Africa’s oldest and second longest serving leader, Cameroonian President Paul Biya, celebrated his 88th birthday on February 13. Ceremonies were organized in Cameroon’s major towns, with loyal government ministers and young people pledging their support, while those opposed to his 50-year rule demanded the octogenarian hand over power. Biya is blamed by some for the several crises his country is facing but his supporters maintain that he is a godsent leader.

Among them is 28-year-old Fatimatou Iyawa, president of the Cameroon National Youth Council. She said Biya works tirelessly to improve Cameroon.

“We are here to wish him a happy birthday because it is not everybody who is lucky to have his age. He is our patriarch, he is our example, he is a role model for the Cameroonian people. We have modern sports infrastructure that he put at the disposal of the Cameroonian young people. There are schools, universities with modern equipment that he put at the disposal of the Cameroonian young people,” said Iyawa.

Ernestine Mokake, 24, another member of the youth council, said she does not see any reason to celebrate Biya’s 88th birthday. She says it is unhealthy for a man at an advanced age to hang onto power.

“He has been too long in power. Since 1982, we have had just one president. Look at a country like America, from 1982 to 2021, they have had seven presidents. In my country for the sake of democracy, governance, accountability, peace and nation-building, I would have preferred that at least we have a second president. At least for a change.” she said.

Biya took office in 1982 from Cameroon’s first president, Ahmadou Ahijo. Biya had served as prime minister since 1975. He has won all multiparty elections since 1992, and the opposition has always complained of heavy election rigging by Biya.

In 2008, Biya abolished the constitution’s two-term limit.

Main opposition parties such as the Social Democratic Front and the Cameroon Renaissance Movement party of Maurice Kamto, say Biya is responsible for the several crises in Cameroon. Kamto claims he won the 2018 presidential elections and Biya stole his victory.

The opposition blames Biya for ordering his military to fight disgruntled separatists instead of opening what they call a true dialogue to solve the crisis. They also say Biya uses excessive force, and his military targets civilians suspected of collaborating with Boko Haram.

Addressing Cameroon youths February 10, ahead of the February 11 National Youth Day public holiday, Biya blamed some young people for the crises the country is facing.

Biya said he regrets that some Cameroonian young people have decided to rally behind the demons of hatred and division to the detriment of national unity. He said such youths are driven by barbaric fanaticism nurtured from foreign countries or by a pervasive use of social media to undermine Cameroon’s unity. He said he is urging young people to avoid such negative role models.

At 88, Biya is Africa’s oldest president. He is the second longest serving leader in Africa after his neighbor, Thedoro Obiang Nguema, of Equatorial Guinea. Obiang has been in power since 1979.

Source: VOA

More than 120 countries elected British lawyer Karim Khan on Friday as the next prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, one of the toughest jobs in international law because the tribunal seeks justice for the world’s worst atrocities — war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

His election on the second secret ballot by the 123 parties to the Rome Statute that established the court ends a drawn-out and divisive process to replace Fatou Bensouda when her 9-year term expires in June.

Khan, who has specialized in international criminal law and international human rights law, was widely seen as the favourite to get the job. But neither he nor any of the other candidates garnered enough support to be appointed by consensus, prompting Friday’s election in the U.N. General Assembly Hall.

When Michal Mlynár, vice-president of the court’s Assembly of State Parties, announced that Khan had won, a smattering of applause broke out in the hall, where masked diplomats had voted one by one, putting ballots into spaced out boxes because of COVID-19 restrictions.

Khan received 72 votes, far more than the majority needed, Fergal Gaynor of Ireland was second with 42 votes followed by Spain’s Carlos Castresana Fernandez with 5 votes and Francesco Lo Voi of Italy with 3 votes. One member did not vote.

Khan currently leads a U.N. team set up to investigate allegations of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed by the Islamic State group in Iraq and has the rank of a U.N. assistant secretary-general. He has worked as a prosecutor at the tribunal prosecuting war crimes in former Yugoslavia and crimes against humanity and genocide in Rwanda.

Khan is no stranger to the International Criminal Court, known as the ICC, having acted as a defence lawyer for Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto and persuading judges to throw out prosecution charges against his client. Gaynor acted as a legal representative for victims in the Ruto case, which focused on post-election violence.

