The conflict between government forces and armed separatists in Cameroon’s Anglophone north-west and south-west regions has intensified since December. Over the past weeks clashes between the two sides, as well as increased attacks on villages, has led to dozens of killings, abductions and increased civilian displacement. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates that as of 31 January at least 679,393 people have been internally displaced in the north-west and south-west regions, while 51,000 have fled to neighboring Nigeria.

The latest violence took place in the run-up to parliamentary and municipal elections that were held on Sunday, 9 February. To ensure the elections went ahead in the disputed Anglophone regions, the government announced numerous security measures and significantly expanded its military presence. However, the security forces have been accused of burning several Anglophone villages and of indiscriminately shooting civilians. According to Fabien Offner, Lake Chad Researcher at Amnesty International, “in recent weeks, brutal military operations have been conducted while crimes committed by armed separatists continue unabated. Civilians are finding themselves trapped in a spiral of violence.”

Since December armed separatists have also attempted to sabotage the election process, including by abducting candidates. The separatist Ambazonia Interim Government declared Sunday’s elections illegal and announced a six-day lockdown between 7 and 12 February. Separatists reportedly issued threats against any civilians who did not observe the lockdown or attempted to vote.

Following a national political dialogue last October, President Paul Biya granted “special status” to the two Anglophone regions. However, separatist groups refused to participate in the government-led dialogue and power is still concentrated in the Francophone administration in Yaoundé. Sunday’s municipal elections were the first to be held in seven years and were supposed to be a step towards greater regional autonomy.

In order to resolve the ongoing armed conflict in Cameroon, the international community – particularly the African Union and the Economic Community of Central African States – should ensure that President Biya organizes genuine peace negotiations that include representatives of all Anglophone groups. Meanwhile, government forces and armed separatists must immediately end all extrajudicial killings of unarmed civilians and ensure that the human rights of all Cameroonians are equally protected, regardless of language, cultural identity or political affiliation.

Source: Reliefweb

Cameroon government soldiers deployed to Southern Cameroons have horrified the international community with their forceful use of children in parades to commemorate the 11^th of February known as a day reserved for youths in the country.

Our correspondents in both the Northern and Southern zones of West Cameroon have reported that hundreds of kids were forced by elements of the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR) to take part in the March pass outlawed by the Southern Cameroons Interim Government.

The Cameroon government army soldiers disproportionately used girls in Mamfe, Tatum, Mundemba, Wum and Eyumojock to stage the event.

The Cameroon military has detained hundreds of children suspected of ties to Ambazonia Restoration Forces. These innocent Southern Cameroons children are held in military barracks, separated from their parents, without medical follow-up, without psychological support, without education, under conditions and for durations that are unknown.

By Oke Akombi Ayukepi Akap with files from Rita Akana

Despite claiming to organize elections across the entire country, the Yaounde government is in panic mode.

The country’s president, Paul Biya, has convened an emergency meeting of his cabinet. The meeting is scheduled for 5pm Yaounde time.

The items on the meeting’s agenda are unknown, but a source at the Unity Palace in Yaounde has hinted that despite the drama ruling party members have been staging across the country, the government is aware of the truth.

The election might have been organized and the CPDM has won the majority it wants, but the president is aware of the growing anger and frustration in the country’s streets.

The president, our source said, will be calling on his cabinet ministers to exercise caution in the way they address issues facing the country.

The source added that the Southern Cameroons crisis that has put the country in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons will be top on the agenda.

The government, the source said, is taking a look at its strategy and it is probable that the president might yield to international pressure.

The source insinuated that the government might be accepting the Swiss initiative and Mr. Biya might caution his ministers to collaborate fully with any initiative that might bring peace to the country.

The source also said that the president was aware that the results of its military actions had been mixed and the president was mulling the possibility of letting the UN to come in and play a greater role in the aftermath of the fighting.

The source assured our Yaounde correspondent that though the cabinet meeting would hold under tight security, much will filter out and Cameroon Concord News Group will be promptly advised of all what will be discussed at the meeting.

