President Biya recently ordered the release of 89 million 917 thousand 374 FCFA to settle a slate and deposit a provision for medical care and hospitalization cost for Yves Michel Fotso son of a French Cameroun billionaire.

Michel Fotso, sentenced twice to life imprisonment for embezzlement of public funds during his tenure as head of the Cameroon Airlines Company (Camair-Co) is currently receiving treatment in Morocco. Cameroon Concord News understands he was evacuated to the Arab Kingdom in August 2019.

According to a leaked document signed by Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, Minister-Secretary General at the Presidency of the Republic, Biya directed the recipient, notably the Minister of Finance, to put at the disposal of the defence attaché at the Cameroonian embassy in Rabat (Morocco), the sum of 89 million 917 thousand 374 FCFA to foot Michel Fotso’s medical bills.

The sum disbursed includes a clearance of the initial allocation of 17 million 879 thousand 914 FCFA and a settlement of the remaining hospitalisation cost of 31 million 352 thousand 841 FCFA.

The document also spoke of a provision to cover Michel Fotso’s cost of living in Morocco estimated at 40 million 684 thousand 619 FCFA.

The document aroused the indignation of Cameroonians who wondered aloud about the preferential treatment of a few privileged citizens including VIP prisoners while the vast majority languishes in misery and poverty.

By Rita Akana

The Coalition for Dialogue and Negotiation(CDN), has concluded consultations with Washington D.C. local health officials and George Washington University event management team about the ongoing spread of COVID-19 and the prospect of holding the three (3) day “International Conference on the Armed Conflict in the Southern Cameroons” at the George Washington University from March 19-21, 2020.Putting the safety of all participants first, the Coalition hereby announces its decision to postpone the conference to June 18-20, 2020 at the same venue. During this time the Working Groups will continue to meet and deliberate.

 The Coalition also assessed current measures, including online classes and work from home options, taken by different universities and corporate institutions in the U.S. and worldwide, limiting travel by staff and in some cases their families. These life saving measures impact the ability of many conference participants to travel within the U.S. and from around the world to the U.S. As we closely monitor the evolution of actions taken by the U.S. and other governments, we will continue to build momentum for the conference as well as maintain pressure for the international community to engage forcefully to end the ongoing armed conflict in the Southern Cameroons.

Continued fighting in the Southern Cameroons has since 2017 reportedly resulted in more than 12,000 deaths, arbitrary arrests, and imprisonment of Southern Cameroonians. The government of Cameroon reported the killing of at least 700 of its security forces and administrative personnel. Over 300 villages have been razed forcing the displacement of more than 900,000 and over 60,000 seeking refuge in other countries including Nigeria and the United States. An estimated one million children have been unable to attend school for the past three years, and approximately 1.9 million face severe hunger. Several attempts of the government of Cameroon to quench the armed conflict without addressing the root causes have continue to fail.

 The Coalition will keep you updated with every new information pertaining to this armed conflict and the international conference. The conference website https://aic.coalitionfdn.org/will also be updated regularly.Thank you for your support and we look forward to seeing you in June 2020. We are deeply sorry for the inconveniences this postponement may cause you.

 Sincerely,

For the Steering Committee,

Dozens of reporters in Cameroon are calling for help after losing their jobs and, in some cases, their homes because of the war between separatist forces and the government. The reporters say they are constantly attacked or kidnapped for refusing to be propaganda tools for one side or the other.

Thirty Cameroonian journalists, most of them women from the volatile North West region, have gathered in the capital city Yaounde to discuss the difficulties of reporting from Cameroon’s crisis zones.

Comy Mussa, coordinator of Sisters Speak 237, an NGO that convened the meeting, says she invited the reporters because they need help to continue practicing their profession.

“They do not have the kind of editorial support they need to tell a good story. We have a space where we provide this type of support and we also help them with sourcing for grants. Occasionally, we help with maybe transportation to go to an area and get a story that needs to be told,” she said.

