A law enforcement officer was killed on Monday by Anglophone secessionists in Cameroon, as English speaking Cameroonian activists continue to seek independence with bombs and guns.

Mahamat Aldou Djaribe, 24, an indigene of Kousseri in Cameroon’s far north, was killed on Monday in the troubled Southwestern region, reported local newspaper, L’Oeil du Sahel.

Since calls for independence by South West and North West regions activists in Cameroon escalated last year, many soldiers and policemen have been gunned down while the Cameroonian  military has also killed, arrested and tortured many activists.

Cameroon, a country in central and west Africa, has about 81 percent of people who speak French and about 19 who speak English, as a result of brutal colonialism from France and the United Kingdom, following the defeat of the German armies in the first and second world wars.

Germany was in charge of Cameroon until the first world war broke out and Cameroonians spoke German with no one speaking English or French until the country was divided and shared between Britain and France who won the war.

Cameroonians began to advocate for the unification of the divided country after the war. But it took time and it was only in 1960 and 1961 that Cameroon under France and then Britain became independent.

In 1972, a referendum brought both Cameroons together again similar to the country that existed before it was divided by France and the UK, although by then, some territories had been lost.

Since the re-unification of English and French speaking Cameroons in 1972, English speaking Cameroonians have complained of marginalization, a charge often denied by equally impoverished French speaking Cameroonians, especially those in the country’s far north where Boko Haram has been wreaking havoc since 2014 without a single visit by President Paul Biya who has been in power for 35 years since 1982.

While English speaking Cameroonians want Cameroon to go back to the time before 1972, French speaking Cameroonians argued that Cameroon had always been one country before France and Britain divided and shared it and would remain one country.

Following protests for equality and justice late in 2016 in the two Anglophone regions in Cameroon that were met with force by the Cameroonian military, Anglophone activists said they were declaring independence.

They called their “new country” the Republic of Ambazonia. But the activists were arrested in Nigeria and extradited to Cameroon. Violence has continued to escalate for the liberation of the activists and the independence of North West and South West regions in Cameroon.

Source: Today News Africa

As President Paul Biya led National Day celebrations in Yaounde on Sunday, several policemen were killed, soldiers wounded and mayors kidnapped in Cameroon by suspected armed separatists who had warned against celebrating the central African state’s national day in English-speaking regions.

A Nigerian military contingent — part of the Cameroon effort to fight a Boko Haram insurgency — sang before Biya, cabinet ministers, diplomats and thousands of people during the National Day parade in Yaounde.

Nigerian Lieutenant Colonel Mochtar Sani Daroda said the soldiers were invited by Biya to participate as recognition for their fight against the militant group that has left 25,000 people dead and more than 2.6 million displaced in Cameroon, Nigeria, Chad and Niger.

“The class brigade is the elite brigade that carries out national functions on behalf of the Nigerian army,” Daroda said. “They also provide security of the president and the entire federal capital city [Abuja ] and they have been selected to participate in one of the parade we hold in very high esteem. A very special corps to take part in your [Cameroon] parade.”

But tensions flared in many towns and villages of Cameroon’s English-speaking regions, including Konye, Batibo, Ekona and several villages.

At least two policemen and several people were killed.

In a recording provided by suspected separatists, Mayor Ekuh Simon of Bangem, an English-speaking town in southwest Cameroon, said he was kidnapped with his deputy for distributing uniforms for residents to march in National Day ceremonies. Separatists had called for a boycott of events.

Simon said he is being held by Ambazonia restoration forces.

Ambazonia is what separatist’s call their self-declared republic in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon.

Nobert Ngu says he escaped Saturday from Ekona to Yaounde when armed separatists started shooting to stop people from celebrating National Day.

Ngu said his house was attacked. “Some boys saw my father inside the house, attacked my father. I lost my father because of this crisis,” he added.

Biya’s government had asked people to come out in numbers to celebrate National Day as a sign of unity.

Tensions in Cameroon began in November 2016 when English-speaking teachers and lawyers protested, saying they were frustrated with the dominance of the French language and the marginalization of the Anglophone population.

