News

3, September 2023

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Three government soldiers killed in Kumbo ⁰

The Ministry of Defense said three soldiers were killed Friday in firing from Southern Cameroons restoration forces as tensions between Yaoundé and the Ambazonia Interim Government persist over reopening of schools.

Yaoundé initially reported four soldiers were killed and one wounded, but later said one of those believed to have died was resuscitated.

The ministry said government positions were hit in Kumbo the chief town in Bui Division.

While confrontations between the Francophone dominated Cameroon government military and Southern Cameroonian fighters are rare today, it cannot be said that the war, which has raged for more than six years is over.

The soldiers have been identified by Cameroon News Agency, a sister publication as Nupoh, Meka, and Njikam.

If the killings have reduced, it is more because government troops have been ordered not to kill like they used to kill in the past.

Their recklessness with their guns is to blame for the streams of blood which have flowed in the two English-speaking regions of the country.

Actions by Southern Cameroonian fighters are just acts of retaliation whenever the sex-starved, alcohol-inflamed and trigger-happy Francophone soldiers went on a killing spree.

The Southern Cameroons crisis which started as a protest by teachers and lawyers in 2016 has sent more than 7,000 Cameroonians to an early grave, with soldiers accounting for 40% of the deaths.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

3, September 2023

After Bongo: Gabon announces reopening of borders with ‘immediate effect’ ⁰

Gabon’s army said on Saturday that it would reopen the country’s borders, closed in the wake of the military coup that ousted ex-president Ali Bongo.

A spokesman for Gabon’s military rulers said on state TV that they had “decided with immediate effect to reopen the land, sea and air borders as of this Saturday”.

A group of 12 Gabonese soldiers had announced on Wednesday that the country’s borders were closed until further notice, in a statement broadcast on the Gabon 24 television channel.

General Brice Oligui Nguema, the head of the elite Republican Guard, on Wednesday led officers in a coup against President Ali Bongo Ondimba, scion of a family that had ruled for 55 years.

His ousting came just moments after Bongo, 64, was proclaimed victor in presidential elections at the weekend — a result branded a fraud by the opposition.

The coup leaders said they had dissolved the nation’s institutions and cancelled the election results as well as closing the borders.

Oligui is due on Monday to be sworn in as “transitional president”.

General Brice Oligui Nguema, the man named to lead Gabon after coup

Five other countries in Africa — Mali, Guinea, Sudan, Burkina Faso and Niger — have undergone coups in the last three years. Their new rulers have resisted demands for a short timetable for returning to barracks.

Source: AFP

1, September 2023

Niger revokes French ambassador’s diplomatic immunity, orders his expulsion ⁰

Niger’s military junta said it revoked the diplomatic immunity of France’s ambassador and ordered police to expel him from the country, according to a statement. The French foreign ministry has said the junta, which seized power last month, has “no authority” to expel the French ambassador.

The mutinous soldiers who ousted Niger’s president more than one month ago gave French Ambassador Sylvain Itte 48 hours to leave the country last week. The deadline expired on August 28 without France recalling Itte.

The French government says it does not recognise the coup rulers as the country’s legitimate leaders.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday said the ambassador would stay in the country despite the junta’s pressure.

The latest communique sent by Niger’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Itte “no longer enjoys the privileges and immunities attached to his status as a member of the diplomatic staff of the embassy.”

The document also said the diplomatic cards and visas of the ambassador’s families have been canceled.

Since toppling Niger’s democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum, the junta has leveraged anti-French sentiment among the population to shore up its support. People chant “Down with France” at near daily rallies in front of a French military base in the capital, Niamey.

Regional tensions rising

France has some 1,500 military personnel in Niger who trained and conducted joint operations with Nigerien security forces to beat back a growing jihadi insurgency linked to al Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS) group. The operations have ceased since the coup, and jihadist attacks are increasing.

Insurgents killed 17 soldiers and wounded nearly 24 this month, the first major attack in half a year against the army in Niger.

