“Human Rights Watch, HRW, has released its 2020 report on the human rights barometer on Cameroon, in which it has indicted Cameroon Government forces for killings, destruction of property, burning of villages, torture, alongside other human rights violations.”

The report also indicted Separatist fighters in the Anglophone Regions for kidnappings, torture, and occupation of schools.

Citing examples from documented cases, the HRW report on the situation in Cameroon, dwelling on the happenings of 2019, noted in its opening statement that: “Armed groups and Government forces committed widespread human rights abuses across Cameroon throughout 2019.”

The report, though largely concerned with the atrocities in the Northwest and Southwest Regions of the country, also documented attacks by the Boko Haram sect in Cameroon’s northern regions. It points out that the sect carried out over 100 attacks, killing over 100 civilians in 2019.

On the situation in Anglophone Cameroon, the report noted: “In Anglophone Regions, violence intensified as Government forces conducted large-scale security operations and armed Separatists carried out increasingly sophisticated attacks.

Over 3,000 civilians and hundreds of security forces personnel have been killed in the Anglophone Regions since 2016 when the crisis started. The unrest in these regions led to the displacement of over half-a-million people.”

Killings, destruction of Property, Torture by Government Forces Narrowing its report to groups, and pointing out their abuses, HRW accused Cameroon Government forces of destroying property, killings, torture, among others.

“Responding to increasing attacks by armed Separatist groups, security forces killed scores of people, burned hundreds of homes and other property in villages and cities across the Northwest and Southwest Regions, and tortured suspected Separatists in detention,” the report states.

The report cited the February 6 storming of the Bole Bakundu Market by State security officers, leading to the death of 10 men; the April 4 assault on Meluf village in the Northwest Region, which led to the killing five civilian males, including one with a mental disability, and wounding one woman.

Eighty homes were broken into, looted and some burnt; the May 15 incident in Mankon, Bamenda was cited, where Air Force and BIR soldiers killed three men, and burnt over 70 houses; the September 24 attack on the Bafut Royal Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage site – where soldiers wounded a man and looted the palace museum, taking several precious artefacts; the incommunicado detentions of several people at the State Defense Secretariat, popularly known by its French acronym, SED, where Gendarmes and other security operatives used torture, including severe beatings and near-drowning, as well as other ill-treatment to force suspects to confess crimes or to humiliate and punish them.

The report also stated that: “While the Government maintained it did not tolerate crimes committed by security forces, it failed to demonstrate progress in investigating and punishing them.”

Kidnappings, Torture, Occupation of Schools By armed Separatists HRW’s report also indicted separatist fighters, stating that: “Armed Separatist groups have killed, tortured, assaulted, and kidnapped dozens of people, including students, teachers, clergy, and administrative and traditional authorities.”

Citing particular cases, HRW pointed out the February 16 abduction of 170 students, mostly girls under 18, a teacher, and two guards from a boarding school in Kumbo, who were released a day after; the mid-May torture of a man in an abandoned school in Bali village, Northwest Region; the June 18 incident where over 40 people were beaten and robbed in Bafut; the June 28 abduction of SDF’s Chairman, John Fru Ndi, as well as the abduction of the Bamenda Archbishop, Cornelius Fontem Esua.

Apart from the situation in Anglophone Cameroon, HRW also documented the crackdown on opposition protests, as well as the detention of peaceful protesters. It also recorded the crackdown on sexual relations between persons of the same sex.

The report also cited the lack of transparency in the trial of security personnel accused of carrying out human rights violations. It stated that: “The visible lack of accountability appears to have fuelled abuses, including killings, destruction of property and torture.”

The report mentioned the US’s decision to scale back military support to Cameroon, due to the country’s alarming human rights abuses. It also mentioned Germany’s decision to end its military cooperation with Cameroon, alongside the stance of other international actors, who generally take exception to the many human rights cases of abuse by the Cameroon Government, especially in Anglophone Regions.

Culled from Cameroon Info.Net

There have been mixed reactions in Cameroon to the meeting between the top U.S. diplomat to Africa, Tibor Nagy, and opposition leader Maurice Kamto, who says he was the rightful winner of the Cameroon’s October 2018 presidential election.

