31, May 2019
Southern Cameroons bloodshed escalates as world turns blind eye 0
Human rights groups are demanding investigations into the killing of hundreds of people during demands for independence by English-speaking Cameroonians. An estimated 650 civilians, 235 members of the security forces and nearly 1 000 alleged separatists have been killed as a result of the ongoing conflict northwest of the country.
More than 530 000 people have been displaced in the English-speaking regions. In the most recent violence, On May 15, soldiers from Cameroon’s Air Force and Rapid Intervention Battalion attacked the city of Bamenda, the capital of the Anglophone northwest region, reportedly burning down approximately 70 homes and shops as well as executing at least one person in the street.
Satellite imagery acquired by Human Rights Watch, as well as eyewitness reports and other evidence – appears to show dozens of burned buildings and extensive property damage in the Mankon area.
The attack was reportedly in reprisal for English-speaking separatists killing two Cameroonian soldiers earlier that day.
Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect expressed concern the United Nations (UN) had failed to address the armed conflict, despite it having already lasted more than 18 months.
However, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, warned that the conflict in Cameroon risked spiraling completely out of control if timely preventive action was not taken.
“There is a clear – if possibly short – window of opportunity to arrest the crisis,” she said.
Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect called on UN member states and regional organisations to suspend military aid to Cameroon until the country made progress towards ending the conflict in the Anglophone regions.
Source: CAJ News
1, June 2019
Southern Cameroons War: How to Help Ambazonia Refugees 0
Nearly half a million Southern Cameroonians have been displaced from their homes because of the war currently being waged by French Cameroun government forces in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. Even the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees maintains that it has been hard to process numbers that have fled the conflict to many parts of Nigeria and into French Cameroun, and the many tragic stories behind them. But a video of a 4-months old Southern Cameroons baby killed by Francophone soldiers has now humanized the refugee crisis for many Ambazonians around the world.
After more than three years of the Southern Cameroons war, Ambazonians on Ground Zero face a plight that is far from over. Consequently, Vice President Dabney Yerima is appealing to many charitable Ambazonians to find the most effective ways to help Southern Cameroonians on Ground Zero.
Southern Cameroonians who want to help face tough questions brought about by the failed and corrupt leadership under Samuel Ikome Sako: How does one most effectively deploy limited sums of money to help Ground Zero? Where is the need most dire?
While many Southern Cameroons refugees are trying to migrate to neighboring Nigeria, French Cameroun regions particularly the Littoral and the West are under the greatest strain since they are hosting the largest numbers of Ambazonian refugees.
During a telephone conversation with the Cameroon Concord News Group recently, Vice President Dabney Yerima observed that “To help the greatest number of Ambazonia refugees, you need first to understand where those refugees are located, and second, to support the Interim Government’s Amba Massive Relief for the Ground Zero wounded and injured, detainees, IDPs and refugees.”
By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai