10, September 2020
Southern Cameroons Crisis: Civilians escaping the renewed fighting 0
Cameroon’s military this week launched an operation to weed out anglophone separatists in the northwestern city of Bamenda. Locals say the commercial hub is eerily quiet after the military banned motorcycles, and rebels responded by demanding all vehicles stay off the streets. Civilians have been escaping the renewed fighting to neighboring towns and villages.
Twenty-seven-year-old nurse Rachel Ngobising arrived in Yaoundé late Wednesday after escaping heavy fighting in Cameroon’s northwestern city of Bamenda.
“I struggled and I trekked for a very long distance before I could find a car that could smuggle me out of Bamenda. Worst of all, when I finally got a car, I had to pay five times the normal price [fare] because even the driver is scared. He was taking a risk,” she said.
The fighting broke out as Cameroon’s military this week swept the city of about 350,000 people, looking for anglophone separatists.
The commander of troops in the Northwest region, General Nka Valere, Monday announced what he called “Operation Clean Bamenda.”
He said they aimed to weed out rebels who entered the city after the military on Sunday killed a self-proclaimed rebel general.
“That terrorist, by the name Fonteh, alias ‘mad dog,’ has killed more than 100 people,” he said. “We are taking all the measures to make sure that Bamenda will be clean. Respect the decision taken by the city mayor of Bamenda and administrative authorities.”
In a Wednesday interview, Valere said there were several running battles between the military and rebels in Bamenda and nearby villages.
However, in Bamenda, locals say the streets are eerily quiet and movement in the city has become difficult.
Officials banned motorcycles to stop the rebels from being able to quickly attack and escape.
Cameroon authorities say, normally, commercial motorcyclists alone number about 25,000 in Bamenda.
Separatists responded by demanding all vehicles stay off the city’s streets.
Daniel Caapo is a Hong Kong-based, self-proclaimed deputy defense chief for the rebel Ambazonia Defense Forces.
Speaking via a messaging application, he says they announced the demand to support motorcyclists.
“Our citizens are relying on motorbikes to go to hospital and to provide access to critical areas of Bamenda,” he said. “Most of these motor bikers earn their living only providing these services and they cater for a large population of our people who have no jobs to make a living. We cannot allow this. We have to rise up in solidarity with the bike men and also to send a strong message to the occupying force [military] and to the occupying administration [government].”
Cameroon’s military has vowed to crush rebels who refuse to surrender and hand over their weapons.
The governor of the Northwest region, Deben Tchoffo, says people should respect security actions needed to make the city safe.
He says measures taken by the government and the military to protect civilians should be respected. The announced actions, and many others that have not been made public, says Tchoffo, are intended to ensure the safety and well-being of all civilians. He asks that all civilians continue carrying out their daily activities without fear.
The rebels have been fighting since 2017 to carve out an independent, English-speaking state from French-speaking-majority Cameroon.
The United Nations says the four-year conflict has left at least 3,000 people dead and displaced more than half a million.
Source: VOA
10, September 2020
Ambazonia Restoration Forces turning to cattle rustling, Vice President Yerima won’t talk 0
Cameroon authorities say anglophone separatists have stolen thousands of cattle from ethnic Mbororo ranchers since July, forcing them to move livestock hundreds of kilometers away to more secure areas. Authorities say the rebels’ cattle rustling appears to be motivated by food shortages.
Forty-one-year-old Mbororo rancher Sule Kerla leads several hundred cattle to graze in the French-speaking village of Balamba, in central Cameroon, near Bafia town.
He says the cattle belong to five Mbororo, an ethnic group of ranchers, by tradition, located mainly in Cameroon’s Northwest Region.
But, Kerla says the Mbororo are fleeing the English-speaking region because anglophone rebels are stealing their cattle.
“Areas like Wum, Bui Division, Boyo Division, Mezam Division, there is no place where they {separatist fighters) have not seized cows from the Mbororos,” Kerla said. “When the military goes out for their work, you see them bringing cows that were seized from the Mbororo community. And then most of the Mbororos have carried their cows to the Western Region, Center Region.”
President of the Mbororo Cultural and Development Association (MBOSCUDA) Jaji Manu Gidado has also moved his 400 cattle to the town of Bafia.
Gidado says rebels have stolen at least 3,000 cattle from Mbororo ranchers since July.
He says ranchers have relocated about 2,500 cattle to safer, French-speaking towns like Bafia, to escape the rebels.
“Why they {ranchers} are the target group is because those guys {fighters} met the Mbororo people and asked them {Mbororos} to join them {separatist fighters} to disturb the administration {government} from functioning,” Gidado said. “And the Mbororo people told them, ‘No, we are here to rear our cattle and send our children to school.’”
Cameroon’s livestock ministry says since the separatist conflict began in 2016, the rebels seized about 300 cows each year.
Cameroon’s military says the rebels seem to be stealing more cattle these days because of food insecurity and to sell across the border in Nigeria to fund their revolt.
To crack down on the rebels, the military says it has reinforced control along the border with Nigeria.
Felix Njie Ewumbwe is the officer in charge of helping ranchers in the western town of Bafoussam. He says host communities should support the ranchers and their families.
Ewumbwe says the government gives them financial and moral support and informs them of opportunities in neighboring towns and villages, where they can sell their farm produce.
Separatists took up arms in 2017 to carve out an English-speaking state from French-speaking-majority Cameroon.
The United Nations says the fighting has cost more than 3,000 lives and forced half-a-million to flee to French-speaking regions or into neighboring Nigeria.
Source: VOA