President Biya has reportedly ordered the minister for justice to stop all legal proceedings against disgraced former minister Basile Atangana Kouna.

In a correspondence addressed to Minister Laurent Esso, Minister-Secretary General at the Presidency of the Republic, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh wrote “I have the honour to convey to you the high directives of the Head of State, prescribing the halt of proceedings against Basile Atangana Kouna, in the case in question, I would therefore be grateful if you would inform the President of the Special Criminal Court, the Public Prosecutor at the said court and the Minister of Finance, with a view to implementing the practical arrangements for the transfer to the public treasury of money in the bank accounts of the person concerned, at the amount determined by the examining magistrate and to report to me on your diligence.”

Dismissed from the cabinet on March 2, 2018, Basile Atangana Kouna former Minister of Water and Energy was arrested some few days later in Nigeria while trying to flee from the CPDM crime syndicate.

The former minister is being prosecuted for multiple offences ranging from corruption to embezzlement with the most popular being the Camwater scandal where it is alleged that the Beti Ewondo political elite embezzled FCFA 1.2 billion.

In October 2019, Basile Atangana’s shares at the Société Générale and BGFI, luxury vehicles and land titles were seized by the Special Criminal court. Cameroon Intelligence Report understands that the assets confiscated amounted to more than CFAF 825 million.

In September 2013, Haman Adama, former Minister of Basic Education was released after returning 212.5 million CFA francs.

However, it should be pointed out that dropping of charges after reimbursement is not always automatic deep within the French Cameroun CPDM criminal structure as several former senior officials continue to languish in prison despite the restitution of their stolen wealth.

Depicting the Special Criminal Court established to prosecute alleged corrupt government officials and the several Alibabas responsible for pilfering from the public treasury as the President’s court is no misnomer. Cameroon Concord News and Cameroon Intelligence Report call it the President’s court because it is one instrument of power through which the President is reining in on perceived opponents from within his CPDM power conduit.

 An attribute of a genuine court is the fairness of the trial proceedings in cases which are brought before the court for trial. It is not the number of convictions entered against accused.  A court is legitimate and recognized as such because of its exercise of judicial, executive, legislative and administrative independence.  A court that is independent must be accessible to all citizens after all, is equality before the law, not a constitutionally protected value? The Special Criminal Court is lacking in these attributes of impartiality, judicial independence and accessibility.  It is perceived more as the President’s Court than a Court of Justice.

Establishing this court was President Biya’s way of saving himself the embarrassment of being humiliated during his perennial trips abroad as the President of the most corrupt country in the world.  This ranking of the country as the most corrupt or one of the most corrupt countries had a potential to hamper President Biya’s personal pecuniary interests far from the borders of Cameroon.  There was therefore a personal interest need to establish the court.  Another personal interest need was to avail himself of a legal tool under his direct control to consolidate absolute power, blackmail potential rebels and competitors within the system and to stifle any form of institutional opposition. He perceived the court as a tool with which to whitewash his more than thirty-eight years of corrupt governance and the rape of the economy.

The fight against corruption using the Special Criminal Court has afforded Paul Biya justification contest in the next institutionally flawed elections in order to eternalize power.  True to the name the President’s Court, the President has exclusive preserve in referring cases to the Special Court and the power to terminate them. He decides who will be arrested, who will be investigated and who will serve time and who will not.

In one instance, he ordered a detained Minister Bapes Bapes released from remand custody at Kondengui when a warrant was issued for his arrest without the presidential fiat.   Titus Edzoa a former Secretary-General at the Presidency of the Republic benefitted from a purported Presidential pardon whose primary purpose was the release of a French citizen Thiery Atangana from jail.

By Soter Agbaw-Ebai

VP  Yerima asks Ambazonians To Welcome Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Parolin  to Mass in the Cathedral in Bamenda

Fellow Southern Cameroonians,

The Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Parolin will celebrate the Eucharist in the Cathedral of Bamenda, during which he will install the pallium on the Archbishop of the Diocese, Andrew NkeaFuanya. His Eminence Cardinal Parolin is the highest-ranking foreign dignitary to visit the Southern Cameroons whilst under occupation in a revolution that started more than four years ago. Archbishop Andrew Nkea is the only high-ranking member of the clergy to have visited our leaders in detention despite an objection from the President of French Cameroun, Paul Biya.

Fellow Southern Cameroonians, The Vatican noted in a recent statement that the visit of Cardinal Parolin is meant to show—once again and in the context of the current humanitarian emergency caused by the pandemic—the attention of the Church and Pope Francis for the African continent, a land rich in humanity but marked by great suffering. As your Vice President, I am urging the people in the Northern zone to come out and show Cardinal Parolin that we, the people of Southern Cameroons, belong to the body of Christ.

