The former Vice President of the National Assembly today challenged Cameroonians to consider rallying behind female politicians so as to create gender parity. 

During a recent sackcloth removal in loving memory of her late elder sister General Nana Abunaw, Rose Abunaw said Yaoundé had built women’s leadership but must expand their fields of participation in governance.

“Cameroonian women were part of the struggle to build this great nation since 1961, advancing women course is a duty that Unity Palace owes every Cameroonian woman and I will continue to be part of this push for women leadership in Cameroon,” Hon. Rose Abuanw added.

Hon. Rose Abunaw explained that she was leaving Mohwa- the once renowned Manyu women association for personal reasons.

Cameroon Concord News gathered that Hon. Rose Abunaw has relegated Mohwa for Eyumema. “In my commitment to Mohwa, I have had the pleasure of working with very sound Manyu women at different times and in different capacities in Mohwa.  All of them treated my late sister General Nana with love and respect but I think it’s now the time for me to move on,” Hon. Rose Abuanw said.

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By Soter Agbaw-Ebai with files from Kingsley Betek

At least two Cameroonian soldiers were killed early Wednesday in a suspected separatist attack in the country’s West Region, according to security sources.

The attack took place in Magda in the West Region, which borders the English-speaking region of Northwest, where an armed separatist conflict is ongoing, local officials said.

An army official in the region, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the two soldiers were killed when separatist fighters ambushed them and opened fire.

“I can guarantee you that our brave soldiers will pursue and capture them. That act is intolerable,” the official said over the phone.

Fighting between government forces and separatist fighters has persisted in Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions of Northwest and Southwest since 2017, when separatists attempted to establish an independent nation in these regions.

Source: Xinhuanet

Minister Delegate at the Presidency of the Republic in charge of Defense (Mindef), Joseph Beti Assomo, issued a directive on March 13, 2025, outlining measures to prevent Cameroonian army deserters from joining the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

In a written message to defense and security forces (FDS) unit heads, Assomo instructed them to prevent such desertions. “Following consistent and credible reports indicating the clandestine departures of certain FDS members (…), please urgently take all appropriate measures to tighten control over personnel within your ranks,” Assomo wrote.

He also ordered senior officers to prohibit any FDS member from leaving the national territory without authorization, duly signed by him after approval from the chain of command and Military Security (Semil). For those who have already joined the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Assomo directed military authorities to take immediate action against them, in accordance with existing regulations.

The Mindef directive comes as the conflict in Eastern Europe, which began in February 2022, has become financially appealing to foreign fighters. Military experts report that Russia is offering at least 10,000 euros (approximately 6.5 million CFA francs) in bonuses to foreign volunteers who enlist, a high incentive believed to be driving soldiers from various countries to desert their armies.

Source: Sbbc

Two men living in Southern California were arrested today for allegedly leading a complex money laundering scheme that targeted more than 100 victims, many of whom were targeted because they were elderly, and caused victims more than $10 million in losses.

Sylas Nyuydzene Verdzekov, 38, of Chino Hills, and Lovert Che, 44, of Lomita, were taken into federal custody today. A third defendant, Mustapha Nkachiwouo Selly Yamie, 29, of Inglewood, is being sought by law enforcement. Each defendant is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Verdzekov and Che are expected to be arraigned this afternoon in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles.

“As the indictment alleges, these defendants built a sophisticated fraud and money laundering scheme that targeted and preyed on our most vulnerable citizens.  They not only stole the victims’ money, but robbed them of their security and trust,” said Acting United States Attorney Joseph T. McNally. “Let this serve as a clear message: If you defraud members of our community, especially the elderly, we will hold you accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”

“Financial fraud against our elder population has unfortunately lined the pockets of several transnational criminal organizations,” said HSI Los Angeles Acting Special Agent in Charge John Pasciucco. “HSI and our law enforcement partners remain committed to protecting our most vulnerable and ensuring the public is informed of the red flag indicators of elder fraud.”

According to the indictment, from at least November 2021 and continuing to the present, Verdzekov, Yamie, and Che, and their co-conspirators, created fake identification documents of fictitious people, including passports and driver’s licenses. Using these fake documents, the defendants and their co-conspirators created at least 36 shell companies in California, which conducted no legitimate business and were created solely to advance their crimes.

Verdzekov, Yamie, and Che, and their co-conspirators, opened at least 145 bank accounts and at least 32 private mailboxes across Southern California using the fake identities and sham businesses.

In one scheme specifically targeting elderly victims using phone calls and email pop-ups, the defendants and their co-conspirators posed as law enforcement personnel or employees with well-known companies attempting to help the victims maintain the security of their accounts. They then allegedly fabricated claims of victim bank accounts or payment accounts being compromised and needing to be resolved quickly.

The defendants and their co-conspirators convinced the victims of their purported authority through pictures of fake badges and fake job titles, then requested the victims’ personally identifiable information (PII) and bank account information. Victims were told they needed to move money from their corrupted accounts quickly to ensure they kept all their money, and to move it into accounts that Verdzekov, Yamie, and Che, and their co-conspirators, fraudulently opened and controlled. Victims typically moved money via electronic bank transfers, money orders, cashier’s checks, or personal checks into these fraudulent bank accounts or mailboxes.

The defendants and their co-conspirators then deposited the ill-gotten gains into the bank accounts they controlled with the intent of disguising the ownership and control of the funds. Verdzekov, Yamie, Che, and their co-conspirators then withdrew large cash amounts to use the stolen funds on personal expenses, including rental payments.

