Three people were killed on Monday morning in Mozogo, Mayo-Tsanaga Division, Far North region, in a suicide bombing attack attributed to Boko Haram.

Cameroon Concord News gathered that the attack took place on Monday 02 October shortly after 5:30 am (4:30 am GMT), in front of two different mosques. In one of the mosques, a man in his sixties was killed with the suicide bomber who triggered his explosive device.

In the second mosque, only the suicide bomber was reportedly killed. “He blew himself up before entering the mosque, which is what avoided a carnage.

The Nigerian islamic sect Boko Haram has not claim responsibility for this double attack. The French Cameroun authorities are maintaining a kind of deliberate silence as all attention has been channeled to the heavy military deployment in Southern Cameroons.

By Sama Ernest, CCN

The Movement for the Rebirth of Cameroon (MRC) has opened a debate about the absence of President Biya in the country. Via his Twitter account, Maurice Kamto, the chairman of MRC party indicated that Paul Biya has eventually open the door for the nation to look for a possible replacement.

The university don has invited the Supreme Court to rule as a constitutional council on the matter. For the former French Cameroun cabinet minister, the absence of the president of the republic should and must open a succession process.

Chantal and Paul Biya left Cameroon on September 14, 2017, to New York in the United States where they took part in the 72nd general assembly of the UN. More than two weeks later, the Cameroonian presidential couple have still not returned to Cameroon.

By Sama Ernest, CCN

President Paul Biya has sent in the army to deter Anglophone secessionists from declaring their independence as massive protests break out. But this appears to have done little to weaken their resolve.

The Cameroon government has deployed thousands of troops to the anglophone northwest and southwest of the country in an attempt to stop separatist groups from declaring independence on October 1.

Authorities also announced temporary restrictions on travel into Nigeria in the wake of violent protests, sparked by ongoing complaints of economic and political discrimination and demands for more Anglophone rights in the predominately Francophone country.

But at the border locality of Ekok, at least 700 people are ignoring calls for peace by political leaders and civil society groups, and continue to hold demonstrations and attack government buildings while proudly hoisting what they call the flag of their new independent state, Ambazonia.

27-year-old Tambe Elias, who claims to be the head of the group, says they no longer recognize President Paul Biya as their leader.

“He is nobody and he will never mean anything to the Ambazonians. This is the border between southern Cameroon and Nigeria, at the frontier Ekok. You can see the flags, this is the border. Now they have closed the border, they don’t want us to cross to Nigeria, but we are already there. Biya must go.”

The demonstrators attempted to cross over to the Nigerian border state of Enugu, with whom they have strong cultural ties, in order to inform authorities that a new nation had been born, however Nigerian immigration police ultimately prevented them from doing so. So they returned to Ekok, loudly singing their new national anthem while hoisting their blue and white flag and chasing away any Cameroon government workers who crossed their path.

A looming crisis

Despite the setbacks, the separatists have vowed to secede from Cameroon on October 1 – at least symbolically – and have appointed the exiled Julius Ayuk Tabe as their interim leader.

In response, the Cameroonian government has deployed troops to major towns in the country’s English-speaking region in an attempt to stop the demonstrations, although many separatists have simply relocated to smaller regions like Ekok where there is little to no military presence.

Cameroonians in New York call for national unity during a United Nations visit by President Paul Biya

French-speaking Cameroonian, Debong Ignatius, is concerned that the military getting involved may only make matters worse. He spoke to DW about his own recent experience.

“Men in uniform and the police circled our neighborhoods, entered the various houses insisting that people should bring out any Ambazonian flags which they were hiding. But I do not think it is their duty to go harassing people at this precise moment because it can exacerbate the situation.”

Government ministers step in

Almost all English-speaking government ministers and senior state workers in the capital Yaounde have been sent home by President Biya with orders to convince people not to support the separatists.

Secretary of State in the Ministry of Industries, Mines and Technological Development, Fuh Calistus Gentry, told DW he plans to focus on speaking with his constituents about the dangers of believing in false hope.

“First of all this is a psychological war where people are frightened because some groups of people have taken their minds hostage. Secondly there is a false hope that is put into peoples’ minds. We have tried to assure people that the state will go to any extent to assure the fundamental rights of every person. We have also gone out to detoxify the minds of people which is built around false hope.”

Schools remain shut

Anglophone independence protesters are released from custody at Yaounde prison

Schools have been closed in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions since November 2016, when lawyers and teachers called for a strike against what they believe is the overuse of the French language.

Many of those involved in the strike were arrested, with pressure groups calling for their immediate and unconditional release. Fifty-five of the 75 protesters were released and charges were dropped, with observers viewing this as a significant concession to the strikers’ demands.

