Life could be challenging in rural Cameroon, especially in conflict-hit Southwest, but many people are seeking ways to overcome the challenges and people in Muyuka in the Southwest region are no exception and they are using sand mining to eke out a livelihood.

Sand mining is still a major source of livelihood to many youths in Muyuka, but technology is threatening to render them unemployed and financially poor.

Recently, some youths in Muyuka took to the streets to protest against the use of machines in sand quarries and they are determined to take their fight to the highest office in the land.

Based on expert opinion, technology will surely improve productivity and profits but not for the youths who do not have faith in it and they are not in the mood to welcome such technology.

According to sources in Muyuka, a certain businessman from Buea had introduced the use of machines in the sand quarries, making it possible for just seven people to be employed, thus rendering many youths jobless since the machines are likely to replace human labour.

One of the sources disclosed that, sand quarries employ about ninety five percent of the youths, and that had been their main source of livelihood since the start of the armed conflict.

The use of technology, which is supposed to be an event for jubilation, is causing a nightmare for these youths who prefer digging and extracting sand the traditional way.

Several young men and women turned to sand digging as the only means of survival when the crisis escalated and they are willing to continue doing so in the years to come.

By Cecilia Manjang

The United Nations has released 6 million U.S. dollars in emergency funding to aid thousands of victims of floods and violence in Cameroon, a UN spokesman said on Wednesday.

Undersecretary-General Martin Griffiths, the world organization’s emergency relief coordinator, allocated the Central Emergency Response Fund’s aid to help people in Cameroon’s far north, northwest, and southwest regions, said Stephane Dujarric, the chief spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

“Last year, hundreds of thousands of people were forced to flee their homes and abandon their property because of violence or floods,” Dujarric said. “These forced displacements increased protection risks, loss of livelihoods and food insecurity in those impacted areas.”

He said the funds would help provide protection, shelter services, food and nutritional assistance.

“Despite the challenges faced by humanitarian organizations to access remote areas due to violence, impediments to movement and poor road conditions, we, along with our partners remain mobilized to provide aid to the most vulnerable,” the spokesman said.

Humanitarians will need more than 413 million dollars to help 2.4 million people in Cameroon this year, he said.

Source: Xinhaunet

At least three kidnappers have been killed in North region, according to local and security sources.

The kidnappers were killed on Sunday in raids carried out by Cameroon’s elite force, the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR), in the Mayo-Rey division of the region, the army said in a brief statement on Monday.

“They were heavily armed. The BIR seized their weapons. The kidnappers are well-known deserters of the army of a neighboring country,” a senior army official who asked not to be named told Xinhua by phone.

The army has stepped up security in the region where ransom kidnapping is said to be gaining ground.

On Monday, the National Gendarmerie said its forces have also arrested three suspected kidnappers in the Demsa locality of the region.

Source: Xinhuanet

The Ambazonia Interim Government has reacted to the death of three Southern Cameroons youths who succumbed to their wounds after they were shot by Francophone army soldiers in Tinta, a locality in the outskirts of Akwaya town in Manyu.

In a statement issued to influence international public opinion, the Southern Cameroons Department of Foreign Affairs stated that the blood of Ambazonian martyrs further cements restoration fighter’s resolve to liberate the Ambazonian homeland.

The Southern Cameroons Department of Foreign Affairs stated that blood shed in defense of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia is ensuring the final victory that is worthy of the sacrifices and fortifies the determination of Amba fighters to continue the revolution until liberation.

The statement added that Ambazonia Restoration Forces will not allow the crimes of the French Cameroun regime in Yaoundé to go unanswered.

“Southern Cameroons young men and women will continue to make sacrifices and Amba fighters will continue to deal blows to the French Cameroun enemy and undermine its security apparatus deployed to the Ambazonia homeland until the French Cameroun occupation comes to an end” the Interim Government statement furthered.

By Chi Prudence Asong

A military court in Cameroon has acquitted five workers with French medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) a year after they were charged with assisting a suspected separatist rebel, MSF said on Friday.

The ruling was handed down on December 29 but had not been made public, the NGO’s lawyer, Edouard Essono, told AFP.

“All five were given the benefit of the doubt and acquitted,” Essono said.

The incident occurred on December 27, 2021, when two local MSF employees were stopped at a traffic checkpoint in western Cameroon, a mainly English-speaking region where armed separatists have clashed with government security forces for the past six years.