Mussa said the reporters are victims of brutality and violence and most of them are now poor because they are either out of their job or can no longer work in an environment which is increasingly hostile.

It’s not just female journalists who are experiencing problems. Gilles Yumo of the Guardian Post newspaper said that in February his equipment and other items seized by armed men. He said he cannot even apply for a job because his academic certificates were among the things taken from him.

“I have had several calls, threats, intimidation from separatist fighters because it is in such a way that nobody wants to see you reporting what is not in their favor, so when they got my documents what they told me is that they are going to get rid of them by burning [them],” Yumo said.

Freelance journalist Mary Ngwa says she moved from Bamenda to Yaounde due to threats from separatists.

“I reported on the soldiers. That’s when I received the big threat on my life. I started receiving phone calls. The guys were asking me, why did you not report about the other people that were killed. Why did you only report about the military?” Ngwa said.

Since the separatist crisis started in 2017, journalists have complained of abuses by both the government and separatists fighting for the independence of the English-speaking areas from the majority French-speaking country. More than two dozen said they have been arrested or threatened.

Jude Viban, president of the Cameroon Association of English-Speaking Journalists, says the military and separatists should know that reporters are not propaganda tools.

“We denounce each time [when a] journalist is attacked and then, equally, what we are trying to do is to provide some material like bullet proof jackets to help the journalist work in those areas. We are opening a lot of discussions for government forces to understand that journalists are not in any way the enemy. They are just doing their job,” Viban said.

The Cameroon government insists that it does not exert pressure on reporters and the military has always said they do not harass reporters.

Separatist groups, meanwhile, have said they will not allow anyone to stand in their path toward self-determination.

Source: VOA

There is an uneasy calm in Cameroon’s French-speaking towns and villages that share a border with the English-speaking regions after separatist fighters supporting the creation of an English-speaking state crossed into the French-speaking regions last weekend, killed government troops and left with huge consignments of weapons and ammunition. Civilians say they are not sure the military can protect them from the wrath of the separatists as the government claims.

Alima Matembompo, a 33-year-old farmer, cries as her husband is buried in Cameroon’s western French-speaking village of Galim on the border with the English-speaking northwest region.

Her husband, a cattle rancher who was returning from selling cattle in their village market, was killed Saturday night or early Sunday morning.

Among the nearly 20 people who have come out to bury the man is 47-year-old cattle feed supplier John Tatah, who says that since the attack took place, the village market has been closed.

“Most of us that we are doing businesses, all the businesses are grounded, so we pray for a solution to this crisis,” he said.

Tatah said most businesspeople who were about to leave the village when the attack occurred, escaped to the surrounding hills and bushes and have not been seen since.

Many villagers have also escaped to safer localities out of their village, especially to the neighboring French-speaking town of Mbouda.

Daniel Eyoum, the most senior government official in Galim, an administrative unit in the French-speaking western region of Cameroon, said more than 60 armed separatist fighters crossed from the English-speaking region, shooting indiscriminately and creating panic. He says they interrupted the power supply and plunged the village into darkness before attacking military positions for supplies.

Eyoum said the simultaneous attacks on the military and police stations in Galim lasted for more than an hour and a half, and peace started returning only when the separatist fighters had crossed back to the English-speaking northwest region where they came from. He said four civilains, two policemen and two gendarme officers were killed. He said locals should remain vigilant and trust their military that has been deployed to protect them.

Eyoum said the separatists left with weapons and ammunition the seized from government depots. The Cameroon military confirmed the seizure but said that it had deployed additional troops to protect civilians and arrest or kill the attackers.

A video shared by the separatists on social media showed their fighters displaying at least 30 military rifles, huge quantities of ammunition and a motorcycle with a Cameroon police registration number plate they claim they also seized during the attack. In the video, the separatists say they will continue attacking the Cameroon military for supplies.

