Cameroon

Biya regime arrests four soldiers in connection with execution of women and children

19, July 2018

Biya regime arrests four soldiers in connection with execution of women and children 0

Cameroon has arrested four soldiers suspected of shooting dead two women and two children in the country’s far north where its army is battling jihadist group Boko Haram, two security sources told Reuters.

A video of the incident, which has been shared tens of thousands of times on Twitter since it emerged last week, has provoked international outcry.

Government spokesman Issa Tchiroma Bakary initially described the footage as “fake news” and said that the men in the footage, who were wearing military fatigues, did not appear to be Cameroonian soldiers. However, he said the government would open an investigation.

“Four soldiers were arrested on Sunday. They are suspected of being the authors of the executions in the video,” said an army officer in Cameroon’s Far North region near the border with Nigeria.

A second security source said that three of the soldiers had been transferred to the capital Yaounde while the fourth was still being held in Maroua, the capital of the Far North.

Spokesmen for the army and the government did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The shaky footage shows two women, one with an infant strapped to her back, being led across a patch of dusty scrubland by a group of uniformed men, who accuse them of belonging to the Nigerian militant group Boko Haram.

The women, silent throughout the ordeal, are blindfolded and told to sit down alongside their children. Moments later, two men step back, level their rifles and fire a series of rounds.

Amnesty International said last week that it had gathered credible evidence that the men in the video were indeed Cameroonian soldiers based on an analysis of their weapons, speech and uniforms.

Four Cameroonian military sources, including the officer in the Far North, told Reuters that the video did show Cameroonian soldiers. Two said the video was filmed in 2014 or 2015 in the early months of Cameroon’s operations against Boko Haram.

REUTERS


Southern Cameroons Crisis: Police officer decapitated in Menchum County

19, July 2018

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Police officer decapitated in Menchum County 0

A Cameroonian police officer was decapitated on Wednesday in the country’s restive anglophone region, sources said.

The officer who was killed was stationed at the town of Wum in the northeast of the country, a security source told AFP, confirming information from one of the victim’s relatives.

He had been at a roadblock with a colleague when men suspected of being secessionists attacked him, the security source said.

“They cut off his head and took it away,” the source added.

The ambush occurred amid an armed campaign to gain independence for the Northwest and Southwest Regions, a predominantly English-speaking part of the French-speaking West African state.

Years of resentment at perceived discrimination at the hands of the francophone majority have led to almost daily acts of violence and retribution that have claimed scores of lives and forced tens of thousands from their homes.

Source: AFP



French Cameroun attacks continue on Southern Cameroons despite announcement of Biya’s humanitarian plan

15, July 2018

French Cameroun attacks continue on Southern Cameroons despite announcement of Biya’s humanitarian plan 0

Cameroon government forces have continued to attack Southern Cameroons towns and villages even with the announcement of President Biya so-called humanitarian plan for victims of the war.  On Saturday, the Francophone dominated military announced that its operations in the city of Kumba in the Meme County were in response to gun fire from Ambazonian militants.

Earlier on Saturday, a Southern Cameroons resistance movement spokesman said that the group had carried out an attack on Defense Minister Beti Assomo’s convoy. Separately a spokesman for the Ambazonia Restoration Forces said that his group is moving from Ndian into Meme. He noted that despite the superiority of French Cameroun military weapons Ambazonians will clear the Meme County in the coming days.

The Ambazonian Interim Government (IG) noted recently that Buea will fall to restoration forces earlier than expected.  Communication Secretary, Hon. Chris Anu observed that the protection and the defense of Southern Cameroons is a national duty and a strategic choice. The IG says the attack on Minister Beti Assomo’s entourage seeks to stop the occupying regime from killing innocent Southern Cameroonians.

Additionally, troops loyal to the regime in Yaoundé have targeted restoration forces station in Muea, Bomaka and Mile 17 in the Fako County. According to Cameroon Intelligence Report sources, at least 30 Southern Cameroons teens lost their lives in the attacks on Kumba, Muyuka and Muea and 22 elderly people sustained injuries.