In a similar scam, the defendants and their co-conspirators allegedly posed as a real estate owner selling property. Using fake identification and credentials, the defendants deceived victims into believing that they were entering into a legitimate sale of the property and tricked the victims into wiring money or mailing a check to an account or mailbox the defendants and their co-conspirators controlled.

In total, Verdzekov, Yamie, and Che, and their co-conspirators, laundered at least $10 million in funds taken from at least 100 victims.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

If convicted, the defendants would face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.

Homeland Security Investigations’ Document Benefit Fraud Task Force, the FBI’s Honolulu Field Office, the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS), and the United States Postal Inspection Service are investigating this matter.  The investigation remains ongoing.

Nine Ambazonia fighters, including a commander, have surrendered to troops loyal to the regime in Yaoundé in the Northwest region, local officials said on Saturday.

The fighters turned themselves in to government officials in the town of Bali. On Friday, they were presented to the public at a ceremony attended by local authorities, soldiers and residents.

“We have come to apologize for any wrongs we have committed. We ask for your forgiveness,” one of the former fighters said while addressing the crowd.

Bali is one of the hotspots of the separatist insurgency.

Authorities said the surrender is a crucial step toward achieving lasting peace in the war-torn region and urged other fighters to lay down their arms.

Since 2017, government forces have been clashing with armed separatists seeking to establish an independent state in Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions, Northwest and Southwest.

Source: Xinhuanet

At least six people have been killed after gunmen attacked Pinyin village in the Northwest, local residents and security sources said on Monday.

Residents of the village interviewed said the gunmen raided the village on Sunday and shot six civilians, all male, at close range.

Separatist fighters have been active in the village since 2017 and villagers have recently asked them to leave, citing rampant kidnapping for ransom, said a security source in the region.

“The villagers have been complaining about atrocities committed by the separatists. So, last week they captured and killed two separatist fighters,” the source said, adding that the killing of the civilians on Sunday was apparently an act of revenge.

A separatist insurgency has been going on in Cameroon’s two Anglophone regions of Northwest and Southwest since 2017. Separatists want to create an independent nation in the regions.

Source: Xinhuanet

The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the Cameroonian authorities to investigate and hold accountable those who attacked Equinoxe TV journalists Joseph Abena Abena and Augustin Ndongo while they were reporting in a village in Cameroon’s South Region on February 13.

“The attack on Joseph Abena Abena and Augustin Ndongo is yet another expression of the sense of impunity for those who intimidate and threaten journalists in Cameroon,” said Moussa Ngom, CPJ’s Francophone Africa representative. “Cameroonian authorities must investigate and hold accountable the assailants and ensure a safe working environment for journalists.”

Abena, a regional correspondent for privately owned Equinoxe TV, and Ndongo, a camera operator, were attacked when they went to investigate an agricultural facility owned by Samuel Tony Obam Bikoué, a controversial figure praised by President Paul Biya three days earlier for helping to create “an agricultural industry,” but whose involvement in the banana plantation sector has been criticized by a local prefect.

The journalists were attacked when they entered the facility, according to a statement from the National Union of Journalists of Cameroon and Abena, who told CPJ that one of the attackers asked him why he wanted to harm Bikoué’s business rather than investigating other officials’ interests.

Abena said that the assailants, some armed with clubs, snatched Ndongo’s camera, confiscated the two journalists’ phones, and forced them to sit on the ground while making lynching and death threats, according to Abena, who told CPJ that he had identified himself as a journalist and presented his press card. 

“One of the attackers said he knew me before he said they were going to kill us,” Abena said. 

The two journalists were released after a local official intervened, but Abena said that his computer was damaged and one of the attackers took the memory card from Ndongo’s damaged camera. 

CPJ’s calls and messages to Bikoué and Denis Omgba Bomba, director of the media observatory at Cameroon’s Ministry of Communication, went unanswered

CPJ has documented several physical attacks and acts of intimidation against journalists in recent months in Cameroon, ahead of the country’s elections later this year.

Culled from CPJ

The Cameroonian government has disbursed 2 billion CFA francs to 8,750 rice farmers affiliated with the Yagoua Rice Expansion and Modernization Company (Semry) in the Far North region. The funds were distributed by Paul Atanga Nji, Minister of Territorial Administration (Minat), who has been on a working visit to the Mayo-Danay department since February 13 to address concerns raised by farmers.

In late January, rice farmers in Yagoua, the departmental capital, held protests demanding compensation related to the Logone Valley Investment Development Project (Viva Logone), implemented by Semry. The protests turned violent, resulting in one farmer’s death and several injuries. President Paul Biya subsequently sent Atanga Nji to de-escalate the situation and oversee the payments.

“This generous gesture from the Head of State is a form of support for the beneficiaries, whose activities have been severely impacted by delays in launching the rice rehabilitation project in the Logone Valley, as well as by poor harvests during the last agricultural season,” Atanga Nji told reporters.

The first tranche of 1 billion CFA francs was distributed to 4,399 rice farmers in Toukou, Yagoua, on February 13 during a ceremony at the Tapvounda Rice Cooperative site. In addition to the financial aid, farmers also received agricultural equipment and inputs. The second phase of payments, targeting 4,351 rice farmers, is currently underway in Maga, another town in Mayo-Danay. Atanga Nji is personally supervising the distribution process.

Source: Sbbc