Cameroon’s government says Russia’s war on Ukraine is responsible for a wheat shortage that has led to a 40 percent increase in the price of bread. The central African state is encouraging local substitutes like cassava and yams to replace the wheat usually imported from Russia and Ukraine.

More than 40 consumers are waiting for bread Monday morning at the La Mama bakery in Mokolo, a neighborhood in Cameroon’s capital.

Youssoufa Daouda, who sells bread at the bakery, said in the past two weeks the bakery has served less than 200 of its usual 500 daily customers.

He said importers informed bakers in the first week of March of a potential shortage of wheat in Cameroonian markets because countries that supply wheat to Cameroon were at war. Daouda said the price of a 50-kilogram bag of wheat increased from $35 to between $50 and $60, and the supply is not regular.

Cameroon says 13 million of its 26 million citizens who consume bread daily no longer have a regular supply.

Cameroon’s Minister of Trade Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana presided over a meeting with bakery owners and wheat importers on Monday meant to educate consumers associations that the shortage of wheat is a result of the war in Ukraine.

Atangana said anyone who is informed and is honest will not disagree that the war between Russia and Ukraine is having disastrous consequences on economies all over the world. He said the war has deprived Cameroon of about 60 percent of wheat imported from both Ukraine and Russia, and the government is very worried because the absence of wheat can cause a social crisis in Cameroon.

Atangana said Cameroon’s Prime Minister, Joseph Dion Ngute, asked the ministers in charge of agriculture and trade to find alternatives to wheat imports.

Cameroon produces less than one-fourth of the 1.6 million tons of wheat it needs each year. Last year, it imported more than 850,000 tons from Russia and Ukraine.

Delor Magellan Kamseu Kamgaing, president of Cameroon’s Consumers League, said Cameroonians should learn to consume bread made without wheat imported from Ukraine and Russia. He said local substitutes, including tubers like cassava, yams and potato, can replace imported wheat. He added that it’s imperative the government provide funding and tractors to farmers to increase tuber production to spare Cameroon from a looming social crisis.

Other countries in Africa and the Middle East are also facing wheat shortages due to the war in Ukraine. On Monday, the head U.N. International Fund for Agricultural Development, Gilbert Houngbo, warned the situation “could cause an escalation of hunger and poverty, with dire implications for global stability.”

Source: VOA

The exiled leader of the Ambazonia Interim Government Dabney Yerima says the people of Southern Cameroons will never compromise on defending the interests and resources of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

“Members of the Interim Government have always maintained that unity among Ambazonia groups and front line leaders will add momentum to the struggle and bring Buea nearer” Yerima said in a recent message to Amba fighters in Ground Zero and Ground One.

Dabney Yerima emphasized that Southern Cameroonians will confront any sinister plot or sedition designed by the Biya Francophone regime in Yaoundé to harm the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

Vice President Yerima furthered that all Ambazonia fighters are duty-bound to fully defend the homeland anywhere and anytime and to closely monitor all French Cameroun appointed DOs, SDOs and Governors moves with full vigilance.

“All Ambazonia Revolutionary Guards should increase their readiness and combat capability as leadership struggle in French Cameroun intensifies” Yerima concluded.

The war in Southern Cameroons has killed more than 6,000 people and forced one million English speaking Cameroonians to flee their homes as they are caught between the Francophone Cameroon government army and Ambazonia fighters.

The war broke out in October 2017 when British Southern Cameroonians under the leadership of President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe declared an independent state-the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

The five-year conflict is slowly but surely spilling over into Nigeria, with the Nigerian press reporting that Cameroonian security forces and Ambazonia fighters care little for the territorial integrity of their neighbours.

By Chi Prudence Asong

The Vice President of the Ambazonia Interim Government in his latest assessment of the war in Southern Cameroons has advised all French Cameroun government army soldiers being deployed to rural areas in the Ambazonia homeland to draft their wills.

The Vice President Dabney Yerima statement issued late on Friday comes as soldiers loyal to the Biya Francophone regime in Yaoundé reportedly carried out operations in many Southern Cameroons towns and villages including Kumbo, Ndop, Wum, Bafut and Kom.