Nagy also gave an interview in which he said Cameroonian officials are not doing enough to solve the separatist crisis that has killed more than 3,000 people in the country’s English-speaking regions. While some see Nagy as someone proposing solutions, others say he does not know the true situation and should hold back his opinions.  

Before beginning a five-nation tour of Africa last Wednesday, Nagy, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, spoke to Radio France Internationale. In the interview, he said his mind bleeds because the separatist crisis in Cameroon has persisted and there seems to be no solution in sight. Nagy said Cameroonians in the volatile north- and southwest regions love their country, but are not happy with the system of government.

“What the people in the southwest and the northwest want more than anything else is decentralization. They would like to have control over their own lives, their own historical heritage,” Nagy said.

Armed groups in the two English-speaking regions want to separate from the rest of Cameroon, alleging discrimination from the country’s French-speaking majority.  

Ernest Ateba, spokesperson of the ruling Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement, said Nagy does not have the mandate to speak to Cameroon.

He said America should respect Cameroon’s sovereignty and understand that Cameroon organized a successful national dialogue that unanimously created a special status for the English-speaking regions, which is gradually being put in place with the expected local council and parliamentary elections and an eventual election of representatives to regional assemblies and assemblies of chiefs.

Separatists have also criticized Nagy on social media for saying that Cameroonians are unified. They say they are fighting for an independent state they call Ambazonia.

Before leaving for Africa, Nagy met in Washington with Cameroon’s opposition leader Maurice Kamto. Kamto maintains that he won the October 2018 presidential election and his victory was stolen by Cameroon’s longtime leader, Paul Biya.

Roger Justin Noah, a spokesman for Kamto’s Cameroon Renaissance Movement party, says Nagy and Kamto discussed the political situation in Cameroon and the crisis in the English-speaking regions.

He said Tibor Nagy, just like their leader Maurice Kamto, shares the view that Biya never respects his promises and that the solution to the crisis in the English-speaking regions is the convening of a true national dialogue in the presence of all English-speaking leaders, including those who were arrested and sent to prison, and their colleagues in the diaspora who have been declared wanted by Cameroon. He said during the dialogue, people should be allowed to speak freely and should not be arrested for having contrary views to those of Biya.

Minister of Communication Rene Emmanuel Sadi said calls by Kamto for another dialogue are to distract people.

“We do not foresee a more inclusive dialogue than the historical one from the 30th of September to the 4th of October 2019. The absence of an extremist minority which did not want to take part although invited, could not put asunder the great success of this historic gathering of worthy sons and daughters of the Cameroonian nation,” Sadi said.

Cameroon is not on Nagy’s itinerary, which includes stops in the Central African Republic, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, and South Sudan.

Source: VOA

Colonel Tabot Samuel Orock was fired unjustly as commander of the Cameroon UN peacekeeping force by the Cameroon Minister of Defense, Joseph Beti Asomo because he has no ‘Godfather’ and also because he is an Anglophone, Cameroon Intelligence Report has gathered from a well-placed source in Yaoundé.

The peacekeeping force in the Central African  Republic has huge infusions of cash from the UN, so the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime has replaced Colonel Tabot Orock with Captain Awono Louis Thaddée, a blood relation to Defense Minister Beti Asomo who is corrupt in order to channel most of that cash to ‘high places’ in Yaoundé.

We understand Yaounde fired Colonel Tabot Orock upon the UN’s request without carrying out any investigations, which is not the right procedure.

Colonel Samuel Orock Tabot, is a graduate of the prestigious West Point U.S. Military Academy as well as the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. His assignment to lead this deployment was a testament to the seriousness with which Cameroon viewed its role in regional peace and security.

By Oke Akombi Ayukepi Akap in UK with files from Rita Akana

On the 14th of January 2020, an army brigade from French Cameroun attacked villages in Kupe Manenguba County, killing scores of innocent civilians. For the past 4 days, the town of Bangem and the surrounding villages have been under unprovoked and sustained attacks. French Cameroun soldiers are carrying out aerial and ground attacks, indiscriminately killing the inhabitants of these localities. So far, 12 villages in this locality have been looted and burned. The village of Babubock has been completely destroyed.