The crisis intensified early this year when separatist leader Ayuk Tabe was arrested with 48 others in Nigeria and extradited to Cameroon.

International rights groups have condemned the harsh government crackdown on the English speaking regions and indiscriminate arrests of suspects.

Culled from VOA

Cameroon on Sunday marked 46th National Day amidst growing tension in English speaking Northwest and Southwest regions.

Culled from Africa News

May 19, 2018

The Ambazonia Self-Defence Council (ASC) advises against 20^th May celebration and travel to the following zones of Ambazonia territory: Northern Zone and Southern Zone.

The ASC advises against all activities of 20^th May celebration and travel to the following specific counties of Ambazonia:

Northern Zone: Boyo; Bui; Donga Mantung; Menchum; Mezam; Momo; Ngoketunjia.

Southern Zone: Bakassi; Fako; Kupe Muanenguba; Lebialem; Manyu; Meme; Ndian.

The ASC advises against all activities of 20^th May celebration and travel to all cities, towns, and villages of the following specific chief towns of Local Government Areas within all the counties of Ambazonia:

Northern Zone: Andeck; Bali; Benakuma; Fonfuka; Furu-Awa; Funding; Mbengwi; Ndop; Njinikom; Njikwa; Nkambe; Nkor; Nkum; Santa; Tubah; Zhoa; Babessi; Ndu; Kumbo; Belo; Bafut; Widikum; Wum; Ako; Misaje; Elak; Jakiri; Nwa; Balikumbat; Batibo; Mbiame.

Southern Zone: Archibong; Akwaya; Alou; Bamusso; Buea; Bangem; Dikome Balue; Ekondo Titi; Eyumojock; Idabato; Idenau; Isangele; Kombo Abedimo; Kombo Itindi; Konye; Mamfe; Mbonge; Menji; Mudemba; Muyuka; Nguti; Tiko; Tinto; Toko; Tombel; Wabane.

On 30^thNovember 2017, President Paul Biya of La Republique du Cameroun imposed a war on the territory of Ambazonia, its people, and property. President Biya’s appointed Governors, Senior Divisional Officers, and District Officers have imposed a state of emergency in some cities, towns and districts indefinitely effective 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. daily. The appointed administrators have also ordered citizens and resident to vacate their communities.

More than 5000-armed security and paramilitary forces from La Republique du Cameroun’s regular army have been deployed to Ambazonia by the government of President Biya. In view of media reports of summary execution of hundreds of unarmed civilians, razed to ashes of scores of homes in at least 73 villages, roasted to death of dozens of disabled parents in their homes, hundreds of abductions-for-ransoms, and dozens of cases of raped girls and mothers; Ambazonians and foreigners are advised to remain indoors and safe starting Saturday morning, 19 May 2018 to Monday monring, 21 May 2018 until the situation stabilises.

Soldiers of La Republic du Camerooun’s regular army especially the Rapid Intervention Battalion (Bataillon d’Intervention Rapide, BIR) and armed police from police’s special rapid intervention units known as “Equipes spéciales d’intervention rapide” (ESIR) are very likely to try to carry out attacks in Ambazonia. Specific methods of attack are evolving and increasing in sophistication.

• On 13 May 2018, BIR soldiers arrested Chief Arrey Franklin of Mbenyan village and dozens of youths at daytime on their way to a funeral in Eyumojock town, Manyu county, Southern Zone. They were all gruesomely tortured and Chief Arrey Franklin died of bleeding while the whereabout and life of the youths remains uncertain.
• On 17 May 2018, dozens of BIR soldiers and ESIR police invaded Bali Nyonga village, break into homes of civilians, shot and killed several unarmed civilians including a community-respected father and professional public transport driver commonly known as Mr. Kantona and his elder brother, a cultural musician, known as Mr. Chasii. Kantona and Chasii were removed from their homes and shot dead at close range in front of their wives, children, and neigbours by, a strategy to terrorize Ambazonians.
• On 18 May 2018, BIR soldiers shot and killed several unarmed civilians including Mr. Bawack Samuel and Mrs. Ashu Precilia (wife of Ashu Polycarp) in Etoko mile 22 village, Mamfe, Manyu county. Similarly, Samuel and Precilia were shot at close range in front of their children and family members, a strategy to terrorize Ambazonians.