General Valere Nka, commander of the Francophone dominated military fighting Ambazonia Revolutionary Guards said several hundred Amba fighters have escaped to villages along Cameroon’s border with Nigeria.

“If you are a Francophone soldier currently in Bamenda or Buea preparing to be deployed to any rural area in Southern Cameroons, you should consider drafting a will and also discuss plans with your wife and children about funeral wishes” Dabney Yerima noted.

The security situation throughout Southern Cameroons is highly volatile, and conditions are deteriorating without warning.

The war in Southern Cameroons has killed more than 6,000 people and forced one million English speaking Cameroonians to flee their homes as they are caught between the Francophone Cameroon government army and Ambazonia fighters.

The war broke out in October 2017 when British Southern Cameroonians under the leadership of President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe declared an independent state-the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

The five-year conflict is slowly but surely spilling over into Nigeria, with the Nigerian press reporting that Cameroonian security forces and Ambazonia fighters care little for the territorial integrity of their neighbours.

By Isong Asu and Chi Prudence Asong

Cameroon’s government says calm is gradually returning to several towns in its English-speaking western regions after the military launched raids on separatist strongholds during the past month.

The military said troops carried out operations in many western towns and villages including Kumbo, Ndop, Wum, Bafut and Kom, with at least 20 separatist fighters were killed but no government troops were wounded.

General Valere Nka, the commander of Cameroonian troops fighting separatists in the English-speaking North-West region, said several hundred fighters escaped to villages along Cameroon’s western border with Nigeria. He said troops have been deployed to stop fighters from stealing goods and money from merchants and cattle from ranchers in border localities.

“The president of the republic, President Paul Biya, commander in chief of the armed forces has sent the defense and security forces to protect you, not to kill you,” Nka said during a visit to several border villages this week. “We need your total collaboration to better secure you.”

The military did not say how many troops have been deployed or how long the troops are expected to stay along the border with Nigeria.

Nelson Bwei, a spokesperson for the Abba Village Development Committee, said a military post is needed in the village, which is on the border with Nigeria, to protect civilians from separatist fighters. He said hundreds of the fighters are hiding in the bush along the border, especially in Fungong district.

“Our children are facing harassment,” he said. “Lower Fungong has no security post. The people there are exposed to insecurity. We plead to the general to create military units because we believe that if there is that military unit, it will beef up the security of the subdivision.”

Bwei said the separatists have seized at least 90 cows from ranchers within three weeks. He said fighters have abducted at least 13 civilians for ransom, especially merchants doing business between Cameroon and Nigeria.

On social media platforms, including Facebook and WhatsApp, the separatists have denied the loss of 20 fighters. The separatists say their presence in border localities is a tactical withdrawal to prepare and face government troops. The fighters deny they are harassing civilians as the government claims and insist that they are out to protect English-speakers from Cameroon military brutality.

Cameroon’s military has always denied it abuses civilian’s rights.

Separatists have been fighting since 2017 to carve out an independent English-speaking state in majority French-speaking Cameroon. The crisis started when English-speaking teachers and lawyers protested the dominance of French in official government business and education. The government responded with a crackdown and separatists took up weapons.

The United Nations says at least 3,300 people have been killed with 750,000 internally displaced.

Source: VOA

Augentic seems like a natural contender for the biometric ID card tender launched by Cameroon’s government last year, given its role in issuing the country’s new passports. Any bid from the company could be complicated, however, by its relationship with two other companies that provide technology for ID documents, Africa Intelligence reports.

A bid by Germany-based Augentic for the biometric ID card contract was made in partnership with IN Groupe, which is under review by the French Anti-Corruption Agency (AFA). Industry publication Printing notes that the investigation began in January, citing a report from Le Figaro, but no specific information about what part of the company’s operations are under investigation is available.

IN Groupe also recently won the contract for France’s national digital ID, and for biometrics passports in the Seychelles.

Africa Intelligence suggests that a consultant who played a part in bringing Augentic and IN Groupe’s bid forward in Cameroon is a special consultant to an elite unit within Cameroonian army and involved with procurement. The report also notes that the consultant denies the specific role it alleges, but goes on to claim that he previously worked with Germany’s Veridos in the country. Veridos has also supplied biometric technology for Cameroon’s electoral system.

