A French Cameroun officer serving with the Rapid Intervention Battalion has been seriously wounded by an explosive device he was carrying on him. Cameroon Concord News informant who confirmed the news said the incident happened at the Hospital Round About at about 10:30 am today.

Our source also added that the explosion took everyone by surprise. No one actually suspected that a uniform officer could have been carrying an explosive device in his trouser pocket. At the time of filing this report, CCN gathered that an Okada rider rushed the wounded soldier to the hospital. The Hospital Roundabout has been closed.

This unfortunate incident is not the first in the Bamenda County. Two weeks ago, another member of the Rapid Intervention Battallion, BIR mistakenly shot himself as he got up from sleep at the Mobile, Nkwen neighborhood. The bullets that came from his gun, cut- off some of his toes. A handful of his colleagues and passersby were arrested . The SDO for Mezam has signed an order banning any public manifestations in Bamenda until September 27.

By Samuel Bantar Tandap, CCN

Students were forced to evacuate Sacred Heart College as a fire tore through the buildings hosting classrooms. Firefighters were called to the College from Bamenda after the blaze started in the administrative block.

Although the flames seem to have been extinguished, smoke can still be seen coming from the classroom windows. A spokesman for the Francophone dominated police unit said officers were alerted to the fire by one of the discipline masters of the college.

A regiment from the Rapid Intervention Battalion, BIR were called to the scene to provide support to the fire crews in attendance. No injuries or casualties have been reported.

Sent to CCN by a SCACUF Representative

Lord Justice Ayah Paul Abine has broken the silence he maintained after his release from prison on Sunday, September 17, 2017, on the TV program Geopolis of the Equinoxe Television channel. Ayah Paul made an overview of his arrest, the conditions of his detention, his release, the reparations demanded by his party and the Southern Cameroons crisis.

The magistrate accused the Biya Francophone regime of having contributed to the deteriorating state of his health. “It is probably my stay at the SED (Secretariat of State for Defense) that caused me damage. I can say irreparable damage. Currently I can not see anything with my left eye. All of a sudden, I became a cardiac patient, ” Ayah pointed out.

Ayah Paul Abine revealed that he spent his first night in a small cell without window or mattress, a situation that worsened his health. “If I returned to this cell even for 30 minutes, I will die,” said Ayah Paul Abine, who added that in his new cell he was given “a semblance of a mattress with a thickness of 5 cm”.

The former Supreme Court judge regretted that during his stay at the SED, only one of his colleagues visited him. He said he was abducted from his home on a Saturday night without an arrest warrant and no magistrate reacted. “How can I explain why I stayed in a cell for 223 days and only one magistrate in all of Cameroon had the courage to visit me?” Asks Ayah Paul Abine. The retired magistrate insisted that 80% of Cameroonian magistrates should not be part of the judicial family as “they are all afraid to do their job”.

For Ayah Paul Abine, the arrest of the leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium was a political affair. Ayah noted that he was not a member of the Consortium but was arrested because he asked for the law to be applied in the case. He called for the establishment of the National Truth and Reconciliation Committee. The Attorney General suggested that arrogance be set aside in dealing with the Southern Cameroons leadership.

By Sama Ernest with files from CIN

Nature has once again added its voice in the political turmoil in Cameroon, and once again the partitioning of the country into Southern Cameroons and French Cameroon is becoming evident. The partition trope resurfaces periodically, most often while the one and indivisible Cameroon looks “too hard to fix.”

The N 63 road at the level of Bamendjou in the western region linking French Cameroun and the Bamenda County is impassable since Saturday. According to officials from the Western Regional Public Works Delegation, the traffic disruption on this part of the road was caused by a landslide over an 80-meter range at one of the sections, a drop of nearly three meters.

The Southern Cameroons Governing Council and many other advocates of partition suggest that Cameroon is a false construct of British and French colonisation and that Franco-phones and Anglophones are incapable of sustaining a heterogeneous state.

Southern Cameroonians who want to divide the country owe the African Union, the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the rest of the world extensive, detailed clarification. Surely, any plan to drastically restructure Cameroon must be more thoughtful and detailed.

By Chi Prudence Asong
Cameroon Concord News

Six people were killed on Saturday in a serious traffic accident in Bui County precisely in Kumbo. The accident between a semi-trailer carrying goods and a public transport bus also caused many injuries. As in 2010, when 1,200 people were killed on Cameroonian roads, there is a peak of deaths from traffic accidents in 2017 supporting calls for immediate independence for Southern Cameroons.

For the first eight months of 2017, (from January to August), 4190 accidents including 179 fatalities, 784 bodily and 3227 material were recorded in Cameroon. The month of August 2017, was the most deadly with a total of 626 accidents of all categories, including 34 fatalities, 79 bodily and 513 material. Officially, there were 98 deaths as a result of road traffic accidents, in August alone.

