Civilians have borne the brunt of three years of fighting between Cameroonian soldiers and Ambazonia Restoration Forces in British Southern Cameroons, Amnesty International said Wednesday.

The human rights watchdog collected witness accounts and analysed satellite images to assess the fallout from the fighting.

Releasing its report, Amnesty said: “Civilians (bear) the brunt of unlawful killings, kidnappings and widespread destruction of houses and villages.

“Government intervention has been limited, and there has been near-complete silence from the international community,” it added.

Members of the anglophone minority in the country’s westernmost provinces have long complained of being marginalised by the French-speaking majority and 88-year-old President Paul Biya, in power for 38 years.

Their demonstrations devolved into a bloody conflict, and rebels have extended attacks against police and soldiers to civilians.

Separatists accuse members of the Fulani ethnic group of siding with authorities and taking up arms against them.

“All parties to the conflict… have committed human rights violations and abuses, and civilians are caught in the middle,” Amnesty’s Central Africa researcher Fabien Offner said in a press release.

He cited an example in which separatists gunned down two elderly women and one in which Fulani vigilantes burned hundreds of homes and killed four people.

The report describes a surge in violence in February, with the Nwa subdivision on the northwest border with Nigeria targeted in particular.

“At least 4,200 people were displaced from seven villages in Nwa following attacks by Fulani vigilante groups in which at least eight people were killed” between February 22 and 26, it says.

The report cites the Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa (CHRDA) as saying Fulani herders carried out over a dozen raids on Nwa villages in less than a month.

Amnesty says satellite images from February confirmed the destruction of the villages.

“It is unclear whether Fulani vigilante groups attacked the villages or whether the destruction took place during clashes with armed separatist groups,” it said, however.

Amnesty also said separatists have targeted Mbororo people — a Fulani subgroup — in particular.

In the absence of official figures, Mbororo witness accounts report some 162 deaths, 300 homes burned and 102 kidnappings since 2017.

In the release, Offner pleaded for the government to take action to stop the violence, including accepting a proposed fact-finding mission by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

“The Cameroonian authorities must deliver on their responsibility to protect the entire population indiscriminately,” he said.

Reported by AFP with additional editing from Camcordnews

At least 20 Boko Haram fighters were killed when the insurgents raided a Cameroon army outpost in the country’s Far North region, an official who asked to remain anonymous said on Monday .

Villagers found several bodies of the insurgents on Monday in Blangafe, an island in the region after Cameroon military repelled Boko Haram attack on its outpost in Sagme, a remote locality in the region, according to the same source.

Eight soldiers were also killed and 13 others wounded during the attack on Saturday, Cameroon army spokesman, Colonel Didier Badjeck said in a statement made public on Monday.

There has been a steady increase in attacks on the military in the region since the death of Abubakar Shekau, the former leader of Boko Haram, according to the region’s governor Midjiyawa Bakari.

“The troops remain on high alert across the Far North region and beyond the borders in order to prevent possible new assaults by the terrorist Boko Haram whose manifestations are recurrent,” Badjeck said.

Source: Xinhuanet

 In the most gruesome incident Boko Haram has killed and burned the bodies of five Cameroon government army soldiers.

The Boko Haram militants also abducted women and children in the raid, officials say.

The Cameroonian government soldiers were burnt to death while sleeping in their vehicles during an overnight stop, officials told Cameroon Concord News.

The attack took place in Zigue town in the Far North region of the country.

Boko Haram Camerounaise is a new militant group waging a brutal insurgency in French Cameroun and calling for the release of all top political prisoners of Fulani and Hausa extractions including Marafa Hamidou Yaya former Minister of Territorial Administration.

The Biya Francophone regime has repeatedly said that the militants have been defeated, but attacks continue.

Senior military leaders looked visibly shaken when they saw the charred bodies during a recent visit to Zigue.

Boko Haram fighters came in trucks mounted with heavy weapons, before killing, burning, and looting, the Governor of the Far North region was quoted by our source in Maroua as saying.

Cameroon state radio and television has instead been commenting on a presidential decree appointing CPDM sycophants into positions of responsibility at the presidency of the republic.

By Fon Lawrence with files from Maroua

More details on the health of Cameroon’s President, Paul Biya, are gradually emerging.

