From the greatest high to the greatest low at the Cameroon Radio and Television (CRTV), the detention without trial for nearly four years of Amadou Vamoulké the former general manager of the Cameroon public broadcaster has again regenerated a massive under-the-table talk in the nation’s capital Yaoundé and the detained senior French Cameroun political elite has reiterated his claim of being a victim of a Beti Ewondo conspiracy.

The 70 year old Vamoulké was appointed General Manager of CRTV in January 2005 and was sacked in June 2016 after spending 11 years as head of the Cameroon Radio and Television Cooperation. A month later, in July 2016, he was placed under a provisional detention order at Yaoundé-Kondengui Central Prison.

Amadou Vamoulké like many others held in the same facility is suspected of embezzling several billion of CFA francs when he was head of CRTV. The Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime in Yaoundé has maintained a kind of deliberate silence despite receiving signals incessantly flashed out by renowned international media organizations including Reporters Without Borders for his release.

Vamoulké, who has been very discreet throughout this difficult time has made his first public outing on social media entitled “The Truth of Revenge“, which he painted himself as a Cameroonian more sinned against than sinning. He considers himself an innocent man whose human rights are being violated by men and women who wanted the job of GM at CRTV.

Cameroon Intelligence Report sources have revealed that Vamoulké may die in detention. He has been deprived of medical examination and treatment appropriate to his recently diagnosed severe neuropathy and he is running the risk of losing his lower limbs.

In his posting on social media he repeatedly observed that “I am well aware that openly exposing today the hostage-taking of my country’s justice system is not likely to move the incriminated actors who still believe themselves to be unshakeable”.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with intelligence files from Asu Isong and Rita Akana

Sources close to Colonel Etoudi Marius family have hinted that the senior officer of the Cameroonian army has been carried away by the Coronavirus, the dreaded pandemic that is wreaking havoc throughout the world.

The native of Konabeng, a village in Okala district, Lekié Division in the Central region was a chartered member in President Biya’s private medical team.

Cameroon Intelligence Report gathered that he died early this morning in Yaoundé.

By Rita Akana

Cameroon is marking its national day Wednesday under coronavirus restrictions and amid ongoing clashes between the military and anglophone separatists.  President Paul Biya has spoken publicly for the first time about the pandemic.

Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya, broke his silence on the coronavirus pandemic Tuesday night in a televised address to mark the country’s national day.

Biya’s two-month absence and lack of commenting in public on the pandemic had raised speculation about his health.

The 87-year-old, who has ruled Cameroon since 1982, is known for his frequent travels overseas that spark criticism.

In a live broadcast on state television, he said there would be no festive events or military parades to celebrate this year as the number of COVID-19 victims continues to rise.

“Most of you have understood that it is necessary to put aside political squabbles and adopt a common front in the face of the insidious danger posed by COVID-19,” he said.

Instead of public gatherings to mark their independence, Biya called on Cameroonians to follow social distancing guidelines and promote national unity.

A member of medical staff wearing protective equipment, prepares to take care of patients amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at an hospital in Douala, Cameroon, April 27, 2020.

A member of medical staff wearing protective equipment, prepares to take care of patients amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at an hospital in Douala, Cameroon, April 27, 2020.

He made no mention of the ongoing separatist conflict in western Cameroon that the U.N. says has cost more than 3,200 lives and displaced more than half-a-million people.

Cameroon’s military raised flags on public buildings Wednesday to mark the anniversary of a 1972 referendum for a unified state instead of the federal system agreed to when the country first gained independence.

Cameroon’s anglophone rebels refuse to honor national day, saying the referendum was unjust because it allowed the French-speaking majority to rule over them.

Ruling party supporter Enow Tanjong voted on the referendum and said the rebels should stop fighting and work for peace in the English-speaking regions.

“They should lay down their arms and come and be integrated in the economic progress of the country. Those who think that we should go and found another country are completely wrong. The world is looking forward to having countries come together and that should be what should guide us,” said Tanjong.

