In a renewed call to arms   in N’djamena, capital of the Republic of Chad, yesterday, President Muhammadu Buhari held a one-day consultation with Heads of State and Governments of the Lake Chad Basin Commission, LCBC. The meeting was called to address the recent upsurge in terrorist activities in the region, and the Nigerian President rallied his colleagues from Chad, Niger Republic, and Republic of Cameroon to a fresh onslaught against insurgents, particularly the Boko Haram group. Boko Haram attack Borno, set imam, family members, others ablaze “Times as these call for quick interventions and measures.  As you are aware and have witnessed in recent times, there are new developments of security concern in our sub-region. ‘’The region in the recent past has witnessed increasing attacks, particularly on military formations by elements of the Boko Haram terrorists as well as the renewed kidnapping of people. These activities are aimed at weakening our collective resolve to eradicate them from the region. “We must not cave in.

The group’s renewed strategy of increasingly mining the general area as well as its recent deployment of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for surveillance activities have proved to be critical factors in the resurgence of attacks in the region,’’ President Buhari said. Commending what he called the “untiring efforts” of the leadership of the LCBC, and officers and men of the Multi-National Joint Task Force, MNJTF, President Buhari noted that the efforts of those who strive to bring peace and stability to the region would never be forgotten. He said:  “We are committed to ensuring that the ideals of restoring peace, stability and viability of the Lake Chad Region to its glorious state, for which some of you have paid the ultimate price is attained.’’

President Buhari in a statement by his spokesperson , Femi Adesina, stated further:  “We must not relent and allow the enemies of the region to succeed in their quest to destabilize the area. We must reinvigorate our collective will and commitment towards eradicating terrorism from our region. “We must remain focused and true to ensuring sustainable development. To this end, I have requested that bilateral and multilateral platforms of engagements by member countries affected by the conflict be revamped to ensure collective actions towards stamping out the remnants of the terrorists from the region. “There is no gainsaying that also fueling the crisis are the twin menaces of poverty and the continued shrinkage of the Lake Chad, which have rendered the people of the region vulnerable to terrorist activities. ‘’Attention is drawn to the Lake and its resources, which have always been the source of livelihood for the millions of people that live within and around the basin.” He charged the Presidents and Heads of Governments in attendance to make concerted efforts to ensure the actualization of efforts to recharge the Lake, through Inter-Basin Water Transfer, from the Congo Basin. Buhari stressed that if meticulously pursued, the project “has the capacity to unlock the economic potentials and provide solutions to the myriad of interrelated challenges confronting the region.”

As chairman of the Summit of Heads of State and Governments of the Lake Chad Basin Commission, Mr Buhari assured of his commitment to providing the required leadership and direction for the actualization of peace and security in the area. He reiterated an earlier promise he made to troops fighting terrorism: “We are committed to ensuring you have the requisite and enabling equipment to optimally function. Your welfare is, and would continue to remain our priority. Together, we shall restore the Lake Chad Region to its glorious days.” In attendance at the consultation, apart from President Buhari, were President Idris Deby Itno of Chad, President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger Republic, and Prime Minister of Cameroon, Philemon Yang, who represented President Paul Biya. In a joint communique, the Heads of State and Governments, resolved to change modus operandi, collaborate more, and renew assault on all forms of terrorism and criminal acts, till wholesome peace was restored to the region.

www.vanguardngr.com

The leaders of Africa’s newest nation, the Federal Republic of Ambazonia extradited from Nigeria earlier in 2018 will face trial next month on terrorism charges, according to one of their lawyers. The ten members of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government including President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe were reportedly charged by judges in the Yaounde Military Tribunal in French Cameroun.

“Ten charges have been brought against them, including terrorism, advocating terrorism, secession, civil war and revolution,” lawyer Christopher Ndong told Reuters after the charges were read out at the Yaounde’s military tribunal on Tuesday. The trial is scheduled to begin on Dec. 6, Ndong added.

For more than two years, Southern Cameroonians have engaged the government in a tough battle that has resulted in the killing of some 4,000 Cameroonians, including over 1,300 soldiers.

Following a demonstration by teachers and lawyers in 2016, the two English-speaking regions have become ungovernable. The government’s military actions have caused some 200,000 Southern Cameroonians to flee to Nigeria while millions are hiding in the bushes to avoid the government’s indiscriminate killings.

Many children are today seeking refuge in those bushes and many babies have been delivered in the process. The numbers of teenage mothers have increased and this spells another serious problem in the future. The government has not taken any efforts to convince the people for them to return to their homes.

On the contrary, soldiers have been torching many homes and killing any young Southern Cameroonians found in the territory in the hope that they could eliminate any threat Southern Cameroonians pose to the government.

