At least four armed separatists were killed in Cameroon’s war-torn region of Southwest on Sunday when government troops fought off a rebel ambush, the army said.

Several separatist gunmen were also injured when government troops repelled the ambush targeting a military convoy in Otou, a locality near the border with Nigeria, the army said.

Two soldiers were wounded in the fighting, it said.

Last week, armed separatists announced on social media that they had decided to block the main road that links Nigeria and Cameroon in the region and threatened to attack soldiers and civilians that try to get through.

Since 2017, government forces have been fighting armed separatists in Cameroon’s two Anglophone regions of Northwest and Southwest.

Source: Xinhuanet

The Vice President of the Ambazonia Interim Government Dabney Yerima has strongly condemned the continued detention of thousands of Southern Cameroonians in French Cameroun jails saying those who celebrated the so-called Special Status and are marketing the one and indivisible Cameroun slogan should be ashamed after the massive 20^th May boycotts.

Vice President Dabney Yerima made the remarks in a conversation with Cameroon Concord News Group on Sunday in which he also stated that for over five years now, the people of Southern Cameroons have been witnesses to Biya French Cameroun crimes in their homeland.

Dabney Yerima told Cameroon Concord News Group editors and correspondents that “The first to be ashamed by this massive 20^th May boycotts are all those Southern Cameroons CPDM officials who do not even have the courage to question Yaoundé on the whereabouts of their so-called Special Status. The first to feel shame and disgrace are the Southern Cameroons CPDM elites. Those who try to convince Ambazonians that the existence of the one and indivisible Cameroun is natural and Southern Cameroonians should live with it.”

Southern Cameroonians in Ground Zero recently boycotted the French Cameroun teleguided national day celebration.

Media reports said Cameroon government forces staged military parades in regional and divisional headquarters avoiding the rural areas that are under the control of Ambazonia Revolutionary Guards.

By Isong Asu

Ambazonia Revolutionary Guards, the military wing of the Ambazonia Interim Government, say they are getting ready to battle the Biya French Cameroun regime across all Southern Cameroons towns and villages and will continue to resist until freeing the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

In a statement thanking Southern Cameroonians in Ground Zero for a massive boycott of the so-called National Day Celebration, Vice President Dabney Yerima said that even after the abduction of the Ambazonian leader President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and his top aides, the Ambazonia resistance has become stronger and more equipped and is ready to fend off any French Cameroun military action inside the Ambazonian homeland.

Yerima stated that Amba fighters will in the weeks ahead launch an operation that will overwhelm the French Cameroun regime in Yaoundé. The Yerima statement added that Yaoundé will be shocked by the unprecedented Amba attacks.

The statement said Ambazonia Revolutionary Guards are prepared for any sacrifice and fight against the French Cameroun enemy all over Southern Cameroons.

By Chi Prudence Asong

Cameron’s National Day on May 20 has been marked by running battles between government troops and separatists who imposed a lockdown, crippling business in English-speaking western regions. The military says at least 28 separatists who vowed to disrupt celebrations in English-speaking regions of the majority francophone nation were killed in violent battles. President Paul Biya is attending commemorations.

Cameroon’s military sings at a ceremony to commemorate May 20 in the capital, Yaounde, pledging loyalty to state institutions and expressing the readiness of troops to defend the country’s territorial integrity.

The government said the parade marking Cameroon’s 50th National Day was attended by at least 30,000 civilians, led by President Paul Biya. The government said it reduced the time for the military parade to 45 minutes for strategic reasons.

However, opposition political parties, including the Social Democratic Front, said the ailing 89-year-old Biya could not stand up for two hours to honor the military during its parade, as has been the tradition in Cameroon.

The government said the National Day celebration was successful in Cameroon’s French-speaking regions. Separatists said they imposed a lockdown in English-speaking western regions to protest May 20 celebrations, also known as the day of National Unity between the English-speaking minority and the majority French-speaking nation.

