Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Last week, the Consortium called for a Ghost Town to protest against the continuous militarization of our towns, police provocation and brutality – shooting and arrest of citizens – even as the negotiations were going on. This call has been respected throughout the NW and SW Regions. West Cameroonians are a peaceful people and must remain so.

However, some pictures of people exacting violence on school children in Limbe have shocked the Consortium. These pictures remind us of what happened in Bamenda a month ago. Let it be clear that the Consortium unreservedly condemns violence in all its forms and aspires to a society where respect for human personality and property will reign supreme. We strongly urge all our people to remain decent, and to show greater self-discipline. We must undo violence from our cultural make up, and beware of infiltrations and people who are sent to incite violence so as to justify a crackdown. Nevertheless, we encourage parents to keep their children at home when there is a call to strike.

We call on Government to clear our streets of all armed uniform men. We also demand that all those arrested, abducted or kidnapped in Bamenda, Mutengene, Buea, Kumba and Mamfe, including teachers who expressed strong views about the current situation of the country should be released forthwith.

Fellow Citizens,

Concerning the work the Teachers’ Union did in the Teachers’ Ad hoc Committee, we expect them to present it to the public and educate the masses about its contents before an agreement is finalized. We are consulting with them and will ensure that the outcome is satisfactory to our people.

We therefore decry all attempts by the Chairperson of that Committee to manipulate the process and to exacerbate tensions at a time when everyone is looking forward to a sustainable solution. In the same vein, we urge the community – parents, students and other stakeholders – to be patient and wait for the Teachers’ Unions to suspend the strike when the process has come to a logical end. But this can only be after the community has been properly informed about the resolutions arrived at, and guarantees provided that past abuses will not be repeated.

Our hope for this beautiful country is that we and our brothers East of the Mungo can cohabit peacefully, and that every child will have equal opportunity to rise to greatness through hard work. We pray for a country where our origin will no longer limit us.

God is our strength.

For the CONSORTIUM

Barr. Nkongho Felix A. Dr. Fontem A. Neba

Gun shots were fired and tear gas used by elements of the Rapid Intervention Battalion, BIR as the beautiful town of Njinikom in the Bamenda province of Southern Cameroons was today transformed into a battle ground.

Cameroon Concord News was reliably informed that an open confrontation erupted during the civil disobedience campaign between the youths and the Francophone elite force deployed to the area from Bamenda. Our informant also revealed that the atmosphere was chaotic in Wombong down town.

Calm finally returned following a truce deal struck by the mayor of Njinikom, Terence Chah Bam and the Divisional Officer Bontang Justine. All okada riders who were arrested during the troubles were released.

The people of Njinikom have promised to respect the orders of the Consortium and continue with ghost operations tomorrow. The Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime is yet to issue a statement.

By Eyong Ebai Samuel

It has been revealed that a part of the budgetary allocation for the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MINADER) to build boreholes and maintain agricultural roads in the South region has been used to develop private farms belonging to Foumane Akame, a senior aide and cousin to President Biya.

The Public Investment Budget (BIP) in the South Region for 2017 amounts to FCFA 125.4 billion and the Ministry of Agriculture has reportedly included private farming facilities located at Ndonkol into the budget. The Ndonkol Farms belong to Jean Foumane Akame, Legal Adviser to the President of the Republic.

A source at the Ministry of Agriculture has also hinted that the minister has already paid for the rehabilitation of agricultural tracks leading to plantations own by the Head of State. Our informant noted that “it is a real mess when you know the number of entire poor villages that do not even have a water point.”

Local media reports say tension is mounting in the South region over the 2017 budget. We learnt that out of an envelope of 125 billion CFA francs, the Department of the Mvila which is home of the chief town of the South region has been accorded only 11 billion FCFA against 43.6 billion FCFA for Dja and Lobo Division, the home constituency of President Biya.

By Rita Akana

The people of West Cameroon are protesting against unprecedented attacks by troops from the French speaking part of country. It what has been described as the second round of a massive civil disobedience campaign, all major towns and cities in the Anglophone section of Cameroon have been shut down following orders from the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium.

