News

21, September 2023

Ambazonia Interim Gov’t meeting with Ground Zero commanders sent shivers down Yaoundé spine ⁰

A recent meeting between representatives of the Ambazonia Interim Government(IG) and commanders of Southern Cameroons Self Defense Groups in Ground Zero reportedly sent shivers down the French Cameroun regime’s spine, Cameroon Intelligence Report has learned from a well-placed source in the nation’s capital.

Speaking about the secret meeting, an aide to Vice President Dabney Yerima told a South African radio host that the reassuring smiles of the Ground Zero commanders during the meeting was a positive indication that Amba fighters were more than ready to respond decisively to the numerous deployment of Francophone army soldiers to Southern Cameroons.

The meeting that was organized under the direct supervision of the IG’s Department for Strategic Planning revealed the depth of coordination between the Dabney Yerima-led Interim Government and Ground Zero commanders as well as other restoration groups.

Early on Monday, Vice President Dabney Yerima was quoted as saying that all Southern Cameroons Self Defense Groups are firmly determined to give a united response to the Biya-Francophone aggressive policies.

The countdown to the collapse of La Republique du Cameroun dominance over Southern Cameroons has begun, and the wish of the great Leader of the Ambazonia nation President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe is coming true.

By Chi Prudence Asong

20, September 2023

Macron hosts King Charles for lavish Versailles banquet ⁰

The UK’s King Charles III starts a three-day state visit to France on Wednesday meant to highlight both nations’ friendship, after the trip was postponed in March amid widespread demonstrations against President Emmanuel Macron’s pension changes.

Charles and Queen Camilla were greeted by Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne at Paris-Orly airport, before heading to the city centre for a ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe in the presence of Macron and his wife, Brigitte.

Both nations’ hymns will be played during the ceremony before a review of French troops and a wreath laying at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to “mark the shared sacrifices of the past and an enduring legacy of cooperation”, according to Buckingham Palace.

The jet fighters of the Patrouille de France and Britain’s Red Arrows, the acrobatic teams of the countries’ air forces, will fly above the monument.

The presidential and royal couples will then head by car to the presidential palace, parading on the Champs-Élysées avenue.

Macron and Charles will hold a bilateral meeting expected to cover topics including Russia’s war in Ukraine and the migration issue as Italy’s southern island of Lampedusa was in recent days overwhelmed by people setting off from Tunisia.

The visit “symbolizes the relationship of friendship and trust” between them since they both ”have in the past worked closely together to protect biodiversity and combat global warming”, the French presidency stressed.

A state dinner on Wednesday in the Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles in the presence of more than 150 guests will be one of the highlights of the visit.

On Thursday, Charles will address French lawmakers at the Senate, providing a new venue for the king to show off his language skills after he wowed his audience by switching seamlessly between German and English during a speech to Germany’s parliament in March

He will later rejoin Macron in front of Notre-Dame Cathedral to see the ongoing renovation work aimed at reopening the monument by the end of next year.

Charles and Macron will also both attend a reception for British and French business leaders about financing climate-related and biodiversity projects.

The king will end his trip on Friday with a stop in Bordeaux, home to a large British community. He will meet emergency workers and communities affected by the 2022 wildfires in the area and visit the Forêt Experimentale, or experimental forest, a project designed to monitor the impact of climate on urban woodlands.

He will also tour a vineyard, which has pioneered a sustainable approach to wine making.

Source: FRANCE 24

20, September 2023

Gabon: Ali Bongo’s son charged with treason and corruption ⁰

The son of Ali Bongo Ondimba and several allies of the ousted Gabon president have been charged with high treason and corruption and placed in custody, the state prosecutor told AFP Wednesday.

Bongo’s eldest son Noureddin Bongo Valentin and former presidential spokesman Jessye Ella Ekogha, as well as four others close to the deposed leader, “have been charged and placed in provisional detention,” said Libreville prosecutor Andre-Patrick Roponat.

Bongo, 64, who had ruled the oil-rich central African country since 2009, was ousted by military leaders on August 30, moments after being proclaimed the winner in a presidential election.

The result was branded a fraud by the opposition and the military coup leaders, who have also accused his regime of widespread corruption and bad governance.