But with separatists now calling for complete independence from Cameroon, President Biya has made it clear that he is not open to any form of negotiation over the issue, saying the country will remain indivisible.

Source: DW

Two Cameroonian soldiers were killed on Thursday in the Far North following an explosion of an improvised device. The two soldiers were serving with the Joint Multinational Force headquartered in Mora, in the Mayo-Sava Division in Far-North region of La Republique du Cameroun.

The service men were killed early in the morning while on patrol in a field mission at the Bonderi locality as part of the war against the Nigerian Islamic sect, Boko Haram. The device exploded as a group of soldiers passed, killing two on the spot.

Cameroon Concord News gathered from military sources that the explosive was placed by Boko Haram terrorists, whose exactions in Cameroonian territory have already caused the death of at least 2,000 people and made more than 100 thousand internally displaced persons.

By Sonne Peter, CCN

A Special Edition Poll results released by Cameroon Concord News Group have revealed that a majority of Anglophone Cameroonians (98 percent) believe Southern Cameroon’s Independence is worth celebrating in spite of the extra judicial killings, arbitrary arrests and rapes including the economic recession that has rocked the territory. However, it should be noted that this is a vast increase from the 2006 value, indicating that the the union between West Cameroon and French Cameroun has failed.

More findings revealed that of those who believe Southern Cameroons’s Independence is worth celebrating (despite the militarisation of the territory by the French Cameroun government and challenges facing the young nation), a significant proportion (35 percent) stated that Independence Day is worth celebrating because it is Southern Cameroon’s day of independence and some (60 percent) also asserted that it marks the day Southern Cameroons was liberated from colonial rule and the correction of the 56 years injustice meted on Southern Cameroonians by Francophone political elites.

In addition, many Southern Cameroonians reported that they love being Southern Cameroonians mostly because of the Anglosaxon heritage where political leaders are held accountable. Furthermore, the poll results revealed that most Southern Cameroonians consider the the Southern Cameroons Governing Council as the legitimate body running the affairs of Southern Cameroons. Poll results show that 9 percent of Anglophones who do not think Southern Cameroon’s Independence is worth celebrating indicated that it is because people are suffering. These are some of the key findings from the Independence Day Poll conducted by the Cameroon Concord News Group in the week of September 26th 2017.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from CCN and CIR

Francophone security agents have arrested Nasako Besingi, the chairman of an NGO charged with protecting the environment. He was arrested on Monday in his office and CCN understands police officers reportedly ransacked the building in search of documents.

The arrest of the head of the NGO “Struggle to Economize the Future Environment” (Sefe) took place on Monday (September 25th) in Mudemba, capital of the Ndian County. There are several unofficial versions of the reasons for his arrest.

Initial information revealed that the environmentalist had distributed propaganda leaflets for the release of Esonno Wakemba, a demonstrator who has been detained since the Southern Cameroons uprising started 11 months ago.

Another hypothesis links the arrest of Nasako Bensigi to his positions on the activities of Herakles Farm, an agricultural firm that is weighed down by allegations of land grabbing and illegal logging.

In this context, Nasako Besingi was sentenced in January 2016 and November 2015 to heavy fines, and some say he has been defaulting payments associated to his prison sentences, for organizing rallies with local inhabitants deemed illegal.

By Rita Akana with files from Cameroon Info.Net

French Cameroun police have arrested dozens of people in the Mamfe County late today. The Chairman of the Southern Cameroons Governing Council has signed off on these arrests and he isn’t playing around. Rumors indicate that the Francophone governor of the Buea Province gave the Manyu SDO permission to rough up those who were protesting.

The Francophone governor of the Buea Province has described Southern Cameroons protesters as “dogs”. Bernard Okalia Bilai made the declaration on the microphone of the Cameroon Radio and Television,CRTV-radio yesterday September the 22nd. The Biya appointee also accused Southern Cameroons peaceful demonstrators of having attacked La Republique’s forces of law and order.

In a report broadcast Friday, September 22, 2017 at 5 pm on the National Post of the CRTV, Bernard Okalia Bilai opined that “Very early in the morning there were groups of people walking on the streets, going to public buildings to attack them, the offices of DOs, SDOs, the gendarmerie and police stations all came under attack. They tore up the flags of the Republic to hoist pieces of cloth that they brandished as flags of what!! I do not know. The security forces intervened and suffered a lot of violence, a lot of attacks by these assailants. ”

The so-called governor of the South West region warned elites and community leaders. “We will not continue to tolerate huge protest. If the dogs continue to go to the streets to bite, that is destroy, they will meet the security forces.”

By Eyong Johnson, CCN