We should also use Cardinal Parolin’s visit to Bamenda to show the world the true nature of the genocide in the Southern Cameroons. The Southern Cameroons Interim Government is for the Catholic faith and believes that Archbishop Andrew Nkea has a prophetic voice and should use this historic visit to show that one can be Roman Catholic and, at the same time, Southern Cameroonian. As a government, we are imploring Archbishop Nkea to articulate the plight of our people forcefully with His Eminence Cardinal Parolin.

Let me end by quoting Blessed John Paul II. In 1978, he traveled to Warsaw and told millions of Poles: ‘You can take back your country if you demand it.’The Poles were fighting against long odds – the military might of the Soviet Union itself. But they won their battle.Fellow Southern Cameroonians, you can take back your country if you attend the Mass celebrated by Cardinal Parolin Mass in the Cathedral in Bamenda.

God Bless you,

Dabney Yerima

Vice President

Federal Republic of Ambazonia

Prime Minister Dion Ngute Joseph has welcomed the Secretary of state of the Holy See, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, to Yaounde on behalf of the Head of State, President Paul Biya.

His Eminence Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State touched down at the Yaoundé Nsimalen International Airport at 5:30 pm Thursday, January 28, 2021, on his maiden working visit to Cameroon.

According to a program made public by Mgr. Jervis Kebei Kewi, General Secretary of the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon, the Pope’s envoy is on a seven-day visit that will take him to the Archdiocese of Bamenda in the country’s restive North West Region.

On Friday, January 29, 2021, Cardinal Pietro Parolin will celebrate Mass at the Nunciature before a meeting with Bishops at 9:00 am.

Later at 1:00 pm, the prelate will meet Cameroon’s Head of State, President Paul Biya at the Unity Palace.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin is expected at Foyer de L’Esperance Yaoundé at 4:45 pm ahead of a 6 pm meeting with Joseph Dion Ngute, Prime Minister, Head of Government.

The Prime Minister will offer an official supper in the name of the Head of State at 7:00 pm.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin will travel to Bamenda by plane on Saturday afternoon after he would have celebrated Mass at the Minor Basilica Mary Queen of Apostles, with the Bishops. Upon arrival in Bamenda, the Vatican’s secretary of state will meet with the clergy of the Bamenda Episcopal Province.

During a holy mass in Bamenda on Sunday, Cardinal Pietro Parolin will impose the Pallium on Mgr. Andrew Fuanya Nkea, Archbishop of Bamenda.

The august guest will fly back to Yaoundé on Sunday afternoon to be treated to supper at the residence of Mgr. Jean Mbarga, Archbishop of Yaoundé.

On Monday, February 1, 2021, Cardinal Pietro Parolin will celebrate Mass in the Carmelite Monastery in Etoudi at 7:30 am. It will be followed by a Lectio Magistralis at the Catholic University of Central Africa, on the Diplomacy of the Holy See.

A Mass with the Religious at the Yaoundé Cathedral on Tuesday morning will pave the way for Cardinal Pietro Parolin’s departure for Rome early Wednesday morning.

Source: Cameroon Info.Net

African Nations Championship (CHAN) continues in Cameroon despite Ongoing conflict. Cameroon’s government has deployed its troops to serve as security for the African Nations Championships (CHAN), which began on January 16, 2021, citing concerns of violence from threats levied by separatist groups.

The factions vow to stop the football matches in English-speaking regions, just the latest development in a nearly five-year-long armed conflict. The Cameroonian government, led by Paul Biya and regional governors of English-speaking areas such as Bernard Okalia Bilai in South West Cameroon, is ensuring the public that games will be played in safety (Africanews 2021). Securing the games is a complicated endeavor, though, because it forces officials to guard against hazards from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as well as the possibility of violence from dissenters.

While the Cameroon people are, sadly, somewhat accustomed to violence stemming from Boko Haram that grips the Northern part of their Nation, they now face an increasingly dangerous conflict from the separatists. Cameroon’s government officially declared war against the Anglophone separatist movement at the end of 2017, yet the conflict continues. As of 2019, as many as 20 emerging separatist groups, including the Ambazonia Military Forces (AMF), joined the fight to carve an independent nation out of Cameroon along the Country’s Nigerian border (Foreign Policy 2019). It has drawn little international attention despite the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people since the beginning of the Nation’s internal struggle in 2016 (UN 2020).

The Anglophone Conflict has pitted Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions, the Northwest and Southwest, against the Francophone-dominated government. It began due to frustration and resentment toward the French-speaking government among Cameroon’s English-speaking communities due to what they see as systemic, Anglophonic discrimination in the Country’s education and legal systems. The government violently cracked down on Anglophone minority protests five years ago, and these disputes soon turned into a full-fledged armed conflict in 2018 (IDMC 2020).