The government has denied its troops were transporting French speakers to English-speaking regions. The military says it lost six troops in battles within the past week and that 28 separatists who tried to disrupt May 20 activities were killed in several northwestern towns, including Oku, Kumbo, Bamenda and Nkambe.

Colonel Samuel Tabot Orock is a commander of government troops fighting separatists in Bamenda, the capital of Cameroon’s English speaking North-West region. Orock says the military made sure everyone who came out for celebrations was protected.

“Let the world, and Cameroon in particular, understand that the military in Bamenda know that the secessionist fighters will be doing everything in their powers to disrupt a successful 20th May celebration, that is why we are taking every single measure as far as security is concerned to make sure there is a hitch-free 20th May celebration in Bamenda,” Orock said.

Orock said running battles between government troops and separatists crippled activity in many northwestern towns and villages.

The government said prior to the day at least 35 people separatists suspected of preparing to commemorate the day were abducted by separatists in several towns of the South-West region including Mutengene and Tiko.

Bernard Okalia Bilai, the governor of the South-West region, spoke by telephone from Buea, capital of the region.

Bilai says local administrative authorities and civilians report separatists who abduct and threaten to kill people accused of disrespecting lockdown calls to the military. He says civilians have understood that separatist claims that fighters can create an independent English-speaking state in Cameroon are unfounded.

On May 20, 1972, Cameroon organized what it called a constitutional referendum, during which a majority of its citizens voted to abolish the federal system of government that had existed since 1961 in favor of a unitary state. Separatists say there has been an overbearing influence of French in English-speaking western regions since the 1972 referendum.

Source: VOA

As Cameroonians celebrate their national day today, many are really worried about the future of their country.

They are indeed not worried about escalating food prices, rising housing cost and security. They are worried about the real health status of their president whose health situation is shrouded in an unnecessary mystery.

For years now, the country’s president, Paul Biya, has been a colony of diseases and this has been a real concern, as his entourage is doing all in its power to conceal everything.

Biya has been a regular customer at various Geneva-based clinics and hospitals but the citizens of the country he governs, most of the time, remotely, have systematically been kept in the dark about the diseases that have, for a long time, been threatening to claim their president’s life.

The drama has been going on for too long and it is getting more ridiculous and grotesque by the day as scarce resources are employed to give a false image of the president.

Today’s drama has been carefully crafted by the national network, CRTV, which has provided some of the most blurry pictures of the event just to hide the truth.

Biya is old. At 90, he cannot be in the pink of health. He currently walks like a child who is learning how to walk. He is losing his mind, but this is just what age does to the human mind. Seeking to hide the obvious only makes Cameroonians to openly demonstrate their frustration and bitterness towards a man who has disappointed them on many levels.

CRTV has moved from the inefficient to the ridiculous. Nobody really trusts the images it is broadcasting about today’s celebration as the government is hiding lots of things which Cameroonians already know.

Who does not know that Biya has lost his energy and his greatest expectation is death? Who does not know that he is physically run down by time and stress? Why spend much time, energy and financial resources to prove a point that even a child knows the answers?

Cameroonians have lost faith in Biya and the institutions he has created. His dishonesty, corruption and incompetence have made of him the most hated African president. His collaborators and all those engaged in the charade that has been going on for too long are only helping to diminish the regime’s credibility if it has any.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

It is being reported that Cameroon’s (mis)leader, Paul Biya, has returned home after a quick patch-up in Switzerland where he is known to always get world-class treatment.

The 90-year-old tyrant also visited Paris where he had discussions on succession planning with French political authorities and the French secret service responsible for France oversea territories.

The French are very concerned about Mr. Biya’s health and they know that if a smooth succession does not take place in Cameroon, the entire sub-region could be enveloped in unprecedented chaos.

The French are pushing for a constitutional amendment which will result in the appointment of a vice president who will take over after Mr. Biya exits the scene unceremoniously.

The French are still skeptical about accepting an Anglophone as the president of Cameroon, but they also think that a Frenchified Anglophone like Yang Philemon could be a good president to help end the man-made catastrophe playing out in the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon.