By Sama Ernest in Buea


Fighting in Southern Cameroons claims more lives

13, July 2018

Fighting in Southern Cameroons claims more lives 0

Clashes between army and anglophone separatists have claimed several lives in the town of Kumba in Cameroon’s troubled Southwest Region, sources said Thursday. “Several people, including civilians, have been killed in Kumba since Monday,” a source close to the town’s medical services told AFP, confirming witness accounts. “These people died during various army operations” after Kumba’s police superintendent was killed on Sunday, the source said.

The murder has been blamed on separatists who want secession from the French-speaking bulk of Cameroon. “There were exchanges of gunfire for much of (Wednesday) night,” one witness said. “I heard gunshots all night long. Things have quietened down, but people are beginning to leave town,” said a teacher who asked not be named.

The security situation has been tense for days in Southwest Region, which along with the Northwest Region was once under British rule before joining francophone Cameroon in 1961 after independence. At least three police officers have been killed since Sunday, at Kumba and in the regional capital Buea. For the first time since anglophone protest over perceived neglect by the central government erupted at the end of 2016, fighting took place on Monday in Buea, a city of more than 100,000 people patrolled by a large military force.

Defence Minister Joseph Beti Assomo was paying an official visit on Thursday to the Southwest Region, where the separatist crisis became an armed struggle by radical foes of President Paul Biya’s regime late in 2017. In addition to targeting police and troops, the separatists have carried out arson attacks on perceived symbols of the state such as schools. They have also kidnapped civil servants, police officers, businessmen and sometimes foreigners. At the beginning of 2018, most of the conflict took place in the Northwest Region, but the epicentre of violence has gradually shifted south to a rural area between the towns of Kumba, Mamfe and the border with Nigeria. Clashes take place almost every day in both regions.

www.vanguardngr.com


Yaounde to investigate viral video of soldiers summarily executing women and children

12, July 2018

Yaounde to investigate viral video of soldiers summarily executing women and children 0

The government of Cameroon has opened an investigation into the authenticity of a video circulating on social media platforms which shows armed men, presumed Cameroonian soldiers, executing two women and their children, accused of being accomplices of the Nigerian jihadist group Boko Haram.

In the video, published Tuesday and seen thousands of times on social networks, we see men wearing military uniforms similar to those of some units of the Cameroonian army executing two women and their two children, on their knees.

Shocking scenes

The two uniformed men are seen harrassing the women; slapping one of the women and saying ‘You are going to die you BH’. BH in Cameroon refers to the Islamist group Boko Haram.

The video which looks like it was filmed on a mobile phone has someone commenting on the shocking scenes, explaining that the women were captured during an assault on Boko Haram.

The two women are led up a small hill, blindfolded, before all four are shot in the back. The cold blooded military men fire close to twenty bullets, including close-up shots on the corpses of the women and the littele children.

The videos have shocked the nation, including the authorities, who say an investigation has been opened to authenticate the video.

Government says its ‘fake news’

Governmenet spokesperson Issa Tchiroma Bakary explained that since the Cameroonian army has been cited in the shocking video, government will investigate.

He was however quick to add that in this era of ‘fake news’, they couldn’t rule out the possibility that enemies of the government could use such a ploy to frame the authorities.

‘‘We haven’t authenticated yet, but I draw your attention to what we call fake news. Do not be peremptory in the attribution of this video to the Cameroonian army. Because the enemy is always able to slip into our defence and security forces to attribute to us such heinous crimes,’‘ Bakary said.

However, two Cameroonian security sources told AFP that the video may have been filmed in a mountainous area in the Far North region of Cameroon, bordering some Nigerian strongholds in Boko Haram.

The Cameroonian army is engaged there to counter the frequent incursions of fighters of the jihadist group.

The broadcast of this very violent video provoked controversy and outrage on social networks.

A local NGO, the Network of Human Rights Defenders in Central Africa (Rhedac), claimed to have “cross-checked” the information contained in the video, claiming to be able to attest to its “authenticity”.

The Cameroonian army is regularly accused by NGOs of perpetrating abuses against persons suspected of belonging to the Boko Haram group, which it has always denied.