Ongoing clashes

Cameroon’s military said clashes with rebels this week killed at least six people, where separatists had called for a lockdown and vowed that national day would not be observed.

The rebels claimed on social media to have abducted at least nine people they said were watching national day TV programs.  Their claim could not be independently confirmed.

Dorothy Njeuma is a Biya supporter but said the over-centralization of power by the central government in Yaoundé was provoking the separatists.

“Over the years, people have had second thoughts about whether it is the best arrangement to have an over-centralized system, but I am not sure that the way that some people have gone about it is the best.  I would go more for an effectively decentralized system,” she said.

The conflict started in 2016 when protests by English-speaking teachers and lawyers against the dominance of French-speaking Cameroonians led some to take up arms.

Cameroon’s military declared war on the rebels, who have been fighting since 2017 to create an independent, English-speaking state.

Source: VOA

Cameroon’s president on Tuesday called on all citizens to get involved in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic that has killed 140 people in the Central African country.

“I strongly urge all political, religious and opinion leaders, all officials of associations, all traditional rulers and all dignitaries to fully participate in the fight against COVID-19,” Paul Biya said.

“I, therefore, call on each and every one of you to get involved,” Biya said in a televised speech ahead of the country’s national day celebrated on May 20 each year.

He said that it was important to observe coronavirus preventive measures such as wearing face masks, social distancing, and frequent hand washing.

“Under these circumstances, it was not possible to maintain the festivities marking the celebration of our national day due to the gatherings it entails,” he said.

“This is crucial for the health of everyone,” he emphasized.

“I also wish to hail the courage of the Cameroonian health professionals and those assisting them,” Biya said. “With the resources available to us, they are doing the utmost best to treat those infected with the virus.”

The Central African country has so far confirmed 3,529 coronavirus cases, with 140 death and 1,567 recoveries, according to data from the US-based John Hopkins University.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic and the need to respect social distancing measures, the president of the republic has decided to cancel the public celebrations of the 2020 edition of the national day, Victor Tchatchouwo, Cameroon’s ambassador to Turkey, said in a statement on Tuesday.

The ambassador also wished “a pleasant national day to all the members of the Cameroon community in Turkey.”

Source: AA.com

OFFICE OF THE CHAIRMAN OF THE MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION COMMITTEE FOR THE DEFENSE  TEAM OF SISIKU AYUK TABE & THE REST OF SOUTHERN CAMEROONIANS  IN DETENTION

PRESS RELEASE

 We are reaching out  this May 20th 2020,  to the entire  defense   team of  Sisiku Ayuk Tabe  and  the rest of southern Cameroonian detainees consequential to the ongoing struggle for the restoration of the statehood of the former British Trust Territory  now   popularly  (the Anglophone Struggle) , National  and International Press,  Foreign Embassies and International Organizations accredited to Yaoundé, local and International  Human Rights organizations, Minister of State Minister of Justice and keeper of the seals, Secretary of State in the Ministry of Justice in charge of Penitentiary Administration.

 That on the night of May 19th, 2020, the superintendent of Prison Principale Kondengui Yaoundé ordered four prison guards to chain the two hands of our client and colleague Shu Fai Blaise Esq to his sick bed at Yaoundé Military Hospital throughout the night. We received a late night distress call about the brutal act from one of his family members who was chased   out shabbily amid dramatic commotion and warned not to approach the ward as they overpowered the patient to chain his two hands to his sick bed with a drip on one of them.

At about 08:30 this May 20th, 2020 some counsel visited Shu Fai Esq to gauge the veracity of the news and effectively we met Shu Fai Esq in a gloomy state as he narrates that he had one the longest painful nights in his lifetime because he slept in chains. That  he struggled not to be chained until the drip was dripping  out of  his veins but the prison guards went ahead to subdue him in chains.

Shu Fai Blaise  Esqwas critically sick for ten days in prison and was deprived of adequate medical attention until  when he collapsed under the watchful eyes of the superintendent of prison Principale Kondengui  Yaoundé before being rushed to the Military Hospital in the early hours of May, 16th, 2020.