Soldiers discovered in their ambulance a man suffering from a bullet wound who MSF said needed “urgent care”.

The two were arrested and jailed in Buea, capital of the Southwest region, and two other Cameroonian employees were detained later.

The authorities searched for a fifth MSF worker, an Indian national, but he managed to leave the country.

Of the five, two of whom were women, two were released on bail in May 2022, another in November, and the last on December 30.

“MSF has always defended the work of its staff and categorically denied any complicity with armed groups or stakeholders in any violent conflict,” the group said in a statement to AFP.

The NGO halted its operations in Southwest Cameroon in July 2022 and did not say if these would resume after the acquittals.

The government suspended the charity’s work in neighbouring Northwest Cameroon, also majority English-speaking, in late 2020, accusing its medical teams of aiding and abetting armed separatists.

Civilians have been the main victims of the fighting between Anglophone separatists and security forces.

More than 6,000 people have died and more than a million others forced from their homes since 2016, according to the International Crisis Group.

The arrests were the latest of several challenges for MSF in the troubled country.

In February 2022, five MSF aid workers were kidnapped in Cameroon’s Far North region, which is regularly targeted by jihadist insurgents. They were released in March in neighbouring Nigeria.

Source: AFP

Militants, suspected to Black Marine of Biafra Nations League (BNL), have reportedly killed two Cameroonian soldiers.

The members of the militant group on Thursday were reportedly travelling toward Ikang near Nigeria’s borders when members of the Cameroon’s Rapid d’intervention Battalion (BIR) started shooting a short distance away.

According to a source, the militants retaliated by shooting one BIR and killing two BIR.

They returned to the Abana waterfront, where the Cameroon flag was flying, and fired randomly before lowering it and hoisting the Biafran flag around the voting booth.

This was not the first time BNL would attack Cameroon Brigade d’Intervention Rapide, BIR in Bakassi.

In May 2021, they engaged in a fierce gun battle at Isangele, Bakassi Peninsula area.

The gun battle reportedly left some members of the BIR dead.

The BNL Chief Head of Operations, Henry Edet, confirmed the attack in a brief statement saying, “Militant group loyal to BNL and Cameroon forces exchanged fire in Isangele, Bakassi Peninsula.”

He claimed the “Two Cameroon BIR dropped dead during an exchange of gunfire in Bakassi Peninsula.”

Recall that the BNL had recently revealed its plans to completely shut down the Gulf of Guinea, threatening to hoist the Biafran flag.

The group said it would carry out its threat of hoisting the Biafran flags in Bakassi Peninsula to mark the Biafra Day memorial.

Source: Sahara Reporters

Separatist activism is likely to continue in the Southwest and Northwest regions of Cameroon through at least mid-2023. The threat of violence remains elevated in the English-speaking regions as various armed groups continue to call for secession, highlighting the dangers for those operating or traveling in the impacted areas. The situation has remained tense since October 2017, when secessionists unilaterally proclaimed the independence of the so-called state of Ambazonia, which is unrecognized internationally.

Security-related operations are ongoing. Checkpoints and searches of vehicles and personnel are likely, particularly outside major cities such as Buea (Southwest) and Bamenda (Northwest). Authorities may enact temporary security measures such as curfews and telecommunication restrictions without notice in the event of significant violence or unrest.

Context

Various armed groups operate in the region, such as the Ambazonia Defence Forces (ADF), which is also plagued by banditry and other criminal activities.

Security forces frequently skirmish with Ambazonia secessionist militants (also called “Amba boys”), regularly leading to casualties. Separatists have carried out ambushes targeting security forces and government officials involving improvised explosive devices. There are also reports of militant abuses, including kidnappings and killings, against the local population. Militants often issue stay-at-home orders (also known as “ghost cities”); residents who do not comply with such measures may face intimidation and violence.

While many kidnappings go unreported, it is estimated that dozens to hundreds of people are kidnapped each year in both the Northwest and Southwest regions. Targets notably include prominent members of civil society, politicians, security forces, teachers, and priests, among others. Militants may target foreign nationals due to their perceived worth in the event of a ransom demand. High-profile individuals have been kidnapped in recent months, including a senator and her driver, who were seized by ADF militants in Bamenda April 30. Security forces released several hostages, including the senator, during a military operation in Ashong (Northwest) May 30. The operation killed a dozen kidnappers and detained three others, while weapons and explosive materials were also seized. The Bakassi Peninsula (officially part of Cameroon) also hosts many oil-related operations attracting criminals and militants who seek to kidnap oil workers, aiming for a higher ransom.