The 88-year-old is in a very bad shape. Sources close to the Yaoundé dictator have informed the Cameroon Concord News Group correspondent in Geneva that it will be a miracle if the ailing president emerges from his multiple and complicated health challenges.

According to the sources who spoke on condition of anonymity, Mr. Biya arrived Geneva almost dead. He was very tired and could not even walk. He was put on oxygen upon arrival to enable him breathe. His condition was already concerning before he arrived in Geneva.

“Even during the flights, there were concerns that he might die mid air.  The pictures that were sent to the media about the head of state and his wife leaving the country were designed to give the impression that Mr. Biya was in good health,” the sources said.

“The president could not go into the airplane all by himself. He was carried into the plane. He was tired. He had been down for weeks. Members of his entourage were scared that he might give up the ghost even before the plane landed in Switzerland,” the sources said.

Meanwhile, there is total panic in Yaoundé. Many people are gradually coming to terms with the new reality. Many are already seeing the end of an era that has brought more pain than prosperity to millions of Cameroonians.

The Cameroon Concord News Group’s correspondent in Yaoundé, Rita Akana, has been speaking with some CPDM stalwarts and most of them are not hiding their fears and concerns.

“Mr. Biya’s death will not come as a surprise to many of us. He has been in reclusion for most of last year. The Coronavirus and domestic problems made it hard for him to go out for any real medical check-up. He knew that with his age, he was vulnerable. This time around, things are really falling apart. There is no other way to hide the truth. The cat is really out of the bag,” a CPDM militant told Ms. Akana.

 “Many people are already dead because of the terrible things they have done. They know Mr. Biya’s demise will bring about radical change in the country and many of them might end up in jail. Things will never be the same again in this country,” the senior CPDM militant said.

“The falsehood in which we have lived over the last four decades is gradually catching up with us. In Cameroon, political language is designed to make lies sound like the truth and murder made to be respectable. This is the tragedy that falsehood can deliver to a people. Even the press releases that were issued that the Head of State would return last Sunday were just designed to fool the people. The authors of those releases knew that Mr. Biya’s crowd of diseases had pinned him down in a Geneva clinic. We are now hearing that he might not make it, given his age,” the sources added.

Meanwhile, within the government, there is infighting with some indicating that a vacancy should be declared, while others are reluctant to go down that path not because Mr. Biya might stage a comeback, but because his constitutional replacement is in worse shape than Mr. Biya.

Sources close to the Etoudi Palace say Chantal is now the person giving instructions to the Secretary General on the day-to-day running of government affairs. Since she is the only person who is allowed to be around the president, she is using her privileged position to run the country and Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, the Secretary General, who owes his position to Chantal Biya, is obliged to play ball with her.

But the frustration within the ruling party with the way Chantal is running the show might soon boil over. Many party stalwarts know that the game is over and they want a change in direction.

Some have indicated that when and if the old man kicks the bucket, the Anglophone crisis must be given the pride of place among the problems that need to be addressed urgently.

They argue that many people have been killed, especially as some two thousand army soldiers have been sent to an early grave, and thousands maimed. They understand that dialogue with the separatists will reduce the pressure on the soldiers.

Some CPDM stalwarts are already calling for a commencement of talks with Sisiku  Julius Ayuk Tabe, the poster boy of the high-level insurgency that has caused the economy to haemorrage  money and jobs, so that the fighters on the ground can know that things are going in the right direction.

The need for some form of talks comes as the country’s air force has refused to obey the Minister of Defense’s instruction that the air force be deployed in Manyu Division. The air force has argued that Manyu remains a rough terrain to its officers and that its deployment will not change much in terms of results, a source at the defense ministry has hinted Cameroon Intelligence Report.

Manyu has been a nightmare to the soldiers and behind the scenes, many CPDM stalwarts are laying the blame of the orgy of killings that is playing out in Southern Cameroons at the door steps of the dying Biya.

Many accuse him of extreme arrogance and intolerance. Some claim that his arrogance and dictatorial tendencies have ruined his health and left the country on the brink of a major implosion.

“We are sure that if we engage with Mr. Ayuk Tabe and his colleagues in jail, a few things will change. We must demonstrate to the fighters on the ground that the government is now serious and willing to make concessions. The fighters’ change of strategy has sent many of our soldiers to an early grave and this is demoralizing,” a government official said on Monday.

