8, September 2020
Southern Cameroonians to boycott La Republique du Cameroun’s regional elections 0
The people of Southern Cameroons will not allow French Cameroun officials to stage any so-called regional elections in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.
The Vice President of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government on Monday also appealed to all Southern Cameroons traditional rulers not to take part in the election, saying Ambazonia Restoration Forces would punish any Chief or Fon who participate in the election or arrange them.
The 87 year old French Cameroun dictator Paul Biya on Monday announced La Republique du Cameroun’s first regional elections in December, including Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia in the grip of a war he declared against British Southern Cameroonians.
The indirect elections on December 6 in the country will put in place councils provided for in a 1996 constitution in a move towards decentralisation but not yet implemented.
The Southern Cameroons Interim Government and other Ambazonian factions have said they will not allow the people of Southern Cameroons to take part in the poll, which French Cameroun President Paul Biya declared for December.
Speaking exclusively to Cameroon Concord News Group on Monday, the Southern Cameroons Vice President Dabney Yerima declared the French Cameroun’s electoral commission known as ELECAM an “illegal body.”
The people of Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia and their Interim Government have said they would continue to resist anything French Cameroun until the international community recognizes the independence of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.
By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai in Dusselddorf
8, September 2020
Boko Haram Attacks leave French Cameroun villagers in need of aid 0
Cameroonian villagers along the Nigerian border need humanitarian aid after deadly Boko Haram attacks displaced at least 7,000 people, authorities and rights groups say. Villagers have been fleeing their homes since early August because of attacks, which killed at least 22 people and wounded 29.
Several humanitarian groups, including the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), handed out goats and bags of rice, among other goods, to more than a hundred people gathered Monday in the town of Mora
Cameroon authorities say a suicide bomber hit the village of Goldavi last week, killing seven people and wounding 14 others. For the past seven years, the village hosted 18,000 displaced people who sought refuge from Boko Haram, according to the United Nations.
Sixty-four-year-old Cameroonian Maahamat Doudje was among those who fled Goldavi.
He said after receiving three goats and a bag of rice, he is sure of having at least one meal a day for the next few weeks.
FAO representative Fulbert Haiba Daliwa said the group is working to help those whose livelihoods have been disturbed by the militants. Many people, he said, have lost everything to Boko Haram.
Forty-eight-year-old Alida Wakilou, a spokeswoman for female displaced in Goldavi, said the women and children have been living in hunger since last week’s attack. They need safe places to go, where they can grow maize, millet and onions to feed their families, she added.
In August, authorities blamed Boko Haram for an attack that killed 17 people and wounded six others in a camp for displaced in the border village of Nguetchewe.
Spokesman for Cameroon’s military Cyrille Atonfack said troops have been sent to assist civilians in areas still prone to Boko Haram attacks.
Atonfack said Boko Haram has destroyed hospitals and chased away health workers on Cameroon’s border with Nigeria, so the military offers food aid and medical and psychological care to victims.
The U.N. said Boko Haram attacks in the Lake Chad Basin have killed more than 30,000 people and displaced over three million in the past decade.
Source: VOA