By Rita Akana in Yaounde

Police in Kampala have arrested four Cameroon nationals and three Ugandans for allegedly printing and dealing in counterfeit notes.

The group was arrested in operations conducted in different areas of Kampala such as Cham Towers, Crystal Valley Hotel in Mengo, Nsambya and Mpererwe.

Addressing journalists in Kampala on Monday, February 10, 2020, Mr Fred Enanga, the police spokesperson, said the operation was conducted following intelligence gathered in the last two months

Mr Enanga further revealed that the four Cameroon nationals are international fraudsters known in Mexico, Nigeria and Austria. He said they were found with forged documents, fake dollars, Black dollars and chemicals.

He named the Ugandans as Mugume Wilson aka Mugisha arrested from Crystal valley Hotel in Mengo, Behangana Geoffrey, alias Kazungu, arrested from Nsambya, Nakiggudde Amina, a resident of Mpererwe and Masagazi Tom, a boda boda rider, working at Mini price helping her in transportation and distribution of the counterfeit notes.

Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) records of 2018 show Ugandans lost 11 billion shillings to land and property fraudsters. People were duped with fake money making deals, fake land titles, and duplicate foreign currencies.

Police cautioned public against being lured into illegal businesses that excite them thinking they would accumulate wealth in hours. The public has also been warned to be careful with fraudsters with swift profit-making deals yet their target is to defraud unsuspecting people.

Source: PML Daily

Tuesday February 11, 2020 marks 30 years since the late South African President Nelson Mandela was released from prison.

Madiba, as he was affectionately called walked free to become South Africa’s first elected black president.

“Whites are fellow South Africans and we want them to feel safe and that we appreciate the contribution they have made towards the development of this country’‘, the late South African icon said at a press conference in Cape Town, Western Cape shortly after his release.

When Madiba walked out from the Victor Verster prison in 1990, he said ‘‘As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn’t leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I’d still be in prison.’‘

The anniversary also marks the end to a ban on political parties in South Africa and the formal end of apartheid.

The anniversary comes two days before President Cyril Ramaphosa delivers the State of the Nation Address.

Liberian Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Leyma Gbowee will also deliver a lecture at the Cape Town City hall on Tuesday.

Ramaphosa is expected to conclude this with an address titled ‘’ The speech that Birthed a Nation, 30 years on.’‘

“Education is important, because if you are not educated, you can’t be a leader.”

AFP

At least four civilians were killed in incursions by the terror group Boko Haram that took place Saturday in Cameroon’s Far North region, according to local sources on Sunday.

Three villagers were killed in Tagawa locality and another civilian was killed in Dzamazaf locality after militants of the group raided the localities, according to several security sources.

The group also torched many houses in Dzamazaf, rendering close to 500 villagers homeless, local authorities said.

Officials said, many people in the affected communities who had registered to vote in Sunday’s municipal and legislative elections in Cameroon will not be able to vote because of the attack.

It is unclear if the group intended the raids to disrupt the general elections in the region.

More than 2,000 people have been killed since Boko Haram launched attacks in the Far North since 2014, according to security reports.

Source: Xinhuanet

At least two armed separatists and one Cameroon soldier were killed on Sunday in the country’s restive Northwest region as the polling of municipal and legislative elections is underway, according to local authorities.

“They (killed separatists) attempted to stop people from voting and were gunned down by security forces,” a security officer who asked not to be named told Xinhua, adding that the incident took place in Babungu.

A member of security was also killed by separatists in Befang in the Northwest, according to the same source.

Local media reported clashes between government forces and armed separatists mainly in rural areas where the militants barricaded the roads to prevent voters from going to polling stations to vote.

Separatists have vowed to disrupt the elections in the two Anglophone regions of Northwest and Southwest where they want to establish an independent state.

Local authorities said, in spite of the tense atmosphere, the polls were unfolding as planned.

