The Ambazonia Interim Government has hit out at the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime in Yaoundé for its continued military deployments to Southern Cameroons.

“The continued deployment of troops loyal to the French Cameroun regime to Southern Cameroons invading Ambazonian towns and villages proves La Republique’s blatant defiance and lack of seriousness about peace,” Vice President Dabnney Yerima said on Wednesday.

Dabney Yerima expressed deep regret to Doctors Without Borders for not being allowed to operate in Southern Cameroons in order to help Southern Cameroonians in need of medical care.

The Francophone dominated Cameroon government army offensive that has been seeking to restore state authority in Anglophone Cameroon has killed thousands of English speaking Cameroonians and turned the entire Southern Cameroons region into the scene of Africa’s worst humanitarian crisis.

By Isong Asu

Amid continued French Cameroun military operations against Southern Cameroonians, members of the Ambazonia Interim Government have held a forum called “Ground Zero – the new route to Buea” in the German city of Dusseldorf.

Senior officials of the Ambazonia Interim Government including Vice President Dabney Yerima participated in the one day event to express their support for the Southern Cameroonians defending the Ambazonian homeland.

Cameroon Concord News understands the strategic meeting is a preparation for a complete change of strategy in the resistance and also an intensive evaluation of the Big Rubbergun Project.

During the forum, Vice President Dabney Yerima called for forming official and popular funds through the Bank of Ambazonia to support Amba fighters and Southern Cameroons refugees in Nigeria.

Yerima also opined that there was an urgent need for prominent Southern Cameroons elite in Europe and the US to push for an international political discourse of the crisis in Southern Cameroons.

The Southern Cameroons exiled leader also said that it is time for the Southern Cameroons diaspora to prove their support for Ground Zero against ongoing French Cameroun crimes.

By Chi Prudence Asong

Journalists in Cameroon are marking World Press Freedom Day (May 3) with calls for government troops and rebels to stop abusing reporters covering the separatist conflict. Cameroonian media groups say at least 80 journalists have fled from the country’s troubled western regions because of threats to their safety.

Lambert Kehven, 36, is a baker in Cameroon’s capital, Yaoundé.

But two years ago, he was a reporter in Cameroon’s Northwest region for Canal 2 International, one of the country’s top TV stations, reporting on the separatist conflict.

Kehven says he decided to leave the area and his career after covering an attack on a village that left scores of people dead, and homes burned.

But it wasn’t reporting on the brutality or violence that pushed him to flee.

Kehven says he was ordered by both the anglophone rebels and government troops to report lies.

“After intimidation at gunpoint, the fighters instructed me to report that the houses were burnt by the military,” he said. “When I finally got to the site where the houses were burnt, the military equally ordered me, they ordered me to report that the houses were torched by the separatists.”

Kehven says both the separatists and government troops demanded to read his reports before publication and threatened to kill him if he said anything negative about them.

Both Cameroon’s military and rebel fighters deny threatening or abusing journalists.

But Cameroon’s Union of Journalists says since the conflict began in 2017, separatists have abducted 16 journalists and four of them died in their custody.

Cameroon authorities blame separatists for attacks on 12 community radio stations in the western regions and forcing eight newspapers to close.

Meanwhile, the Cameroon Association of English-Speaking Journalists (CAMASEJ) says government troops are holding nine journalists that were reporting in the regions.

CAMASEJ says at least 80 journalists have fled the western regions, most to the cities of Douala, Yaoundé, and Bafoussam.

Ngah Christian Mbipgo is publisher of Cameroon’s lone English daily newspaper The Guardian Post and president of the Cameroon Association of English Language Publishers.

He says his association assists journalists who flee threats from troops and the rebels, also known as Ambazonian or Amba fighters.

“The first thing you have to do is to talk to them, build them up psychologically, make them see the importance of regaining self-confidence and healing their minds,” he said. “Sometimes we have gone to the extent of giving health assistance for those of them who may have suffered one or two attacks by either the military or Amba fighters. We offered some of them office space at the Guardian Post. They have access to the internet.”

The Committee to Protect Journalists in February joined 26 groups in calling on Cameroon’s President Paul Biya to release all people detained for free expression, including four journalists.

Thomas Awah Junior, Mancho Bibixy, Tsi Conrad, and Kingsley Fomunyuy Njoka were arrested between 2016 and 2020 and are being held at Yaounde’s Kondengui Central Prison.

The four journalists were charged with terrorism and collaborating with separatists, charges they deny.

Despite the arrests, communication minister Rene Emmanuel Sadi claims the media is free in Cameroon but warns journalists against what he calls attempts to destroy the country’s image.

“Media men and women in Cameroon carry out their daily work in total freedom and independence. However, incitement to violence and hostility against the homeland is not tolerable in the rule of law and in a society of freedom and responsibility,” he said.

The Cameroon Association of English-Speaking Journalists on World Press Freedom Day called on both rebel fighters and government forces to stop attacking journalists.