Cameroon experts attributed 70% of these accidents to human causes, 20% caused by road conditions and 10% to technical causes. The Francophone government fears that the upward trend will continue and recently claimed to have taken a series of measures, including the reform of the driving license. The new Cameroonian driver’s license, which includes a dozen points, entered into force on 1 September.

The Cameroonian authorities are also considering the use of mobile radars, multiplying joint checkpoints (police, gendarmerie and road traffic prevention in the Ministry of Transport), as well as general alcohol tests and other measures such as limiting the speed limit to 100 kilometres per hour for transit vehicles and heavy goods vehicles.

By Eyong Johnson
Cameroon Concord News

Southern Cameroons protesters have set fire on an administrative building in Kumbo, the chief town in the Bui County. Cameroon Concord News learnt that the Senior Divisional Officer for Bui, Mooh Simon Émile was seriously wounded.

According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Defense (MINDEF) dated 4 September 2017, a gendarme opened fire in self-defense against an attack that came while investigating a narcotics problem. The officer shot and killed one of his assailants who possessed homemade weapons, noted Joseph Beti Assomo.

Southern Cameroonians dissatisfied with the situation set ablaze the SDO’s office. Military reinforcements were carried out. The Secretary of State for Defense (SED) Jean Baptiste Bokam announced that he has suspended the Commander of the brigade concerned.

By Sama Ernest
Cameroon Concord News

Primary school pupils and High school students across Southern Cameroons are engaging in increasingly frequent acts of ghost towns ordered jointly by the Southern Cameroons Governing Council and the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium. They have stayed out of the so-called official opening of the 2017 academic year today Monday the 4th of September 2017 in support of a strike action that was initiated by lawyers and teachers which subsequently laid the foundation for the Southern Cameroons revolution some 11 months ago.

There has been no reaction from the French Cameroun government officials currently in Southern Cameroons to push for the resumption of classes. However, the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium has warned that parents should carefully put as top priority the safety of their children during these difficult times in Southern Cameroons history.

The struggle for social and political rights in British Southern Cameroons has expanded across different sectors and entered different venues, highlighting in particular calls for an independent state of Southern Cameroons.

Recently and against the backdrop of a deepening political crisis and the release of Dr. Barrister Felix Agbor Nkongho and Dr. Neba Fontem, all Southern Cameroons counties and Anglophone political associations both at home and abroad have declared independence from President Biya’s government.

Even the main opposition party, the Social Democratic Front, which has MPs in the national assembly, has announced they will not participate in next year’s elections under the prevailing circumstances. These recent collective actions were precipitated by president Biya’s decision to push through a fake agenda drafted by some Francophone political elites shifting the goal post to bilingualism and multiculturalism.

With little change 35 years on from the ouster of the late President Ahmadaou Ahidjo, there are plans for the creation of a Republic of Southern Cameroons. An operations manager in the Mamfe County explained to Cameroon Concord News that today’s successful ghost town operation is not a direct withdrawal from the Cameroonian state “flag and all but rather an expression of defiance against the lawlessness of the state that is buttressed by the ruling Francophone political elite headed by Mr. Paul Biya.”

There are calls for President Biya to meet with the leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium and securing the support of some prominent figures deep within the Southern Cameroons diaspora. The revolution has eventually washed away men like Musonge, Paul Atanga Nji, Yang Philemon, Patrick Ekema and Elvis Ngole Ngole.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from Buea, Bamenda, Mundemba, Mamfe and Tombel
Cameroon Concord News

The Francophone dominated force known as the National Gendarmerie has revealed that a total of 116 people were killed in the month of August 2017 on the main roads in Cameroon. A spokesperson for the French Cameroun security apparatus, Colonel Tchinda Henri noted on Sunday via Canal Press program on Canal 2 International tv that 90% of these accidents were due to a human causes and 10% is related to environmental issues.

Cameroon Concord News gathered from the televised presentation that human causes were mainly the imprudence of the road users with recklessness manifested by speeding, dangerous overtaking, poor parking of vehicles and driver fatigue.

Colonel Tchinda Henri did not blame the poor state of the roads including the complete absence of traffic police and proper driving schools in the country but in a typical ruling CPDM pattern, presented a plan adopted by the Gendarmerie Nationale to limit road traffic accidents during this back-to-school period. This is what the policing services do every year and expect different results.

By Eyong Johnson with files from CIN

At least fifteen people were reported killed last night in a serious traffic accident on the Yaoundé- Douala highway. Police sources also revealed that the accident caused 4 serious injuries and the wounded were all taken to the Edéa Regional Hospital.

Cameroon Concord News learned that the accident occurred at around 10 pm (2100 GMT) some 20 km from Edéa, the chief locality in the Sanaga Maritime Division from a head-on collision between an inter-urban bus and a freight truck.

For more than a month, there has been almost no day without traffic accidents, resulting in loss of life in Cameroon.

By Rita Akana
Cameroon Concord News