Source: Africa News


Biya regime deploys more soldiers to check Ambazonian militants attacking the Fako County

9, July 2018

Biya regime deploys more soldiers to check Ambazonian militants attacking the Fako County 0

Yaoundé has deployed more personnel to the Fako County attacked by Ambazonian Restoration Forces today in Muea and Mile 17. The additional troops deployed by the Francophone regime were drawn from the nation’s capital and Douala. The Southern Cameroons freedom fighters staged the raids in Muea and inside Buea.

The French Cameroun commander who received the elements of the Rapid Intervention Battalion on behalf of the Governor of the South West told our correspondent that Yaounde had deployed them, accordingly, to fortify the security arrangement put in place within and around Buea the chief city in the Southern Zone.

The Ambazonian forces carried out coordinated attacks on two fronts beginning from Liongo in Muea and from Bomaka via Mile 17 exchanging gun fire with Cameroon government army soldiers. The Amba fighters reportedly pushed towards Bwitingi and Malingo killing two gendarmerie officers. Troops loyal to the Biya Francophone regime in Yaoundé retreated to Bonduma.

The Southern Cameroons Liberation Army advanced as far as Small Soppo, Long and Razel Streets. Teachers handling this year’s GCE Examination of Shame in Baptist Buea and Lycee Molyko were forced to stop marking and told to hide under benches. A police officer Tiku Richard who attempted to fight back was killed by the restoration forces.

Many of the senior officers who had been scheduled to visit and supervise the newly deployed men were conspicuously absent. The mayor of Buea, Patrick Ekema has appealed to fleeing residents of the affected areas to return as normalcy had been restored and all the affected areas effectively secured with the presence of policemen and other security operatives.

By Sama Ernest in Buea


Dozens die in Cameroon bus accident

8, July 2018

Dozens die in Cameroon bus accident 0

At least 28 people have been killed and five others injured in a bus crash in central Cameroon, officials said.

The vehicle was travelling on the road that links the political capital, Yaounde, with the western regional capital, Bafoussam.

Naseri Paul Bea, governor of the central region, told The Associated Press news agency that the bus drove into a river in Boutorou town early on Friday.

The governor said authorities are investigating the cause of the crash, but that such accidents in Cameroon are often linked to the poor state of roads and drivers.

“Almost everyone is dead. Only five injured were transported to the Bafia hospital,” Ombang Christian, one of the survivors, told Anadolu Agency.

Last March, an accident in the same locality killed five people and injured 20 others, according to local authorities.

The Ministry of Transport estimates that 1,500 people die in road accidents each year.

Source: Aljazeera


Southern Cameroonians want to see President Biya tried as a war criminal

5, July 2018

Southern Cameroonians want to see President Biya tried as a war criminal 0

President Biya should be arrested and tried as a war criminal over the killings in Southern Cameroons, according to a survey conducted by Cameroon Concord News Group.  Hundreds of Ambazonians who took part in the survey in Bamenda, Buea, Mamfe, Mundemba, Kumba, Wum, Muyuka, Tiko, Ndop and Bali said Mr. Biya is knowingly misleading international public opinion on the genocide in Southern Cameroons and should be tried as a war criminal.

The number of Ambazonians who said President Biya should be arrested and tried as a war criminal was higher among those who had served as civil servants under the CPDM regime when compared with the several hundreds of unemployed. 5% noted that once independence is gotten, Southern Cameroonians should move on and take no action against a foreign head of state.

Nearly half of the 18 to 24-year-olds said they wanted to see Mr Biya tried as a war criminal in Den Hague in Holland.  The Cameroon Concord News Group findings come as some members of the International Criminal Court noted recently that crimes against humanity were being committed in Southern Cameroons.

The Southern Cameroons crisis that has been playing out for almost two years has finally entered a critical phase. While Southern Cameroonian fighters are making huge advances, which are making a mockery of the government’s military action, the Yaoundé government is now scrambling for a peaceful resolution as it has noticed that it is dealing with a very dicey situation. The government is under enormous pressure as the killing of army soldiers becomes a daily ritual.

It is becoming clear to the government that there will never be a convincing military victory in this battle that will surely last for decades. The government is gradually coming to terms with the fact that it was a huge mistake to declare war on Southern Cameroonians who were simply complaining about a system that has reduced them to second-class citizens.