The separatists have been fighting since 2017 to carve out an independent English-speaking state in Cameroon’s Northwest and Southwest regions.

Cameroon’s English speakers complain of second-class treatment by the country’s French-speaking majority.

Source: VOA

A senator from President Paul Biya’s ruling party has been kidnapped along with her driver in Cameroon’s troubled anglophone northwest, military and administrative sources said Monday.

“Elizabeth Regina Mundi was kidnapped late Saturday morning by terrorists in Bamenda,” capital of the northwest, a senior official with the region’s governor told AFP.

He said two wings of the separatist Ambazonian Defence Forces (ADF) had claimed responsibility for the abduction. Ambazonia is the republic the rebels would like to proclaim after independence.

One called for the release of some of its detainees, the other sought a ransom, he added, asking to remain anonymous.

“The senator was going from Bamenda to her village for a funeral, the separatists kidnapped her and her driver on the road” said a regional army official, confirming both demands.

A video on social media, dated Saturday and verified by the senior regional official, shows Regina Mundi clearly forced to read a statement in English calling for the independence of the Ambazonia republic.

She is from the northwest and is a member of the politburo of Biya’s Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (RDPC).

The “Ambazonians” carry out frequent kidnappings, usually of civil servants, and some are killed. Church leaders and politicians have also been adducted, but mostly later freed.

In January, the bullet-riddled body of opposition senator and lawyer Henry Kemende was found in Bamenda.

The authorities accused the separatists of his murder but no one claimed responsibility.

Cameroon’s northwest and southwest are populated mainly by the anglophone minority in the predominantly French-speaking country.

The country has been ruled with an iron fist for nearly 40 years by 89-year-old Biya, who has cracked down on the rebellion.

In the past five years, after the repression of peaceful demonstrations accusing Yaounde of ostracising English speakers, armed separatists and the military have clashed repeatedly.

Civilians have suffered abuses committed by both sides, according to international NGOs and the UN.

The conflict has killed more than 6,000 people and displaced around a million, according to the International Crisis Group (ICG) think-tank.

Source: AFP

The Vice President of the Ambazonia Interim Government Dabney Yerima has said that nobody in Yaoundé, not even the French Cameroun dictator Paul Biya can put a fake name on the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

Speaking exclusively to Cameroon Concord News Group, Dabney Yerima said French Cameroun under Biya has been fighting for five years now to conquer our people but we remain the Federal Republic of Ambazonia and nobody in Yaoundé including Biya can put a fake name on our homeland.

“Southern Cameroons has been independent for ages and today on our East side we have La Republique du Cameroun” Yerima said.

The exiled Southern Cameroons leader stated that the continued presence of French Cameroun troops in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia signals the need for the diaspora to increase support for the resistance.  “The onus is upon our Ambazonia fighters to duly defend and protect this valuable homeland left to us by our founding fathers that must be transferred on to future generations.”

Yerima insisted that Amba fighters can maintain security throughout Southern Cameroons with support from the diaspora, and that there is no need for the presence of French Cameroun gendarmes and corrupt police officers.

Dabney Yerima furthered that Southern Cameroons CPDM elites have no place in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, warning that any CPDM government minister attempting to target Ambazonia interests in the homeland will face dire consequences.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

The continuation of French Cameroun military operations and occupation of Southern Cameroons for over 63 years is a full-fledged war crime, says the Ambazonia Interim Government, which also denounced Yaoundé’s incessant violation of the Ambazonian people’s rights.

The human suffering experienced by British Southern Cameroonians including innocent women and children who are presently exposed to vicious forms of targeting and violations on a daily basis and denied their most basic rights, has been caused by the French Cameroun regime of Mr. Paul Biya, the Ambazonia Interim Government said in a Saturday press release.

The Ambazonia Interim Government also denounced the attempts by the Biya French Cameroun regime to target Doctors Without Borders witnessing the crimes committed by Francophone army soldiers against the people of Southern Cameroons.

The Ambazonia Interim Government further urged the UN and international human rights and humanitarian organizations to assume their responsibilities, emphasizing that they should work on exposing La Republique du Cameroun crimes against Southern Cameroons women and children.

The communiqué came after the Southern Cameroons Department of Foreign Affairs said troops loyal to the Francophone dominated government in Yaoundé were still carrying out attacks against Southern Cameroons women and children.

In a recent press release, the Ambazonia Department of Foreign Affairs said the Biya Francophone regime practices the worst forms of discrimination against the defenseless people of Southern Cameroons on a daily basis and before the eyes of the international community.

By Isong Asu

At least 14 people have been kidnapped by militants of terror group Boko Haram in Cameroon’s Far North region, local and security sources said on Saturday.

The hostages, including motorbike taxi drivers and their clients, were abducted on Friday as they drove through Bargaram locality, a stronghold of the terror group in the region.

Boko Haram fighters blamed them for using the road in defiance of a ban on movement which they impose in the area, a security officer said on condition of anonymity.