Another name that is being floated is that of David Abouem à Tchoyi who has been the governor of the two English-speaking regions of the country and has in-depth knowledge of the Anglophone problem, as he was a member of the commission which was set up by the country’s first president to investigate grievances put forth by the English-speaking minority.

Abouem à Tchoyi is bilingual, flexible and very willing to negotiate with the country’s English-speaking minority which has total faith in him.

Biya’s forty years in power have created a complicated situation for the country and the international community.

Corruption, nepotism and tribalism have transformed the country into a ticking time bomb, with many parts of the country holding that they have been marginalized under Biya.

A Cameroon Concord News Group correspondent in Paris said that the discussions with the French authorities were tense, as Mr. Biya wants full protection of those who have been loyal to him over the last forty years.

Abouem à Tchoyi seems to be the ideal candidate because of his temperament and understanding of the issues confronting Cameroon, but some experts hold that he is from the Center region and this does not augur well for the country’s unity.

For now, no agreement has been reached, but the discussions are ongoing and in the days ahead, there could be a massive cabinet reshuffle that will change a lot and will prepare the country for a new republic.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

The Southern Cameroons Interim Government says the leader of the Ambazonian nation President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe rejected an offer of hush money by the Biya Francophone regime in exchange for turning his back on the Southern Cameroons struggle and ending confrontation with the occupying French Cameroun regime.

In a conversation with Cameroon Intelligence Report on Monday, the Vice President of the Ambazonia Interim Government Dabney Yerima said the Biya regime tried to negotiate with President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe many times through various channels.

There were discussions between the Ambazonia Interim Government and Yaoundé through intermediaries, but President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe informed the war cabinet that there is no need for negotiations as Biya and his French Cameroun regime are enemies of the Ambazonian people.

“Biya sent a delegation to Kondengui to negotiate a halt in attacks against Cameroon government forces. They told our leader with his top aides that they would pay them billions of FCFA and even allow them join the ruling government, an offer which President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe rejected out rightly” Yerima told Cameroon Intelligence Report.

Elsewhere in his remarks to Cameroon Intelligence Report, Dabney Yerima said, “We do not recognize the presence of French Cameroun military and administrative officers in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. Southern Cameroons is for Ambazonians.”

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Professor Carlson Anyangwe has sharply criticized the African and European Unions for exercising double standards on human rights, saying the two international bodies have remained silent on five years of French Cameroun atrocities against the English speaking people of Southern Cameroons as well as the horrendous criminal acts that the Francophone prison officials are perpetrating on Southern Cameroons detainees.

“While AU and EU officials accuse Mali and Central African Republic of committing war crimes, they tend to turn a blind eye to the atrocities committed against civilians in the war in Southern Cameroons. The regime in Yaoundé has carried out crimes throughout the entire Southern Cameroons, spanning from Buea to Bamenda, Bali, Batibo and Mamfe. Francophone army soldiers have attacked weddings in Southern Cameroons, turning them into funerals,” Professor Anyangwe told Cameroon Concord News.

Anyangwe added, “What have the AU or EU said about the massacres in Ngarbuh? What have they said about the killings in Kwa Kwa? What have they said about the massacres of Reverend fathers and missionaries in Southern Cameroons? What have they said about the killing of Anglophone journalists?”

Professor Anyangwe noted that thousands of trials should be held to bring French Cameroun military officials to justice for crimes committed in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

By Isong Asu

The government of Cameroon has agreed to reopen its border with the Central African Republic for humanitarian reasons.

This measure, facilitated by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), is to enable the resumption of the exportation of high consumption basic products from Cameroon to the war-torn country.

The decision to stop the exportation of basic products from Cameroon to its neighbours, the Central African Republic and Congo (Brazzaville), was taken by Cameroon’s Minister of Trade, Luc Magloire Mbarga Atanga, because of the Ukrainian war and its consequences on certain products of high consumption in Africa.

