Thirteen civilians, eight of them children, died Friday when a woman suicide bomber blew herself up in a jihadist attack on a village in northern Cameroon, a traditional chief and a police officer told AFP.

Cameroon’s Far North region is grappling with deadly incursions from neighbouring Nigeria, where an insurgency launched by Boko Haram in 2009 has killed tens of thousands of people.

Mahamat Chetima Abba, the traditional chief, or lamido, in the village of Mozogo, said the attackers arrived in the middle of the night, shouting “Allah Akbar” (“God is greater”) and brandishing machetes.

The panicked villagers tried to run off into the nearby forest, and in the stampede the suicide bomber detonated her device, he said.

The account was confirmed by a member of the local defence committee, who said his group had tried to repel the attack.

“Thirteen civilians died, two of them children aged four and five as well as six teenagers,” a regional police officer told AFP by phone, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The lamido confirmed the number, saying that a woman and her three children were among the dead.

Both attributed the attack to Boko Haram.

The police source said that in addition to the suicide bomber, the other fatality among the attackers was a man who was killed by the self-defence force.

“They infiltrated the population — Boko Haram is inflicting more and more damage here,” Chetima Abba said.

“However, it seems that they no longer have the means to carry out mass attacks using guns,” he said, noting that the assailants had carried machetes.

“They are using home-made bombs more and more,” he said.

On Monday, three members of a self-defence force in the nearby village of Kaliari were killed.

More than 36,000 people have been killed, most of them in Nigeria, and three million people have fled their homes since Boko Haram launched its insurrection in northeastern Nigeria in 2009.

Boko Haram and a splinter group called the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) have stepped up attacks in recent years in Nigeria and neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

Niger is also being hit by jihadists crossing from Mali.

An attack on two villages in the western Niger region of Tillaberi on Saturday left 105 dead, the highest civilian toll in the Sahel since the jihadist insurgency began in the region in 2012.

Source: AFP

Two soldiers, a policeman including a gendarmerie officer in civilian attire were killed at the Santa control post in Matazem late yesterday in Mezam in the Northern Zone of Southern Cameroons bringing the number of service men killed to ten in just a week.

Several other army soldiers were also injured in Thursday’s ambush, an officer in the North West Governor Office said, confirming information given by an anonymous military source.

Contacted by Cameroon Concord News, Southern Cameroons Interim Government confirmed the death toll and added that Ambazonia Restoration Forces had destroyed the Matazem Control Post and recovered weapons and ammunition.

The Cameroon government army launched an offensive against Southern Cameroons Self Defense Groups in Bamenda after the death of some soldiers in an attack by armed groups.

President Paul Biya then claimed to have pushed the Ambazonian forces out. But despite Yaounde’s so-called Operation Clean Bamenda, the attacks have continued.

Over 6 000 people have died and close to half a million have been displaced. Multiple separatists groups have formed in Southern Cameroons.

At least six soldiers died and five more were wounded on Wednesday after a roadside bomb exploded in Momo County in the Northern Zone of Southern Cameroons.

By Fon Lawrence in Bamenda

The Southern Cameroons Interim Government has warned CAF that the city of Limbe is a war zone and unfit for African Nations Championship matches.

These matches include pool D games involving Namibia, Zambia, Guinea and Tanzania. The tournament is due to run from 16 January to 7 February across three cities. Other tournament venues are in Yaoundé and Japoma Douala.

“With regards to the forthcoming Africa Cup of Nations, Ambazonia Intelligence Service (AIS) has briefed the Interim Government on sophisticated new strategies that would be employed to defend our national interest. We have informed French Cameroun and nations participating in this tournament that any attempt to bring its activities to Ambazonia would be considered a deliberate violation of our sovereignty, and our response will be prompt and definite” the Vice President of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government Dabney Yerima cautioned.

Many football fans around the continent have been expecting a reaction from the government in Yaounde. Cameroon Concord News understands that it is still unclear to the tournament organizers if the Ambazonia threat is authentic.

Other Southern Cameroon front line movements have unanimously backed the Interim Government and have strongly advised the African football governing body to immediately terminate any plan to play any game in Victoria (Limbe) or to host any team anywhere in the territory of Ambazonia for safety and security reasons.

The people of British Southern Cameroons have often claimed they are being unfairly treated by Paul Biya’s French-centred government. Paul Biya has held the reins in Cameroon for nearly four decades (and was prime minister before that).

