The U.S. Senate confirmed Christopher John Lamora’s appointment on Saturday. His was one of dozens of Democratic president Joe Biden’s ambassador nominations that had been stalled since last spring by powerful dissident Republican senator Ted Cruz, who wants the United States to apply increased pressure against the opening of a natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany.

More than three dozen ambassador nominations were approved Saturday, including ambassadors to Japan, the European Union, Ireland, Spain, Vietnam, Somalia and Bahrain. That action came after a vote on Cruz’s pipeline bill was scheduled for next month.

When Lamora’s nomination was announced last April, prominent Cameroonian LGBTQ rights attorney Alice Nkom welcomed it.

“Incredible Joe Biden. We love you! ” she said. “Welcome, Ambassador Christopher Lamora! Welcome to Cameroon, land of tolerance, hospitality and brotherhood! ”

Despite her words, Cameroon remains intolerant of LGBTQ people. By law, homosexual activity is punishable by up to five years in prison. Shakiro, an online trans celebrity, and her partner were sentenced to five years in May.  With Nkom’s help, they were released in July, pending an appeal.

After Lamora’s nomination was announced, Catholic priest Etienne Bakaba of Douala, Cameroon, urged the Cameroonian government to reject Lamora.

“In 2015, the Pope refused a gay ambassador to the Vatican. Shouldn’t the Cameroonian state refuse the accreditation of the gay ambassador that Joe Biden is sending us? As a reminder, homosexuality is a crime according to Cameroonian law, the divine natural law,” Bakaba stated.

Lamora, who openly acknowledges his sexual orientation, appeared before a Senate committee in June and thanked his husband, Eric, for supporting him.

He described himself at a 2019 Gay Pride event in Ghana as “a proud member of the worldwide LGBT community.”

Source: 76 Crimes

At least 100,000 people left their homes in the Far North region of Cameroon during the last two weeks due to growing violence, the United Nations (UN) warned Friday.

Intercommunal clashes that erupted in Cameroon’s Far North region in the past two weeks have driven at least 100,000 people from their homes, although the real number may be much higher, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, said today.

UNHCR estimates that more than 85,000 people have fled into neighboring Chad in recent days, while at least 15,000 Cameroonians have been forced from home inside their country. Since humanitarian access in the area is very limited, these totals may be much higher.

“Indications points to displacement into Chad have accelerated fast, as the total is nearly triple the figure reported last week, when 30,000 people had crossed the border seeking safety,” said UNHCR spokesman Matthew Saltmarsh.

According to UN figures, casualties from the fighting have also risen to 44 people killed and 111 injured, compared to 22 dead and 30 wounded reported last week. In total, 112 villages were burned down.

The vast majority of new arrivals in Chad are children, and 98 per cent of the adults are women. Some 48,000 have found refuge in 18 urban sites in N’Djamena, the capital of Chad, and 37,000 people are scattered across 10 rural sites along Chad’s bank of the Logone River.

Along with the authorities, UNHCR, other UN agencies and humanitarian partners are rushing to deliver life-saving assistance. The agency has declared a Level 2 emergency and is rapidly scaling its operations to assist affected people in Cameroon and new refugees in Chad.

Refugees are in dire need of shelter, blankets, mats and hygienic kits. Some are being generously hosted by local communities, but most are still sleeping in the open and under trees.

Source: plenglish

The U.N.’s refugee agency (UNHCR) says the number of Cameroonians fleeing communal violence in the north of the country to neighboring Chad has reached 85,000. Cameroon has dispatched a delegation to Chad to convince those who fled the fighting over water resources to return home.

UNHCR says the total number of people who have fled this month has increased to 100,000. Most have fled to neighboring Chad, but 15,000 are hiding in safer Cameroonians towns and villages.

Fighting broke out in the Cameroonian border village of Ouloumsa two weeks ago between Arab Choua cattle herders and Mousgoum fishers, sending tens of thousands fleeing to Chad.

Cameroonian officials said the clashes over water resources left villages and markets torched, plantations destroyed, and livestock killed or stolen.

The UNHCR representative in Chad, Papa Kysma Sylla, said the needs of fleeing civilians is increasing by the day.

“We are on an emergency mode openly declared from our headquarters, so we created a coordination with several NGOs and UN agencies (like) WFP, UNICEF, Red Cross,” Sylla said. “So we are all providing assistance and mobilizing money and or human resources.”

Mahamat Kerimo Sale, mayor of the N’djamena 9 district in Chad, spoke to VOA via messaging application.

Sale said the president of Chad’s Transitional Military Council, Mahamat Deby, gave instructions to Chadians to peacefully welcome civilians fleeing the conflicts in Cameroon. He said they are providing basic needs like food and water and aid groups and UN agencies like UNICEF are also helping with soap and blankets to reduce the suffering of those displaced from Cameroon.

Sale said members of the clashing communities who fled Cameroon are kept separately to avoid conflict in Chad.

Cameroon’s government this week dispatched a delegation to Chad to assist those who fled the violence.

Territorial administration minister Paul Atanga Nji led the delegation of ministers, military officials, and lawmakers. He thanked Chad’s government and people for the care given to displaced Cameroonians. He also asked the displaced to return to their homes in Cameroon and make peace with their neighbors.

“As much as we preach peace, unity, harmony and living together, we are trying to sensitize the population that they should not take the laws into their hands and that if there is any problem, they have to go to the closest administrative authorities or the forces of law and order and complain,” he said. “If because of land or grazer and farmers problems, you start killing and looting, I think it is not a very good example. We are in a state of law.”

Nji said so far 6,000 Cameroonians who fled to Chad have agreed to return home.

Cameroonian authorities said they have deployed troops to the areas in conflict to ensure the safety of all citizens.

Source: VOA

The Vice President of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government, Dabney Yerima says five years of the Biya French Cameroun war in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia had no other result for Southern Cameroonians but bloodshed and murder.

Dabney Yerima made the comments during a zoom presentation to the Southern Cameroons German Think Tank on Wednesday, during which the exiled Ambazonia leader congratulated His Grace Archbishop Andrew Nkea for winning the Cameroon Concord Person of the Year.

Speaking of the dire situation in Southern Cameroons after five years of the Biya French Cameroun war, Vice President Dabney Yerima said, “The aftermaths of five years of war in Southern Cameroons is Biya crimes, bloodshed, and the complete destruction of Southern Cameroons.”

Dabney Yerima then underscored the need for the people of Southern Cameroons to rule their own country, stressing that the Federal Republic of Ambazonia must be run by Ambazonians.

Elsewhere in his comments, Vice President Dabney Yerima said cooperation among all Southern Cameroons restoration groups will benefit the marginalized people of British Southern Cameroons.

By Isong Asu in London

A spokesman for Southern Cameroons Self Defense forces in Eyumojock Sub Division in Manyu say Amba fighters from the popular Manyu Liberation Council have carried out attacks against several targets in Otu, Ekok and Obang area.

In an audio message aired in the Ejagham language, the spokesman said Amba fighters struck the gendarmerie post in Otu, Ekok and the poorly constructed army barracks in Obang.

We gathered that the attacks came in response to the escalation of arrests and killings by Cameroon government army soldiers against Southern Cameroons civilians. Amba fighters have also vowed larger attacks unless Yaoundé stops its ongoing war in Southern Cameroons.

Cameroon government military has been intensifying its attacks against Amba fighters across Southern Cameroons and killing more civilians including children. This has pushed Ambazonia fighters to launch further operations targeting the Francophone army soldiers deployed to Southern Cameroons.

A majority of Southern Cameroonians believe that Amba fighters have the right to hit back at those killing British Southern Cameroons women and children and violating the sovereignty of their homeland.

Ambazonians say Biya and his French Cameroun political elites should realize that the more attacks it conducts against Southern Cameroons civilians, the more painful retaliatory strikes will be carried out against Cameroon government military facilities.

By Takor Charles Enow in Ekok with additional reporting and editing by Isong Asu in London

At least 10 people were wounded overnight into Monday when an explosion hit a major trade fair in Cameroon’s restive Anglophone region of Southwest, according to local authorities and police.

Police said the improvised explosive device exploded in a crowded place at the trade fair which was being held in Buea, the chief town of the region.

The wounded were receiving treatment in a local hospital and some were in critical conditions, according to the police.

Early Monday, separatist fighters said on social media that they were responsible for the blast.

The Cameroonian army has since 2017 been fighting English-speaking militias seeking to form a breakaway state known as “Ambazonia” in the two Anglophone regions of Northwest and Southwest.

Source: Xinhuanet

The new Sultan of Bamoun in Cameroon, HRH Nabil Mbombo Njoya, has declined offers of a 14-year-old virgin in marriage as tradition demands.

According to tradition, the wife of a new Sultan must come from the Njim Monchouh family to terminate traditional rites known as “Lah-Kam”.