Khan also served as counsel for Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, the son of the late Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, who is still being sought by the ICC on charges of crimes against humanity.

“Karim Khan’s election as prosecutor is occurring at a time when the ICC is needed more than ever but has faced significant challenges and pressure on its role,” said Richard Dicker, international justice director at Human Rights Watch. “We will be looking to Mr. Khan to address shortcomings in the court’s performance, while demonstrating firm independence in seeking to hold even the most powerful rights abusers to account.”

The Rome Statute which established the court was adopted on July 17, 1998 and it entered into force on July 1, 2002, with a mandate to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide — but it only steps in when domestic courts fail to initiate their own investigations and prosecutions. Its 123 state parties are bound by its provisions, which include arresting all those sought by the court.

While the Security Council has used its power under the Rome Statute to refer conflicts in Sudan’s western Darfur region and in Libya to the ICC, calls for the U.N.’s most powerful body to refer Syria, and more recently Myanmar, to the tribunal have failed.

Dicker said in an interview that “the court in 18 years has established itself as the permanent address for accountability for the most egregious crimes.”

In the last several years, Bensouda has sought to broaden its reach beyond its early all-African focus including Afghanistan, Palestine, which is a party to the Rome Statute, and Georgia.

The ICC is needed more than ever, he said, “because of the proliferation of these horrific crimes,” but the court has faced “an existential threat” from former U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration.

It slapped sanctions on Bensouda and one of her top aides last year for continuing to investigate war crimes allegations against Americans, although the court was often criticized in the past for its focus on African crimes.

Last week, ICC judges angered Israel by saying the court’s jurisdiction extends to territories occupied by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war, potentially clearing the way for the prosecutor to open an investigation into Israeli military actions and the country’s construction of settlements in the occupied West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the decision a “perversion of justice.”

Dicker said the ICC’s challenges include addressing some poor judicial decision-making and having a docket too large for its current staffing.”

The selection process for the prosecutor and the alleged failure by the ICC’s Assembly of States Parties to conduct stringent background checks on the candidates to ensure they met the requirement of “high moral character” has drawn criticism from civil society groups that work with the court.

A diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details of closed meetings said the fact that many of the meetings to discuss possible successors to Bensouda took place virtually made it difficult for member nations to discuss concerns during informal “corridor” meetings.

Source: Canadian Press

The Vice President of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government, Comrade Dabney Yerima has warned against putting trust in the so-called Southern Cameroons CPDM elites in Yaoundé saying they only care about their own interests in the two Cameroons, not those of the people of British Southern Cameroon.

Yerima made the remarks in a meeting grouping donors of the Interim Government on Thursday saying men like Elvis Ngolle, Paul Tasong, Paul Atanga Nji and Peter Mafany Musonge have consistently ignored U.S. Congress Resolution 684 which is critical of their actions in the conflict in Southern Cameroons and that their continued support of the Biya French Cameroun regime in Yaoundé is for the sake of their own benefits, thus they can never be trusted.

“Our 59 year history with La Republique du Cameroun has shown that it is wrong to trust the ruling CPDM Southern Cameroons elites because they do not…feel concerned about the people of Southern Cameroons, Ambazonia IDPs and our refugees in Nigeria,” he added, noting that their presence occasionally in Ground Zero only disrupts Southern Cameroons security.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the exiled Southern Cameroons leader said “What Ambazonians want…is the unity and solidarity of all Southern Cameroons Restoration groups. Any differences and divisions among Ambazonian factions are harmful and pave the way for the presence of these CPDM Southern Cameroons elites, French Cameroun army soldiers and enemies in Ground Zero.”

Vice President Dabney Yerima also said the Southern Cameroons diaspora would never forget the sacrifices being made by the Southern Cameroons Self Defense Forces in Ground Zero.

By Chi Prudence Asong in London

A prominent Southern Cameroons academic, Professor Carlson Anyangwe says La Republique du Cameroun and its supporters in Paris, France continue their genocide in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia without a word of protest from the European Union or the so-called human rights defenders.       

