Cameroon’s Communications Minister Bakary Tchiroma said on Wednesday that “all 79 students have been released.”

He confirmed the news to AFP, without providing details of the circumstances under which they were set free.

The children, along with the school principle and driver, had been abducted by assailants who entered the Presbyterian Secondary School in Bamenda and took them away on a school bus on Monday.

An army spokesman had blamed separatists for the kidnapping, while a separatist spokesman had denied involvement in the incident. He had accused the government of having kidnapped the kids to discredit the rebels.

AFP said it had seen a six-minute video — which could not be independently verified — in which 11 boys, apparently aged above 15, are seen giving their identity and name of the school in English.

The boys were also seen saying that they were kidnapped by the “Amba Boys,” a name used for Anglophone separatists in the region.

A minister of the Presbyterian Church, Samuel Finke, who earlier said that he had been mediating with the kidnappers for the children’s release, also confirmed their release on Wednesday.

He said that another 11 schoolchildren had been kidnapped by the same armed group on October 31 but that the school had quietly paid a ransom of $4,400 for their release.

UN calls for the children’s release

Also on Tuesday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for the children’s “immediate release and return to their homes and families.”

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Guterres also renewed his appeal for an end to the crisis in the restive regions.

“There can be no justification for these crimes against civilians, particularly minors,” Guterres said via his spokesperson.

Violence in the separatist regions has been on the rise recently. The armed separatists have gunned down government troops and police, imposed curfews, and closed schools as part of their rebellion against the government, which has in response launched a massive crackdown on them.

Guterres renewed his call for a peaceful solution to the crisis and offered UN help to broker dialog.

Some non-governmental groups say at least 400 people have been killed in the violence.

Now that you are here

The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons.  The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers.    However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization.  It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

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Cameroon’s President Paul Biya, the second longest serving African president at 36 years in power, has been inaugurated for another seven-year mandate. In his speech, Biya promised to defeat terrorism in the country but made no mention of 82 people kidnapped Monday in Cameroon’s restive Anglophone region.

Cameroonians sang the national anthem Tuesday as Biya was sworn in.
In his speech, Biya promised to solve Cameroon’s problems and urged unity. He said they would continue fighting terrorism until separatists in the two English-speaking regions drop their guns or are defeated.

He says in the northwest and southwest regions of Cameroon, negative forces took advantage of some worker complaints to execute their separatist plans and acts of terrorism.

Violence broke out so the government responded with measures to preserve public order, he says, and assure the safety and security of people and their property. Secession is against Cameroon’s constitution, says Biya, and the indivisible nature of the nation.

Biya made no mention of gunmen kidnapping 79 students and three teachers on Monday from a school in the northwest region.

Cameroon authorities say the gunmen are separatists, while a separatist spokesman claims the military is framing them for the abduction.

On the walkway of Yaounde city council, hundreds of people displaced by the region’s fighting watched the inauguration on a giant-screen TV.

Fifty-five-year-old Julius Tetang says he has been hosting 30 displaced people from the English-speaking town of Mbengwi. He wants Biya to find a solution to the region’s unrest.

“They have about 18 secondary schools and none is going,” he said. “They have about 76 primary schools and all are empty. Most of the inhabitants have abandoned their areas. The rate of killings is heavy. People are running away from bullets.”

Cletus Fonyuy, 32, fled fighting in the English-speaking town of Kumbo. He says his wife and brother were killed last month in clashes.

“Mr. Biya has been given another chance to stop killing our people of the northwest and southwest regions,” he said. “He should ask his military to stop killing our people, these are our brothers. We are one so he should do something to show that we are one.”

Biya was declared the winner of the October 7 presidential poll with a landslide victory of 71 percent of the vote. His strongest challenger, Maurice Kamto, was a distant second with 14 percent.

Kamto and his supporters claim the poll was rigged by election bodies chosen by Biya and loyal to him. Security forces on Tuesday’s on stopped Kamto’s supporters from trying to protest Biya’s inauguration.

Christopher Bime, 24, says police prevented him from protesting what he called Biya’s stolen victory.

“So he has been there for 36 years, youths are suffering too much. Youth that have gone to school and they are having certificates in their pockets but they suffer all over the country,” he said.

Biya has been in power in Cameroon for over four decades — serving seven years as prime minister and 36 as president.

In 2008, he removed term limits from the constitution, allowing him to serve indefinitely.

When his new term is finished, he will be 93 years old.

Source: VOA

Now that you are here

The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons.  The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers.    However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization.  It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

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Cameroon’s military said on Monday more than 80 people, mostly children, were kidnapped from a school in the city of Bamenda, and located in the Anglophone Northwest region.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the abduction in the English-speaking region where separatists are fighting to form a breakaway state.

The separatists have imposed curfews and closed down schools as part of their protest against President Paul Biya’s French-speaking government. In total 81 people were kidnapped including the principal. They were taken to the bush.

“In total 81 people were kidnapped including the principal. They were taken to the bush,” a military source told Reuters. A government spokesman said it was keeping track of an event but that it could not comment further.