 Yesterday, the 17th of January 2020, videos circulated on social media showing troops belonging to the French Cameroun army burning houses and shops in Bali County. We also have confirmed reports that many inhabitants of Bali, rendered homeless by these senseless attacks, have sought shelter in nearby forests. Similar attacks have been reported in Bui County, where entire communities have been under violent siege by French Cameroun soldiers for several days.

 It’s worth stating that prior to this latest surge in attacks across Ambazonia, more than 300 Ambazonian villages had been scorched by soldiers of the Yaoundé regime.  Meanwhile, the world looks on in silence as the world’s longest serving dictator continues to unleash terror in Ambazonia. Yet the need for an international independent fact-finding mission to Ambazonia has never been more urgent. We call on the United States, the European Union and the United Nations to act now. The scale of the atrocities being committed in Ambazonia is disturbing and needs to be addressed immediately.

 In the hope that such a mission will be carried out in the nearest future, I call on people in the affected towns and villages to document their ordeals even as they flee the violence. The Ambazonian government will continue to aid affected communities within scope of its limited resources. There is no doubt in my mind that Ambazonia shall prevail in this fight for justice and self-determination. French Cameroun is hereby put on notice that considering their continuing genocide in Ambazonia, the Ambazonian government reserves the right to respond in defense of her citizens.

 Dabney Yerima,

 Vice-President

 Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

It has been reported that Success Nkongho, the man who is now working with the Yaounde government to kill the Southern Cameroons rebellion, is still very dangerous.

The Cameroon Concord News Group undercover agent has revealed that Success Nkongho is still doing a lot of damage to the movement that has shaken the Yaounde government to the core.

Mr. Nkongho whom the informant said was being housed by the Yaounde government has been singing like a magpie and is betraying lots of people, especially those who were close to him and Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe.

The self-styled pastor with a questionable character is suspected of submitting a long list of names to the secret service and the list will be used to target those who are suspected of playing a key role in the struggle that has brought the country’s economy to its knees.

Mr. Nkongho who has arrogated a PhD to himself, has promised that he would stand in the way of any independence efforts.

He is being bankrolled by the Yaounde government for him to get in touch with as many people as possible in Nigeria.

His efforts to reach out to many Southern Cameroonians are designed to help the government in its efforts to bring back many suffering Southern Cameroonians without the United Nations’ support so that it can prove that Southern Cameroonians living abroad really want to come back to live in a one and indivisible Cameroon.

The informant said that “anybody who has ever kept in touch with Success Nkongho has become a wanted man in the country. Success seems to be fabricating stories to please his financiers and this seems to be music to the ears of the Yaounde government.”

“Success is a hand grenade that is gradually going off and it will destroy so many lives. He hasn’t got a conscience and is willing to betray even his mother,” the informant said.

Speaking to the Cameroon Concord News Group Chairman, Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai, over the phone, the informant said Cameroonians living abroad must be security conscious as the government is using decoys and molds to eliminate its enemies.

“Be careful how you relate to Cameroonians, especially those of French extraction. Some of them living abroad are on mission to take down enemies of the system,” the informant said, “adding that there are hundreds of Success Nkongho out there, especially in the USA where many people want to use the struggle to enrich themselves.”

“The government is losing power. Its financial resources are on the decline, especially following the fire disaster in SONARA. The government has lost multiple income streams as a result of the struggle and this has left it with an empty treasury,” the informant stressed.

“A hungry man is an angry man. The government is running out of financial resources and this has rattled it. Last months many civil servants did not receive their salaries in time and this is causing sleepless nights in Yaounde,” the informant added.

“This unfortunate financial situation will surely get worse in January and priority will be given to the military, as the government is scared of a mutiny,” the informant advised.

Success Nkongho is not yet done with Southern Cameroonians. In his warped thinking, he thinks he has become a rock star. He is enjoying his relationship with the Yaounde government; a relationship which grants him immunity and money, the informant stressed.

