15, August 2022
Southern Cameroons Crisis: Yerima sounds alarm over Francophone soldiers killing of Ambazonians 0
The Vice President of the Ambazonia Interim Government has reportedly raised the alarm over the rate by which Francophone army soldiers have been killing Southern Cameroonians so far this year.
Dabney Yerima was quoted by the Southern Cameroons Broadcasting Cooperation (SCBC) as saying that the killings in Ground Zero are deeply disturbing and the maiming of so many Ambazonian teenagers this year is completely unacceptable.
According to Human Rights Watch, Cameroon government military summarily killed at least 10 people and carried out a series of other abuses between April 24 and June 12, during counter-insurgency operations in the North-West region. The troops also burned 12 homes, destroyed, and looted health facilities, arbitrarily detained at least 26 people, and are presumed to have forcibly disappeared up to 17 others.
Vice President Dabney Yerima pointed out that the Human Rights Watch figure does not include the killings in Wum, Ekok, Ekondo Titi and in Kumbo. Yerima pleaded with the Southern Cameroons diaspora to stand firm and make sure that such attacks must stop.
As many as 102 Southern Cameroonians young boys and girls have been killed so far this year, many as a result of the use of military force by the Francophone dominated Cameroon government army.
Dabney Yerima condemned the widespread use of live ammunition by Francophone troops during operations across the entire Ambazonia homeland which is leading to an alarming increase in Ambazonia fatalities.
By Isong Asu
16, August 2022
Southern Cameroons Crisis: Amba fighters kill soldier, police officer in Kengwo 0
Southern Cameroons Self Defense fighters killed three people, including a soldier and a police officer on Sunday in Kengwo a border locality in the West region.
Amba fighters attacked an army post in Kengwo, killing a soldier, a police officer and a motorcyclist, said the region’s governor, Augustine Awa Fonka.
The attackers seized weapons and suffered no losses, he added.
Kengwo is near the North West region, which with the neighbouring South West region has suffered a bloody conflict between Ambazonia Restoration Forces and the Francophone dominated Cameroon government military for five years.
English speakers make up a majority of the regions’ populations in predominantly French-speaking Cameroon, which President Paul Biya has ruled with an iron fist since 1982.
Anglophones feel marginalised and an independent state called “the Federal Republic of Ambazonia” was declared in 2017 by their leader President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe without achieving international recognition.
Biya, 89, has resisted calls for more autonomy in the regions and responded with a crackdown on the separatists.
The violence has claimed more than 6,000 lives and displaced around a million people, according to the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank.
International monitors and the United Nations say both sides have committed abuses, including crimes against civilians.
In June, Ambazonia fighters killed five soldiers in an attack in western Cameroon.
By Rita Akana with files