Over 6,800,000 people were registered to vote in Sunday’s general elections, about 14% of them are from the English-speaking regions, according to the latest numbers published by Elecam, Cameroon’s electoral body.

Culled from Xinhuanet

Fighting between government troops and anglophone separatists in parts of Southern Cameroons Sunday disrupted voting in legislative and municipal elections, local officials and other sources said. The authorities issued no details on casualties.

Sunday’s clash was in Muyuka, a rebel stronghold, although fighting takes place almost daily in both English-speaking regions: Northwest and Southwest, which border Nigeria.

 “There were exchanges of fire between separatists and soldiers,” said a witness contacted by telephone.” An election committee official who asked not to be named told AFP: “I called our superior in Muyuka and he said that there had been shooting early this morning, but that the situation was calm now and the electors were voting.”

 But an opposition candidate in the region, who also requested anonymity, said: “The secessionists and the soldiers clashed. There was no election.”

 Speaking by phone, a senior member of a non-governmental organisation in the region said the shooting had started early in the morning and continued until at least 11:00 am. And a senior official in the region’s administrative acknowledged that “there was practically no way of voting” in Muyuka.

 There had also been shooting at Buea, the main town in Southwest region and in Kumba in the same region, he added. But he thought it was mainly to warn off the rebel fighters and avoid a battle, she added. She too asked not to be identified.

Turnout in the troubled anglophone regions of Cameroon has been very weak, according to AFP’s correspondents at Buea, which has seen the least of the recent fighting. The three-year conflict between anglophone forces seeking to break away from French-speaking Cameroon has claimed more than 3,000 moves and forced more than 700,000 local people to flee their homes. The separatists, who declared independence from Cameroon in 2017, had made it clear that they would disrupt the elections.

Source:  VANGUARD

Cameroon’s so-called advanced democracy has continued its onward march towards a man-made catastrophe despite all the warning signs. While decency, responsibility and transparency are the hallmarks of genuine democracies around the world, Cameroon’s democracy has continued to be mired in corruption, controversy and irresponsibility for more than a quarter of a century.

While the natural tendency for a genuine democracy is to innovate and streamline processes and procedures, Cameroon’s democracy manufactured by its president, Paul Biya, has put the country in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

All elections held in the country from 1990 have been marred by fraud and lack of transparency. In 1992, the American election watchdog, the National Democratic Institute (NDI), documented evidence of fraud in the presidential elections and the Biya government declared the famous institute persona non grata in Cameroon.

The acts of fraud during these elections were so crude to the point that even the blind could see them. Elections were organized by the ministry of territorial administration. The minister was a member of government of the incumbent whose cardinal objective in life at the time was to stay in power in order to protect acts of corruption and fraud committed under his one-party state.

Voters’ registration was the responsibility of local chiefs and other government officials who were paid by a government that was still struggling to shake off the one-party hangover. The main opposition party leader was John Fru Ndi, a man who struck fear in the minds of one-party state believers. His supporters were not allowed to register for the elections freely. The presidential election was more of a war than a normal democratic process, with the ruling party preaching tribalism and promoting hate speech.

Anglophones living in many parts of East Cameroon were cut out of the electoral process because their loyalty was obvious. It was the best way to guarantee the incumbent a victory. Many of those who ever got registered never had their voters’ cards and even the receipts issued to them after registration were rejected on polling day.

On voting day, polling stations were changed at short notice. Voters were completely confused. Opposition election officers were refused entry into polling stations. Ballot boxes were stuffed with fake ballots and intimidation by the ruling party was clearly on the menu.

The results were compiled by the ministry of territorial administration and released by the Supreme Court whose judges were appointed by the incumbent. The signs of corruption and fraud were obvious except to members of the ruling party who thought more about their personal interest than about the country’s paramount interest.

Almost 30 years after, the ruling party, the CPDM (Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement), a party that is only democratic in name, has continued to use the same tactics to perpetuate itself in power. Yesterday’s elections were not different from what Cameroonians have witnessed for close to 30 years.