All persons, be Ambazonians or foreigners, are subject to regular threats and terror activities by the soldiers and armed security forces of La Republique du Cameroun. Make sure you stay away from 20^th May celebration and related activities as a precautionary security measure.

You should follow the instructions of the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. There is a high threat of kidnapping throughout Ambazonia by soldiers and armed security officers of La Republique du Cameroun in coordination with local administrators.

Foreigners – resident or visiting or working – in Ambazonia especially citizens of French Cameroun and Nigeria and Western Countries are very likely to be publicly and brutally killed by soldiers and armed security officers of La Republique du Cameroun with the ultimate purpose to blame the incidents and killings on Ambazonia restoration forces.

The level of self-defence assistance the ASC-Restoration Forces can provide to citizens, residents, and travelers as well as their property in Ambazonia is extremely limited.

You can email the Ambazonia Self-Defence Council to share or inquire more information at official@ascrf.org.

Nso Obi Foncha

Spokesperson

It has been 18 years since Akere Muna founded the Cameroon chapter of Transparency International, the anti-corruption watchdog agency. And although the organization has scored some successes, the overall picture is not improving. In 2017, Cameroon slipped to 153rd out of 180 countries in TI’s annual corruption perception index, a slight drop from their ranking the previous year.

So Muna has decided to set his sights higher. In the October election, he will run against President Paul Biya, who has held power in the West African country for more than three decades. And although the 65-year-old lawyer knows challenging the powerful incumbent carries risks, he is ready for them.

“I know that I’m considered as being a threat to the current system,” Muna told VOA. “But I think that, you know, one has a choice of being a silent accomplice or an active actor for change, so I’ve chosen my side.”

Biya last won re-election in 2011 with 78 percent of the vote and is considered the overwhelming favorite in the upcoming election. In 2009, Cameroon’s parliament voted to lift term limits. Biya has held power since 1982, making him Africa’s second-longest serving president behind Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea.

Anti-corruption platform

But Muna believes he has found an issue people will rally behind: fighting corruption. Corruption is so endemic in Cameroon, Muna said, that a patient suffering a serious injury, such as a snake bite, can expect to be asked for a bribe just to receive treatment at a hospital.

Nationwide, corruption affects three main sectors: education, health and justice.

“These are the sectors that hit the poorest of the poor, and that is sad,” Muna said. “But, of course, if you go upstream in other areas you find out that the delivery of government service is very, very much destroyed by the rising tide of corruption.”

Cameroon is not alone in facing the scourge of corruption. Muna, who participated in the U.N.’s High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows, said $50 billion leaves the African continent illegally each year.

“The embezzlement, the thievery of government funds is really at a scale that is now a systemic problem,” he said.

Hans De Marie Heungoup, a Cameroon analyst for the International Crisis Group, said most voters believe the election is a foregone conclusion and will register in the last week, if they vote at all. The question is not who wins, but which challenger, the Social Democratic Front or another opposition group, emerges as the most viable challenger to the ruling party.

Even the issue of corruption will not be enough to galvanize voters, according to Heungoup.

“There is kind of a resignation of Cameroonians,” he said. “Very few among the ordinary Cameroonians will really think there is a candidate who will be able to curb or to eradicate corruption as it has been so entrenched in the society totally from the political leadership. And even in the normal interactions corruption has become a way of life.”

​Calls for secession

Cameroon faces other challenges. Protests by the English-speaking minority have led to violent clashes with government forces. The group is now pushing for secession and calling for the creation of a new state, Ambazonia.

Muna believes much of this anger stems from people not feeling represented by their government and believing their voices will only be heard through violence. He hopes these people will get behind his candidacy to bring about change peacefully.

“I’m saying that the problem is with the government of our country, so we should change the government and not the country,” he said. “I’m pushing for that — for the ballot and not for the bullet.”

Heungoup said some in the Anglophone region of Cameroon resent the fact that Muna, who is a native of that region, is participating in the election at all. They believe his candidacy legitimizes the elections in the eyes of the international community.