However, Sultan Njoya refused the 14-year-old girl offered by the family because she is a minor and opted to marry his long time girlfriend instead.

He has however promised to send the girl to school and make sure she completes university and pursue any career of her choice.

Child marriage has been going on in different African countries for years. Despite this legal framework, the prevalence of child marriage in Ghana remains high, and one in five girls marries before her 18th birthday (20.7%) and one in 20 girls (4.9%) marries before her 15th birthday.

Although child marriage can occur among males as well, the prevalence is much lower: only 2.3% of men aged 20 to 24 years are married by age 18 in Ghana. The highest prevalence of child marriage in Ghana occurs in the three Northern regions, where more than one in three girls marry before age 18. In addition, the child marriage rate is higher in rural areas, among the poorest population and among uneducated women. The aggregate rate of marriage before age 18 has been decreasing from 35% in the 1990s to 28% in 2003 and 25% in 2008, but remained stable between 2011 and 2014. However, data from the latest two nationally representative surveys shows that the rate of child marriage increased in the three Northern regions (from 26.4% in 2011 to 33.6% in 2014) and decreased in the other regions (from 20.9 to 18.5% and from 19.2 to 18.5% in the Central and Southern regions respectively), increasing disparities between the North and the rest of the country.

Several human rights activists and stakeholders have been working hard to abolish the child-marriage tradition and allow the kids to go to school until they are ready to marry.

Source: ghbase.com

In the first extradition from the Republic of Cameroon to the United States, a Texas man was extradited to Houston on Friday to serve an 80-year prison sentence he received in absentia four years ago after he pleaded guilty in two separate cases to conspiracy, health care fraud, money laundering, and tax offenses.

According to court documents, in November 2016, Ebong Aloysius Tilong, 57, of Sugar Land, Texas, and his wife, Marie Neba, went to trial on the conspiracy, health care fraud, and money laundering charges. The trial evidence and court documents showed that between 2006 and 2015, Tilong, Neba, and their co-conspirators used Tilong and Neba’s company, Fiango Home Healthcare Inc. (Fiango), to corruptly obtain more than $13 million by submitting false and fraudulent claims to Medicare for home health care services that Fiango’s patients did not need or receive. The trial evidence and court documents also showed that Tilong and Neba paid illegal kickbacks to patient recruiters to refer patients to Fiango, and that Tilong falsified and directed others to falsify medical records to make it appear as though Fiango’s patients met the Medicare qualifications for home health care. Additional evidence demonstrated that Tilong attempted to destroy evidence and blackmail and suborn perjury from witnesses. After the first week of trial, Tilong pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, three counts of health care fraud, one count of conspiracy to pay and receive health care kickbacks, three counts of payment and receipt of health care kickbacks, and one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments.

In June 2017, Tilong pleaded guilty in a separate case to two counts of filing fraudulent tax returns. In connection with this guilty plea, Tilong admitted that he created a shell company called Quality Therapy Services (QTS) to limit the amount of tax that he paid to the IRS on the proceeds that he and his co-conspirators stole from Medicare. According to Tilong’s plea agreement, in 2013 and 2014, Tilong wrote almost $1 million in checks from Fiango to QTS for physical-therapy services that QTS never provided to Fiango’s patients and deducted as business expenses. Tilong admitted that his tax fraud scheme caused the IRS a tax loss of approximately $344,452.

In August 2017, Neba was sentenced to 75 years in prison the Medicare fraud scheme at Fiango. The U.S. District Court scheduled Tilong’s sentencing for Oct. 13, 2017, but court records show that on the morning of his sentencing hearing, Tilong removed an ankle bracelet monitoring his location and failed to respond to phone calls from, or appear in, the U.S. District Court for his sentencing. On Dec. 8, 2017, the U.S. District Court sentenced Tilong in absentia to 80 years in prison for his role in the Medicare and tax fraud schemes.

After Tilong absconded, the FBI Houston Field Office located Tilong in Cameroon, and worked collaboratively with the FBI Legal Attaché in Abuja, Nigeria, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Fraud Section, and the Office of the President of the Republic of Cameroon to ensure Tilong’s capture. Prior to his removal from Cameroon, Tilong was wanted by the FBI and listed among HHS-OIG’s Top 10 Most Wanted Fugitives. The National Police Force of Cameroon arrested Tilong in January 2019.

In September 2021, the Republic of Cameroon President Paul Biya signed a decree ordering Tilong’s removal to the United States.