The General Delegation for National Security (DGSN) launched the tender last September, with a dozen biometrics providers involved in different bids, including Veridos, which many members of Augentic’s leadership team formerly served as executives.

Now, Africa Intelligence reports that Veridos has been complaining about Augentic’s practices in Cameroon to the German embassy.

Culled from biometric update

Cameroon’s government says it will rebuild hospitals and clinics destroyed by Boko Haram terrorists along the border with Nigeria. In a visit to the area this week, officials said the facilities were needed for villagers who have suffered from the conflict as well as for former Boko Haram members who have been rehabilitated.

Cameroon’s Ministry of Public Health says at least 35 hospitals along the country’s border with Nigeria have either been abandoned by medical staff or destroyed by Boko Haram terrorists.

Minister of Public Health Manaouda Malachie this week visited some of the remaining hospitals along the border.

He says although working and living conditions are very difficult, the few medical staff members in former Boko Haram prone towns and villages are doing their best to save lives. Malachie says Cameroon’s President Paul Biya has ordered his government to build and equip destroyed hospitals and recruit more health workers. He also says he asked several hundred hospital workers who fled Boko Haram terrorism to return to Cameroon’s border with Nigeria.

Malachie did not say when the hospitals would be re-built.

But Cameroon’s government says it will spend $300 million this year to reconstruct what Boko Haram destroyed, including hospitals and medical equipment.

Government troops have been fighting Boko Haram along the northern border with Nigeria since 2014.

Cameroon’s military says there have been about 25 cases of abductions and kidnappings for ransom this year, but no large scale attacks by the terrorist group.

The military says the return to peace has allowed several thousand internally displaced persons and former Boko Haram members to return to their villages.

But health care in the region is sorely lacking, say social workers like Jean Pierre Ndlend in Kolofata district via a messaging application.

Ndlend says youths of between 15 and 35 years old are a majority of the 150 people suffering from mental health disorders that the Kolofata hospital has received since January. He says trauma from seeing people dying or forcefully separated from loved ones, poverty, and risky living conditions are the highest causes of mental health disorders in Cameroon’s northern border with Nigeria.

Ndlend says the Kolofata hospital receives hundreds of patients every day but has only seven health care workers.

Speaking to Cameroon state radio (CRTV) this week, Far North Region Governor Midjiyawa Bakari said the military has been helping civilians while they wait for the government to re-build hospitals.

Bakari says most Cameroon’s troops deployed to fight Boko Haram have been sent to border villages to provide health care and education to both returnees and militants who surrender and leave the terrorist group. He says Cameroon’s military health unit visits border villages to provide humanitarian assistance and treat sick returnees, former fighters, and the host community.

Bakari said thousands of Boko Haram fighters and supporters have defected from the terrorist group since last May, when the leader of the Nigerian militants Abubakar Shekau was declared killed.

The United Nations says the Boko Haram conflict, which started 13 years ago in northeast Nigeria, has killed more than 350,000 people and displaced 2 million across Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

Source: VOA

The Vice President of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government says the presence of Francophone army soldiers in Ambazonia homeland is temporary whose termination is only a matter of time.

Dabney Yerima made the comment on Monday during a conversation with the Cameroon Concord News Group.

The exiled Ambazonia leader said he recently endorsed a campaign across the entire Ambazonia territory for self defense units to use explosives against the occupying forces and their agents.

Yerima also asserted that in the days ahead French Cameroun civil administrators and troops loyal to the Biya French Cameroun regime will get to witness the bravery of the Ambazonia Revolutionary Guards.

Dabney Yerima noted that Amba fighters who surrendered their weapons were now regretting. He added that the enemy is arrogant and only interested in rendering the people of Southern Cameroons weaker.

Yerima, meanwhile, furthered that Southern Cameroonians in Ground Zero will become stronger in all areas, including fire power and devotion.

By Chi Prudence Asong

A large number of Ambazonians who took refuge in the Ogoja refugees camp in Cross River State have since deserted it.

It is suspected that the abandonment of the camp may be a result of the reported drastic reduction in their monthly stipend.