“They have vowed by all means to stop and prevent elections in the Anglophone side. Now let us see if they will be able to put their words in practice,” Heungoup said.

Source: VOA

The Cameroon army has admitted that some of its officials had meted out inhumane treatment to a suspected separatist arrested in the NorthWest region of the country.

According to the Defense Minister Joseph Beti Assomo, speaking on state radio, gendarmes deployed to the restive region to fight separatists had “mistreated and tied up” an alleged separatist leader during his arrest Saturday.

A viral social media video showed officials having tied the suspects hands behind him. The suspect who was lying on his belly in muddy conditions is kicked and his head is stamped upon by some of the gendarmes and a police.

The gendarmes (paramilitary officials) are “clearly out of the norms and legal techniques in such circumstances,” the minister acknowledged, his condemnation followed a very strong online protest to the video.

It is the first time the army has acknowledged abuses committed by security forces deployed in the two English-speaking regions riled by separatist violence since October 2017.

“An investigation has been opened to identify (and) where appropriate sanction the perpetrators of these acts contrary to respect for human rights,” said the minister.

Nicknamed “general”, the abused person is an alleged separatist leader who was arrested on Saturday, said Beti Assomo. The said general according to authorities “was actively sought for several weeks for his involvement in acts of violence against the population and (in) the killing of the personnel of defense and security forces”.

Security forces have been repeatedly accused by NGOs and witnesses of abuses and burning houses. “We only burn houses where we discover weapons,” the army defended its actions in late April.

The central African regions English speaking regions have been mired in a security crisis that has been tagged the “Anglophone crisis”. In the two regions, northwest and south-west, fighting has become almost daily between the Cameroonian security forces and armed men.

The armed groups say they are fighting to establish an independent Ambazonia Republic. According to the International Crisis Group (ICG), “at least 120” civilians and “at least 43” members of the security forces have been killed since late 2016. The separatist record is unknown.

160,000 people have fled their homes as a result of the violence, according to the UN, and 34,000 have fled to Nigeria, according to the Nigerian Emergency Management Agency (Sema).

Source: Africa News

There is a popular African saying that “When two elephants fight, only the grass under their feet suffers”. Grass is the place of the majority of Anglophone Cameroonians caught between the devil and the deep blue sea as two extremist sides fight for the body and soul of the Cameroon nation.

THE GENESIS

What is today popularly called the “Anglophone crises” started in October 2016 as an industrial/professional imbroglio between teachers and lawyers of English-speaking expression on the one hand and government on the other. With government being accused of mule-headedness and trying to impose its own agenda on the teachers and lawyers by the protesting Anglophone professionals grouped under what became known as The Consortium and the government accusing The Consortium of shifting the poles as the negotiations stalled, extremists on both sides of the divide took advantage of the impasse and shoveled-in their own agendas.

Today, the sticking point in the negotiations that revolved around the state structure – federalism or decentralized collectivities – has since evolved into an outright call for secession by what the U.S. Ambassador to Cameroon H.E. Peter Barlerin last week termed “…a very tiny minority of Cameroonian-born individuals living in the United States”.

We shouldn’t have gotten to where we are today had the Biya government listened to the voices of moderates within The Consortium whose views represented the feelings of a majority of the English-speaking community. Nay, schooled and bullied by the Francophone leadership imbued in the Napoleonic iron-fist leadership, even the English-speaking representative of the government at the negotiations could not see reason with the yearnings of his own brothers and sisters.

As the stick prevails in all Napoleonic (French colonial mentality) disagreements, the Biya government unleashed its dogs of war on protesting teachers, lawyers and even Buea University students. Lawyers clad in their professional robes were dragged in mud and dust by lowly-placed police, gendarmes and soldiers in the streets of Anglophone towns. University girls were raped and brutalized with impunity as the world watched in horror through the pictures and videos posted on social media.

In the face of such nauseating brutality/impunity, calls for retaliatory violence by diaspora Cameroonians using social media have conjured favourable attention from various strata of the Anglophone communities at home.

As of now, a dirty war is being waged against the people of the English-speaking Northwest and Southwest Regions by the national army which duty it is to protect them and various groups of armed/faceless individuals visiting Nigerian-type kidnappings for ransom, blackmail, arson and outright wickedness on their kith and kin.