Over the last two months, many army soldiers have been slaughtered like pigs in the two English-speaking regions of the country, prompting the Minister of Defense to hold a security meeting with senior security officials in the West Region.

The Minister of Defense, Joseph Beti Assomo, who at the beginning of the war arrogantly declared that his soldiers would implement the president’s decision without batting an eyelid, has been very disappointed with the results posted by his soldiers.

Many have been killed, thousands maimed and Ambazonian Defense forces are now controlling large swaths of land in the two English-speaking regions of the country.

Though the crisis in the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon is on every mind in the country, Boko Haram’s brazen attacks and atrocities are causing government officials to lose sleep.

More than fifteen soldiers have been killed over the last three days, but the most gruesome incident is the killing and burning of the bodies of some five soldiers in Zigue in the Far North region of the country.

Government officials also believe that if the awful attacks will stop, then they must seek ways to talk with the religious sect that is striking fear in every mind in that region of the country.

Cameroon is going through challenging times. Many people hold that Biya is to blame for all the wars the country is engaged in. Millions hold that a better Cameroon will only emerge if Mr. Biya dies and many really want him to return home, but in an expensive coffin.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

The announcement that Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya, will not be returning to the country anytime soon, has sent many of his ardent supporters into a deep depression.

The supporters, many of whom are crooks and criminals being supported by a system designed to engineer and sustain corruption of the highest order in the country, are concerned about what will become of them in case Mr. Biya does not come out of his deep coma after a complicated surgery that has left Swiss medical experts doubting their own ability.

The crooks and criminals in the system had begun chunning out long press releases on the president’s return following announcements by well-informed media organizations that the Yaoundé strong man was in a deep coma and could be out of the country a lot longer than expected.

In their usual deceptive manner, the crooks who have hijacked the ruling party, the CPDM, had to invent ways of making more money by transporting hungry supporters from Yaoundé, Obala and other towns to the airport to welcome a president who is completely out of touch with his own people.

Some of these supporters lined up the streets of Yaoundé, singing and provoking other citizens who do not share their perspective of life.

The ruling party has held many Cameroonians by the balls by impoverishing them and letting them know that salvation can only come if they join the large crowd of beggars and criminals who have made the stealing of state funds a way of life.

The pseudo-demonstration of support to the president was simply to prove that the man who has ruined the country and the lives of the country’s youth was still popular.

But their singing and dancing were cut short when instructions from the Secretary General at the Presidency to the organizers of such unpalatable drama urged them to take their comedy to somewhere else as the president will not becoming home anytime soon.

Fame Ndongo and his team of “agents provocateurs” are still licking their infested wounds. Their bloated egos have been deflated. Their pseudo-champion has been pinned down by a bunch of diseases in a Swiss hospital and after a month or so, he could be declared incapacitated and incapable of leading the country.

The supporters who showed up yesterday where actually there to end their CFAF 2,000, but now that Mr. Biya has not got any plans to return to Cameroon anytime soon, all of them have been sent home without a salary.

There are huge fights as to how those from distant towns will return to their homes. The cars hired to transport the desperate singers and dancers were not paid and the owners are screaming at the top of their lungs for their money to be paid. They have simply refused to do the return trip and like Paul Biya, the hungry supporters will not be heading home anytime soon.

Speaking to the Cameroon Concord News Group correspondent in Yaoundé, a source at the Presidency said that the silence at the State House was deafening, with many officials just avoiding to have a long face, though everybody now knows that the news from Geneva is not good.

A CPDM militant who has spoken to our London-based correspondent via phone has indicated that the uncertain and unsettling quiet is killing senior officials of the party and government.

“Though no clear message has been put out there, the uncertainty triggered by the news that Biya will not be coming home anytime soon is killing many people,” the CPDM stalwart said on condition of anonymity.

“The silence is deafening and many people are genuinely concerned. This is the first time that the country will be going through such challenging times. Our institutions have been weakened by long years of political erosion and we really doubt if they will stand this stress test,” he stressed.

“Though the constitution clearly spells out who will take over, the next of kin is as sick as the president himself. Even the Speaker of the National Assembly is really struggling with massive diseases which can terminate his life at any time. These people seem to have chosen the same time to be sick,” he regretted.

“Everything seems to be at a standstill. The country is frozen. Not many government officials are answering calls. Nobody wants to talk and this is only fueling the rumor. For how long are we going to live in this deafening silence? Somebody has to talk. Cameroonians should be updated on their president’s health. It is now clear that the short private visit to Europe is morphing into a long unsettling health tourism,” the desperate CPDM militant said.

“There is nothing wrong being sick. We all will be sick some day. We cannot continue arguing that the president is out of the country on a private stay in Europe. This prank belongs to the past. Cameroonians cannot be fools forever. The cat is out of the bag,” he concluded.

From every indication, the ruling crime syndicate is working behind the scenes, trying to come up with another bunch of lies that will prepare the minds of the citizens.

Dark clouds are gathering over the country and the rain that will fall will surely trigger chaos and a bloodbath. The country has been misled for decades and Mr. Biya’s slow and painful slide to the world beyond is troubling and it is likely to bring out the worst in many Cameroonians.

Ethnic tensions have been on the rise for years and even within the government, there are huge divisions which, if not properly managed, could transform the country into another Rwanda or the Democratic Republic of Congo.

If Mr. Biya exits the stage unceremoniously, he will be leaving behind a fractured country with many conflicts threatening to balkanize the nation.

Southern Cameroonians are fighting very hard to walk away from a hastily stitched union with a dictatorial East Cameroon. The high-level insurgency fully funded by the Southern Cameroonian Diaspora has already claimed the lives of more than 2,000 soldiers while some 5,000 civilians have been sent to an early grave.

Northerners, for their part, are looking forward to reclaiming power, arguing that the south has had it for almost forty years.

On their agenda, is a huge revenge project against the Betis who orchestrated a massive massacre of Northerners after the 1984 coup d’etat.

Meanwhile, Boko Haram is stepping up its attacks on soldiers. The religious sect wants to gain more grounds, especially at this time when the country is deeply divided.

Cameroon is facing tough headwinds. If care is not taken, the country might implode with the disappearance of the man who has engineered the worst corruption machinery in the country’s history.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

The much-sung Biya’s return to Cameroon today July 25, 2021, has been postponed indefinitely and no explanation was provided by the country’s authorities.

Mr. Biya was expected to return today after a so-called private visit abroad which many skeptics say is more of a medical visit than a private visit.

A source close to the Cameroonian dictator who has ruled the country for almost 40 years has disclosed that the ailing Biya cannot sit for seven hours on the airplane after a major brain surgery.

The source added that Mr. Biya was slowly coming out of his deep coma, but he was too weak to do anything on his own.

The Cameroon Concord News Group’s Paris Correspondent who is currently in Geneva has reported that there is panic within the ailing president’s entourage, something which underscores that there are dark clouds gathering over the country.

He added that though most of them were tight-lipped, it could be deciphered from their silence that there was something ominous in the offing.

A hospital source in Geneva also told our correspondent that given his age, the chances of Mr. Biya recovering were as slim as the chances of a real national dialogue taking place in Cameroon.

The source, which spoke on condition of anonymity, insisted that at his age and given the number of illnesses he was harboring, it would be a miracle for him to live for a long time.

He stressed that within government circles, the issue they were facing was how to get Mr. Biya back home safely to demonstrate that he could still run the show.

Now that he cannot conveniently sit on an airplane, his next option will be to get him on a train to the nearest port city for him to get a cruise ship back home, but that will take a few days and the news about his failing health will be spreading like wildfire.

Supporters of the corrupt leader are hugely disappointed. They had donned their party uniforms today to welcome him, but to their greatest dismay, they were advised to head home with no clear and convincing news about their corrupt hero.

A source in Yaoundé has informed the Cameroon Concord News Group that many people will lose sleep today. The indefinite postponement of the dictator’s return has left many wondering and dejected.

“We are finally accepting that there is something brewing in Geneva. This is the first time Mr. Biya’s return to his native land has been postponed,” the source said.

“I have tonnes of butterflies in my stomach and many of our party members are really worried. We have been told in strict confidence that the president might not be in good shape to undertake such a long journey. How is he therefore going to return?” the stressed out CPDM stalwart quipped.

“I pray he does not return in a coffin. He has been sick lately and many of us have been scared. I know many of my party members are sincerely sympathizing with our national president, but the crooks among us are simply thinking of their fate if things go the wrong way,” he said.

“Some of these fellows have robbed the nation blind and they know that if things go the wrong way, they will either be fleeing the country or heading to jail. This is not a good situation,” he added.