Separatist spokesperson Tapang Ivo Tanku, who is based in the United States, said in a video that their troops attacked Galim and the video they shared is that of the weapons seized from the Cameroon army. Tanku said a bomb attack was carried out by their forces in Bamenda against women who had defied their instructions not to commemorate International Women’s Day Sunday.

Deben Tchoffo, governor of the English-speaking northwest region, said a soldier was killed and eight people were wounded in the blast. He urged locals to be calm as the military has been instructed to find the culprits and protect civilians.

“We are appealing to the population to rally behind our patriotic citizens and armed forces, and I am giving my word here that measures will be taken to sanction them (the attackers), to punish them so that it should not occur any more here in Bamenda,” Tchoffo said.

The locally made explosive planted along a commercial avenue in Bamenda by the suspected separatists who had vowed to disrupt International Women’s Day activities was the largest since the separatist violence started.

At Galim, it was the fourth time the attackers had operated there. They have also been crossing over and attacking markets, schools and military positions in the neighboring French-speaking west region.

Cameroon’s anglophone rebels have been fighting since 2017 to create an independent English-speaking state in the majority French-speaking country’s western regions.

The U.N. says the conflict has cost more than 3,000 lives and forced half a million people to flee to French-speaking regions of Cameroon or into neighboring Nigeria.

Source: VOA

The Vice President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, Dabney Yerima has told the Cameroon Concord News Group that he plans to travel to the US to attend the critically important international conference on the escalating armed conflict in the Southern Cameroons scheduled for March 19-21, 2020 in Washington D.C

The exiled Southern Cameroons leader hinted that his trip to the United States will also include a meet-the-people tour to decide on the timing of an Ambazonia electoral process to split off from La Republique du Cameroun.

The Ambazonian Vice President is also expected to meet with US State Department officials to assure the White House that the Federal Republic of Ambazonia will not be another South Sudan but that a UN sponsored referendum vote for secession in Southern Cameroons would simply re-draw Africa’s map and guarantee security and prosperity in the Gulf of Guinea.

In a telephone conversation with our London Bureau Chief late on Tuesday, Vice President Dabney Yerima opined that he will do all within his powers to meet with US Assistant Secretary of State Hon. Tibor Peter Nagy Jr. to urge him to intensify his engagement to find a lasting solution to the ongoing conflict in Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia that will of course include a peaceful separation of the two countries.  

Dabney Yerima lashed out at some so-called front line Southern Cameroons leaders whose actions have been sending conflicting signals to the international community. “Instead of celebrating the declaration of our independence made possible by our great leader President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and working hard to multiply and consolidate our gains during this struggle, a handful are busy helping the French Cameroun invading army in creating the largest refugee crisis in the Sub Saharan African region”  Yerima said.  “An estimated 2.5 million Southern Cameroonians have been forcibly displaced.  An estimated 20,000 may have been killed since President Biya of La Republique du Cameroun declared war against us, but the death toll could be far, far greater” the Vice President added.

Comrade Dabney Yerima observed that the humanitarian situation in Southern Cameroons is dire with more than 89 percent of the Ambazonian population in Ground Zero requiring humanitarian assistance.  Yerima pointed out that insecurity created by the French Cameroun invading army and armed militias sponsored by barons of the ruling French Cameroun crime syndicate have disrupted farming cycles and trade routes in Southern Cameroons.

Vice President Yerima revealed that Southern Cameroons popular markets in Tiko, Kumba, Bamenda and Mamfe have all collapsed and food prices have skyrocketed.  He indicated that over 2000 Ambazonian children in Lebialem and Menchum County including Bui, Akwaya and Ndian are facing acute malnutrition and relief supplies from international donors have been repeatedly looted by soldiers loyal to the French Cameroun regime in Yaoundé.

The war in Southern Cameroons has been characterized by horrific human rights violations blamed on the Cameroon government army. Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the International Crisis Group have all reported that civilians have not only been caught up in the violence but have directly been targeted by French speaking army soldiers.