MILITARY KILLINGS, ARSON AND THEFT

The Biya government has not hesitated in homing in on the Anglophone community once again, unleashing the crudest brutes of the national army who have visited mayhem including murders, arson and outright theft on the said people. Thousands have fled into bushes while others were forced to go into exile abroad first on the orders of government administrators and later because of exactions from not very merciful groups taking cover behind those today referred to as “Ambazonia boys”.

The military swoop on Anglophone communities in the Northwest and Southwest Regions seems to be a textbook example of how the suppression of civil uprisings or even wars should not be prosecuted. With an army led by the Beti military oligarchy that knows it has several skeletons in their cupboards and as such must eliminate anything on the way of their perpetuity in power, it is the most rotten of the rotten foot soldiers who are sent to the front. Made up mostly of former street gang members recruited with the main aim of executing dirty warfare, and listening to the harangues of Beti “elites” such as Ernest Obama of Vision 4 (popularly known in Cameroon as “la television des mille collines” in reference to the Hutu Radio Mille Collines in Rwanda that called for genocide against Tutsis) who called for the annihilation of Anglophones including even six-month old kids and the likes of Prof. Owona Nguini who advocates for genocide-type lessons against Anglophones, the BIR operatives on the ground in English-speaking Cameroon have been wrecking havoc on the poor rural communities.

Former street pick-pockets and mafia-type local enforcers recruited into the military have been razing down villages and towns, killing, maiming and stealing everything they find in the houses they burn down. A brisk black market in goods, especially electronics and mobile phones stolen from “conquered Anglophone territory” thrives within the military and associate ruling communities.

“All happens as if the Cameroon military, especially the ‘elite’ BIR trained by American and French instructors has no regard for international laws and conventions. They kill and steal with impunity and some even consider the goods they steal from local Anglophone communities as war booty”, opines a human rights activist who elected for anonymity for fear of the wrath of the marauding military.

One would have been a little lenient towards the unenlightened lower ranks of the military, were their actions not receiving the unction of their superiors. In fact, the recently sacked military commander of the Southwest Region, General Donatien Melingui Nouma in a recent interview with AFP proudly declared that the military under his command only burns down houses in which arms were discovered.

In trying to justify the exactions of the military upon otherwise peaceful communities, a senior army officer contacted for the purpose of this report and who elected for anonymity because he is not authorized to talk on behalf of the army said “…the military only visits towns and villages where soldiers were attacked” by those he described as “terrorists”.

These punitive attacks by the military on villages/towns often happen when those who attacked the military have long vamoosed into thin air, thus exposing innocent civilians to the collective punishment of the military.

“The military descends on villages from which secessionists attacked the army because the villagers know those secessionists amongst them and continued to tolerate them without reporting to the soldiers”, the senior military officer quoted above declared.

EXACTIONS ON LOCAL COMMUNITIES BY VARIOUS CRIMINAL AND ARMED GROUPS

The bad days of villages/towns visited with mayhem from the army do not end when the national army has left the localities. Another wave of destruction, killings and molestation follows when secessionists return to punish those they accuse of having collaborated with the military when they arrived the villages/towns.

“Most times they kill in cold blood, all those whom they accuse rightly or wrongly of having invited and informed on them to the army. They then destroy or take away the properties of those killed and molest other villagers for not having stood up against the military. So you see, we are the ones who bear the brunt of the fighting between the army and separatists, all of which two groups claim to be fighting for our interests, yet killing, maiming and robbing us of the little we have”, declared the chief of a village recently visited by both the army and secessionists.

CRIMINAL GANGS

Besides the secessionists, there are also groups of criminal gangs some of which are armed by Nigerian black market arms dealers. These ones are different from the secessionists and seem to have received training from Nigerian criminal syndicates. They derive their membership from among some of the refugees who escaped exactions from both the army and the secessionists and went to Nigeria.

“They have returned from Nigeria with a vengeance, copying Nigerian-type kidnappings and threats of arson in exchange for huge sums of money”, says a recent victim of the criminal gangs.