Our cream of reporters in the South West and North West regions have all observed that “Everything is dead,” while describing life in Southern Cameroons. Furthermore, they added that the Francophone regime in Yaoundé has militarized the entire Anglophone territory. The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium launched a civil disobedience campaign which is now been supported by pro Francophone groups such the South West Elites Association, the South West Chiefs Conference and the Cameroon Anglophone Bishops Conference.

Nevertheless, the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo government has responded by massive killings and arrest of more than a dozen West Cameroonians and shutting down local media houses. Neighborhoods across the capitals of the North West and South West regions and other towns are said to be quiet as West Cameroonians have boycotted shops and schools.  The success of the first ghost town operation of Monday the 9^th of January 2017 greatly motivated British Southern Cameroonians to participate in further steps against Paul Biya’s tyrannical genocidal regime that has ruined the country and impoverished and killed its citizens.

The authority of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium in West Cameroon is shown by refusal of the West Cameroon public to listen to the calls from its political elites serving the Francophone regime.  Cameroon Intelligence Report gathered that Smart mobile phone has been the game changer by using social media of twitter, face book, viber, WhatsApp for the anonymous youth to make the ghost town a success.

The West Cameroon ghost town operation has many faces and multiple means of configuration and persuasion and implementation. The leaders of the Consortium recently pointed out that it includes:

• Strike action
• Sit at home and never go out unless necessary
• Information distribution
• Solidarity with the parties resisting peacefully
• Talk through the means of social communication – Talk via social media
• Publish videos in the same media containing songs, poems or sayings
• Upload pictures symbolizing resistance, such as images of the martyrs

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from Sama Ernest, Sonne Peter

Fellow West Cameroonians,

One of the weapons most adapted to Government’s quest to keep us permanently Subjugated has been “divide and rule”. For years, this was used very skillfully to Sharpen ethnic divisions within the SW Region as well as between the SW and NW Regions. The consequence was the exclusion of our people from political appointment (only inconsequential positions in government are given to us), the francophonization of local administration (almost all our governors and DOs are French-speaking), Etc. The use of force in administration was entrenched as a way of life. Today, gendarmes and police are everywhere on our streets, in the villages forcing our people to march; in short, our lives have been militarized as you can see everywhere today.

For years, our own brothers and sisters contributed to this situation with the kind of tribal or regional politics they played. They fuelled the hatred of the other and fought each other over positions which did not matter one bit. In parliament, they failed to present our plight and even clapped when the bill being passed was clearly anti-us.

My brothers and sisters,

Why has this become our preoccupation in the Consortium? We have noted with shock, an increase in hate speech among our academic and political elite. They castigate our very effort to bring justice to our people hoping that it could fetch them a promotion or an appointment. The number of nocturnal tribal meetings is on the increase, because some of our politicians think that the continuation of the ‘people’s

strike’ might jeopardize their political chances. The strike to them, means freeing ourselves from the vicious grip of this government which has used our political elite like ‘hand cuffs’. Yesterday, we all saw how the hatred some of our elite expressed in the social media resulted in an arson attack on Dr. Fontem Neba’s car. We strongly condemn such violence and are surprised that the government has not said a word about this shameful incident. As a community, we condemn all our brothers and sisters who toy with our destiny and think that they are justified in sowing division among us or spreading hatred.

CAMEROON ANGLOPHONE CIVIL SOCIETY CONSORTIUM

Propose policy alternatives to improve on the lives of the people

Commission studies to collect and analyze data on the problems identified

Identify problems affecting the existence of Anglophone People in Cameroon

Educate, advocate, mediate, advise and speak for Anglophones rights in Cameroon

Source for award/grants and scholarships to determine and influence policy orientation

Our social movement is a peaceful one, but all we have experienced is shootings, killings, arrests and now destruction of property. The Consortium holds Government responsible for this attack and demands that Government investigate the arson attack on Dr. Fontem and punish all those behind it immediately. The Consortium holds Government responsible for such attacks since they have failed to control their partisans and demands full reparation for such damage.

Fellow West Cameroonians,

Our unity, especially in such trying moments, is precious to us. If we have been able to ask the oppressor for accountability, it is because for once, we have united with each other. We must not allow the selfish ones among us to destroy our quest for a better life. Tribalism and narrow mindedness help to keep our people in bondage and we say NO to that.

