The Anglophone conflict has inflicted deadly violence & human rights abuses against Cameroonians. The int’l community must do more to speak out against these atrocities & engage all sides to pursue an inclusive & constructive path toward peace & stability.

U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Ben Cardin (D-Md.), ranking member of the Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Transnational Crime, Civilian Security, Democracy, Human Rights, and Global Women’s Issues, along with Senators Todd Young (R-Ind.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Tim Kaine (D-Va.), today introduced a resolution calling on the Government of Cameroon and armed separatist groups from the English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions to end all violence, respect the human rights of all Cameroonians, and pursue a genuinely inclusive dialogue toward resolving the ongoing civil conflict in Anglophone Cameroon.

“The deadly violence and human rights abuses against the Cameroonian people as a result of the Anglophone conflict has crippled the country’s political and economic development. The international community must do more to speak out against the atrocities of this conflict, and engage all sides to pursue an inclusive and constructive path toward peace and stability,” said Risch. “Resolving this conflict will allow Cameroonians to fully realize their own constitutional and democratic ideals, pursue justice for those whose lives have been lost or destroyed, and restore Cameroon’s robust security and economic partnership with the United States.”

“America’s foreign policy should be rooted in our values, including our obligation to support human rights all around the globe. The situation in Cameroon has continued to devolve, and the United States’ Senate cannot be silent in the face of grave human rights abuses,” Cardin said. “This bipartisan resolution marks Congress’ commitment to working with the Cameroonian people to put an end to violence and human rights violations, pursue justice for victims, and support Cameroon in reconciliation, development, and humanitarian efforts.”

Key provisions of the resolution include encouraging all parties of the Anglophone conflict in Cameroon to:

Conclude and uphold an immediate ceasefire.

Guarantee unfettered humanitarian access and assistance to the Northwest and Southwest regions.

Exercise restraint and ensure that political protests are peaceful.

Establish a credible process for an inclusive dialogue that includes all relevant stakeholders to achieve a sustainable political solution that respects the rights and freedoms of all of the people of Cameroon.

Cameroon Concord News Group senior political man, Dr Patrick Ayuk says Barrister Agbor Balla has betrayed the entire Federal Republic of Ambazonia by publishing a “sex dossier” on Ambazonia Restoration Forces. The South African based Southern Cameroons academic also stated that the Agbor Balla betrayal will not last long.

“Barrister Agbor Balla betrayed the Ambazonian nation, its leadership and Amba Self Defense Forces including the important cause of Southern Cameroons” Dr Patrick Ayuk said in a meeting with the editorial desk of the Cameroon Concord News Group on Tuesday.

“Of course Barrister Agbor Balla’s 50^th birthday party was celebrated and accorded heavy French Cameroun media coverage but this situation will not last long, and the stain of shame will remain on his face including men like Atanga Nji, Paul Tasong, Victor Mengot, Dion Ngute and Elung Paul who forgot the occupation of Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia and the killing of over 35,000 Southern Cameroonians.”

Dr Patrick Ayuk was referring to a report recently released by the Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa.

Dr Patrick Ayuk who is also a leading Southern Cameroons figure in the resistance further expressed dismay at Southern Cameroons traditional rulers collaboration with French Cameroun and the wicked elements at the helm of the Biya regime in their brutal actions against the interests of the people of Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia and the entire Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

Dr Patrick Ayuk also advised Barrister Agbor Balla, Dr Ikome Sako and Chris Anu to wake up as soon as possible and compensate for what they have done.

By Isong Asu in London

Fear and hunger stalk the survivors of a suicide bomb attack on a site for displaced people in northern Cameroon, local residents say.

Eighteen people died and 15 others were wounded in the overnight attack on 1 August  at Nguétchéwé, close to the border with Nigeria, where thousands of internally displaced people have sought safety over the past seven years.

Since then, insecurity in Far North region has continued. Attackers killed seven and wounded 14 on Monday when they targeted a Goldavi village, which hosts IDPs.

The 2,000 residents at the site near Kolofata have had to adjust their daily routines since August and this has made their lives even harder.

“We can no longer dig in the fields for fear that armed men will hide in them and attack us. These days, we farmers do virtually nothing,” said Ndonoko, 40, who fled to Nguétchéwé when attackers burned his village in Cameroon to the ground.

Ndonoko is no stranger to violence. His younger brother was killed last year and his niece, Yakadam, died in August’s attack on the site, which is in the Far North region’s Mozogo commune.

Nguétchéwé, which borders a nature reserve, overlooks the frontier with Nigeria and this proximity makes it vulnerable.

“This attack mainly affected women and children.”

The attack has changed life in Nguétchéwé, a village of straw huts topped with tattered tarpaulins, in other ways too. Children still play, women fetch water from a well or go to the local market and some people still work in small fields of rice and corn. But others have set up vigilantes for self-defence and villagers sleep outdoors to be able to escape if attacked again.