The superintendent has visited him twice  at the Military Hospital and  disturbingly, during his visits,  he  has been pressing hard that Shu Fai Blaise  Esq  should be  discharged  back to prison whereas  the results  of  the  clinical tests done on him  at the Military  Hospital are pending in  laboratories. After the prison guards threw out his family members last evening, the superintendent issued firm instructions that his lawyers should not be allowed access to him. At the time we arrived the Military Hospital today, the chains were removed.

Done in Buea

This May 20th, 2020 Communication and Media Chairman

For the defense team

Cameroon’s 87-year-old President Paul Biya has made a televised address to his people ending more than two months of silence as the central African nation dealt with a burgeoning coronavirus crisis.

Biya’s long silence was for supporters a sign of gravitas but for critics one of failure. “Like most countries in the world Cameroon is suffering from COVID-19,” Biya said Tuesday night on state channel CRTV.

“The number of people infected rises day after day, bringing proof that the fight against the pandemic is complex and difficult.”

Biya urged people to respect “measures taken by the government, such as the obligatory wearing of masks”. He also asked them “not to give in to panic and not to believe false information put out on social networks.”

He last spoke to the nation on March 5, although Cameroon had counted by Monday 3,500 cases including 140 deaths, and has been hit harder by the virus than most sub-Saharan African countries.

Speculation about his death even circulated on the internet in late April and the government was moved to put out a denial. In his 37 years in power, Cameroonians have become accustomed to Biya’s long absences, mainly because of poor health.

But his silence over the pandemic raised numerous questions for a leader who has overseen many crises since he took power in 1982.

He posed for the cameras after talks with the US ambassador on March 11 and again after meeting the French envoy. His subsequent absence from public view saw the opposition question his role.

Main opposition leader Maurice Kamto, the runner-up to Biya in 2018 elections, said he had launched proceedings for the Constitutional Council to declare the presidency vacant.

Six opposition activists were arrested last week in Cameroon for “illegally” distributing face masks and disinfectant gel. All are supporters of Kamto whose initiative to collect funds to fight the virus has been banned by government. They were released after five days.

Biya reappeared finally on the eve of national day. “Most of you have fully understood that faced with the silent danger that COVID-19 represents it was time to set aside political quarrels and form a united front,” he said.

Source: AFP

Dr. Chemuta Divine Banda, Chairman of Cameroon’s National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms has died in Yaoundé Monday, May 18, 2020.

The human rights vanguard is said to have died at “Le Jourdain”, a clinic in the country’s capital Yaoundé where he was receiving medical attention.

Born on December 26, 1946, Dr. Chemuta Divine Banda became Chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms of Cameroon in 2003, an office he occupied until death snatched him this Monday.

The native of Bafut in Mezam Division of the North West Region graduated from the University of Yaoundé and obtained a PhD in Public Administration at Nova University, USA.

As Chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms, Dr. Chemuta spared no effort trying to take the commission up to the international standards with the aim to achieve greater autonomy, more credibility and efficiency.

Dr. Chemuta was very vocal about the human rights violations and abuses that have since characterised the crisis in the country’s North West and South West regions.

He was among those who carried out an inquiry to shed light on the February 14, 2020 killing of children and women in Ngarbuh, Donga-Mantung Division.

Source: Cameroon Info.Net

Tibor Peter Nagy Jr., the United States Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs says as the situation in Cameroon’s restive North West and South West Regions deepens, the belligerents must now “stop [the] violence and start talking.”

Taking to Twitter Monday, May 18, 2020, Ambassador Nagy says the killing of civilians is inexcusable, citing the killings in Ngarbuh attributed to state forces and the killing of the Mayor of Mamfe by armed separatists.

His words: “Government killing of civilians in Cameroon is inexcusable. I urge follow-through on Ngarbuh investigation and many other incidents of this nature. I also condemn separatist attacks on local officials such as the murder of Mamfe’s mayor. Stop violence, start talking. ”

 On February 14, 2020, at least ten children and three women were among those killed when soldiers carried out an operation in Ngarbuh, a village in the country’s North West Region.