“When you have a friend like Success Nkongho, you don’t need enemies and you must be sure that yours is a kingdom of insomnia. He has been singing like a parrot ever since the government put money in his pocket and nobody really knows what he has been telling people like Atanga Nji who are determined to demonstrate that they are loyal to the government,” the informant quipped.

His intercourse with the Yaounde government can only breed problems in a country that needs peace and stability, the informant concluded.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai in the United Kingdom

The President of the African Bar Association, AFBA, Hannibal Uwaifo, has, in a correspondence to the Prime Minister of Great Britain, Boris Johnson, suggested that an imposed solution to the Anglophone Crisis in Cameroon, either through conquest or from a third party, will only mean more wars.

The AFBA President, thus, suggested a United Nations organised and supervised referendum for Southern Cameroonians to decide their fate. In the letter dated January 10, Hannibal Uwaifo bemoaned that the indifference of the international community and silence of major powers, has encouraged untold suffering and human rights violations to go on unabated in the North West and South West Regions of Cameroon.

“Trenches have been dug and the Government of Cameroun has been encouraged to kill and imprison more as the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations and great countries like Great Britain, which handed the Southern Cameroon to Francophone Cameroun, have refused to speak decisively and hold the Cameroun Government accountable for crimes committed against defenceless citizens of Southern Cameroon,” the letter stated.

Asserting that there is no end in sight to the violence in the affected Regions, the African Bar President outlined that the Swiss-led dialogue process, encouraged by the international community, has, so far, been embraced only, by the “so-called Separatists.”

He went further to remark that the Cameroun Government has, so far, not made known its stance on the Swiss-led mediation process. In his correspondence to the British Prime Minister, AFBA’s Hannibal Uwaifo also detailed the historical background of the conflict. He cited various highpoints in the history of the two Cameroons, the decolonisation process, the referendums, the terms of the proposed union between the two States and other relevant high points.

On the way forward, the African Bar President, speaking on behalf of the Executive Councils of the African Bar Association, proposed a referendum for Southern Cameroonians to decide their fate. He wrote: “Given all these considerations, the African Bar Association is of the strong opinion that, rather than third party suggesting solutions for a problem which they are not suffering, the best and most transparent and democratic solution would be a UN-organised referendum in the British Southern Cameroons, for its people to pronounce themselves on whether they wish to continue to live under Cameroon; to form some kind of association with Cameroon, documented by treaty, or to govern themselves within their own internationally defined territory.

Citing practical examples, AFBA’s President further stated: “Scotland, Quebec, New Caledonia, Bougainville, the UK itself within the European Union, South Sudan and many other countries, have resorted to referenda to settle such supreme matters of interest to their people. There is no reason to deny the people of Southern Cameroons a similar opportunity for this supreme matter. We firmly believe that the people should be given a chance to speak for themselves. This will automatically lead to a ceasefire. The conditions for such a referendum can be worked out to ensure transparency and fairness.”

On the second option, Hannibal Uwaifo, on behalf of African lawyers, suggested that, if any of the parties to the conflict is uncomfortable with the referendum option, the second best option will be for the matter to be settled at the International Court of Justice, ICJ. Here, he said, the ICJ will decide on; “… whether the territory of the Southern Cameroons belongs to the Republic of Cameroon or the people of the British Southern Cameroons.”

Source: Cameroon Info.Net

When you dine and wine with the Yaoundé government, you must be very careful, as the government is a crime syndicate made out of the same mould as the Sicilian Mafia that sometimes carries out some internal cleansing.

For many years, the Yaoundé government has been conducting some purges and those purges have resulted in the imprisonment of many members of the ruling CPDM.

Prime Ministers, ministers and directors are all languishing in jail, proof that the Yaoundé crime syndicate does not spare anybody.

Today, it is the turn of the Fon of Balikumbat, a respected traditional ruler whose word is usually law to his people.

The game he is used to playing has finally become too dangerous even for his Yaoundé financiers who are now questioning his role in the ongoing armed conflict in the two English-speaking regions of the country.

The current Fon of Balikimbat in the Ngoketunjia Division of the North West Region was arrested on Tuesday, January 13, 2020 in Yaoundé.

He is being charged with many crimes and sins which could leave him in the dungeons of East Cameroon for a long time.