These gangs are involved in mafia-type operations in rural villages and towns. Their targets are those they perceive as rich within the villages or those whom they know have rich relatives in metropolitan areas and abroad.

“I just recently received a note from the criminals threatening to burn down my house in the village if I don’t pay them two million FCFA”, one of the victims of the gangs living in Douala told Cameroon Concord News Group last week.

They most times target relatives to Cameroonians in the diaspora, kidnap and hold them hostage demanding ransom from their family members living abroad. This was the case with retired Justice Mbeng Arrey who was abducted in Ewelle village, Manyu Division recently. Justice Mbeng has since been released after his family paid the ransom and he is currently in the United States of America.

In one recent case, six youths from one village wielding cutlasses and masked visited a neighbouring village and started demanding money from the villagers. Youths of the said village eventually grouped themselves together and engaged the marauders with cutlasses and sticks too. They eventually over-powered the uninvited visitors and when they unmasked them, they discovered that the attackers were some of their friends from a neighbouring village.

SETTLING OF PERSONAL AND FAMILY SCORES

There are yet other groups of individuals using the current situation to settle individual and family feuds. These groups are made up of gun-for-hire individuals who are paid to kidnap individuals for the settlement of personal scores or family differences.

There was a recent case where a girl who had some differences with her friend reported the said friend to the gendarmes who promptly arrested the friend and extracted quite a sum from the girl. To pay back the friend, the arrested girl arranged with the village’s hired hands to kidnap her friend who was held until the family paid double what the gendarmes had extorted from her friend.

Jealous individuals and village school drop-outs who are unhappy with the successes of their former classmates now arrange to extort money from their successful age/classmates by hiring armed hands from within the community to do their dirty work in the name of “the struggle”.

According to one senior citizen from Manyu Division, this Anglophone struggle is sowing seeds of evil and hatred which will take decades to heal even after peace returns to the country.

And as for the peace, it may wait until the cows come home unless the Biya government and those claiming to be fighting for Anglophones start thinking of the interests of the English-speaking communities instead of their personal pockets.

By Rita Akana, Sama Ernest and Judith Fon

A senior Anglophone citizen from the Lebialem County resident in the UK has said that moderate Southern Cameroonians were running out of patience with the Biya regime following the numerous atrocities committed by army soldiers deployed to the region. Fuaseh Fontem who from the very beginning had some reservations about the revolution, posted on his Face Book page condemning the current military crackdown in Anglophone Cameroon.

Fuaseh painted a gloomy picture of what seem like an “invasion” of the Southern Cameroons by Cameroon government military and advised the government to desist from this reprehensive act as Cameroon is not at war with itself.

Using the Cameroon army to repel what appears to be a legitimate agitation by the people of Southern Cameroons who were demanding a referendum has caused Fuaseh Fontem 2 estates worth 50 million FCFA.  The situation is very disquieting.

Cameroon Concord News correspondent in the Southern Zone recently opined that “The day Biya removes his ostrich head from the ground and stops listening to his Beti war mongers will be the day we start hoping for peace. The ordinary Cameroonian is stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea as Biya’s army indiscriminately meting out collective punishment on innocent community dwellers and some Ambazonian separatists who were previously under the influence of one Cho Ayaba with their ruthless exactions on poor villagers. A third column in this macabre drama involves criminals using Nigerian-type abductions to fleece people of the little they can afford even in poor village communities. There is even a fourth angle fanned by jealousy and greed as individuals hide under the crises to burn the houses of their enemies on the pretext they are burnt by separatists.”

Most families having children and relations abroad are targeted and blackmailed into paying large sums otherwise their family houses would be razed down. It is really a very sad situation as the various evil seeds and wounds being planted by this crisis will take decades to heal even after peace returns.

Below is the Fuaseh Fontem Declaration

Folks

This mess in West Cameroon has to stop now or never!

In the last month I alone have lost 2 estates worth cfaf 50 million in total in West cameroon. My very own 15 bed palace in Njeh Fontem was destroyed by gun bullets from Cameroon army over Easter.

Then only last week my mother’s 7bed home was burnt down in Mbalangi suburbs if Kumba again by Cameroon soldiers.