On the same day as the coup, soldiers arrested one of Bongo’s sons, five senior cabinet officials and his wife Sylvia Bongo Valentin.

National TV showed rolling images of those arrested in front of suitcases filled with cash allegedly seized from their homes.

Source: AFP

19, September 2023

Southern Cameroons Crisis: 5 Amba fighters killed in Meme Division ⁰

Cameroon’s army said on Tuesday that its troops have killed five separatist fighters in the country’s English-speaking region of Southwest, where a prolonged armed separatist conflict is in progress.

The Rapid Intervention Battalion, the country’s elite force, raided a hideout of the fighters in the Mofako Butu locality of the region late Monday.

Among those killed was a “dreaded” separatist commander who called himself “General Bitter Cola,” said Chamberlin Ntou’ou Ndong, senior divisional officer for Meme division where the hideout is located.

“He terrorized civilians, killing some. We are calling on all other fighters still in the bush to drop their weapons and embrace peace,” Ndong said.

Separatists have been fighting to create an independent nation in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions of Northwest and Southwest since 2017.

Source: Xinhuanet

19, September 2023

Ambazonia travel ban means era of Biya-Francophone dominance is over ⁰

The travel ban imposed by Southern Cameroons Self Defense Forces in Ground Zero will certainly have a lasting impact on the Cameroonian economy. The flow on effects of the travel ban on buses and commercial vehicles from the entire Southern Cameroons will definitely become a nationwide issue.

90-year-old President Biya and his Beti-Bulu gang needs to look at other ways to speed up a political process that will keep the two Cameroons together again!

Southern Cameroons small businesses as well as big businesses will continue to suffer because of the travel ban but the Vice President of the Ambazonia Interim Government Comrade Dabney Yerima says the travel ban is an indication that the era of Francophone dominance over the Federal Republic of Ambazonia is over.

Speaking exclusively to Cameroon Concord News on Tuesday, Vice President Dabney Yerima said “Despite massive military deployments to Southern Cameroons by La Republique all geared towards imposing their interests and values on British Southern Cameroonians, the people of Southern Cameroons are resisting and they will do so till the last man or woman standing.”

Elsewhere in his remarks, he said that the leader of the Ambazonian nation, President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe long ago designed a plan that will rebuild Southern Cameroons political and economic institutions including agriculture, industry and medicine.

Vice President Dabney Yerima also hailed the travel ban policy that restoration forces are adopting in Ground Zero and called on the Southern Cameroons diaspora to wake up and rejoin the Ambazonia revolution train.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

19, September 2023

King Charles III set to begin postponed state visit to France ⁰

Charles III finally makes it across the Channel from Britain to France this week, six months after rioting and strikes forced the last-minute postponement of his first state visit as king.

The 74-year-old British head of state’s rescheduled three-day trip to Paris and Bordeaux with his wife Queen Camilla, 76, starts on Wednesday, with the itinerary largely unchanged from March.

It includes set-piece ceremonial events with President Emmanuel Macron, whose unpopular pension reforms sparked the civil unrest earlier this year, as well as more informal meetings with the public.

The royal couple, Macron and his wife Brigitte will be officially welcomed at the Arc de Triomphe and lay wreaths of remembrance before a procession down the sweeping Champs-Elysees avenue.

The French leader and First Lady will host Charles and Camilla at a state banquet at Versailles, the palace west of Paris synonymous with French royalty — and the bloody republican revolution of 1789.

Source: France 24

18, September 2023

Federal Republic of Ambazonia: Only La Republique benefits from Ambazonia disunity ⁰

The Vice President of the Ambazonia Interim Government (IG) has called for an end to unhealthy rivalry and divisions among Southern Cameroons front line leaders that have pitted Ambazonia groups against each other, saying the disunity only serves French Cameroun’s interests.

The IG met on Friday, after a series of Ambazonia actions geared towards preventing the reopening of schools in Southern Cameroons.

“The ongoing killings are against the will of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia and only serve the French Cameroun enemy and its malicious projects against the Ambazonian nation” Dabney Yerima said.

The exiled Southern Cameroons leader also warned that continued killing of Southern Cameroonians by restoration forces would endanger the struggle and damage the Southern Cameroons cause.