Findings confirmed that the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, (UNHCR), which took special care of the Cameroonian refugees, recently reduced its cash-based intervention from N7,200 per head to paltry N2,600.

On enquiries, it was discovered that refugees whose villages were not directly affected in the ongoing Cameroon arms insurrection by separatist Ambazonian fighters against President Paul Biya’s government, went back to their homes and farms.

One of the refugees who was in the camp but has now returned to one of the borderline communities, Obengo Nru said the camp is virtually empty now, claiming he could not fold his hands in the camp and receive the paltry sum.

“I still have my papers entitling me to enjoy the monthly stipend intact so that whenever the UN people call us, we just run to Ogoja and collect the sum, and return to our villages.”

“Most of us merely left the villages and joined in ‘sympathy movement’ to Nigeria”, he said.

An official of the Cameroonian Consulate in Calabar who said he is an information officer claimed he could not give any good reasons why the number was reducing.

But the Director-General of Cross River State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Princewill Ayim said it was not true that the camp has been deserted.

Source: DAILY POST

Cameroonian authorities should immediately investigate an attack on Paul Chouta, a reporter for the privately owned news website Cameroon Web, and ensure those who assaulted him are held accountable, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday.

On Wednesday evening, Chouta was watching the UEFA Champions League soccer game between Real Madrid and Paris St. Germain with friends in a snack bar in the Damas district of the capital Yaoundé when three unidentified men in a green pick-up truck abducted the journalist, drove him to the outskirts of the city, and viciously kicked and beat him with stones, bricks, a baton and a whip, according to a statement by his employer reviewed by CPJ, media reports, and the journalist, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app.

In the statement, Cameroon Web editor-in-chief Emmanuel Vitus was unable to say what report may have prompted the latest attack; he told CPJ via messaging app that this was not the first time that Chouta was attacked for his journalism and that the reporter, and his family should be placed under police protection while the assault was investigated. Vitus described the assault as “an attack on freedom of the press and on democracy,” adding that Chouta was a “courageous journalist and whistleblower.”

“Cameroonian police must thoroughly investigate the latest attack on Paul Chouta, a journalist and outspoken critic of the government, and bring swift justice to those responsible,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator. “Failure to act will reinforce perceptions that impunity for crimes against journalists is the order of the day in Cameroon and that journalists like Paul Chouta are simply not safe in their own country.”

Chouta went outside during half-time and was accosted by men wearing civilian clothes, who carried him across the road and threw him in the vehicle, the journalist told CPJ. Chouta shouted for help, but his attackers pushed him into the pick-up truck and used his shirt to blindfold him, he said. Chouta said he believed he had been tailed and that a few miles down the road the men stopped the car and picked up a fourth man.

The men drove Chouta to the outskirts of the city, near the airport, where he was told to kneel and was severely beaten and kicked for about four minutes before he fell unconscious, he told CPJ. “They told me that I’m stubborn and that I never learn a lesson,” Chouta said. “They said this time they will kill me, as I wanted to show that I was a hero.”

Chouta said he was left for dead. When he regained consciousness, he said he had been stripped naked; his wallet, identity, and bank cards had been taken; and he was unable to see out of his left eye, had a swollen face and ear, and was in great pain. 

The journalist walked naked and barefoot for about two miles (three kilometers) before he was helped by strangers. He was able to remember his girlfriend’s telephone number and they called her to take him to the hospital, Chouta said.

Chouta spent Thursday night in the hospital and is expected to be discharged today to seek treatment at another medical facility, according to the reporter and his editor.

Chouta told CPJ that he had been interviewed at the hospital by police this morning and was told that a knife had been found where he was attacked. Video footage from the snack bar’s closed-circuit camera was also taken by police, he said.

Police spokeswoman Joyce Ndem replied to CPJ’s request for comment by saying it should send a representative to talk to her in her office in Yaounde. She did not reply to a subsequent text via messaging app.

In February 2019, Chouta was attacked outside his home following political coverage, as CPJ documented at the time. Four months later, he was arrested on charges believed to be politically motivated. He was jailed for nearly two years until a court in May 2021 found him guilty and sentenced him to 23 months, which he had already served, and released him.

Culled from Committee to Protect Journalists