On Dec. 10, 2021, U.S. Marshals escorted Tilong from Cameroon to the United States.

The United States is grateful to the Government of Cameroon for its cooperation and support of this extradition request.

“The successful return of Ebong Tilong demonstrates the department’s commitment to working with our international partners to pursue, capture, and return those who try to defraud the American people,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Thanks to the efforts of our law enforcement partners and their counterparts in Cameroon, Ebong Tilong has been returned to the United States and brought to justice.”

“This successful extradition of Ebong Tilong to serve his 80-year prison sentence is an example of the FBI’s collaboration with our federal and international partners that we hope will deter others from fleeing to avoid prosecution or sentencing,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Richard A. Collodi of the FBI Houston Field Office. “These partnerships highlight the FBI’s reach as well as its determination to pursue actors anywhere to administer justice.”

“Convicted fraudster and former fugitive Ebong Tilong has been brought to justice in our country, thanks to the tireless efforts of U.S. law enforcement, including our investigators,” said Special Agent in Charge Miranda L. Bennett of HHS-OIG. “Our agency, together with our law enforcement partners, will continue to aggressively pursue those who steal from federal health care programs, wherever they try to hide.”

“IRS-CI is committed to not only investigating and ultimately seeking convictions of individuals who scheme to defraud Medicare, launder proceeds of their illicit transactions, and evade the IRS in paying their taxes, but we’re also committed to assisting in the apprehension and return of criminals who choose to run and hide upon their conviction and sentencing no matter where they go or how long they’ve been gone,” said Assistant Special Agent in Charge Ramsey E. Covington of the IRS-CI Houston Field Office. “We appreciate the efforts of our law enforcement partners and federal prosecutors in ensuring Tilong ultimately begins serving his 80-year sentence in federal prison.”

The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, the Regional Security Office of the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security, and the Consular Section of the U.S. Embassy in Yaoundé provided invaluable assistance in supporting the extradition and coordinating the return of Tilong to the United States.

Trial Attorney Jonathan Baum formerly of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section (now with the Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section) and Trial Attorney Andrew Pennebaker of the Fraud Section are prosecuting Tilong’s Medicare and tax fraud cases.

The FBI, HHS-OIG, and IRS-CI conducted the investigation under the supervision of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of Texas as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force. The interagency team combines the resources of federal, state, and local law enforcement entities to prevent and combat health care fraud, waste, and abuse. Strike Force teams have shut down health care fraud schemes around the country, arrested more than a thousand criminals, and recovered millions of taxpayer dollars.

Source: United States Department of Justice

More than 30,000 people in northern Cameroon have fled to Chad after the violence at the weekend that killed at least 22 people, the United Nations’ refugee agency has said.

Violence broke out in the border village of Ouloumsa on Sunday in a dispute between herders, fishermen and farmers over dwindling water resources, the UNHCR said in a statement on Friday issued from Geneva.

It then spread to neighbouring villages, 10 of which have been burned to the ground.

The clashes have displaced thousands in the country, “forcing more than 30,000 people to flee to neighbouring Chad”, the UNHCR said.

“At least 22 people have been killed and 30 others seriously injured during several days of ongoing fighting.”

The violence is unfolding in Logone-Chari in Cameroon’s Far North Region – the tongue of land that lies between Nigeria to the west and Chad to the east.

The UN figures for those seeking refuge, and the death toll, are far higher than numbers given on Wednesday by other sources.

The Chadian Red Cross had said there were at least 3,000 refugees, although the number was likely to grow, while the Cameroonian authorities said at least four had died.

Almost 80 percent of the new arrivals are women, many of them pregnant, and children, the UNHCR said.

They have found refuge in the Chadian capital N’Djamena and villages along Chad’s bank of the Logone River.

The UNHCR said at least 10,000 have fled to N’Djamena from Kousseri, a town of 200,000 people whose cattle market was destroyed in the fighting.

Chad’s military government leader Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno on Wednesday issued a statement to say the situation was “worrying” and appealed to international donors to help the arrivals.

A bout of fighting between herders and fishermen in August led to 45 deaths and an influx of at least 10,000 people into Chad.

As in the latest incident, the fighting began over management and access to water, the Cameroonian authorities say.

Violent conflict between ethnic groups is relatively rare in Cameroon compared with Chad and Nigeria, where fighting over resources between semi-nomadic herders and sedentary farmers is frequent.

Cameroonian officials say two of the parties in the conflict are fishermen of the Musgum community and ethnic Arab Choa cattlemen.

SOURCE: AFP