The separatist movement gathered pace in 2017 after a government crackdown on peaceful demonstrations. Many people have fled Bamenda and other centres to seek refuge in more peaceful Francophone regions.

Source: Africa News

Now that you are here

The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons.  The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers.    However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization.  It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

Bank transaction: Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

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Email: soteragbawebai@gmail.com

Armed groups in Cameroon’s restive English speaking regions have been attacking and chopping off fingers of workers of the country’s second largest employer, the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC), in what has been described as renewed efforts to destabilize the central African state ahead of the Tuesday inauguration of President-elect Paul Biya, who has been in power for 36 years.

Four men and two women were rushed to a government hospital Saturday in the English speaking southwestern town of Tiko. Nurse on duty Stephanie Ako said she is waiting for directives on what should be done.

‘What we have to do now is to clean their wounds and stop blood from oozing out while waiting for doctors and laboratory technicians. They are the ones to decide if the fingers have to be amputated or not, but their lives are not in danger even though some of them have completely fractured phalanges, metacarpal and carpal bones,” she said.

The six are workers on a rubber plantation near Tiko owned by the Cameroon Development Corporation. 27-year old Christopher Ongene said armed men attacked them Saturday evening.

“The people arrived when we were packing our bags and farm tools to leave. One of them shouted, how many times have we asked you not to work here again. Then one of them ordered us to put our hands on tree trunks and they started cutting. Some of our colleagues who wanted to escape were shot,” he said.

Ongene said they were accused of defying instructions from the separatists not to go to work on the farms to protest President Biya’s reelection and his expected inauguration on November 6.

The CDC runs banana, palm oil, and rubber plantations in Cameroon’s troubled southwest and northwest regions. In August the agro-industry said that more than 6,000 of its 20,000 workers had fled sporadic attacks, killings and kidnappings from armed separatists seeking an independent English-speaking state.

Governor Bernard Okalia Bilai of the southwest region said the armed groups aim to create social tension.

He said the military has been deployed to stop the terrorists from attacking workers as part of their strategy to create tension and destroy the regions two main agro-industries, the Cameroon Development Corporation and the Palm Oil Plantations Company. He said besides inflicting wounds and suffering, some workers have been killed, others kidnapped and held hostage and some plantations have been completely destroyed.

Separatist groups had vowed on social media to make the English speaking regions of Cameroon ungovernable. They consider the state-run CDC a legitimate target.

Conflict began in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon in 2016 when teachers and lawyers complained of discrimination from the French-speaking majority in education and the justice system. The government responded with a crackdown and separatists fought back.

Source: VOA

Now that you are here

The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons.  The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers.    However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization.  It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

Bank transaction: Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

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The Board looks forward to hearing from the readers.

Signed by the Group Chairman on behalf of the Board of Directors

Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Email: soteragbawebai@gmail.com

Separatist militants attacked workers on a state-run rubber plantation in restive southwestern Cameroon, chopping off their fingers because the men had defied an order to stay away from the farms, authorities said Friday.

The attack is the second of its kind in less than a week by the militants, who have responded violently to a government crackdown on separatist activities in the English-speaking parts of the country.

David Epie, a 43-year-old worker at a rubber plantation, says armed men attacked him and three of his co-workers on Thursday evening.

South West governor Bernard Okalia Bilai said he has ordered the military to chase and arrest the separatists blamed for the two recent attacks on rubber plantation workers. On Monday, seven workers lost fingers when militants hacked them off at a plantation in the town of Tiko.

“We cannot allow groups of terrorists to continue to disturb the peace we badly need in this region,” he said. “They are going from farm to farm, terrorizing farmers and workers … they must pay for the crimes they are committing.”

Cameroon was once divided between British and French colonial powers. English speakers make up 20 percent of the population and have long complained of being marginalized by the French majority.

Those grievances erupted into conflict in 2016 when militant separatists took up arms following a series of protests by teachers and lawyers who cited discrimination in their fields of employment.

The militants have vowed to destabilize the English-speaking regions of Cameroon to win independence for the areas. Earlier this week an American missionary died in another restive part of the country after he was shot in the head amid fighting between armed separatists and soldiers in northwestern Cameroon.

The separatists consider the state-run banana, palm oil and rubber plantations in southwestern Cameroon to be legitimate targets. Vehicles, tractors, buildings and warehouses owned by the state’s Cameroon Development Corporation have been torched and some staff members have been kidnapped.

AP

Now that you are here

The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons.  The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers.    However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization.  It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

Bank transaction: Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Banking IBAN: GB51 BARC 2049 1103 9130 15

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The Board looks forward to hearing from the readers.

Signed by the Group Chairman on behalf of the Board of Directors

Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Email: soteragbawebai@gmail.com

Trial for leaders of the self-proclaimed Republic of Ambazonia in the English-speaking region of Cameroon has begun in Yaoundé.