It is alleged that when the present Fon succeeded his father, he acquired a lot of arms under the watchful eyes of the Yaoundé government.

The newly minted Fon kept some of the sophisticated and dangerous arms for his personal security.

At the onset of the present crisis, the current Fon of Balikumbat selectively furnished some of his disgruntled youths with sophisticated weapons which are being used today to wreak havoc on army soldiers deployed to the North West Region.

Recently, the Minister of Territorial Administration and ex-convict, Paul Atanga Nji, forced the Fon to declare his allegiance to the Yaoundé crime syndicate.

This led to the Fon denouncing some of the the Amba fighters. The Fon sheepishly embarked on this mission which led to the arrest of some Amba fighters in the Ngoketunjia Division.

Under arrest and severe torture by the poorly trained armed forces, the Amba boys (brave Southern Cameroonian fighters) decided to provide proof of the Fon’s role in the struggle.

The boys revealed that most of the weapons had been handed to them during the early days of the struggle by the present Fon of Balikumbat.

The Yaoundé government conducted a so-called independent investigation, at the end of which, there was probable cause to arrest the Fon of Balikumbat.

He was arrested in Yaoundé on Tuesday and he is being accused of sponsoring and abetting armed groups in Southern Cameroons with the objective of destabilizing the country.

Sources close to the Fon have indicated that they do not know where the Fon is being held.

He has not yet been visited by a lawyer or human rights groups, but what is certain is that the Fon will not be going home anytime soon.

The Yaoundé government, which he flirted with for a long time, has suddenly become a millstone around his neck.

In trying to give up well trained Southern Cameroonian fighters to his Yaoundé master, he has ended up being hoisted with his own petals.

The knife has turned inwards and it is clear that the people of Balikumbat will have to look for a new Fon, as the current one will be with the thousands of Southern Cameroonian fighters languishing in the notorious Yaoundé maximum prison known by the population as Kondengui.

By Kingsley Betek in Cameroon

Soldiers deployed to Manyu Division in the Southwest Region of Cameroon have threatened ordinary citizens in Mkpot, Mbatop and Ebam with death if they do not reveal where the tough Southern Cameroonian fighters known as Amba boys are hiding.

The sex-starved, alcohol-inflamed and trigger-happy soldiers on Monday, January 13, 2020, stormed several villages in the highly volatile region of Manyu Division, threatening innocent civilians they would burn their villages the next time they returned to those villages if the whereabouts of the Amba fighters were not revealed.

The frustrated and scared soldiers hold that civilians are sympathizing with the fighters and if they can succeed to strike fear in the minds of the villagers, they will be able to put the Amba boys out of business before the fake twin elections scheduled for February 9, 2020.

The Yaounde government has, since January 2019, been using armed militiamen to do its dirty job in Southern Cameroons.

Some of the armed militiamen are also wear army uniforms, though they have not been trained accordingly.

It is being alleged that the armed militiamen are from President Paul Biya’s South Region and the whole idea of using militiamen to wreak havoc in Southern Cameroons is an idea engineered by defense minister, Joseph Beti Assomo, and higher education minister, Jacques Fame Ndongo, both of whom hail from the South Region.

The country’s territorial administration minister, Paul Atanga Nji, an ex-convict, has also trained his own militiamen and released them on the population of the two English-speaking regions of the country where they are running amok.

Regarding the threats issued in Manyu Division by wreckless soldiers, unconfirmed sources say the Cameroon military is being aided in the commission of its atrocities by the Mkpot Chief, Nchong Thomas Nkongho, who many consider as a black leg.

It is also alleged that the Mkpot chief now dresses up in military fatigue and bears an AK47 and a pistol for self-protection, as he is in the crosshairs of Amba boys who hold that he has been betraying them and the Southern Cameroons cause for total independence.

Residents of Mkpot hold that Mr. Nchong Thomas brought the military to Mkpot and aided and abetted the trigger-happy soldiers in their slaughtering of a Mkpot resident, Best Joe. The soldiers are also being accused of setting many homes in Mkpot ablaze, an incident that has left many homeless and desperate.