This resulted in militant secessionist groups symbolically proclaiming the independence of a new nation — including the two Anglophone regions — called the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, which lies between Nigeria to the west and French Cameroon to the east.

The Interim President of Africa’s newest nation,  Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe, and other members of his cabinet are in French Cameroonian prisons where they have been sentenced for life.

It is a conflict which is scarred by violence and severe human rights violations from both security forces and armed groups, Amnesty International reported.

 Over 6 000 people have died and close to half a million have been displaced. Multiple separatists groups have formed in the southwest and northwest of the country.

At least five people died and five more were wounded on Wednesday after a roadside bomb exploded in Momo County in the Northern Zone of Southern Cameroons.

By Isong Asu in London with files from Namibian.com

Southern Cameroons activists at a rally in Ikom bordering Ekok in Nigeria have called on the United Nations (UN) to ensure the Federal Republic of Ambazonia’s right to self-determination by organizing a referendum in Ground Zero.

The Ambazonians at the rally in the outskirts of Ikom on Tuesday demanded the UN to support British Southern Cameroons push for the realization of the UN multilateral treaty obligation towards the Southern Cameroons on 1 October 1961 which Great Britain by some strange happenstance handed the articles of sovereignty over the territory to French vassal state of French Cameroun and France’s proxy army of occupation in the night of 30 September 1961.

The Southern Cameroonians chanted pro-independence slogans and urged the European Union and the US President-elect Joe Biden to take notice of the French Cameroun human rights violations in the English speaking-minority region.

Thousands of British Southern Cameroonians have died since a French Cameroun war erupted four years ago and more than a quarter of the population have fled their homes. Of these, 75,000 are refugees in neighbouring Nigeria.

Even though bloodshed has receded in intensity over the last two months, violence remains chronic. Ambazonia Restoration Forces hold sways over two-thirds of the territory. At least four people were killed on Wednesday January 6 2021 following an explosion of a home-made bomb in the Northern Zone of Southern Cameroons.

The Biya Francophone regime in Yaoundé confirmed that the convoy of the prefect of Momo came under attack from Ambazonia Restoration Forces.

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 was passing for 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.

By Kingsley Betek in Ekok

The death has been announced of Becky Jeme İyabo, the Divisional Delegate for Communication in Momo Division.

The journalist is said to be among six persons who fell when armed separatist fighters attacked the convoy of the Senior Divisional Officer, SDO, for Momo Division on Wednesday, January 6, 2021.

Open sources say the SDO was returning from Njikwa when his convoy was attacked by separatists, leading to the death of Ms. Jeme İyabo and five soldiers.

Local journalists in Bamenda say the convoy fell on improvised explosive devices, IEDs, planted along the road by armed separatists in the area.

Fouda Etaba Benoit Nicaise, Senior Divisional Officer for Momo Division is said to have been in Ngie and Njikwa on Tuesday, January 5, 2021, for the installation of new sub divisional officers appointed to the aforementioned subdivisions.

On December 18, 2020, President Paul Biya signed a decree appointing and transferring some subdivisional officers across the country.

In Momo Division, North West Region of Cameroon, two new sub divisional officers were appointed.

Mr. Arrah Ama Tagana Maxime was appointed Sub divisional Officer of Ngie Subdivision. The Administrative Officer was previously the First Assistant Senior Divisional Officer of Momo Division. He replaced Mr. Nyaso Mohamadou Nfor, who has been transferred to other duties.

The December 18, 2020 decree also appointed Mr. Belinga Benjamin as Sub divisional Officer of Njikwa Subdivision. The Senior Executive Officer, previously Second Assistant Senior Divisional Officer of Momo Division replaced Mr. Shu Carnicious Numfor, who has been transferred to other duties.

Officials are yet to comment on the attack. Hon. Marinette NGO YETNA, Member of Parliament for Sanaga Maritime has however taken to Facebook to extend her condolences to the bereaved families. She also wonders when the crisis will end.

The 2004 batch of graduates of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, JMC, mourns one of theirs Jeme Iyabo. The people of her native Buea, the entire media family, and the people of Cameroon are in mourning.

Cameroon’s state forces have been battling to dislodge armed separatists who pitched their tents in the North West and South West Regions since Anglophone protests transformed into an armed conflict in 2017.