Aggression has not been one-sided, however, as the separatist groups have launched many attacks. In October 2020, it was likely a group of these fighters who attacked an international bilingual school, Mother Francisca, in the Southwestern region of Cameroon that killed eight children and injured a dozen more (UN 2020). In response to these types of raids, government forces have often resorted to using live ammunition, detainment, torturing, and other tactics on English-speaking, military-aged men and those they suspect to be AMF collaborators.

In addition to these human rights violations, the vital economic and military routes from Cameroon to Nigeria have become the primary pathways for refugees fleeing unrest caused by both separatist and government forces.

Innocent civilians in rural areas are suffering, and many are out of reach of aid organizations (FP 2019). The fighting is displacing Anglophone and Francophone communities. This upheaval has depopulated vast rural, Anglophone regions and brought the combat closer to urban centers (FP 2019).

Cameroon Football Federation in the English-speaking southwest region, are working with government officials to keep the CHAN events safe. Thus far, this has been relatively effective. A year-long pandemic, years of Boko Haram terror in the North, and other pressing issues facing Cameroon notwithstanding, the main priority during CHAN will be continuing to prevent the separatist threats of violence from materializing. This reality highlights just how pervasive this conflict has become.

Source: The Organization for World Peace

Navy Captain Atonfack Geumo Cyrille Serge, Head of Communication Division, Cameroon’s Ministry of Defence says four children killed by security forces in Bamenda on Saturday, January 23, 2021, were “terrorists”.

In a press release Wednesday, January 27, 2021, Atonfack said elements of the 5th Gendarmerie Region carried out Saturday’s killings at Meta Quarters in Bamenda.

“The Ministry of Defence hereby informs: in the afternoon of Saturday 23 January 2021 at about 2:00 pm, and following some information received from the population, elements of the 5th Gendarmerie Region carried out a preventive control operation in the Meta Quarter neighbourhood in Bamenda II subdivision, Mezam Division of the North West Region,”  Atonfack wrote.

“The objective of this operation was to capture a group of terrorists gathered in an abandoned building on the orders of the nicknamed ‘General Tiger’ who were planning an assault on the T-Junction Police Post,” the military spokesperson furthered. “As military vehicles approached, these armed individuals who were busy consuming hard drugs were taken by surprise, and immediately opened fire on the elements of the Defence Forces, who provided an energetic and appropriate response.”

Atonfack said, “The confrontation led to 04 terrorists neutralized, several others injured and on the run, while tens of M21 S and FAL type weapons were retrieved. Investigations carried out by local authorities reveal that the abandoned building which was the epicenter of the skirmish was regularly used by the terrorist group as a confinement centre for kidnapped persons before their transfer to fortified camps located in the forest.”

Locals say those killed were not separatist fighters

On Tuesday, the mortal remains of 18-year-old Fon Blaise, one of the four teenagers killed by security forces in Meta Quarter, was paraded along the streets of Bamenda. The young people bearing the casket said their peers killed had nothing to do with the separatist movement.

Fon Blaise who lived in Meta Quarter was killed along with Ngalim Alucious, Ntakah Nelly Mbah, and Sale Sadam from Old Town in Saturday’s raid. Local reports however confirm that the quartet was smoking weed in an abandoned building usually used by armed separatist fighters.

Informed of the presence of separatist fighters in the said building, soldiers reportedly arrived when the outlaws had fled leaving behind the four killed.

“However, the armed fighters, two in number as reported by eyewitnesses in the vicinity seemed to have been tipped of the coming of the military into Meta Quarter. As they were running away from the abandoned building, they fired two shots into the air, confirming their presence in the area. It would appear the military received the gunshots as a red light and decided to fire at whoever was in the building or around it,” journalists Sah Terence reported.

“A popular petrol seller who goes by the name Tanyi and keeps his fuel somewhere in the abandoned house was almost shot by the military as he went on his knees with hands up shouting in French “je suis venu pour prendre mon petrol” he was searched and noticed to be telling the truth and asked to get away.”

Soldiers however shot and killed those who were met smoking weed in the abandoned building. Although locals say those killed were civilians, the military maintains they were armed separatists.

Source: Cameroon Info.Net

Victor Fotso’s daughter is reportedly seeking a probe into the circumstances of his death, Cameroon Concord News has gathered from reliable sources with ties to the Bamileke family.

After having fought bitterly over the will of the French Cameroun business tycoon, who passed away in an American Hospital in Neuilly-sur-Seine in France on 19 March 2020, the Fotso dynasty is now heading in for more turbulence, reports Africa Intelligence.

One of Victor Fotso’s daughters has written to the public prosecutor in Paris, to complain about the circumstances in which he died and also raising a finger against Victor Fotso’s high-speed burial and the validity of the French Cameroun oligarch’s wills.

As was with the case of the late Soppo Priso, the hostilities now concern the validity of the different wills Fotso made.  Victor Fotso’s end has precipitated a three-act inheritance war being played out between Paris, Washington and Bandjoun under the watchful gaze of his partner in crime President Paul Biya.