“This attack mainly affected women and children and they are in particular need of protection,” said Olivier Guillaume Beer, the representative in Cameroon for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency

“It shows the extreme vulnerability of these displaced populations .… We have a duty to provide them protection and assistance and we are at the disposal of the authorities to help them in this task,” he said.

Violence is rising in the Far North, after a spate of looting, attacks and kidnapping by Boko Haram and other groups. Some 360,000 internally displaced people and 115,000 Nigerian refugees stay in the region.

Overall, around 3.2 million people have fled their homes in the Lake Chad basin region. This includes around 2.8 million who are internally displaced in northeast Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger and roughly 300,000 Nigerian refugees who have fled into neighbouring countries.

“I woke up my children to run towards the bush.”

Memories of the August attack haunt survivors. Suzanne Taramna recalls the sound of gunfire awakening her that night.

“I woke up my children to run towards the bush. In the dark, people were running. It was a complete stampede and in the confusion I lost sight of two of my children who took another direction. I took shelter in a cornfield. Not far from me, I heard a loud explosion. A piece of debris from the explosive device hit my hand,” she said.

“Afterwards, when I went to the scene, I discovered the remains of my two boys aged 12 and eight,” she said.

Witnesses said the suicide bombers themselves were children. Within days of the attack people in the Kordo and Guérédou nearby also fled their homes fearing they too might be targeted.

UNHCR provides protection and assistance with water, food, shelter and other items to more than 400,000 refugees in Cameroon, mainly from Nigeria and the Central African Republic.

“They have lost everything.”

For Mylène Ahounou, head of the UNHCR sub-delegation in Maroua, northern Cameroon, the needs are never-ending.

“They have lost everything: from their material goods to their documents and this exposes them to all kinds of risks from exploitation to impoverishment,” she said.

“These people, who have been displaced more than once, are particularly exposed to bad weather and need blankets, mats, dignity kits for women, latrines and of course access to drinking water, health care and food,” she said.

One sign of hope was a recent food donation from the government the planned joint response of humanitarian actors in the area. Yet problems persist.

“Our operation remains underfunded and it is also crucial that UNHCR and its humanitarian partners obtain improved access so that we can better serve everyone who has been forced to flee,” Ahounou said.

Source: UNHCR

A 43 year-old Greek national has been arrested in Douala, Cameroon for smuggling 18 kg of hard drugs known as methamphetamine estimated at 700 million CFA francs, about $1.16 million.

According to the Cameroonian police, the banned substance was seized at the Douala International Airport.

Police said Monday night that the Greek who flew in from Brussels was on transit to Europe.

After thorough checks at the airport, frontier police uncovered the drugs that were systematically bundled in two bags then covered with flour, police said.

His accomplice, of the same nationality, who handed over the drugs to him at a neighbourhood in the city, is on the run, according to the police.

Source: PmNews Nigeria

Cameroonian villagers along the Nigerian border need humanitarian aid after deadly Boko Haram attacks displaced at least 7,000 people, authorities and rights groups say. Villagers have been fleeing their homes since early August because of attacks, which killed at least 22 people and wounded 29. 

Several humanitarian groups, including the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), handed out goats and bags of rice, among other goods, to more than a hundred people gathered Monday in the town of Mora 

Cameroon authorities say a suicide bomber hit the village of Goldavi last week, killing seven people and wounding 14 others. For the past seven years, the village hosted 18,000 displaced people who sought refuge from Boko Haram, according to the United Nations.

Sixty-four-year-old Cameroonian Maahamat Doudje was among those who fled Goldavi.

He said after receiving three goats and a bag of rice, he is sure of having at least one meal a day for the next few weeks. 

FAO representative Fulbert Haiba Daliwa said the group is working to help those whose livelihoods have been disturbed by the militants. Many people, he said, have lost everything to Boko Haram.

Forty-eight-year-old Alida Wakilou, a spokeswoman for female displaced in Goldavi, said the women and children have been living in hunger since last week’s attack. They need safe places to go, where they can grow maize, millet and onions to feed their families, she added.

In August, authorities blamed Boko Haram for an attack that killed 17 people and wounded six others in a camp for displaced in the border village of Nguetchewe.

Spokesman for Cameroon’s military Cyrille Atonfack said troops have been sent to assist civilians in areas still prone to Boko Haram attacks.

Atonfack said Boko Haram has destroyed hospitals and chased away health workers on Cameroon’s border with Nigeria, so the military offers food aid and medical and psychological care to victims.

The U.N. said Boko Haram attacks in the Lake Chad Basin have killed more than 30,000 people and displaced over three million in the past decade.

Source: VOA

The people of Southern Cameroons will not allow French Cameroun officials to stage any so-called regional elections in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

The Vice President of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government on Monday also appealed to all Southern Cameroons traditional rulers not to take part in the election, saying Ambazonia Restoration Forces would punish any Chief or Fon who participate in the election or arrange them.