The context might have been slightly different due to the insurgency playing out in the two English-speaking regions of the country and the general voter apathy because of the past, but the ruling party has  still employed the same tactics to sustain itself in power. The results of yesterday’s elections were known long before the voting took place.

The ruling party had eliminated many opposition parties in many constituencies around the country. All opposition parties fielded only 45 candidates in the parliamentary elections out of 180 seats. This implied that the CPDM had already won 135 seats even without any real voting.

In Cameroon, there is no strict campaign financing laws. The CPDM government grants very little financial assistance to struggling opposition parties for them to be able to participate in the elections. It grants itself the state treasury and uses military and state vehicles for its campaigns. In the two English-speaking regions, government officials used military trucks and armoured cars to go to the regions just to rig the elections.

The objective is not to convince the population, but to demonstrate that elections actually took place across the country. Fuel for the trucks, drivers of the vehicles and maintenance costs are all being borne by the poor taxpayer whose interest is never considered as a priority.

While ruling party officials enjoy all of this, opposition party candidates simply avoid the war zone and only ruling party election officers really go to the polling stations. The outcome of the election is therefore not in doubt.

In many polling stations, only government soldiers voted. Prisoners from other regions were hauled like cattle to the two English-speaking regions for them to vote for the ruling CPDM. In Buea, Bamenda, Kumba, Mamfe and other cities in the two English-speaking regions, many young men were arrested and kept in jail until after Election Day.  They were released after having voted for the ruling party. Cameroon’s advanced democracy is making giant strides; unfortunately it is making giant strides towards dictatorship and monolithic thinking.

The ruling party, known for its Machiavellian mindset, had orchestrated the real fraud, not necessarily in the polling stations, but during the registration process. Three hours after the close of elections, some of its members could be seen celebrating the party’s victory in front of Ayaba Hotel in Bamenda like a group of monkeys that has run into a bunch of bananas.

According to the country’s electoral law, only the government manufactured elections body, ELECAM, is supposed to declare election results and anybody found declaring results without the approval of ELECAM shall be found guilty of transgressing the country’s electoral law.

But ruling party officials in the Northwest region were releasing their own results yesterday and nobody has been arrested or summoned to appear before any constituted government body for them to answer for their reckless behavior. Cameroon’s laws are simply selective, and they never find ruling party officials guilty of any crime.

The ruling party has won by a wide margin in the two English-speaking regions of the country, at least according to the party’s estimates. The population of those regions simply did not participate in the elections. They have been displaced, with more than a million of them living across the country as internally displaced persons, while a similar number is hiding in the bushes or is in Nigeria because of the government’s violent military response to the insurgency.

The population of the two regions also respected the lockdown decreed by the Southern Cameroons Interim Government that is living abroad and this has actually ruffled officials of the ruling party as the internet is awash with videos and pictures of towns abandoned by civilians who totally disagree with the way the regime has ruled the country for more than three decades. But the CPDM will surely score a 100% in both regions.

It is a party populated with people who have many skeletons in their cupboards. This is a party that started off with a slogan that captured the imagination and attention of Cameroonians. Rigour and Moralisation made the party look like a product made in Heaven. But over the last 35 years, Cameroonians have seen more corruption and demoralization spreading across the country like wildfire.

The CPDM might have won the election, but its battle to win hearts and minds, especially in the two English-speaking regions of the country, will be the one that will be the most challenging. The people of these two regions have made up their minds not to listen to the political heresy the ruling party preaches. Despite the victory it has arrogated to itself, the CPDM government, also known as a crime syndicate, will not govern Cameroon in peace.

Cameroonians have become more intelligent and the dignity, for which Anglophones are known, is gradually spreading to other regions of the country. Cameroon is in for a chaotic ride into the future. The road ahead is long and bumpy, and the drivers of the vehicle are old and inefficient. The chances of the vehicle ending up in a ravine are huge. Only the international community can pull this country back from the brink.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai in the United Kingdom and Rita Akana in Yaounde