Vice President Dabney Yerima further called on all Southern Cameroons front line leaders to unmask the perpetrators of the crimes in Muea, Buea, Kumba and Kumbo and unite Southern Cameroonians in the face of the French Cameroun enemy.

Back to school is Southern Cameroons has been rocked by several rounds of clashes between Cameroon government forces and Ambazonia restoration fighters.

Attacks on teachers and students have left several people dead, including two head teachers and a female student.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

18, September 2023

Ambazonia fire power aimed at confronting La Republique, Biya plots ⁰

A high-ranking Ambazonia Interim Government official says the current fire power of Southern Cameroons restoration fighters is aimed at confronting the French Cameroun occupation and plots by the Biya Francophone regime in Yaoundé.

Dr Patrick Ayuk made the remarks on Saturday while addressing a Southern Cameroons forum on the controversy surrounding the back to school issue in Dover in the United Kingdom.

Affirming that Amba guns will never be used against Southern Cameroonians, Dr Patrick Ayuk said, “Southern Cameroons fighters all over Ground Zero are planning and preparing to face the Biya French Cameroun barbarism and oppression and liberate the entire Federal Republic of Ambazonia.”

The Southern Cameroons academic added, “Ambazonia fire power is directed against the enemy and Biya French Cameroun schemes in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.”

The Ambazonia Interim Government official also underlined the importance of holding an international Southern Cameroons dialogue in order to redesign a new platform for the Ambazonia struggle adding that the existence of too many Southern Cameroons groups will not lead to any positive outcome.

By Isong Asu

17, September 2023

Mama Africa: Tunisia expels hundreds of sub-Saharan African migrants amid crackdown ⁰

Tunisian authorities expelled hundreds of sub-Saharan African migrants from the port of Sfax Sunday after they were thrown out of their homes during unrest in July, a rights group said.

“The security forces on Sunday evacuated a square where some 500 migrants were assembled in the centre of Sfax,” Romdane Ben Amor, spokesman for the FTDES non-government organisation, told AFP.

He said the migrants were “dispersed in small groups towards rural areas and other towns”.

Since Saturday, authorities in Tunisia have been cracking down on illegal migrants, most of whom are from sub-Saharan African countries.

According to authorities, around 200 migrants “who were preparing to make the clandestine boat trip” towards Europe were arrested.

Tunisia is a major gateway for migrants and asylum-seekers attempting perilous sea voyages in hopes of a better life in the European Union.

Racial tensions flared in Tunisia’s second city of Sfax after the July 3 killing of a Tunisian man following an altercation with migrants.

Humanitarian sources say that at least 2,000 sub-Saharan Africans were expelled or forcibly transferred by Tunisian security forces to desert regions bordering Libya and Algeria.

Xenophobic attacks targeting black African migrants and students increased after an incendiary speech in February by President Kais Saied.

He alleged that “hordes” of illegal migrants were causing crime and posing a demographic threat to the mainly Arab North African country.

Hundreds of migrants lost their jobs and housing after his remarks.

At least 27 people died and 73 others were listed as missing after being expelled into desert areas bordering Libya in July.

Source: AFP

17, September 2023

Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso military leaders establish security alliance ⁰

The military leaders of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger on Saturday signed a mutual defence pact, ministerial delegations from the three Sahel countries announced in Mali’s capital Bamako.

Its aim is to “establish an architecture of collective defence and mutual assistance for the benefit of our populations”, he wrote.

The Liptako-Gourma region — where the Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger borders meet — has been ravaged by jihadism in recent years.

“This alliance will be a combination of military and economic efforts between the three countries”, Mali’s Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop told journalists.

“Our priority is the fight against terrorism in the three countries.”

A jihadist insurgency that erupted in northern Mali in 2012 spread to Niger and Burkina Faso in 2015.

Mutual defence pact

The charter signed on Saturday binds the signatories to assist one another — including militarily — in the event of an attack on any one of them.

“Any attack on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of one or more contracting parties shall be considered as an aggression against the other parties and shall give rise to a duty of assistance… including the use of armed force to restore and ensure security”, it states.

Source: AFP