The 87 year old French Cameroun dictator Paul Biya on Monday announced La Republique du Cameroun’s first regional elections in December, including Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia in the grip of a war he declared against British Southern Cameroonians.

The indirect elections on December 6 in the country will put in place councils provided for in a 1996 constitution in a move towards decentralisation but not yet implemented.

The Southern Cameroons Interim Government and other Ambazonian factions have said they will not allow the people of Southern Cameroons to take part in the poll, which French Cameroun President Paul Biya declared for December.

Speaking exclusively to Cameroon Concord News Group on Monday, the Southern Cameroons Vice President Dabney Yerima declared the French Cameroun’s electoral commission known as ELECAM an “illegal body.”

The people of Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia and their Interim Government have said they would continue to resist anything French Cameroun until the international community recognizes the independence of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai in Dusselddorf

Over 1,500 families in Northern Cameroon have been displaced as overwhelming floods – from heavy rainfall in the town of Maroua the last few days, have destroyed their homes, washed away livestock and devastated plantations.

The installed embankment along the Logone River has also given out and even bridges have collapsed, leaving the inhabitants despondent.

Many locals struggle to deal with the environmental crisis

Ibrahim Sala, a victim of the flood, shared his concerns, “We’re losing people, animals, onions, grain, the chickens, everything. The floods just take everything. We are left with nothing here in Merem.”

Another local victim, Issa Nassifou, called out those in charge to come to the aid of the people, “Today, we ask the public authorities to help the population of Merem, which is underwater and flooded. We even have displaced people, some of them have been resettled in Youma, Congeleo, Wideo, even in Kairoum.”

More heavy rains are expected to the fall in the same region this week.

Last year, more than 20,000 people had to abandon their homes. According to the authorities, a total of more than 40,000 people were affected.

Source: AFP

Location:  Cameroon’s Border with Chad and Kousseri, Far North Region

The U.S. Embassy in Yaoundé informs U.S. citizens that it has received information that as of September 2020, extremists were reportedly considering kidnapping unidentified foreigners in the Far North region of Cameroon and bordering areas inside Chad.  The kidnapping events could occur in major cities in these areas, to include Kousseri or N’Djamena.  We have no further information on the timing, method, or targets of the allegedly planned kidnappings.

Actions to Take:

As stated in the State Department Cameroon Travel Advisory, travel to the Far North Region is strongly discouraged.

Review your personal security plans.

Stay alert in public places, including schools, hospitals, government facilities, places of worship, tourist locations, and transportation hubs.

Vary your times and routes; change patterns that have become predictable or routine.

Remain aware of your surroundings and keep a low profile.

Always carry proof of your legal presence in Cameroon, such as a U.S. passport with a valid visa, or a residency card. Since Cameroon does not recognize dual citizenship, U.S. citizens of Cameroonian descent should never attempt to use a Cameroonian passport or identification card.

Cameroon Intelligence Report has gathered from reliable sources in Yaoundé that the Biya Francophone regime is denying imprisoned Southern Cameroons activists and French Cameroun pro-democracy campaigners contact with their family members and lawyers.

 Information filtered recently to our Yaoundé city reporter that Ministers Paul Atanga Nji and Laurent Esso of the ministries of Territorial Administration and Justice appear intent on making certain Ambazonia and French Cameroun detainees including their loved ones suffer by denying them the ability to meet each other and know for certain that they are still alive.

A member of the legal team representing President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and his top aides was quoted as saying that “All prisoners be they from Southern Cameroons or supporters of Prof Maurice Kamto should be allowed unfettered communication with their families and the world outside their prison cells.”

Several family members of leading Southern Cameroons detainees are still seeking Cameroon government permission to visit loved ones being held in incommunicado detention by the French Cameroun regime in Yaoundé. Many Southern Cameroonians including President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe have gone on hunger strike.

Cameroon Intelligence Report understands several of the Southern Cameroons detainees are being held in solitary confinement and facing torture and sexual harassment.

By Rita Akana in Yaounde

The French Cameroun army reportedly came under attacked late on Sunday by elements of the Nigerian Islamic sect, Boko Haram in Toufou in the Mayo-Tsanaga Division in the Far North Region. Cameroon Concord News learnt from security sources that two soldiers were killed and their weapons taken away.

Our source revealed that the Boko Haram fighters targeted the military post at Toufou and destroyed the dilapidated building.

The last skirmishes between the French Cameroun army and the Islamist group were several months ago, but the Sunday incident demonstrated that the group seems to have regained confidence and is now ready more than ever before to confront the French Cameroonian soldiers.

 According to a statement transmitted by Commander Cyrille Serge Atonfack Guemo spokesman of the Cameroon government army, soldiers loyal to the regime in Yaoundé had the upper hand during the attack and five Boko Haram fighters were killed.

However, a military source who sued for anonymity said the fighting lasted several hours before the French Cameroun army managed to repel the attackers. In the end, two Cameroonian soldiers were killed.

By Fon Lawrence