Government initially blamed the deaths on the separatists. But on April 21, 2020, the report of the commission of inquiry into the incident faulted Major Nyiangono Ze Charles Eric, Commander of the 52nd Motorized Infantry Battalion (BIM) in Nkambe and all the servicemen who took part in the Ngarbuh operation.

It emerged that Major Nyiangono authorized the “reconnaissance mission” which was led by Sergeant Baba Guida commander of the Ntumbaw joint regiment. The detachment comprising three servicemen and two gendarmes enlisted seventeen members of a local vigilante committee.

In faulting the state forces, the inquiry said: “Following an exchange of gunfire, during which five terrorists were killed, and many weapons seized, the detachment discovered that three women and ten children had died because of its action. Panic-stricken, the three servicemen with the help of some members of the vigilante committee, tried to conceal the facts by causing fires. On his return to Ntumbaw, Sergeant Baba Guida who led the operation, submitted a deliberately biased report to his superiors, a report on which the Government initially based its statement. ”

We also recall that on May 10, 2020, armed separatists ambushed and killed Ashu Prisley Ojong, Mayor of Mamfe in Manyu Division. Two service men were wounded in the attack according to authorities. These are only isolated cases of the violence and abuses taking place in the restive area.

Many are those who have proposed a US led mediation to end the crisis.

Source: Cameroon Info.Net

Over the last two weeks, the death of Mamfe’s young mayor, Priestley Ashu Ojong, has dominated discussions in many parts of our country. Social media is awash with stories about his killing, but nobody has been able to clearly point out why he was killed and by who. 

The young businessman cum mayor had demonstrated that he had what was necessary to take Mamfe into a brand-new direction. He had been a deputy mayor, so experience was on his side. His success in the business arena helped him to have confidence in himself. But the most effective tool in his arsenal was his blind loyalty to the ruling Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement (CPDM) that has been in power for close to four decades.

With such a huge arsenal, Priestly felt that he had the best protection. Dead was for other people and not for him. But he failed to understand that success always comes with huge problems, some of which could be very challenging and may even lead to death. And it was one of such problems that led the young mayor to an early grave. But there are many questions which still linger and one of such questions is: Who killed the Mayor of Mamfe and why?

Of course, when news of his death hit social media, the entire country had only one suspect in mind – Amba boys. The young mayor, who was driven by vaulting ambition and arrogance, was, indeed, in the crosshairs of many armed groups in Manyu because of his blind loyalty to the ruling party, his youthful exuberance and bloated arrogance.

He had made the defeating of Amba boys in Manyu the cornerstone of his political agenda. He had wanted to prove that he could roll back the insurgency in that part of the country. Little did he know that the anger against the government was deep and complicated.

At 35, he could not figure out that many people in the former West Cameroon had been hurt by government policies. He was too young to understand and he had made up his mind that he would never listen to these songs of revolution which, to him, were simply heralding an end to his brilliant political career.

His ambitions were lofty and had blinded his reason. Despite advice given to him by many experienced politicians and elders, he went ahead to implement his reckless and egoistic agenda.

Many politicians in Southern Cameroons, especially those of the CPDM, have been very careful with their rhetoric. They love the free money the CPDM provides, but they also understand that the government lacks the capacity to defend them in the event of any attack.

Caught in this nasty situation, most of them have resorted to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds. They know their options are limited. They must please their masters in Yaoundé, but they must at the same time save their lives and those of their families. As a result, money has been changing hands under the cover of darkness and that is why some CPDM politicians feel save even when in Southern Cameroons.

But the mayor of Mamfe had vowed never to play such a game. He always counted on the military for his protection, failing to understand that having the military on your side is no guarantee of security. There is no military stronger than the people, especially those who operate under the cover of darkness.

Amba boys have been on the young mayor’s trail for a long time. He was a marked man even when he was the deputy mayor. His public pronouncements against the revolution that has made Southern Cameroons ungovernable clearly made him a dead man walking.