Schools have been closed now for two years in the region and many of the students have simply been co-opted into the armed groups that have emerged. As the government turns down any appeals for inclusive dialogue, so too does the situation deteriorate. Even after solutions to the conflict would have been sought, security issues will linger for a long time. Many young men, who have lost hope in life, will continue to use their weapons as a means of eking out a living.

By Sama Ernest and Kingsley Betek

For the past two years, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation has continued to monitor and follow the governance challenges being faced by the Government of Cameroon. This renewed focus was due to the November 2016 peaceful strike of lawyers, teachers and other professionals that escalated into violence, drawing out ethnic and religious tensions, and impacting on the stability and peace that the country had enjoyed for some decades.

Today, the confrontation between Cameroon’s Government and separatists continues to escalate resulting in casualties of civilians and state security officers. The scenes we see today of this continuing confrontation bear no resemblance to the peaceful strike that began two years ago.

A peaceful Cameroon is vital not only for the region but for the wider continent. Often described as ‘Africa in miniature’, Cameroon reflects the cultural, ethnic and geographic diversity of the continent. This young nation also follows the wider trends of Africa’s growing youth demographic, with 15-34-year olds constituting over 77% of the population in the country.

The 2018 Ibrahim Index of African Governance, published a few weeks ago, highlights the ongoing Governance challenges in Cameroon and captures worrisome deteriorating trends. The Overall Governance measure continue to show decline particularly in the last five years. This decline is manifested notably in the category of Safety & Rule of Law as measured mainly by the unsatisfactory performance relating to the Absence of Government Involvement in Armed Conflict, Absence of Government Violence against Civilians, National Security, Absence of Domestic Armed Conflict or Risk of Conflict and the Reliability of Police Services.

Performance in the category of Participation & Human Rights has shown no noted improvement and has been negatively impacted by the recent Presidential elections where voter turnout in Anglophone regions was reportedly very low.

The Foundation continues to be gravely concerned over this ongoing crisis in Cameroon and urges all parties to come together to promote ethnic and religious understanding and engage in meaningful dialogue to find a nonviolent solution. We encourage the country’s leadership to connect more with its young population and intensify efforts to increase safety and bring peace and opportunity to all its citizens.

Source: Mareeg.com

Twelve people have been killed in a suspected militant attack in northern Mozambique, with thousands of villagers fleeing into neighboring Tanzania, police sources said Sunday.

Militants have launched several attacks in the majority -Muslim province during the last year, stoking unrest just as Maputo pushes ahead with oil and gas development in the region.

Early Friday, “there was an attack in Nangade district, where there are no security patrols.

The attackers killed 12 people, mostly women and children,” a police source in Cabo Delgado province, who asked not to be named, told AFP.

The attack took place in the village of Chicuaia Velha, just a few kilometers (miles) from Tanzania, forcing several thousand people to seek safety cross the border, police said.

A local journalist said the villagers were hacked to death with machetes or died after the attackers torched their homes.

“The district of Nangade is far from the sea where the police have focused their efforts, which allowed the assailants to enter and attack and then retreat,” another police source said.

“They use guerrilla tactics and attack several points simultaneously. It’s hard to control the situation,” he said.

It was the third such incident in the last month in Cabo Delgado, leaving a total of 20 dead.

Analysts say the nascent insurgency staged its first attack in October 2017 year hitting a police station and military outpost in the northern town of Mocimboa da Praia, killing two officers.

‘Strong local dimension’

Experts believe the militants — most of whom are members of the Kimwani ethnic group — are also motivated by grievances over perceived discrimination in favor of the Makonde people, the tribe of President Filipe Nyusi.

Over the last year, the insurgency has claimed more than 50 lives in gun, grenade and knife assaults.

The authorities have already prosecuted more than 200 suspects, including some Tanzanians and Somalis.

The violence has shaken government plans for Cabo Delgado, a coastal province in the far north that will be a base for development since natural gas reserves were discovered.

US oil and gas giant Anadarko earlier this year temporarily evacuated workers from the area and halted operations after the US embassy in Maputo issued an alert warning of imminent attacks.

The government has been using the potential energy bonanza from estimated reserves of 180 trillion cubic feet (5.1 trillion cubic meters) of gas off the northeastern shores to predict strong future growth for the former Portuguese colony.

(Source: AFP)

Armed men killed eight people on Thursday in a late night attack on French drilling company Foraco’s water well site in southeastern Niger, Foraco said.

“Last night at 2 a.m. local time, a group of terrorists attacked the small building where a Foraco team was sleeping and killed seven of them, plus one civil servant,” the company said in a statement.

Five other employees were wounded, with two in serious condition, it said. The workers were drilling two deep water wells for the water ministry in southeastern Niger’s Diffa region.