The army has launched a search and rescue mission of the hostages, according to officials.

Boko Haram has intensified attacks on civilians in the region in the last one week, killing at least five and looting property, according to security reports.

Source: Xinhuanet

Ambazonia fighters in Mamfe claimed responsibility for the massive rush-hour attacks this week that ripped through the busy Mamfe Mile 2 Motor Park.

“We are in Mamfe, but your so-called Francophone military don’t know where we are,” a spokesperson for the Southern Cameroons Self Defense group in Manyu said in a new audio that threatens more attacks in Mamfe town.

“Yes, we Ambazonia fighters carried out the attack in Mile 2” he says in the Kenyang language in the audio, which was forwarded to Cameroon Concord News correspondent in Mamfe.

The Manyu Warriors made no mention of the casualties after the attack but Cameroon Concord News understands it was shooting and burning of vehicles.

Cameroon government army officials deployed to Mamfe have also come under attack for failing to respond even though an army post is located nearer the motor park.

It was unclear why the military did not deploy troops at least to the Badi River, where the fighters emerged and staged the attacks.  

The explosion at the Mamfe Mile 2 Motor Park at the outskirts of the town has left many tongues wagging on the security situation in the entire Manyu Division.

By Alain Tabot-Tanyi

Four months ago today, Marguerite M. and Ashu D. plunged into a nightmare which continues. They are Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) staff; Marguerite a nurse and Ashu an ambulance driver, in the South-West region of Cameroon. The area is impacted by violence that started almost five years ago, between separatist armed groups and state armed forces, where MSF provides access to free healthcare to people.

On the morning of 26 December 2021, Marguerite and Ashu were sent with an MSF ambulance to the Tinto area to pick up a man with a gunshot wound. While the vast majority of MSF ambulance movements are not related to the impact of the violence – most are linked to the urgent transport of children with malaria, women in labour or those injured in road accidents – taking care of victims of gunshot wounds is not unusual for MSF in the area. Yet, Marguerite and Ashu could not have imagined what awaited them this time.

The ambulance had some trouble locating the injured man, but finally found him at around eight o’clock in the morning. They stabilised him and put him in the ambulance, which then headed towards Kumba, in case the patient needed to be transferred to a higher-level hospital for complex surgery. The 27-year-old patient had no identification documents, which is not uncommon in Cameroon.

MSF communicated, as agreed with the authorities, this movement: the departure point of the ambulance, its destination, the type of patient it was transporting, whether or not the patient had an identity document, and whether or not they were accompanied by anyone. Despite this not being standard MSF practice, this procedure was vital in this context to prevent ambulances from being blocked at checkpoints for long periods of time, which could be detrimental to patients. Since October 2021, when the procedure for communicating with the authorities was formalised, 132 MSF ambulance transfers involving patients in various emergencies have taken place without any problems.

Neither Marguerite nor Ashu knew who the patient was, or what was his role within the separatist group. They only knew that he was a wounded man in need of medical emergency assistance. The ambulance set off at around nine o’clock in the morning, with Ashu driving and Marguerite in charge of the patient. She began to fill in the transfer forms on the patient that would later be handed over to the hospital in Kumba. While Marguerite was still filling in the form with the name given by the patient, they were stopped at the Nguti checkpoint.

Despite the explanations they gave, they were denied passage, ordered to turn around and escorted back to Mamfe. The two MSF colleagues were subsequently arrested and detained in Buea prison, where they remain four months later.

Culled from MSF

Ahead of his planned visit to Ground Zero, the Vice President of the Ambazonia Interim Government has criticized Southern Cameroons frontline movements for acting very poorly in supporting Ground Zero operations against French Cameroun occupation.

Vice President Dabney Yerima made the comments during a telephone conversation with Cameroon Concord News London Bureau Chief Isong Asu late on Thursday.

The exiled Ambazonia leader took Southern Cameroons frontline movements to task for politicizing the struggle against La Republique du Cameroun, describing the move as completely unacceptable.

“Sadly, some Ambazonia frontline movements are acting very poorly vis-à-vis the battle to liberate Southern Cameroons and are not even willing to talk to the Interim Government about Ground Zero operations. Some of them imagine that relying on tribal support is the way to help the Federal Republic of Ambazonia!! This is a big mistake,” Dabney Yerima noted.

Vice President Dabney Yerima said no county in both the Northern and Southern Zones is capable of freeing Southern Cameroons alone, expressing hope that Ambazonians will soon regain their country from the French backed French Cameroun occupation.

Yerima hailed the oppressed but powerful Southern Cameroonians in Ground Zero and in Ground One who have been preventing the Ambazonians struggle from sinking into oblivion through their resistance and sacrifices.

“My trip to Ground Zero pending clearance from our intelligence agencies will provide me and other members of your Interim Government the appropriate opportunity to express our sympathy and solidarity with all our refugee population and the oppressed people of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia,” Yerima concluded.

By Chi Prudence Asong with files from Isong Asu