The U.N. Representative in the North West region recently suggested that genocide was ongoing in Southern Cameroons. Both Cameroon government army soldiers and Ambazonia Restoration Forces have engaged in widespread violence with attacks on aid workers on a rise. Human Rights Watch officials assert that targeted attacks against civilians, humanitarians, and U.N. personnel in the two English speaking regions of Cameroon by government forces may constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai in Brussels, Asu Isong in London and Oke Akombi Ayukepi Akap in Glasgow

Amnesty International is launching a new campaign urging Cameroon’s authorities to investigate the enforced disappearance of more than 130 men and boys, who were rounded up from their villages more than five years ago and have not been heard from since.

On 27 December 2014, Cameroonian security forces arbitrarily arrested over 200 men and boys in Magdémé and Doublé, two villages in the Far-North region, during a violent raid in which eight people were killed including a child and more than 70 buildings burned down. At least 130 of them are still missing.

The campaign, “Where are they? Accountability for victims of human rights violations in the villages of Magdémé and Doublé in Cameroon’s Far-North is launched on 10 March 2020. It aims to urge the authorities to provide answers for the families of those who are missing and hold accountable the security forces responsible for the human rights violations committed during the raid and the subsequent enforced disappearances.

“For five years, life has been on hold for the relatives of the men and boys who disappeared on that terrible day in 2014. We want to show them that they have not been forgotten, and that we will continue to pressure the Cameroonian authorities until the truth is uncovered for each one of the 130 men and boys,” said Samira Daoud, Amnesty International West and Central Africa Regional Director.

“President Paul Biya’s government must break the deafening silence surrounding these enforced disappearances, give answers to the families of victims and allow justice to be served.”

On 27 December 2014, security forces sealed off the villages of Magdémé and Doublé, in the Mayo Sava department in the Far-North of Cameroon, to conduct a cordon and search operation following repeated attacks by Boko Haram in the area. Eight people, including a child, were killed, and homes were burned and looted.

Cameroon’s authorities have stated that only 70 men were arrested during the roundup. They acknowledge that 25 died on their first night in custody, but have not disclosed the location of the bodies, or even identified the victims. They have denied that more than 200 were arrested that day and that 130 forcibly disappeared since.

The authorities have also confirmed that 45 people were transferred to Maroua prison the day after their arrest. Of those 45 people, three died due to dire detention conditions and the 42 others were released in July 2017.

In 2015, a presidential decree dismissed a top army official, Colonel Zé Onguéné Charles, who was the head of the gendarmerie in the Far-North at the time of the raid. An investigation was opened into his responsibility in the events of the 27 December 2014 and he was charged with negligence and breach of custody law, which are infractions of ‘correctional nature’ – offenses of less gravity than criminal ones-. To date, the outcome of this judicial proceeding against him remains unknown. In March 2019 he was named Advisor at the Ministry of Defense.

“The suffering of the victims’ families is exacerbated by the authorities’ refusal to tell the truth or even acknowledge that their loved ones are missing,” said Samira Daoud.

“We are calling for an immediate investigation into these disappearances and other human rights violations which took place in Magdémé and Doublé. The perpetrators must be brought to justice.”

Background

The people of Cameroon’s Far-North have been caught in the middle of fighting between Boko Haram and the security forces for more than five years now.

There was a clear resurgence of attacks by Boko Haram in 2019. This was largely overshadowed in the media and authorities’ attention by the crisis in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions, leaving people in the Far-North feeling abandoned.

The Cameroon military has the right and duty to protect people against human rights abuses committed by Boko Haram, but in doing so they must not violate human rights themselves.

Culled from Amnesty International

An artisanal bomb ripped through the grand stand where government officials were gathered to celebrate International Women’s Day in Cameroon’s northwest regional capital, Bamenda, on Sunday, March 8, 2020, killing 5 people, including 4 uniformed officers.

The locally-made bomb that was intended to disrupt Women’s Day celebrations is a clear indication that the government is incapable of restoring security in the two English-speaking regions of the country where an insurgency has been playing out for almost four years.