By Chi Prudence Asong

At least two policemen were injured by a roadside improvised explosive device in Southern Cameroons, according to local officials on Tuesday.

The members of the Francophone dominated security were conducting a routine patrol in the Ambazonia seaside resort city of Limbe when the device exploded, officials said.

They were taken to Limbe Regional Hospital for treatment. There was no word on their condition.

Ambazonia Restoration Forces, who claimed responsibility for the attack, released a video of the blast on social media early Tuesday stating that it was part of their strategy to disrupt the Africa Nations Championship (CHAN) which is underway in the Central African nation.

Togo and Rwanda are scheduled to clash in their final Group C match in Limbe Tuesday evening despite repeated threats by separatists who have been clashing with government forces since 2017 in a bid to create an independent nation in Cameroon’s two Anglophone regions of Northwest and Southwest.

Residents said, streets have been deserted and most of the CHAN matches in the town played in scanty stadiums after separatists announced a lockdown last week.

Source: Xinhaunet with additional editing from Camcordnews

At least 53 people died of burns when a passenger bus collided with a truck carrying adulterated fuel in western Cameroon on Wednesday. The collision led to the two vehicles going up in flames, governor of the region, Awa Fonka Augustine said.

“The dead are not identified, they are all burned,” he said at a press briefing. The governor also said 29 people were seriously injured in the accident which occurred in Dschang.

Awa Fonka Augustine added that this could “be due to fog” and that the van had “a braking defect”, according to initial findings.

The 70-seater bus hit the oncoming van around 3:30 a.m. local time at the Dschang Cliff, an area known to be dangerous for drivers because of its many hills and gullies.

At the end of December 2020, at least 37 people, including 10 women and four children, were killed in another bus accident in this Central African nation.

Source: Africa News

The Coalition for Dialogue and Negotiations congratulates Secretary Antony John Blinken for his Senate confirmation today as the 71st Secretary of State of the United States.

Secretary Blinken is deeply qualified and is no stranger to Africa and the situation in Cameroon. During his Senate confirmation hearing he spoke in great detail on the importance of deepening United States engagement with Africa. Regarding the escalating conflict in the Southern Cameroons, we particularly welcomed Secretary Blinken’s commitment to being fully engaged in seeking a durable solution.

The Coalition for Dialogue and Negotiations reiterates its deep commitment in working with Secretary Blinken and the entire United States government in seeking a lasting, negotiated solution that addresses the root causes of this armed conflict. We offer our heartfelt congratulations and best wishes to the Secretary as he undertakes a very difficult challenge.

About the Coalition for Dialogue and Negotiations

The Coalition for Dialogue and Negotiations (CDN) is an international non-governmental organization (NGO) with specific goal to facilitate dialogue and negotiation towards ending the war in the Southern Cameroons. CDN is made of professionals from all walks of life and over 20 partner organizations worldwide advocating for an end to the war. CDN members will work with its partners to strengthen international involvement in resolving the conflict and building durable peace in the conflict affected territories.

The Biya regime freed a French businessman whose 17-year imprisonment on corruption charges became a source of tension between the two countries and drew appeals from the then French President François Hollande and the UN human rights agency.

Michel Thierry Atangana was released from jail in the capital, Yaoundé and his family, lawyers and many political observers have maintained that his arrest and imprisonment were purely political.

Today, Michel Thierry Atangana, the so-called French businessman of Cameroonian origin who spent 17 years behind bars in Cameroon, is battling Yaoundé to extract 57bn CFA francs (€86m) in compensation over a decades-old financing mechanism.

Cameroon Intelligence Report understands Atangana had been working in Cameroon on a motorway development project when he was accused of embezzling 1.1 billion CFA francs (90 million euros) of public money alongside former health minister Titus Edzoa.

Before their imprisonment, Edzoa, a former adviser to President Paul Biya, resigned from his cabinet position and announced he would challenge Biya in the 1997 election. Atangana was his campaign manager and at this juncture nothing was mentioned of him being a French citizen in a country where dual nationality is not accepted.

Minister Edzoa Titus and Thierry Atangana were due to complete their initial prison terms in 2012 but new charges were brought against them and both were found guilty and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in October 2013. The decision prompted an outcry from France, the UN rights commission and international rights groups who denounced the trial as unfair and politically motivated.

Atangana and Edzoa have always denied the allegations against them.

The release of the two came after the French government forced Biya to sign a special decree to pardon a category of prisoners – those sentenced for more than ten years on charges of embezzling public funds – as part of celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of the reunification of British Southern Cameroons and French Cameroun.

In January 2013, French President François Hollande described Atangana’s detention as “unacceptable” and urged Biya to “push for a solution”.

Reported by Soter Agbaw-Ebai with files from Africa Intelligence and France 24