Source: Cameroon Info.Net

At least four people were killed this Wednesday morning following an explosion of a home-made bomb in the Northern Zone of Southern Cameroons.

Yaoundé confirmed late today that the convoy of the prefect of Momo came under attack from Ambazonia Restoration Forces.

A statement from the Biya Francophone regime said “The prefect’s convoy was ambushed by the separatists on their way back from the sub-prefect’s installation in Njikwa.”

Cameroon Concord News gathered that the lead vehicle of the convoy mounted on an explosive device before the entire convoy then riddled with bullets by Ambazonia Restoration Forces responsible for providing security in the area.

Three Cameroon government army soldiers and a journalist lost their lives in the explosion, according to a provisional assessment.

The journalist Becky Jeme was in charge of communication in the Momo constituency. As such, she was part of the official French Cameroun delegation violating standing orders put in place by the Southern Cameroons Interim Government.

By Fon Lawrence

Southern Cameroons Vice President Dabney Yerima has said that revenge for the killings of thousands of Ambazonians by French Cameroun army soldiers has no expiry date.

The exiled Ambazonia leader made the remarks while addressing a Southern Cameroons think tank in Dublin, Ireland on Tuesday.

Vice President Yerima told the zoom forum that there was need for every Southern Cameroonian to offer a word of prayer for the Ambazonia leader President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and the eleven members of his cabinet abducted in NERA hotel in Abuja three years ago.

Comrade Dabney Yerima underlined the need for efforts to understand President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe’s school of thought, saying the Ambazonia Interim Government and several world powers including the United States are now determined to deliver justice to those who ordered and perpetrated the killings of thousands of Southern Cameroons women and children

“On this day three years ago, French Cameroun and Nigerian authorities engaged in an unacceptable violation of human rights and international law. Secret Service and military personnel of both nations interrupted a meeting chaired by President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, the leader of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, and abducted him with eleven members of his cabinet from the NERA hotel in Abuja. Our leaders were held incommunicado for 21 days in Nigeria before they were transferred to Yaoundé where they have all been sentenced to life by a military court” Yerima observed.

Dabney Yerima furthered that “Since the abduction of our leaders, the Federal High Court in Abuja, Nigeria denounced the act as “illegal and unconstitutional”. The Nigerian judge said that irrespective of whether the Southern Cameroons leaders posed a threat to the Nigerian state or not, the Federal Government did not follow due process and thus violated both the Nigerian constitution and articles 32 and 33 of the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. Observing that their human rights were violated, Justice Chikere ordered their return to Nigeria. He also decided that the government should pay compensation of ₦5 million each to the 12 and ₦200 000 each to the 39 other deportees.

The US Senate Resolution 684 published on 01 January 2021 must give the Southern Cameroons hope” he concluded.

By Chi Prudence Asong

After four years of civil war in Anglophone Cameroon, state and rebel forces have refused to engage in serious dialogue while citizens and children suffer in crossfire. DW’s Adrian Kriesch reports from western Cameroon.

“Drive on!” a soldier shouts at us in the middle of Bamenda, the economic capital of northwestern Cameroon. We have stopped because a large pool of blood, next to a pair of plastic sandals, blocks our way. “Maybe it’s just animal blood. We’re still investigating,” says the soldier dismissively. Meanwhile, around us, soldiers go house-to-house. A street further on, they load young men onto a lorry because they cannot show proof of identification. “We’re scared of the army. They make us very angry,” a young motorcycle taxi driver tells us. Violence has escalated in Cameroon since 2016. Lawyers in the city of Bamenda had taken to the streets, protesting the neglect of the English-speaking minority in the western regions of Cameroon. Soon, other branches of civil society joined. Cameroon became an independent country in the 1960s by merging a former French-speaking mandated territory and an English-speaking one. To this day, formally there are two official languages (English and French), two education systems, and two legal systems. But, in reality, the English-speaking minority in western Cameroon has felt disadvantaged, neglected and oppressed by the central government in the capital Yaounde.The state reacted to the peaceful protests in 2016 with force. At least six people were killed, and soon afterward, armed resistance groups formed. The security situation remains out of control.