According to Cameroonian authorities, the measures were taken with a view to protecting the Cameroonian people from the consequences of the Ukrainian war which has provoked “enormous inflationist shocks in Africa”.

The Central African Republic, had on its part, attributed the measure to pressure from France and the European Union with a view to asphyxiating the Bangui regime, which is supported by Russian mercenaries.

“Instead of opting for a diplomatic solution to the situation by contacting the Cameroonian authorities for negotiations, the Touadera regime in Bangui resorted to accusations that Cameroon closed its frontier to satisfy European demands,” a political analyst in Bangui who opted for anonymity said.

However, sensing the catastrophic consequences linked to the border closure, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) resorted to humanitarian diplomacy and took the initiative to contact and discuss with the Cameroonian authorities on the possibility of reopening the border.

Discussions between the two sides led to the current temporary suspension of the decision to close the border between the Central African Republic and Cameroon.

Source: HumAngle

After Cameroonians advocated for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for five years since the Anglophone Crisis broke out in Cameroon in 2017, the Department of Homeland Security finally designated 18 months of protected status for Cameroonian nationals in the U.S. on April 15. TPS will protect qualifying Cameroonians from deportation and give them the ability to receive work permits. Advocates say they are grateful for the designation, but more can be done to grant relief to a community whose home country is in the midst of war and a humanitarian crisis.

“This is the bare minimum,” said Sylvie Bello, the founder and CEO of the Cameroon American Council.

Advocates are still pushing for Cameroonians to qualify for the Special Student Relief Program, which allows international students studying on a school visa to apply for permission to reduce their course load and to work over 20 hours in on-campus positions, or apply for a card to work off-campus. They are also asking for a refugee resettlement program and Humanitarian Parole. The resettlement program would assist Cameroonian refugees in guaranteeing long-term or permanent residence status in the U.S. The solution would ensure they are protected against deportation and creates a pathway to citizenship. Humanitarian Parole would also create a pathway for Cameroonians to leave their perilous conditions and immigrate to the U.S., and would bar them from deportation for two years.

Humanitarian Parole would make a difference for Evans Meh, a member of the Cameroon American Council, who says his mother’s “dying wish” is to reconnect with her oldest daughter, who is still in Cameroon, for a final passage of maternal rites. His mother, a U.S. citizen in hospice care, cannot travel to Cameroon due to her ailing health. Humanitarian parole would allow expedited visa access into the country for relatives of U.S. citizens.

“My U.S. citizen mother deserves to reunite with her daughter, who lives in the war zone of Northwest Region of Cameroon,” Meh said.

According to Bello, the delay in granting TPS is rooted in a racist and anti-Black immigration system. Bello points out that none of the countries currently granted Humanitarian Parole are in Africa.

“The government does not think that African countries also need humanitarian programs,” Bello said. “We want that for Cameroon. I have at least two members of my community who would benefit from a special humanitarian program.”

Despite the ongoing conflicts in Cameroon, ICE deported more than 90 Cameroonians on two deportation flights in October and November 2020. According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), at least several dozen of those deported were denied asylum. In a follow-up report by HRW, they found that Cameroonian authorities subjected dozens of the same asylum-seekers to serious human rights violations. In 2020, 38.4% of Cameroonian asylum claims were denied.

“This life-saving victory was secured by countless hours of work and the extraordinary leadership of Black immigrants,” said Lisa Parisio, CLINIC’s director of advocacy. “While we celebrate, we also pray for and think about the Cameroonians who were deported to danger when TPS should have been in place. Slow-walked TPS designations are deadly and fly in the face of congressional intent and the values of safe haven that underpin the law. Equitable policy and practice require that TPS be used broadly, boldly, and immediately to respond to humanitarian crises for all countries in need.”

Additional relief could help reunite families separated by the conflict. Bello plans to continue advocating for this relief.

“We are putting a warning to [Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro] Mayorkas when it comes to Cameroon,” Bello said. “We will not tolerate the anti-Blackness and the anti-Africanness within immigration.”

Source: Prism report