A security source told Reuters that the assailants were believed to belong to Nigerian extremist group Boko Haram, which is active near the border with Nigeria.

Boko Haram has been trying since 2009 to establish an extremist state in northeast Nigeria and has launched repeated attacks into neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon. Thousands of civilians have died in the violence.

Marseille-based Foraco is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and says it is the third largest global mineral driller with mining and water projects across 22 countries.

(Source: Reuters)

Gabon’s sick president Ali Bongo Ondimba has recovered after he was admitted for severe fatigue on medical advice.

Even as his situation becomes better after weeks at the King Faisal hospital in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, reports indicate that he is heading to the United Kingdom to continue recuperation.

The Jeune Afrique portal which broke the news of Bongo’s ill-health in October 2018, said London was chosen to allow Bongo receive specialist care. It added that Morocco was the other destination on the cards but London had been settled on.

The last government update on Bongo’s health was on November 11 with presidential spokesman, Ike Ngouni, confirming that the president was recovering his faculties and was to remain in Saudi on expert advice.

Since then, the country’s top court has ordered a significant ruling that allows cabinet meetings to be chaired by the vice-president in the president’s absence.

The meeting had been off since Bongo was taken ill. He was in Saudi to attend an investment summit when he was taken ill. Some reports said he had suffered a stroke.

Source: Africa News

A former militia leader from the Central African Republic (CAR), nicknamed “Colonel Rambo,” has arrived at the International Criminal Court (ICC) headquarters in The Hague to stand trial.

Alfred Yekatom, 43, was transferred to the ICC detention center in the Dutch city on Saturday and will later stand trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

“The suspect arrived in the detention center,” said ICC spokesman Fadi El Abdallah.

The former army officer, who became a lawmaker elected to parliament in 2016, is accused of ordering some 3,000 anti-Balaka Christian forces under his command — which included child soldiers — to carry out deadly attacks against Seleka Muslims between December 2013 and August 2014 in the capital, Bangui, and other locations.

“Now, he must answer in court for his actions,” the court’s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, said in a statement.

Bensouda thanked those who came forth to launch and build the case against Yekatom, saying “justice would not be possible” without them. He acknowledged the sufferings of the victims and their families, saying the court would hold the former militia commander responsible.

“We cannot undo the suffering that has been inflicted on victims, but we remain committed to doing our part… to advance justice and accountability in the Central African Republic,” Bensouda said.

Drissa Traore, a vice president of the International Federation for Human Rights said the move “confirms the authorities’ commitment to cooperate with the ICC when they are unable to pursue those most responsible for war crimes.”

The Central African Republic plunged into violent chaos in March 2003, when General Francois Bozize overthrew former President Ange-Felix Patasse in a coup.

Sectarian violence has been a main feature of that chaos.

The government of President Faustin-Archange Touadera, which gained power in March 2016, has managed to contain the violence and restore peace in the former French colony.

Source: Presstv

Tens of thousands of people who fled Cameroon’s separatist conflict will receive food aid next week after months of hiding in the forest with nothing to eat, the United Nations said.

About 437,000 people have fled their homes in Cameroon’s western English-speaking regions since late last year, when insurgents started fighting to break away from the majority French-speaking state.

But government restrictions and a lack of security on the ground have made it difficult for aid agencies to reach them, and a tense election last month halted humanitarian work for weeks, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

President Paul Biya was re-elected by a landslide on Oct. 7 to extend his 36-year rule, while the opposition claimed fraud.

The U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) will deliver food to 50,000 people on Nov. 14 in the first major food drive, said WFP country representative Abdoulaye Balde.

“The problem is access,” Balde told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The United Nations delivered some non-food items over six months ago, but afterward struggled to get into the zone, he said.

“We didn’t know what there was there. We didn’t know where these people were.”

The government has organised several small-scale food distributions in recent months, but most people have yet to benefit, said Modibo Traore, head of OCHA in Cameroon.

Cameroon’s government spokesman and minister of territorial administration could not be reached for comment.

“The food situation in the coming months is going to deteriorate,” Traore told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“Funds from external donors have been very, very limited. That’s preventing us from scaling up the response,” he said, adding that lengthy government clearance processes have also hampered aid delivery.

Many of the people are living outside, in need of shelter, medical supplies, and basic items such as soap, he said.

But several among them said hunger was the greatest concern.

Jenny, a 22-year-old who gave only her first name, is living with extended family in the outskirts of Douala after fleeing her village in the southwestern region when fighting broke out.

“Thanks to God, we are alive,” she said. “But we don’t eat.”

Source: Reuters

Now that you are here

The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons.  The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers.    However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization.  It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

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