The absent father figure

Bamenda’s mayor Paul Achobang is a member of President Paul Biya’s party. Biya has been in power in Cameroon for almost 40 years. But since the beginning of the crisis, the 87-year-old strongman has failed to visited the region once. Instead, he is said to spend weeks Swiss luxury hotels, booking entire floors. Bamenda mayor still supports Paul Biya, and blames his towns problems on its people Still, Biya — whose portrait hangs in the mayor’s office — is seen by some, including Achobang, as a father figure. According to the mayor, Biya wants the best for everyone, has offered amnesty to all, and, if the region is neglected, it is down to lazy parliamentarians, or there are not enough resources to go around. The government would like to repair the disastrous roads, but no company has tendered for the contract, because it is too dangerous. “Is Paul Biya at fault?” asks Achobang before answering himself: “No, it’s the people of Bamenda.” Besides, he claims, Bamenda has improved dramatically due to “Operation Clean Bamenda,” a military maneuver that has the army greatly increase its presence in the city. “Sooner or later we won’t hear any shots being fired here,” declares Achobang. But just a few hours later, shots ring out across Bamenda, and an explosion is heard. Two days later, 8-year-old Nsoh Macpeace is buried. Separatists and soldiers battled in front of his home, and when the child left the house, a grenade exploded. Nsoh Macpeace died in crossfire between separatists and government soldiers “The boy is so experienced with this conflict over four years. He knew where to hide when people were shooting,” says his aunt Gladys Kum, as she struggles to hold back tears. On this day, he hid with his grandmother. “This explosion with the grenade — they were lying there, waiting for the child to come out, it happened,” Kum says. “I don’t know why God allowed this to happen How long will this go on?!” Aunt Gladys Kum breaks down.

City of fear

Bamenda is filled with fear of attacks by soldiers and separatists. Everyone knows someone kidnapped for ransom. Schoolchildren only wear uniforms during classes because they fear being kidnapped by separatists if they wear their school uniforms in the town.

Cameroon separatists target schools

In the countryside, most schools have been closed for the past four years. Separatists target schools to pressure the government. In October, a shocking attack killed seven children in the town of Kumba.

Drunk soldiers, armed separatists

We travel to Numba. The road is a procession of checkpoints, where security forces openly drink liquor and demand bribes. Further along, a gang of separatists armed with hunting rifles and machetes holds us up. Their leader, Kevin, says he was a former student at the University of Bamenda, while another member of the gang counts money collected from passing cars. A separatist shows his hunting weapons near Numba town. Gangs claim to recieve donations from passing travelers Kevin claims the locals willingly give money to the fighters. The soldiers are the evil ones, he says: “They rape, burn houses. They commit so many crimes. They rape young women.” In Numba, Pastor Roland Arrey says he is tired of hearing the same thing. “Everyone wants to tell their story and show they are winning,” he says, “but nobody wants to engage in dialogue. They are playing peoples’ lives.” Both the military and the separatists are accused of profiting financially from the conflict. Any peacemaking dialogue seems a long shot: The government has incarcerated an important separatist leader. Meanwhile, separatist groups do not speak with one unified voice.

Cameroon in mourning after deadly school attack

Many used to sympathize with the separatists, but now that has changed. Pastor Arrey looks downcast as he walks through the remains of the village school. Torn schoolbooks litter the floor, broken desks stand aside. Schools should have reopened in September, but separatists threatened the teachers. “The school symbolizes a lot for every community that aspires for development and growth. How does a community like this build a future with children that have never gone to school?” he asks in a hollow voice. Schools rarely open outside urban centers in western Cameroon for fear of attack

Dialogue?

The German government said in 2020 that gross human rights abuses and atrocities have been committed by both actors in the conflict. Only dialogue, Berlin said, would solve the crisis — and Germany welcomed new laws to decentralize Cameroon’s government as “an important signal in their readiness to compromise and engage in dialogue.” In the town on Numba, Pastor Arrey has provided a ray of hope by building a youth learning center. Young people can train to become tailors or barbers. An alternative school program is available to children three times a week. Pastor Roland Arrey’s youth center in Numba gives youngsters a space to learn Youngsters sit in an overcrowded classroom. Two volunteers from the village take the classes: in one corner, a woman teaches the older children to write. In another corner, younger children listen as they are taught to read. This kind of center is a blessing, says a smiling Pastor Arrey. For him, life is worthless without hope. Culled from Deutchwelle

After four years of conflict in Southern Cameroons, the US Senate finally passed a strongly-worded resolution paving the way for punitive sanctions on those Biya Francophone government officials responsible for atrocities in the breakaway region.

