, Joseph Dion Ngute in Yaounde. The main focus of their audience lasting over 80 minutes was to seek a lasting solution to the Nexttel crisis, involving parties of both countries.

Source: Telecompaper

16, May 2019

Cameroon crisis reaches alarming levels ⁰

The security situation in Cameroon is spiraling out of control as the country faces attacks by the Boko Haram, deadly conflicts in English-speaking regions and a surge of refugees from neighbouring countries.

Some 4,3 million people – a sixth of the population- need humanitarian assistance across the Central African country.

This is a 30 percent increase from last year. More than half of the victims are children.

Dozens of schools have been destroyed with pupils and teachers kidnapped. Hospitals have been attacked too while doctors abducted to unknown destinations.

While over the years Cameroon has been experiencing attacks by the Boko Haram and an influx of refugees from troubled neighbouring countries such as the Central African Republic (CAR) and Nigeria, protests by English-speaking regions over alleged marginalisation by the government dominated by French speakers are tearing the country apart.

The crisis in the North-West and South-West regions have turned violent, with protesters and state security personnel killed.

“The level of the crisis today is more alarming than ever,” lamented Mark Lowcock, United Nations’ (UN’s) senior envoy in Cameroon.

He was addressing the Security Council, the UN’s supreme organ.

Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, expressed shock at the scale and brutality of the crisis.

“If we do not act today, lives will be lost. The future of a generation of Cameroonians hangs in the balance,” Egeland grieved.

UN and NGOs require about $300 million (R4,3 billion) to address the crisis but only $38 million (R545 million) has been so far received.

– CAJ News

16, May 2019

Norwegian Refugee Council statement to the UN on Cameroon ⁰

Mr. President, UN Security Council members,

I wish to thank the Security Council for this opportunity to speak about the massive human suffering I witnessed when I visited Cameroon three weeks ago.

I traveled to both the South-West province of Cameroon and the Far North. In the former, I met with communities fleeing armed conflict. In the latter, I spoke with refugees and internally displaced families fleeing Boko Haram violence.

Cameroon has been a generous host to refugees, including from the Central African Republic and Nigeria. We appreciate the cooperation of the authorities in providing sanctuary to people in great need.

Mr. President,

When brutal fighting displaces hundreds of thousands of civilians, it usually sets international alarm bells ringing. But, the shocking unmet needs of tens of thousands of people fleeing violence in South-West and North-West Cameroon has resulted in no systematic mediation efforts, no large relief programme, little media interest and too little pressure on the parties to stop attacking civilians.

The collective silence surrounding the atrocities is as shocking as the untold stories are heart-breaking. That is why this session is so important.

A group of displaced and disillusioned women I met told me that they felt abandoned by the international community, as well as by the conflict parties.

They asked me, where is international solidarity? Where are the African organisations, the donor nations? Where is Europe? This conflict has roots in generations of interference from European powers.

When I visited the provincial capital Buea, I met with families from the hundreds of villages that have been burned. They affirmed that tens of thousands of people are still hiding in the bushes, and that new attacks are taking place every week.

Children have been denied their right to education for years because of the political conflicts between grown adults. Most schools have been closed, and the Ministry of Education affirms that at least 780,000 children are out of school. We risk losing a generation to illiteracy.

I was also shocked by the scale and brutality of the crisis. Even hospitals have been attacked, and health workers fear for their lives.

The absence of a humanitarian response commensurate to the hundreds of thousands of people in great and unmet need is striking. We are too few humanitarian actors on the ground, and we are gravely underfunded.

My colleagues in the Norwegian Refugee Council and other relief organisations in Cameroon tell me they can reach people in need in the South-West and North-West despite the insecurity.

Parties to the conflict said they are ready to support access to all areas of great need. This includes the South-West Governor who I spoke with in Buea, and armed opposition groups with whom we are in contact. Our immediate priority is access and assistance to people hiding in the bushes, who as of today receive no assistance or protection. They fear they cannot return to their torched villages, nor do they feel that it is safe for them to go to the urban centres.

These families are terrorized beyond belief.

Similarly in the Far North, civilians feel abandoned. The humanitarian response is severely underfunded and underreported. The displaced children I met in the capital town, Maroua, and surrounding areas, had hoped one day to return to their ancestral lands from where they fled Boko Haram violence. But insecurity still plagues these areas.

The only thing that has changed for these communities is that their suffering and the violence raged against them has disappeared from our TV screens, hearts and minds.

In my 40 years as a humanitarian worker, I have too often seen how the lack of early intervention results in smaller conflicts becoming horrific and endless wars. There is still time to avoid the conflict in the South-West and North-West from escalating further, with untold suffering as a consequence. Equally, there is time to give hope and durable solutions to displaced families in the Far North, and to the Central African refugees that Cameroon hosts.

Mr. President, UN Security Council members,

Our conclusions are the following:

The UN, the Secretariat, this Security Council, and all the agencies and programmes of this great family of organisations, need to do better in what we have all pledged; act to ensure conflict prevention, conflict resolution and bridge building before it is too late.

The crisis in the English-speaking part of Cameroon is one of the world’s most neglected. The lack of information and international political attention has allowed the situation to deteriorate from peaceful demonstrations to the atrocities committed by both sides. We need more independent information and reporting from the crisis. And more than anything we need to protect and assist defenseless civilians.

We urgently need national and international conflict resolution resources to help stop the violence and start UN talks about the many grievances that exist. Mediation or facilitation of peace talks should be done by local, national or international actors that have the trust of both the government and non-state armed groups.
Organisations and countries with influence over the conflict parties must make it clear that the attacks on civilians, on their homes and villages, and their schools and their hospitals, are crimes under international law that cannot be allowed to continue.

The deep and acute protection crisis might also be alleviated by a greater presence by international organisations. The UN Country Team should be given the financial and human resources needed to put protection at the centre of its response.

A first step to break the vicious cycle could be a concerted international effort to reopen and provide protection for schools and schoolchildren. Today, the political and strategic conflict among politicians and armed men has paralyzed education for young people. It must be possible to de-politize education. The grown adults must at agree on finding a way for children to return to school, as the mothers I met pleaded for.

To do this, both parties must show willingness to make compromises on the issues that so early became contentious in this conflict. UN and humanitarian partners also need to strengthen their efforts to pave the way for an effective education response.

We need to ramp up the humanitarian response. As the Emergency Relief Coordinator noted, many of the 1.3 million people who need humanitarian support have received no assistance. A massive funding injection is needed to save lives.

We need to extend the scope of the humanitarian response beyond city centres and into rural areas in South-West and North-West region. The total funding for Cameroon must be increased; money cannot just be shifted from other regions towards the crisis in the South-West and North-West.

If we do not act today, lives will be lost. The future of a generation of Cameroonians hangs in the balance.

Thank you.