Currently, the dynamics are changing. The government’s arrogance is gradually being eroded by the determined Southern Cameroonian fighters whose actions have struck fear in the minds of many army soldiers. The government is today staring down the barrel of defeat, as its treasury continues to lose money and its soldiers feeling really despondent as they face the prospect of dying in the Rocky Mountains and dense jungles of Southern Cameroons.

Many government officials know that defeat is staring the government in the face. Many want to sue for peace, but they don’t know how to proceed as their arrogance has muddied the waters and made reconciliation challenging. The Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia has accused Mr Biya of committing a crime of aggression by invading Southern Cameroons.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from Sama Ernest and Kingsley Betek


Cameroon man gets 14 years for scamming Chinese girlfriend 6m yuan

5, July 2018

Cameroon man gets 14 years for scamming Chinese girlfriend 6m yuan 0

A Cameroonian man was sentenced to 14 years in prison and deportation from China after he defrauded his Chinese “girlfriend” of more than 6 million yuan ($896,000).

A woman surnamed Hu in Beijing transferred the money to her “boyfriend,”  who she met on a dating website in 2014, agreeing to support his studies, living expenses and medical care costs, before she found herself swindled, The Beijing News reported on Tuesday, referring the Cameroonian national as “Weili.”

Local police detained Weili in October 2016 after receiving a complaint from Hu, and the suspect was prosecuted in September 2017.

According to Hu, Weili claimed to be born and raised in France. Hu fell in love with him and sold her house in Beijing to meet Weili’s demands for money during their less-than-two-year relationship.

Starting in August 2014, Hu transferred money various times to Weili’s bank account. Weili defrauded money from Hu using different pretexts.

For example, he said he needed help to pay for his living expenses in Paris when he “attended” a UN global climate conference.

Hu later discovered that Weili was actually in Cameroon instead of France at the time when he claimed to attend the climate conference.

While dating Hu, Weili also lived in Beijing together with his pregnant Cameroonian girlfriend, to whom he transferred some of the money he got from Hu.

The Third Intermediate People’s Court of Beijing in 2017 sentenced Weili to 14 years in prison, fined him 140,000 yuan and ordered him deported from China.

There was no information on whether the defrauded money had been returned.

Source:ECNS.cn


Southern Cameroons Crisis: More than half a billion CFA francs ($900 000) collected from the public in Douala

5, July 2018

Southern Cameroons Crisis: More than half a billion CFA francs ($900 000) collected from the public in Douala 0

Cameroonians have donated hugely to an emergency aid fund for two anglophone regions hit by violence between separatists and government forces, the state media reported on Tuesday.
More than half a billion CFA francs ($900 000) has been collected from the public in Douala, Cameroon’s economic capital, and in the regions of Centre and South, CRTV radio said.

On June 20, the government announced plans for a 12.7 billion CFA franc emergency aid plan for the Southwest and Northwest regions, where life has been badly hit by the violence.

The money would come from “the state budget, an appeal to national solidarity and contributions from international partners,” it said. The Northwest and Southwest regions are home to most of Cameroon’s English-speakers, who account for about a fifth of a mainly French-speaking population of 22 million.

Years of resentment at perceived discrimination at the hands of the francophone majority have fuelled demands for anglophone autonomy, which last year culminated in a declaration of independence.

A government crackdown then followed, plunging the two regions into almost daily acts of violence and retribution.

A government report last week said anglophone separatists in Cameroon had killed 81 members of the security forces and more than 100 civilians, and torched at least 120 schools.

The overall toll among civilians remains unclear.

According to the International Crisis Group (ICG) think-tank, at least 120 civilians and 43 members of the security forces have been killed since the end of 2016.

The UN says 160 000 people have been internally displaced and 20, 000 have sought refuge in neighbouring Nigeria.

The presence of a large English-speaking minority dates back to the colonial period.

Cameroon, once a German colony, was divided between Britain and France after World War I.

The French colony gained independence in 1960, becoming Cameroon. The following year, the British-ruled Southern Cameroons was amalgamated into it, giving rise to the Northwest and Southwest regions.

Source: AFP



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