Addressing a Southern Cameroons Interim Government open session on Thursday, Prof Anyangwe said the French Cameroun criminal syndicate in Yaoundé launched its war on the Ambazonian people at a time when the Southern Cameroons Interim Government was trying to get the Federal Republic of Ambazonia out of an economic crisis caused by fifty-eight years of excruciating life under genocide, terror, economic terrorism, and all forms of international criminality imaginable.

The much respected Southern Cameroon elite said, “La Republique du Cameroun and other French vassal states in the so-called CEMAC region harboring France’s proxy army of occupation have been trying to carve up, exploit, and pauperize Southern Cameroons and its people for 59 years,” adding that both the late French Cameroun dictator Ahmadou Ahidjo and President Paul Biya have dutifully followed the French policy of assimilation programs until the people of Southern Cameroons now say they have gotten enough.

During the Thursday zoom meeting in the presence of the Ambazonia exiled leader, Dabney Yerima, Prof Carlson Anyangwe censured Europe’s double standards on human rights but did not say if the EU is complicit in crimes and atrocities perpetrated by the Biya French Cameroun regime against the people of British Southern Cameroons.

At the heart of the crisis, which started in 2016, was a strike by teachers and lawyers, in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon. The professionals, supported by citizens of their areas, protested the unfair use of the French language and unjustified appointments of French speakers in their territories. Cameroon is a bilingual country. By 2017, the situation had spiralled out of control and developed into a fully-fledged separatist war. Both government forces and separatists are now bogged down in a conflict that observers say, can only be resolved through dialogue.

On 8 September 2020, the Foreign Affairs Committee, of the United States Congress introduced Resolution 684 on the crisis in the Cameroonian regions of the North-West and South-West which was adopted on 1 January 2021.

The US Congress (Senate and House of Representatives) did call on “the government of Cameroon and the separatist armed groups in the English-speaking regions of the North-West and South-West to put an end to all violence, to respect the human rights of all Cameroonians, and to pursue a truly inclusive dialogue with a view to resolving the ongoing civil conflict in English-speaking Cameroon”.

Resolution 684 condemned the abuses committed by state security forces and armed groups in the northwest and southwest regions of Cameroon, and affirms that the United States continues to hold the Government of Cameroon accountable for safeguarding the security and constitutional rights of all its citizens, regardless of region, religion, or political opinion. In addition, it urges all parties to the conflict in Cameroon, the Government of Cameroon, U.S. foreign relations entities, and members of the international community to take specific steps to resolve the ongoing civil conflict in Cameroon.

The U.S. Congress was also critical of France’s action in the conflict and Resolution 684 stated that   “…France maintains considerable interests in Cameroon, including significant economic and security cooperation, but has not sufficiently used its influence to stem atrocities committed in English-speaking regions or to support stronger international action to seek a resolution to the conflict.”

Prof Carlson Anyangwe noted that the French Cameroun aggressors have killed tens of thousands of Southern Cameroonians and committed brutal crimes with help from France and French speaking African countries in the Sub Saharan region.

France is the main supplier of weapons in La Republique du Cameroun’s aggression against Southern Cameroons.

According to independent estimates, the Biya French Cameroun war has claimed more than 5,000 lives.

The UN says more than two million English speaking Cameroonians are in dire need of humanitarian aid, including some 67, 000 thousand suffering from extreme levels of hunger in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The Biya French Cameroun war has also taken a heavy toll on the British Southern Cameroons’s infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and businesses.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

OPERATION BIG RUBBERGUN…THE LAUNCH

Fellow Southern Cameroonians,

Let me start by asking all of us to maintain a minute of silence for the souls of our fallen heroes for they remain in our prayers.

Today marks the sixtieth anniversary of the attempted decolonization of the Southern Cameroons by the United Nations and the United Kingdom. Today marks 1133 days since our leader, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, and nine members of his leadership team were abducted at the NERA hotel in Abuja, Nigeria. It is seven days today since Human Rights Watch published a report stating clearly that the French Cameroun army executed 10 men, women, and children in Mautu, Fako County on 10 January 2021. I stand here after 550 of our villages have been burned down. Since 2016, we have witnessed the execution of over 20,000 of our people, amongst them a four-month-old baby and a 96-years old great grandmother. Today we have over one million internally displaced persons, 120,000 refugees in Nigeria, Ghana, and the Mexican border.