Cameroon is heading in the wrong direction. Mr. Biya’s demise will surely trigger an orgy of killing as all the other ethnic groups are clearly pitted against the Betis who have run the country’s economy aground.

Another source close to the French embassy advised the Cameroon Concord News Group that applications for French visas have gone up ever since news of Mr. Biya’s failing health made the headlines.

According to the source, government officials are asking for visas to prepare themselves just in case the architect of the massive corruption in Cameroon exits unceremoniously.

Under Mr. Biya, Cameroon has earned the unpopular tag as one of the most corrupt countries on the face of the earth and the country has once earned the humiliating distinction as the most corrupt country in the world for two years in a row.

Mr. Biya’s declining health is a real torture to many who have willingly participated in the corruption that has become the country’s hallmark.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from Geneva and Yaounde

Nearly everything about the funeral was not familiar with the Cameroonian community in the UK. It was not about first Holy Communion or christenings or a wedding. It was a funeral. But this time around for a Manyu Princess-Mama Bessem Tataw!

During Saturday’s funeral service for Mama Mercy Bessem Tataw, her daughter Vivian Mambo remained steadfast as ever supported by her husband Charles Mambo both of whom were socially distanced from the sparse Cameroonian congregation.

Until Saturday 24 July 2021, Cameroonian funerals in the UK were simply to move around with a begging bowl. Correspondingly, the long months of the Covid-19 crisis have made virtual send-offs horribly commonplace. Funerals were all moved to Zoom and Facebook. But this was not the case of Saturday’s event attended by a sell-out crowd including ex-students of Saker Baptist College.

Watching the progress of Mama Mercy Tataw’s coffin, the fact is that there was everything: consolations of hugs and belted-out hymns, a scrum of shoulders to weep on and old faces to recognize.

As it happened: Mama Mercy Bessem Tataw laid to rest in Hendon Cemetery

The United Kingdom Sakerrettes alumni group acting as ambassadors and trusted advocates for Saker Baptist College receiving the horse-drawn hearse that grazed the streets of Mill Hill, London befitting of Royalty. And inside the white casket drawn by white horses to the land of Manyu ancestors laid a Queen-Mama Mercy Bessem Tataw

Mrs. Vivian Mambo and Charles Mambo led the Cameroonian community in one minute of silence in memory of late Mama Mercy Bessem Tataw before her funeral and burial at Hendon Cemetery.

Members of the Cameroonian community in the UK pay tribute to the late Mama Bessem Tataw

Seven Cameroon government soldiers have been killed in a suspected Boko Haram attack in the Far North region.

It has been more than a week since there were clashes with the Nigerian Islamic sect who have regained ground for several months.

Our correspondent in Maroua who confirmed today’s early morning attack said Boko Haram fighters raided the Mechanized Infantry Division at Bim in Sagmé, Fotokol district at around 4:00 a.m. local time (5:00 a.m. GMT).

Cameroon Concord News gathered that the assailants came in large numbers with vehicles and motorcycles.

This deadly attack comes after a week of calm. On July 15, Boko Haram elements attacked a school and an army outpost in Talla-Katchi.

Between July 19 and 20, approximately 50 Boko Haram members laid down their arms and surrendered in two waves to the Kolofata vigilance committee in the Mayo-Sava department, of which Mora is the main town.

By Rita Akana with files

There is total demoralization and confusion among soldiers and politicians in Yaoundé as Amba fighters continue to chop down Cameroon’s defense forces.

Over the last month, the Ambazonian Defense Forces have proven that they can strike the country’s soldiers wherever and whenever they want.

Thousands of soldiers have been killed by Ambazonian Defense Forces who are fighting for the total liberation of their homeland.

The fighters have even started going beyond their territory to attack army soldiers in East Cameroon.

The fighters have grown in both confidence and experience and many of them now hold that Cameroon’s army soldiers are as good as boy’s scouts.

Given the brazen attacks  and the killing of many soldiers, the Ministry of Defense has decided to organize a one-week defense seminar in Dschang, chaired by the minister of Defense, Joseph Beti Assomo, who smuggled himself into Dschang for fear of being attacked by Ambazonian Defense Forces.

The meeting, which is also attended by senior military officials, will enable participants to take a long and hard look at the military’s strategy which has not delivered any meaningful results.

By Rita Akana