It should be recalled that since the commencement of the Southern Cameroons crisis, the country’s military has burnt down more than 250 villages, with many mentally ill and old people roasted in the process.

The atrocities of the country’s military have been well document by human rights organizations like the International Crisis Group and Amnesty International which have undercover agents in the two English-speaking regions of the country.

It should be recalled in 2017, Manyu Division was the epicenter of the Southern Cameroons crisis when four irresponsible and corrupt gendarm officers where killed in Agborkem German where they had seized the money and goods of some Nigerian traders.

The military spinned the story and reported that the corrupt and lawless gendarm officers were killed by Southern Cameroonians who were protesting against the government.

The country’s out-of-touch president, Paul Biya, who was in Abidjan, Cote d’ivoire, at the time the corrupt gendarm officers were killed, bought the fake report hook, line and sinker, and declared war on Southern Cameroonians who were only complaining about the marginalization they had suffered for 60 years.

Since then, more than 5,000 Cameroonians have been killed as a result of the conflict, including some 2,000 army soldiers.

Despite calls by the international community for an inclusive dialogue whose objective will be to seek solutions to the issues that have triggered the conflict, the Yaounde government has tone deaf and it has continued mowing down its own people while paying very attention to the international community’s repeated calls.

The conflict, which started as protests by teachers and lawyers, is into its fourth year and there is no end in sight.

Currently, the United Nations is providing humanitarian assistance to internally displaced people in the two English-speaking regions of the country while Doctors without Borders are on the ground, providing medical assistance to victims of the fighting.

Kingsley Betek in Cameroon

A group of Southern Cameroonians resident in Maryland, U.S.A. has been working with the Prime Minister’s Office of the Republic of Cameroon to prove that the Yaounde government is still popular among Cameroonians living abroad. The objective of this scheme is help change America’s perspective of the situation in Cameroon.

As Southern Cameroonians demonstrate across North America to prove that the Yaoundé government is dictatorial and has been rejected by its citizens, the Prime Minister’s Office in Yaoundé has quietly contacted some dubious Southern Cameroonians in Maryland for them to organize rallies and demonstrations that will enable American Congressmen to change their perspective of what is happening in Cameroon.

Demonstrations were supposed to have been organized in Washington D.C. and Boston where even homeless Americans had to be lured into the demonstrations with food and promises of money. T-shirts for the event had been produced and handed to supporters of the ailing and aging government in Yaoundé in an event that was unfortunately not captured on camera as the elected photographer, Joe Mombang, turned out to be ineffective. Indeed, Mr. Momband of Maryland is simply not tech-savvy and could not produce pictures that had to be sent to the Prime Minister’s Office for payment.

The team of unpatriotic Southern Cameroonians was in Cameroon during the festive period to get payment for their job, a job that was poorly done, but did not have the pictures to demonstrate their malicious actions against Southern Cameroonians who have been challenging the Yaoundé government for more than three years, charging it with marginalization and corruption.

The anger and frustration of the team leader, whose name has been withheld, boiled over while they were having lunch in a restaurant Yaoundé in which the Cameroon Concord News Group West and Central African Bureau Chief, Kingsley Betek, was also eating lunch. He could overhear the desperate government supporters arguing at the top of their voices, with the team leader regretting that if he had properly captured the event on camera, he would have been sure of netting more than CFAF 10 million at the end of the day.

Mr. Mombang was tongue-lashed for his ineptitude by the team leader who sounded so desperate and who was trying to think up news of scamming the Yaoundé government that is also very desperate to clean up its image around the world, especially in the United States where the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Tibor Nagy, has been mounting enormous pressure on the crumbling Yaoundé government.

The Trump White House is breathing down the neck of the Yaoundé government and it is starving the disintegrating government of some vital resources that have helped keep the regime a float for a long time.

 The Trump Administration has been castigating the Yaoundé government for flagrant human rights abuses in the two English-speaking regions of the country and, recently, it has disconnected the cash-strapped Yaoundé government from AGOA, an economic arrangement that has helped Cameroonian businesses to have access to the lucrative American market for years.