Many of the young fighters are brothers of people who have been killed by the military and the only language they understand is revenge. In their view, anybody who is collaborating with the military or the Yaoundé government must be reduced to a mass of flesh. It is difficult to have a discussion with these young fighters who have been empowered by their guns and the money flowing from North America.

Their courage has grown over the years and each time they kill a soldier, they only think victory is on the horizon. In their minds, Southern Cameroons must be free and there is no golden median, and this freedom must only come through bloodshed.

Anybody with a divergent opinion clearly belongs to the world beyond and they have demonstrated this by the numerous people they have killed or threatened. A philosophy also practiced by army soldiers sent to the two English-speaking regions of the country to roll back the insurgency.

In a place like Manyu, many people who have had intercourse with the Yaoundé government are clearly in the storm’s eye. They know death is locking very close to home and many have had to skip town just to know their peace.

Amba boys are turning the heat on many government officials and the killing of the Mamfe mayor has made many of them to know that the long arm of the Amba justice system will surely reach them wherever they are in Manyu. Some of them are looking at the possibility of quitting the towns and villages of Manyu, but others have already left, leaving behind vast properties they had acquired fraudulently.

Mr. Agbor Benson, the former deputy mayor of Mamfe and former Manyu CPDM president has shown Amba boys a clean pair of heels. He could not stand the pressure and it is rumored that he is walking the streets of Buea where he feels a little safe.

Others like Agbor Tabi Muller, a former deputy mayor of Mamfe, have left the country. Cameroon Concord News Group gathered that he left the country screaming and begging for his safety as Amba fighters trailed him. He now lives in the United States, hoping that things will one day calm down for him to return.

The late mayor’s problems were also internal. A source close to the Cameroon Concord News Group has hinted that the young mayor had made many enemies within his own camp and party by being overly ambitious and unnecessarily proactive. There was a lot of infighting in his party and he kept playing both sides against the middle.

By splitting his own team, the young mayor exposed himself to the bullets of an unknown assassin. When he fell out with the town’s drivers and motorcycle riders, Priestly weakened his information network, making it hard for him to get reliable intelligence. His bloated ego stood in the way of things and that cost him his life.

But no one can say for sure that he knows who killed the young mayor. The reasons for his death are many. Though his party issued a statement accusing Amba fighters, it is clear that any investigations must first look inwards.

The ruling CPDM has been quick to indicate that on that fateful day, the young mayor was heading to Eshobi, a village some 8 km from Mamfe, to receive some Amba fighters who had made up their minds to surrender, but a Cameroon Concord News Group source has said that the real reasons for that trip were related to his ambition of becoming a village chief.

According to the source, the young mayor had other plans that were rubbing up many people in Mamfe the wrong way. It is alleged that on that day, he was going to receive the title of “Sesekou” which would have opened the way for him to become the chief of Eshobi, a village some think is not his.

The Cameroon Concord News Group has gathered that Priestly Ojong, the late mayor, was not a native of Eshobi. His mother is a native of the village, but his father is not from Manyu. Our sources added that after a violent falling out of his parents, the mother brought him to Eshobi as a little boy and that is the only village he knows as his.

According to Manyu tradition, you can never be a recognized member of your mother’s family and your mother’s village is not necessarily your village. Priestly was oblivious of that and since he is a member of the ruling party, he felt he could change the order of things. His enemies in the village are also being suspected of being responsible for the ambush that robbed him of his life.  Cameroon Concord News Group cannot at the time independently verify such claims but promises to dig further in order to get to the bottom of things.

The death of the young mayor has left many people in fear and there is a lot of pressure in the town as nobody knows who will be next. For now, nobody has been arrested by the police for the killing of a young mayor, but Amba fighters are planning to carryout mass arrests of those who participated in a government-sponsored demonstration against the killing of the young, boisterous and arrogant mayor. 

The days ahead are bleak and only a negotiated settlement can calm down tempers and minds in the two English-speaking regions of the country. Mamfe is only the small tip of a massive iceberg that may drown Cameroon.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai in the United Kingdom and the Cameroon Concord News Group team in Mamfe