My mother is now homeless in Cameroon. “Luckily” she was in hospital in Kumba when her home was burnt down.

For all what I for one have done to help Cameroon public health over the last 10yrs as minsante’ s PNTS knows very well that is what I get in return. How’s that for encouraging an avowed moderate?

Talk less of the violation of the PALACE of my boss Fontem Njifua- the late Questeur of the so called Senate of Cameroon.

This is no threat but we have to see an immediate stop to this violence against Anglophones or many of us moderates will

Wake up otherwise!

Fuaseh Fontem

Kingston upon Thames 13May2018.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai 

The North West Regional Governor, Adolf Lele l’Afrique, has decided to comply with the order issued by the Ambazonian Interim Government (IG) last week. Mr. L’Afrique who has been issuing orders ever since the crisis started is now being asked to comply with an order by the Ambazonian Interim Government.

The colonial governor has finally decided that his family should return to La Republique following an order issued by the IG indicating that all French-speaking Cameroonians should return to their country at the end of May failure of which the Interim Government will not be able to guarantee their security.

As a law-abiding citizen, Mr. L’Afrique has sent his children and wife to La Republic to spare them the pain that will come after the expiry of the deadline given by the Interim Government.

The IG order was read last week by the Communications Secretary, Mr. Chris Anu, on the Southern Cameroons Broadcasting Corporation, where he underscored that all Southern Cameroonians must eject all French-speaking Cameroonians from their homes. He stressed that failure to comply with this order will lead to severe actions by the Ambazonian Defense Forces who are in charge of security in the two English-speaking regions.

Meanwhile fighting has intensified in many parts of Southern Cameroons. On Saturday, it was reported that a family of seven was killed in Kuke while another man had met his death in Baba near Mbonge in Ndian Division. The violence in the region has increased since Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya, appointed a colonel to replace General Melingui who had acknowledged that the military had committed huge human rights abuses in the two English-speaking regions.

General Melingui had added that many homes had been burnt down by the military and this did not go down well with the president and the hawks who surround him. He was immediately fired and replaced by a junior officer who many say has ordered the military to intensify its operations in the regions.

Also, a military truck transporting some forty soldiers overturned in the South West regional port city of Limbe. Our correspondent in Limbe has reported that some 16 soldiers have lost their lives and many were wounded, with several being critical.

Pictures of the wounded soldiers have been published on social media and many Southern Cameroonians have been rejoicing, pointing out that God is on their side and that if the Yaounde government did not withdraw its ill-trained soldiers, many would perish in similar circumstances. The soldiers were heading to Muyuka in the South West where the government had ordered a serious crackdown in that part of the region.

Meanwhile, on Friday May 11, 2018, a list of new targets was sent to the Cameroon Concord News Group’s global headquarters in England. Former Prime Minister Peter Mafany Musonge, Minister Paul Atanga Nji, Senator Tabetando, Governor Okalal Bilai, Divisional Officer Joseph Oum II, Member of Parliament Susan Okpu, former minister Elvis Ngolle Ngolle, former Minister Ogork Ntui Ebot, former minister Benjamin Itoe, minister Victor Mengot Arrey, Prof Echu George, Senator Achidi Achu  and Prime Minister Yang Philemon are some of the names on the list that was sent unanimously.

The list comes as the violence in the region has escalated. As the tension increases, the Yaounde government is gradually coming to terms with the fact that Mr. Biya’s declaration of war on the people of Southern Cameroons at the Nsimalen International Airport upon his return from a Francophonie conference in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, was a pure error of judgement.

Indeed, Mr. Biya and his government had completely misinterpreted things. It appeared they were reading an old script; a script that was designed for another problem that had nothing to do with the determined Southern Cameroonian fighters. He had clearly underestimated the determination and will of a few to bring about change in a country. Indeed, he had failed to understand that those who make peaceful change impossible only make violent change inevitable.

The government has been anything but humble during this crisis. Its relentless pursuit of peace through military violence has divided the country for ever. The government’s arrogance and inefficiency are costing the country huge amounts of money and the loss of human life is really disturbing. Both soldiers and civilians are being killed in a conflict that could have been avoided. This is a mistake that will remain in many minds for decades. The country’s history has been tainted with the blood of many innocent lives.