 I come to remind you of our dark past, dangerous present, and to elaborate on our goal to take back control of our destiny. So, I speak today of grave national sadness and danger but also a moment of national opportunity. Our efforts to defend our people began on 30 November 2017, when Paul Biya of French Cameroun declared war upon our people. Today, we announce a project that offers new hope for our young nation. We are persuaded that the project before you is essential, responsible, and deserving of your support.

The Responsibility to Protect populations from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing has emerged as an important global principle since its unanimous adoption at the UN World Summit in 2005. We are rolling out a plan to ruthlessly adhere to our Responsibility to Protect (R2P) Ambazonia. We must recognize that our security is based on being prepared to meet the threat posed by our enemy. We cannot afford to engage in the luxury of believing that French Cameroun will cease to be an aggressor.

We recognize and applaud our Restoration Forces for their bravery in the face of the brutal force and sophisticated equipment of the French Cameroun military. We recognize and applaud the contributions of humanitarian NGOs and CSOs to our revolution. We recognize and applaud all positive contributions from different organizations like DAC and other frontline movements that have taken us this far. Today, I intend to outline the Interim Government’s plan for 2021 and beyond. WE MUST BE BOLD, and with this project, WE ARE BOLD. OPERATION BIG RUBBERGUN IS HERE.

Today is NOT about social media noise. In the last few weeks, you have been bombarded with noise by people who lack knowledge about this project. Those voices are loud but they are not in the majority.

We will deter our enemy from making attacks only if our retaliatory power is so strong that our enemy knows she faces severe consequences for their actions.  Our strongest hope is a peaceful solution to the conflict by the establishment of a United Nations Internationally Mandated Fact-Finding Mission to our territory. Although we are determined to keep negotiations high on our agenda, we must see our struggle through the lenses of Realists.

We must employ new tactics to fight for the safety of our people and the freedom of our nation. With each passing day, the crisis facing us is magnifying as the enemy advances without fear to spread their hostility, murder, and genocide upon our people. Our defence establishment has evaluated and instructed, and The Interim Government has concluded that OPERATION BIG RUBBERGUN is necessary.

OPERATION BIG RUBBERGUN will:

Recruit, train, and support Restoration Forces in their attempt to capture and hold territory. The project will also provide sophisticated hardware procurement and logistic support to our Restoration Forces. More details on the project will be in the presentation that follows this evening.

Tonight, let me underscore that it is not a delight for any leader to come before his people to burden them financially. But in our judgment, this is a burden worth undertaking. Investment in OPERATION CAPHOT aka THE BIG RUBBERGUN is an obligation that we believe will deliver us significant gains.

We cannot merely state our opposition to the genocide without paying the price for freedom. From your investments in OPERATION BIG RUBBERGUN, we shall undertake a reorganization and modernization of our self-defence structure, to increase its firepower, tactical mobility, and flexibility to meet any direct or indirect threat from the enemy. I am asking you today to search your consciences and invade your resources for us to procure the necessary equipment and materials needed by our brave self-defence heroes who intend to capture, hold territory, and protect our people.

The management of the funds raised by OPERATION BIG RUBBERGUN will be by a Loan Administrator and a Government Financial Officer, both working under the Bank of Ambazonia. All genuine self-defence forces stand to benefit from the resources of this national project.

Fellow Ambazonians, Operation BIG RUBBERGUN is here but our problems are critical and 2021 will not be easy. There will be setbacks before the unfavourable tide is turned. But we have no choice but to persist. The hopes of our nation rest upon us, especially those of us in the diaspora. The problems in achieving our goal of a free, independent, and prosperous Ambazonia are towering and unprecedented but we shall prevail. I believe Ambazonia possesses all the resources and talents necessary for victory, but the facts of the matter are that we have never made the collective decision to assemble the resources required for such victory.

I believe French Cameroun has an opportunity here and now to avert human disaster by releasing our leader, HE President Sisiku AyukTabe, and his top aides including all Southern Cameroons detainees to pave the way for constructive dialogue and good neighborliness.