Julius Ayuk Tabe, leader of this supposed state including his nine co-accused were brought before judges under strong military escort for this closed-door hearing.

John Fru Nsoh is leader for the separatist leaders.

This is the happiest day of my life as a lawyer and the happiest day of their lives as persons accused of being heard in this court.

“Since their arrest on January 5 in Nigeria, for the past 10 months, this is the only time they have had the opportunity to tell their side of the story before this court. This is the happiest day of my life as a lawyer and the happiest day of their lives as persons accused of being heard in this court’‘, Nsoh told Africanews.

The 10 accused applied for parole so they can better prepare their defense. For family members who were also excluded from the hearing, anything can happen.

“I am very moved after seeing my brother go out today for the first time in court. I think something will happen, because they are not thieves. They are fighting for a just cause, and they must be listened to and not locked up for 10 months’‘, said Florence Kwanga, a sister of one of the accused.

The 10 co-accused are being prosecuted for their alleged role in organizing a secessionist movement that is shaking the English-speaking regions of Cameroon.

The court adjourned hearing to Thursday, November 15 to determine a request for their interim release.

Source: Africa News

Now that you are here

The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons.  The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers.    However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization.  It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

Bank transaction: Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Banking IBAN: GB51 BARC 2049 1103 9130 15

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The Board looks forward to hearing from the readers.

Signed by the Group Chairman on behalf of the Board of Directors

Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Email: soteragbawebai@gmail.com

Cameroon officials on Tuesday released 16 opposition activists who had been detained at the weekend as they protested the re-election of longtime ruler Paul Biya in disputed October 7 polls, their party said.

“All 16 were freed. I am with some of them,” Movement for the Rebirth of Cameroon deputy treasurer Joseph Okala Ebode told AFP.

They were arrested Sunday during an unauthorised march called to protest the vote, in which MRC candidate Maurice Kamto placed second with 14.23 percent of the ballots cast according to election officials.

Biya, who has ruled the West African country for 35 years, was credited with 71.28 percent, but the poll was marred by allegations of widespread fraud, low voter turnout, and violence.

Since then public demonstrations have been forbidden, press conferences disrupted and opposition militants briefly detained.

On Saturday, 50 other activists were detained following an MRC march in the morning, and released that evening.

Government minister Paul Atanga Nji has warned that “any attempts to disturb the public order will be met with the greatest firmness”.

Biya has ruled the country since 1982 with support from the army, government administrations and the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (RDPC) that he created in 1985.

Source: AFP

Now that you are here

The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons.  The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers.    However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization.  It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

Bank transaction: Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

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The Board looks forward to hearing from the readers.

Signed by the Group Chairman on behalf of the Board of Directors

Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Email: soteragbawebai@gmail.com

The beheaded body of a man has been discovered in the village of Moliwe on the outskirts of Limbe, Fako Division of the South West Region of Cameroon.

Passersby discovered the headless body of the man in the early hours of Monday, October 29, 2018, under unclear circumstances.

The man whose identities as at press Time emerged as Fonyuy Christopher was spotted dumped in a bush. How he died and the whereabouts of his head is what has left inhabitants of the village trapped in fear.

Narratives within the village sway in tandem with projection that the deceased might have been killed for ritual purposes since the head is nowhere to be found.

It is not known if the development is linked to the on-going crisis in the two English-speaking Regions of Cameroon. The situation becomes difficult to link with the crisis given that parts of the string of villages around Limbe have enjoyed some degree of calm since the crisis started.

Security officers who stormed the scene of the discovery same Monday have commenced probing into the gruesome act.

Source: The National Times

Now that you are here

The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons.  The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers.    However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization.  It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

Bank transaction: Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Banking IBAN: GB51 BARC 2049 1103 9130 15

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Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Email: soteragbawebai@gmail.com

An American missionary who arrived Cameroon on the 18th of October 2018 with his wife and 8 children has been killed by forces loyal to the Biya Francophone regime. Charles Trumann Wesco was shot in Bambui some few kilometers from Bamenda the chief city in the Northern zone.

Cameroon Concord News sources revealed that the late Charles Truman did receive emergency treatment at Bambui and was referred to the Bamenda Regional Hospital but died from injuries sustained from gun shots aimed at him.

A District Medical Officer reportedly called for an ambulance from Bamenda this morning to transport a female student shot in the stomach by Cameroon government forces in Bambui but the rescue team were refused passage around Mile 6 Nkwen by Biya regime soldiers.

Our senior correspondent in Bamenda said there were civilian casualties in Bambili that could not be reached by the emergency team. We understand intense fighting is going on in Bambui and Bambili involving Ambazonian Restoration forces and Cameroon government troops.

By Asu Vera Eyere in Bambui

Now that you are here

The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons.  The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers.    However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization.  It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

Bank transaction: Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Banking IBAN: GB51 BARC 2049 1103 9130 15

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The Board looks forward to hearing from the readers.

Signed by the Group Chairman on behalf of the Board of Directors

Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Email: soteragbawebai@gmail.com