The bomb, which went off early on Sunday, left many people wounded, including more than five soldiers who were on hand to provide security to the event that was attended by the Northwest regional governor, Adolpe Lele L’Afrique, who many thought was the real target of the bomb.

Cameroon has been caught in a web of insecurity ever since the country’s English-speaking minority took to the streets in October 2016 to complain about marginalization and corruption that have blighted the lives of the people of former British Southern Cameroons.

True to its logic, the government responded with military violence, making things worse. A protest that was started by teachers and lawyers was mismanaged by the government and this has resulted in the killing of some 10,000 Cameroonians, including more than 3,000 army soldiers who have been deployed to the two regions in a peace-restoration mission that has brought more pain and suffering to the local population than peace.

The atrocities are simply mindboggling. Government forces which are supposed to protect the population have been running amok in the two regions. No city or village has been spared by the government’s blind anger and frustration.

In the Southwest regions, thousands of civilians have been hacked to death by army soldiers. Some have been burnt alive by militia created and sponsored by the Defense Minister, Joseph Beti Assomo; Higher Education Minister, Jacques Fame Ndongo; and Territorial Administration Minister, Paul Atanga Nji, who hold that only violent military actions could help to bring back peace to the restive regions.

In villages such as Kwakwa, Muyuka, Muyenge, Ossing and Kembong, all towns in the Southwest region, many elderly people have been burnt alive by government forces which are using the notorious scorch earth policy in the hope that it will obtain results very fast. But all their efforts have been in vain.

More than 200 villages have been deleted from the country’s map by alcohol-inflamed and trigger-happy soldiers. The pain and suffering brought onto the people of Southern Cameroons have left everybody in the two regions with a feeling of revenge and many Southern Cameroonians living abroad have decided to finance an armed conflict which they hold could result in independence.

But the most shocking killings were the ones that occurred on Valentine’s Day in Ngarbuh and which caused outrage around the world, causing French President, Emmanuel Macron, to express his frustration with a Yaounde government that has been reluctant to employ peaceful means to address the issues that have triggered the insurgency.

The situation is running out of control and it is even spreading to East Cameroon with many people living in Francophone villages neighboring Southern Cameroons fleeing because of increased military activity and violence in their villages.

As the violence in the two English-speaking regions spikes and the country’s economy takes a nosedive, things are becoming complicated for the beleaguered Yaounde government that is now fighting with its back to the wall. Unemployment is at its highest. Cameroonians have lost faith in the system and these unfortunate situations are gradually creating new complicated ones with the country’s Diaspora jumping into the fray.

Violence has become a staple in Cameroon and fear and tension could be read on people’s faces. On March 7, 2020, some 4 Cameroonian servicemen and women were killed in an attack on a military post in the Country’s West Region.

The attack, which took place in Galim where armed fighters linked to the Brigade Anti-Sardinards (BAS) are known to operate against security forces loyal to the Biya regime in Yaounde, has heightened concerns of the population.

Initially, government sources accused Southern Cameroonian separatists for the violent attack that resulted in the seizure of a huge weapons cache from drunk and unprofessional government troops who were caught off guard. But things became a lot clearer later on Saturday when the BAS announced that the assault was its second military operation against troops serving the Biya regime.

A Cameroon government security source revealed that there were more than 75 attackers who came on motorbikes, adding that the assailants also left with vehicles found at the military post.

A new front has therefore emerged. Cameroon is now fighting many wars on many fronts. The country’s military is spread thin and financial resources to persecute the war are fast drying up. With the Southern Cameroons insurgency growing on a daily basis, it is clear that the government’s strategy has not worked and it will not be working anytime, soon.

As the BAS jumps into the game of violence, it is clear that the Yaounde government has a huge crisis on its hands. Boko Haram is still a lethal threat in the country’s Northern part and Central African Republic rebels have become a millstone around the neck of the Cameroon military, as its forces are constantly being kidnapped for ransom.