I believe for us to get to Buea, we cannot afford to waste time squabbling and amplifying our differences.

Fellow Ambazonians, our success in this struggle for freedom and independence depends on the strength of our investment and success in OPERATION BIG RUBBERGUN. We would be badly mistaken to think otherwise. This is our great opportunity if we grasp it to enhance the ability of our self-defence forces in our march to Buea.

Let us use OPERATION BIG RUBBERGUN to affirm that it is Independence or Resistance Forever.

We will not be afraid, we will not be intimidated, and we must be bold

Thank You and God Bless You

Dabney Yerima

Vice President

Federal Republic of Ambazonia

The Vice President of the British Southern Cameroons Interim Government will be addressing the Ambazonian people today in a speech to be aired by the Southern Cameroons Broadcasting Corporation, SCBC.

Comrade Dabney Yerima will hail the self defense and unchanging position of Ambazonia Restoration Forces on supporting the independence cause against French Cameroun’s 59 years occupation.

In his message to the Southern Cameroons people, Vice President Dabney Yerima will say “I come to remind you of our dark past, dangerous present, and to elaborate on our goal to take back control of our destiny. So, I speak today of grave national sadness and danger but also a moment of national opportunity. Our efforts to defend our people began on 30 November 2017, when Paul Biya of French Cameroun declared war upon our people. Today, we announce a project that offers new hope for our young nation. We are persuaded that the project before you is essential, responsible, and deserving of your support.”

Yerima will also express the Ambazonia Interim Government’s deep appreciation to Southern Cameroonians in Ground Zero saying “The Responsibility to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing has emerged as an important global principle since its unanimous adoption at the UN World Summit in 2005. We are rolling out a plan to ruthlessly adhere to our Responsibility to Protect (R2P) Ambazonia. We must recognize that our security is based on being prepared to meet the threat posed by our enemy. We cannot afford to engage in the luxury of believing that French Cameroun will cease to be an aggressor.”

Vice President Yerima will add that “Our defense establishment has evaluated and instructed, and the Interim Government has concluded that OPERATION BIG RUBBERGUN is necessary. OPERATION BIG RUBBERGUN will: recruit, train, and support Restoration Forces in their attempt to capture and hold territory. The project will also provide sophisticated hardware procurement and logistic support to our Restoration Forces.”

 Stay with Cameroon Concord News Group and be the first to know!!Wherever you get your news, we’ve got the Southern Cameroons news that matter to you. Watch SCBC today 7 pm Amba time

By Isong Asu

Since its independence in 1960, Cameroon has been facing socio-political issues in the anglophone North West (NW) and South West (SW) regions. In late 2016, local lawyers and teachers mobilised over demands for respect of the region’s Anglophone educational and judicial systems.

This escalated into armed confrontations, with the proliferation of non-state armed groups (NSAG) and the deployment of governmental military forces.

 This ongoing conflict has led to a complex humanitarian emergency with 2.3 million people in need in 2020 (OCHA), including more than one million school-aged children.

The growing humanitarian needs have been enhanced by the COVID-19 outbreak, affecting the entire territory of Cameroon.

On Saturday night, the product tanker Sea Phantom was boarded by pirates about 115 nm off the coast of Cameroon in the Gulf of Guinea.

According to Dryad Global, the tanker was making about 13 knots on an easterly course, then took evasive maneuvers.

Multinational Maritime Coordination Center (MMCC) Zone D notified the Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea navies, and both dispatched response units. The Equatorial Guinea frigate Wele Nzas and Cameroonian patrol boat Dipikar responded, and a helicopter launched from Equatorial Guinea was the first asset to arrive on scene.

At least eight pirates fled when the helicopter arrived. Fortunately, the crew was found uninjured in the tanker’s citadel. The vessel arrived safely at Malabo, Equatorial Guinea on February 7.

“The key to disrupting this piracy attack was a combined response by two navies and the presence of a helicopter. The helicopter probably caused the pirates to flee before they could break into the Sea Phantom’s citadel,” said Captain Sylvestre Fonkuah, Cameroon Navy, ECCAS Zone D Commander.