Culled from Garda

A group of prominent Southern Cameroons traditional rulers say they are extremely concerned about the deteriorating security situation in Manyu Division.

In a letter addressed recently to the Francophone civil administrator in Mamfe, chiefs from Akwaya Sub Division observed that the entire Manyu Division is facing a lot of problems everywhere – in Upper Banyang banditry, in Eyumojock kidnapping; in Mamfe Central terror and in Akwaya killings. The traditional rulers furthered that the secession movement in Manyu is growing at an alarming proportion.

The letter came barely four days after the ailing President Biya claimed during a televised address to the nation that security in Anglophone Cameroon was gradually improving.

Cameroon Concord News gathered that Ambazonia Restoration Forces raided several villages in the Anyang Court Area including Bache where three people were reportedly killed.

Cameroon government sources in Akwaya confirmed the Bache raids and added that Chief Prof. Abangma’s palace was set ablaze. Those killed were identified as Pa Jonas Ekwale Abang aged 79, 58-year-old Ebai Ashu John and Esua Desmond Kajang.

Our correspondent in Mamfe who contributed to this report pointed out that gunmen also attacked Ebinsi and Bakem villages.

Mamfe, the chief town in Manyu Division is currently struggling to cope with the huge influx of displaced persons coming from villages in Akwaya Sub Division.

By Kingsley Betek

Southern Cameroonians living in parts of Calabar and in other refugee camps in Cross River State have mocked their country’s authorities as well as its military forces for always parading the bodies of Ambazonian separatist forces killed.

Early in the week, there were reports in the international media about how the Cameroonian authorities have neutralised leaders of Ambazonia with their bodies displayed in public.

The Cameroonians said it was a shame that Paul Biya’s government has been unable to contain the might and prowess of the so-called Ambazonian fighters in the southwest part of Cameroon.

The Cameroon nationals, many of whom had fled the restive regions of that country into the safety of Nigeria, boast that their struggle has inflicted far more casualties on Biya’s forces.

Edward Mbe Areey, a refugee in Ogoja, bragged that there are hundreds of separatist forces fighting for Ambazonia’s sovereignty.

“If you know the number of our forces in the bush you will be stunned. We have many fighting forces and groups which have camps in the forests. How many times have Amba Boys paraded the bodies of Biya’s men brought down by our gallant men? But when they succeed to kill one of our leaders they will make a big show of it, inviting world media houses to share the pictures on social media,” he said.

According to him, their boys are effectively in charge of the ‘Ambazonian Territory’.

Another refugee, Tim Orue, who travels often from his part of Cameroon to Cross River State, said it is very risky to travel through to the Mfum border near Ikom, a cocoa town in central Cross River.

“When we meet the Amba boys on the way, they will collect what they call ‘supports’ and allow us to move on. But there are days they would declare total lockdown so that it becomes very dangerous to move in the troubled territory,” he narrated.

An estimated 500,000 Cameroonians, including refugees, live in parts of Cross Rivers State, with a vast majority of them without means of identification, and resident permits, but still moving about without hindrance.

By Queen Besumbu Agbaw

A soldier has been killed and another wounded in an ambush by jihadis in Cameroon’s Far North, military and local sources said Friday.

The attack happened on Thursday in the town of Ldaoussaf in a region troubled by jihadi insurgents, the two sources told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“An army patrol was ambushed,” a senior army officer said, adding that a soldier had been killed and another injured. “The assailants fled with weapons.”

A local authority representative who also asked to remain anonymous confirmed the toll.

The Far North is a tongue of land that lies between Nigeria to the west and Chad to the east.

Nigeria’s Boko Haram and its dissident branch, the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), have in recent years carried out deadly attacks against security forces and civilians in northern Cameroon, as well as adjacent parts of Nigeria, Niger and Chad.

Boko Haram launched an insurgency in northeast Nigeria in 2009 before it spread through the region.

More than 36,000 people have been killed since, mainly in Nigeria, and 3 million people have fled their homes, the United Nations says.

Source: VOA