This decision has cut the government off vital economic opportunities that have been bringing in millions of dollars to the country’s treasury. The decision, which became effective in January 2019, has already begun biting and senior government officials have already started complaining, with some secretly calling on the Yaoundé government to negotiate with the Trump Administration which has been calling for an inclusive dialogue that will help bring about peace in Cameroon.

The U.S. Department of State is already mulling targeted sanctions against some senior Cameroon government officials such as Joseph Beti Assomo, Jacques Fame Ndongo, Laurent Esso, Issa Tchiroma and Paul Atanga Nji who are considered by Americans as those responsible for the escalation of violence and human rights violations in the two English-speaking regions of the country.

The Southern Cameroons crisis, which started in 2016, has already resulted in the deaths of more than 5,000 Cameroonians, including some 2,000 soldiers, most of whom are from the center and south regions which are the regions still supporting a moribund, corrupt and inefficient government led by Paul Biya.

Besides the human cost of the conflict, the country’s economy has also taken a blow to the liver, with state-owned corporations in the two English-speaking regions of the country going under. CDC, PAMOL and SONARA have also been victims of the conflict and the Yaoundé government is currently and frantically looking for resources to rebuild these state-owned corporations that have been significant and useful revenue streams to a government that is not emotionally attached to its people.

For some three years now, children in rural areas of the English-speaking regions have not been going to school due to government-orchestrated violence that is playing out in that part of the country. Today, government soldiers have transformed themselves into kidnappers and they are wreaking havoc on the helpless population.

Last week, some five government army soldiers kidnapped a man in Buea, a city located on the foot of Mount Cameroon, and asked the relatives of the victim to pay in CFAF 2 million before he could be released. Security forces followed the trail of the money transfer and arrested the soldiers who have operating in this way for months. Cameroon’s army soldiers have become more of a problem to the population they are supposed to protect.

In many parts of Southern Cameroons, armed groups, including those formed by the country’s Territorial Administration minister, Paul Atanga Nji, are running wild, and intimidating the local population that has been left homeless due to extreme government actions aimed at overcoming tough Southern Cameroonian fighters who have given government forces a run for their money.

Some 250 villages have been burnt down by government troops in the two English-speaking regions. Kwakwa, Kembong, Ossing and others are yet to recover from the massive inferno government troops created in these towns. Many mentally ill and old people were burnt alive in their homes, as government troop went on a rampage in a bid to turn the local population against armed fighters who mostly operate from the jungles.

The killings are still going on and instead of addressing the main issues; the Yaoundé government has adopted an approach wherein it has been papering over the cracks. Its cosmetic solutions have not addressed any issues and more violence is in the menu, as parliamentary and municipal elections are in the offing.

Southern Cameroonian fighters have vowed to disrupt the elections and the Yaoundé government, which is wont to violence, has already dispatched some 1,000 special forces to the two English-speaking regions of the country where they are expected to rape women and kill children.

Despite this show of muscles by the government, Southern Cameroonian fighters are still winning some critical battles, especially as some government troops are defecting and carrying with them arms and secrets to the armed groups.

The world should be bracing for more bloodshed and the greatest victims will surely be women, children and the old who, in many cases, do not have where to turn to. The days ahead do not hold any promise for the ordinary Southern Cameroonian and the fear of the unknown is gradually driving many innocent citizens out of their towns and cities before the real violent battles start.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai in the United Kingdom

The Cameroon News Agency (CNA) has reported that some 5 elements of the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR)have been apprehended at the Buea Sand Pit neighbourhood, for allegedly kidnapping a man in the same locality.

The man( name withheld) was kidnapped while at home. The kidnappers jumped over the fence to find their way into his residence around the Catholic Church.

Buea GMI intercepted by tracking the mobile money number they used to collect a ransom from the victim’s family.

More than half of the CFAF 2 million ransom was paid into their MTN Mobile Money account on Thursday.

On Friday, January 10, 2020, the irresponsible uniformed officers were arrested and the victim released.

One of the kidnappers, a BIR officer, lives in the same neighborhood as the victim.

Rogue elements of the army have been giving brave Southern Cameroonians fighters a bad name as they engage in kidnapping and recklessness, including the killing of innocent civilians.

Source: Cameroon News Agency