But there is no mistake that cannot be fixed. Many mistakes have already been made and it will be preposterous to continue making more of such mistakes. Cameroon needs peace and that peace cannot come if the killings continue. The government has a huge responsibility in this. It must change its strategy. If it thinks it can make Cameroon one and indivisible by seeking to impose peace on Southern Cameroonians, then it is not yet ready to smoke that pipe of peace that the international community is calling on it to smoke.

There is no ideal way to secure peace than through negotiations. The government must come down its Ivory Tower to meet Southern Cameroonians halfway. The country’s English-speaking minority has proven that a few people can bring change in a country that has been rejecting change for decades.

Cameroon will never be the same again.  The government’s ill-advised decision to declare war on a section of its population will always come back to bite it. Times have changed, and mentalities must keep pace. Negotiations should be the government’s administrative tool of choice. The government has to embrace new ways. It should understand that intimidation will not cut it. Even long jail terms will not address the issue. Southern Cameroonians are resolute. They are not going to give in just because they are being intimidated and killed.

They have been living a life of marginalization for years and they think they must put an end to such dictatorship. Cameroon belongs to all and every citizen must be made to feel at home wherever he finds himself. But with so many lives cut short by this senseless war, it will be hard for real negotiations to take place.

Southern Cameroonians want to live in their own country. For 56 years, they have been victims of government discrimination. The Yaounde government has never respected its commitments towards the indigenous people of Southern Cameroons. The government’s mistakes have really made it hard for Southern Cameroonians to live with their French-speaking counterparts.

The rift is there. It will be hard for these wounds to heal. Many people have lost their lives, and the pain will linger for a long time. The government has a lot on its plate. It has to take a long and hard look at its script. Its current script is simply making Southern Cameroons independence possible. The government will have to bend over backwards if it really wants to hold the country together.

By Kingsley Betek in Yaounde

A settlement of US$1.9 million was reached Thursday in a civil lawsuit stemming from the fatal police shooting of a homeless black man on Skid Row in Los Angeles three years ago, attorneys said.

A jury earlier in the day found two police officers liable for financial damages in the shooting death of Charly “Africa” Keunang, a transient from Cameroon.

Jurors were set to begin the damages phase of the trial when the settlement was announced. The agreement, which requires City Council approval, resolves all fees, costs and claims and closes any future litigation over Keunang’s death, City News Service reported. The settlement will go to Keunang’s family if approved.

The eight-member jury unanimously determined that Officer Francisco Martinez deprived Keunang of his Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable force and that Sgt. Chand Syed breached his duty as a supervisor to intervene during the fatal encounter.

Prosecutors in 2016 declined to file charges against the officers after it was determined the shooting justified because Keunang grabbed a rookie officer’s gun during a struggle March 1, 2015.

The Los Angeles Police Department issued a statement saying that it stands by the findings of the LAPD, the city Police Commission and the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office that “the uses of force by our officers were consistent with the law and Department policy.”

LAPD officers “make every effort to safely take suspects into custody without the use of force,” the statement said. “In this situation, force was necessary because of the violent behaviour of the suspect.”

Officers were responding to reports that Keunang, 43, a Cameroon national, had threatened another man living on the street in the section of the city teeming with homeless people.

Video of the shooting by a bystander was viewed millions of times online and prompted protests in the city and drew comparisons with the deaths of other black men killed by officers in the U.S.

A lawyer representing Keunang’s family in the lawsuit disputed that the homeless man ever had hold of an officer’s gun.

The Police Commission cleared officers of the shooting, though it found one officer’s tactics violated policy. It did not publicly reveal what policy was violated.

Keunang’s family sued the city of Los Angeles and four officers, seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages on allegations of wrongful death, negligence and civil rights violations.

The jury cleared a third defendant, Officer Daniel Torres, while former Officer Joshua Volasgis — who was named as a defendant — had been expected to face proceedings in state court, but the settlement effectively ends that case, said Deputy City Attorney Christian R. Bojorquez.

Source: CTVNews