Things are getting murkier by the day. Even the separatist fighters are not saints. They are doing a lot to increase the insecurity in the two English-speaking regions of the country. Kidnappings have risen and have become a full-time job for many criminals who pass off as Southern Cameroonian fighters.

Last week, a video emerged with Southern Cameroonian fighters carrying the head of a soldier they had beheaded. The video clearly captures the violence that plays out in the two English-speaking regions on a daily basis. In many towns and villages, many people have been killed by separatist fighters on suspicion of collaborating with the government.

In Ossing, a town some 5 miles from Mamfe in the Southwest region, the regent chief was killed by some criminals whose affiliation with Southern Cameroonian fighters is questionable. It is being reported that little disputes in the town of Ossing might be responsible for the killing of the regent chief, although the contract killers came from Kembong, a town some 6 miles from Mamfe town.

In Ndekwai, a small village some 4 miles from Mamfe, a young man who had run out of luck in Yaounde and had decided to return to his native village, was set up by his cousins. His cousins told the brutal and unregulated Amba boys that he was collaborating with the government. He was picked up by the Amba boys and taken to the forest where he was asked to put his head into a noose that had been prepared for him.

He had no choice but to accept his unfortunate fate despite his effort to prove that he had nothing to do with the government. When he was suffocating, the Amba boys cut the rope and he landed into a grave that had been dug for him. He was left to die slowly in a shallow grave, but one of the Amba boys had an attack of conscience and returned in time to save the young man who was already drifting in and out of death.

He was taken out of the forest and dropped off somewhere close to home, but was warned to be a good Southern Cameroonian citizen or whatever that meant. The two cousins who had set him up had already fled the village when they were told that the same Amba boys were looking for them because they had lied about an honest man who could have lost his life.

That is the daily reality in Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions; a reality triggered by the government’s penchant for violence and a declining economy that has left many young Cameroonians unemployed. If the international community does not intervene sooner rather than later, Cameroon will become another conflict that is being ignored by the international community which is supposed to pre-empt such unfortunate situations.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from Rita Akana in Bamenda

At least 4 Cameroon servicemen and women were killed in an attack on a military post in the West Region on Saturday.

The attack took place in Galim, where armed fighters linked to Brigade Anti Sardinards (BAS) are known to operate against security forces loyal to the Biya regime in Yaounde.

Cameroon Intelligence Report sources hinted that the provisional toll is 4 dead and several wounded.

A local businessman told the Cameroon Concord News Group that all those killed were police and gendarmerie officers, adding he saw 4 bodies being transported away by the military to Mbouda

Heavily armed French Cameroun fighters stormed the gendarmerie post at Galim and took away a lot of material,” he said, adding some Cameroon government officers were able to escape the attack.

BAS announced that the assault was its second military operation against troops serving the Biya regime.  A Cameroon government security source revealed that there were more than 75 attackers who came on motorbikes, adding the assailants left with all the weapons and vehicles at the post.

By Chi Prudence Asong with Intel files from Rita Akana

150 women from Cameroon who have been imprisoned for months in a for-profit ICE detention center in Texas have been transferred to other remote immigration jails, in apparent retaliation for their protests over indefinite detention and dangerous conditions.

In a letter sent to the advocacy group Grassroots Leadership last month headlined “A Cry for Help,” the Cameroonian women complained of medical neglect at the T. Don Hutto immigration jail, writing, “Some of our sisters are sick and not being well treated. Others are running mad due to trauma and stress. … The medical department is very rude to us, they tell us we’re pretending to be sick even when someone is in serious pain.”

The Cameroonian asylum seekers also say they’re being discriminated against, writing, “Almost all the white women we came in with and even others who came after us have been released on parole and bond but we’ve been denied both parole and bond.” Advocates fear the women now face possible deportation in retaliation for speaking out against the conditions in T. Don Hutto. The facility has for years been plagued by allegations of abuse.

Source: Democracynow.org