We thank all West Cameroonians for remaining very peaceful and resisting all forms of provocation. Let it be clear, we must not break our unity; it is a strong weapon against oppression. Anyone propagating tribalism at this time of the struggle is an enemy of our people – shun him.

God is our strength.

17  elderly people including 5 women were slaughtered at the end of last week in Gnam-Gnam, a village about a dozen kilometers from the tourist town of Waza in the department of Logone-et-Chari , in the Far North region by militants of the Nigerian Islamic sect, Boko Haram.

Their bodies were discovered in decomposition, in a bush with the heads of the victims sliced and meticulously placed on the chest or beside certain body parts  as if Boko Haram wanted to send us a message and a challenge, “says a Cameroonian military source.

The attackers would have entered the village in retaliation, against the population they suspect of collaborating with the security forces that track them, continues our source. We also gathered that some robust men were kidnapped to be enrolled in the ranks of the sect.

 A few days before the attack, the members of the sect had given instructions that forbade the populations to collaborate with Cameroonian authorities and the security forces. This attack by Boko Haram comes at a time when 33 members of the Nigerian Islamist sect, who allegedly became a member of the Islamic State, were released from a Maroua prison.

By Rita Akana

SWELA Secretary General’s consultation with some senior  South West opinion leaders:

Concerned about the present strikes by Common Law Lawyers and Anglophone Teachers in our Country;

Aware of the sacrifices that the members of the Education Community and Lawyers in the North West and South West Regions are making;

Cognizant of the short term, mid-term and long term gains these sacrifices shall bring to our Educational and Legal System;

Sensitive to the overtures made by the Head of State in his end of year speech with focus on frank dialogue and the imminent creation of a National Entity that shall discuss reforms related to our bi-cultural co-existence;

The under mentioned Opinion Leaders from the South West Region meeting in Buea on 8th January 2017 resolved as follows:

1. Urge Government as a matter of urgency to deliver on her development promises in the South West Region,
2. Urge the Anglophone Teachers Trade Unions and Common Law Lawyers to remain steadfast in their demands related to their professional growth within the Anglo-Saxon heritage,
3. Appreciate the inclusion of South West members into the Inter-Ministerial Dialogue Committee charged with seeking solutions towards an unadulterated and unfettered Anglophone subsystem of Education,
4. Congratulate the Clergy on their commitments towards breaking the stalemate through their patriotic publications,
5. Call on Government Ministers and Administrative Authorities to show restraint in their overt and covert actions that can only escalate the crisis,
6. Call on residents of the South West Region to desist from street violence that can likely provoke armed response,
7. Call on both appointed and elected Officials in State machinery to honestly in public domain present the facts of the retarded development of the South West Region and by extension the Anglophone problem.
8. Propose a broad-based National Consultation to discuss the form of state which has been the sticking point in the “LIVING TOGETHER” experiment between the former West Cameroon and East Cameroon,
9. Call on South West Elite Association (SWELA) to review their stance on a loose ten-state Federation in the face of a systemic erosion of the Anglophone political, economic and socio cultural values,
10. Support the Consortium whose role is to carry through the grievances of the Anglophone People in all its facets;
11. Endorse the Anglophone struggle for the protection of their minority rights.

Done in Buea this 8th day of the Lord 2017.

1. Mr. MOKI Joseph Etukeni
2. The Very Rev. Dr. Nyansako-Ni-Nku
3. Mola Njoh Litumbe
4. HM Nfaw Tanyi Robinson
5. Mr. Epey Samuel
6. Mr. George Ngwana
7. Barrister Agbor Felix Nkongho
8. Dr. Simon Munzu
9. Mr. Atemkeng Peter
10. Barrister Eyambe Elias Ebai
11. Mr. Victor Epie Ngome
12. Mr. Nasako Besingi
13. Dr. Walters Leke
14. Chief Hon. Justice Ayuh Paul
15. Mr. Raymond Akoson
16. Mr. Moki Monono
17. Mrs. Henrietta Ebako
18. Barrister Ikosse Daniel Etongwe
19. Dr. Backe Ivo Itoe
20. Chief Dr. Francis Mukwelle
21. Hon. Dr. Ayuk Arrey Peter
22. HRH Prince Asa-ah Peter Fontem
23. Mr. Nkembi Louis