It is the ninth incident in West African waters so far this year, Dryad reported. 2021 has started off with sevderal serious attacks, including a rare fatality during a kidnapping incident aboard the Turkish-operated container ship Mozart late last month.

Attacks instigated by Nigerian pirate groups account for the overwhelming majority of serious piracy incidents worldwide. All hijackings and 95 percent of all maritime kidnappings recorded last year occurred in the Gulf of Guinea, affecting 130 crewmembers in 22 separate attacks. One record-setting kidnapping occurred almost 200 nautical miles from land, and the average kidnapping occurred within about 60 nm offshore, according to IMB, illustrating the range and capability of Niger River Delta pirate action groups.

About 80 percent of the attackers were equipped with firearms, according to IMB. Nine out of the 11 incidents worldwide in which vessels came under fire occurred in this region.

“The latest statistics confirm the increased capabilities of pirates in the Gulf of Guinea with more and more attacks taking place further from the coast . . . Despite prompt action by navies in the region, there remains an urgent need to address this crime, which continues to have a direct impact on the safety and security of innocent seafarers,” said Michael Howlett, Director of the ICC International Maritime Bureau.

Following pressure from European shipowners, the European Council recently voted to establish its first ever “Coordinated Maritime Presences (CMP)” in the Gulf of Guinea, setting up a mechanism to “increase the EU’s capacity as a reliable partner and maritime security provider, offering greater European operational engagement, ensuring a permanent maritime presence and outreach in Maritime Areas of Interest.” A small number of European member states have already deployed their own naval assets to the region, resulting in several successful piracy deterrence and interdiction operations.

Source: Maritime Executive

Last September, amidst a bloody civil war between radical Anglophone secessionists and a brutal Francophone dictatorship, 89 courageous young people throughout Cameroon embarked on a journey to transform their country from a unitary authoritarian regime to a two-state democracy. The result was a historic seven-page document entitled “A Resolution for Peace by the Anglophone and Francophone Youth of Cameroon,” in which the children call upon President Paul Biya as well as leaders and citizens of the world to help them bring peace and equality to their beloved homeland.

The 15-week journey to justice, known as the Cameroon Peace Project, was developed and administered by the Global Justice Journal (GJJ), a US-based educational platform whose mission is to share the voices of youth who have been silenced by persecution and to assist them in creating positive social change. The project was facilitated locally by Kumba-based NGO, Survivors’ Network, whose staff recruited students and teachers for the program and forwarded the participants’ weekly assignments to GJJ. This may seem like a relatively easy task, but GJJ founder Cece Buckley insists otherwise.

“The decision to engage in this project was an extraordinary act of courage by our local partners, teachers and students,” says Buckley. “President Biya, whose regime has ruled Cameroon since 1982, has declared any discussion of federalism a crime punishable by imprisonment. So to develop a resolution calling for Cameroon’s return to a federal government is the ultimate form of passive resistance.”

According to Buckley, the vast majority of students had no idea that, upon achieving independence from France and Great Britain in 1960 and 1961, respectively, Cameroon was meant to be a federal republic consisting of two equal states — one Francophone and one Anglophone. In fact, it is virtually impossible to find a copy of the original 1961 constitution anywhere in Cameroon. Once participants learned the true history of their country, however, their path to peace became clear. As fanatical separatists continued to demand a violent division of the country and the reigning dictatorship continued to oppress 20 percent of the population for no reason other than their Anglo-Saxon heritage, the young Anglophone and Francophone peacebuilders reached across the cultural divide and set their sights on a groundbreaking collaboration.

In addition to discovering the history of their own country, students learned about the sometimes tumultuous history of Anglophone-Francophone relations in Canada. Through the use of texts, music and poetry, they also drew inspiration from peace leaders who preceded them, including Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, and Leymah Gbowee, who was instrumental in bringing an end to Liberia’s civil war. Little by little, these shining examples of heroism instilled in participants the hope and confidence they needed to successfully graduate from the program on January 30, 2021 as the changemakers they were always meant to be.

Now their fate rests in your hands.

Source: Global Justice Journal