Yaoundé is reportedly in a panic situation and the regime has annulled its usual end of year dinner at state house citing Covid-19 as reason for the cancellation.  

In two communiqués signed on Monday, January 4, 2020, the Minister Director of the Civil Cabinet of the Presidency, Samuel Mvondo Ayolo informed the heads of diplomatic missions accredited to Cameroon, members of national constituted bodies, as well as their wives that the respective ceremonies of presentation of wishes to the Head of State and his wife for 2021 have all been cancelled.

In a rare bipartisan motion, the US Congress slammed the Biya Francophone-dominated government, accusing it of repressing Anglophone citizens both politically and economically for decades. The Senators also cite the Yaoundé administration’s corruption and allegedly fraudulent elections.

The resolution calls for targeted smart sanctions against armed actors implicated in human rights abuses, it demands unfettered humanitarian access to the conflict zone, it calls for the Biya government to participate in mediated talks to address the root causes of the conflict, and it commits the US to continue to limit its security assistance to Cameroon.

Lord Alton of Liverpool has raised the Anglophone issue in Parliament since the outbreak of the conflict. Commenting on the US Congress resolution he said, “This now puts additional pressure on the British government, as the former colonial power in the Southern Cameroons. The UK must apply targeted smart sanctions against armed individuals implicated in human rights abuses in this devastating conflict. It is no longer possible for Britain to maintain a detached position while millions of Africans who cherish their English legal and school systems, and the English language, are asking for our moral support. The UK must exercise its diplomatic influence to press the regime of President Biya to attend mediated peace talks.”

In an interview with Independent Catholic News, Dr Chris Fomunyoh, senior director for Africa at the National Democratic Institute in Washington DC, and a native of Cameroon, commented, “It is remarkable that the US Senate adopted such a bipartisan resolution, given the very polarized nature of current US politics. There is a reason to believe that the resolution will significantly shape or influence US policy toward Cameroon under the new Biden/Harris administration.”

Dr Fomunyoh continued, “One of the innovations with Resolution 684 is its reference to targeted sanctions against perpetrators and proponents of violence, whether in uniform or among civilian leadership or among the armed groups. Certainly, the killings and atrocities that have become the hallmarks of this conflict can no longer be condoned.”

The Congressional resolution condemns the excessive force used by Cameroon armed forces in crushing peaceful protest against the imposition of French laws and schooling in the Anglophone regions. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights reports that 700,000 are internally displaced by the violence, and another 60,000 have fled to Nigeria. The US resolution notes the burning of villages, live ammunition used against non-violent protestors, and the arbitrary arrest, detention and torture of opposition leaders. The UN Children’s Fund reports that 855,000 students have been unable to attend school for the last four years.

The Biya regime responded to increasing international pressure by holding a Major National Dialogue in October 2019. However, many Anglophone leaders were afraid to attend in case they were detained and jailed. Since the meeting, the security situation has deteriorated, with massacres, including the killing of seven schoolchildren in Kumba in October. The Catholic Church has been foremost in rallying moderate civil society opinion against the violent extremes of all sides to the conflict. Its members have faced intimidation and kidnapping, and the murder of several priests.

Dr Fomunyoh says the US resolution may now put pressure on other world leaders to follow suit. “Friends of Cameroon and of humanity can no longer be indifferent to ongoing mayhem and utter destruction. The government of Cameroon and the armed groups have to understand what the world is saying, as captured by the US Senate Resolution 684: there is no military solution to this conflict. What is needed is a mediated negotiated solution that addresses the root causes of blatant Anglophone marginalisation and alienation in Cameroon.”

Independent Catholic News with additional reporting from Camcordnews

Three members of a self-defense group were shot dead by suspected members of Islamist group Boko Haram in the north of Cameroon.

Local authorities reported that the casualties were member of the Kaliari Vigilant committee

These self-defense groups is usually composed of civilians and are responsible for providing information or serve as scouts to soldiers.

Boko Haram attacks have killed nearly 2,500 Cameroonians between 2014 and 2017, according to the country’s defense ministry.

The UN Refugee Agency estimates approximately 26 million people in the Lake Chad region have been affected by the Boko Haram violence, and more than 2.6 million displaced.

The Boko Haram insurgency began in 2009 in northeastern Nigeria before spreading to neighboring countries. Since then, more than 36,000 people (mostly in Nigeria) have been killed and 3 million have fled their homes, according to the UN.

Source: Africa News