Regional tensions are also rising as the junta ignores calls from other West African countries to release and reinstate Bazoum, even amid the threat of military force.

The regional bloc ECOWAS deployed a “standby” force and ordered it to transition Niger back to constitutional rule. The force has not yet entered Niger, and the bloc says the door remains open to dialogue but it won’t wait forever.

The junta has appointed a new government and said it would return Niger to the system of government prescribed by the constitution within three years, a timeline that ECOWAS has rejected.

Source: Reuters

31, August 2023

Biya regime closes border to Gabon over coup ⁰

Yaoundé has deployed hundreds of armed soldiers in its 297 km border with Gabon.

Cameroon Intelligence Report sources hinted that President Biya directed the Minister Delegate at the presidency in charge of defense Beti Assoumou to order the deployment.

Our source added that there are fears in Yaoundé of a Russian-backed group plotting to oust the 90-year-old President Biya from power.

We gathered that the closure of the border precisely at Kye-Ossi town was to prevent weapons from entering Cameroon from Gabon.

Etoudi has revealed that it would confront the new Gabonese leadership on the security situation in the border towns and villages.

By Miriam Metchane Ewang

31, August 2023

Biya reshuffle military positions after Gabon coup ⁰

As coups continue to spread on the African continent, some leaders are taking proactive steps by reshuffling defense portfolios.

On Wednesday, 90-year old President Paul Biya made major changes to the country’s ministry of defense.

Among the posts reshuffled were the delegation at the presidency in charge of defense, air force staff, navy, and the police. A captain and two army colonels were appointed to head operations in the presidential guard and report directly to the presidency.

The Biya decree also restructured the Secretariat for Defense (SED) and the National Gendarmerie. Prominent among the new officers appointed by the 90-year-old are Colonel Chimala Jonas and Lieutenant –Colonel Boum Mbadi Louis Charles.

Biya came to power in 1982. His early years on the saddle were marred by reports of oppression and human rights violations.

Although he subsequently allowed multiparty elections in the country, the 90-year-old has remained president since he rode to power.

By Asu Isong with files from The Cable.Ng

30, August 2023

Gabon: Disgraced Ali Bongo abandons French language calls on people to ‘make noise’ in English ⁰

Gabon’s ex- president called on his citizens to “make noise” after a coup attempt in the Central African country, saying he was speaking from detention in his residence.

Ali Bongo Ondimba appeared in a video sat in a chair with a book shelf behind him. It was his first public appearance since soldiers took to state TV.

The disgraced and frustrated Bongo, who championed French interest in Africa spoke but in English and begged for help.

30, August 2023

Gabon president under house arrest, military officers say ⁰

Gabonese President Ali Bongo is under house arrest and one of his sons has been arrested for “treason”, military officers said Wednesday, hours after announcing they had overthrown the government.

“President Ali Bongo is under house arrest, surrounded by his family and doctors,” they said in a statement read out on state TV.

The statement added that other people in the government have been arrested on various charges.

Source: France 24

29, August 2023

UN says at least 183 killed in clashes in Ethiopia’s Amhara ⁰

At least 183 people have been killed since July in clashes in Ethiopia’s Amhara region, the United Nations said Tuesday as it appealed for the killings, violence and rights abuses to end.

Tension in the northern region ratcheted up this year after the end of a devastating war in the neighbouring region of Tigray that also drew in fighters from Amhara.

“We are very concerned by the deteriorating human rights situation in some regions of Ethiopia,” UN Human Rights Office spokeswoman Marta Hurtado told reporters in Geneva.

“In Amhara region, following a flare-up in clashes between the Ethiopian military and the regional Fano militia, and the declaration of a state of emergency on August 4, the situation worsened considerably.

“At least 183 people have been killed in clashes since July, according to information gathered by the UN Human Rights Office.”

Tension in the northern region ratcheted up this year after the end of a devastating war in neighbouring Tigray that also drew in fighters from Amhara.

In April the federal government announced it was dismantling regional forces across the country.

The move triggered protests by Amhara nationalists who said it would weaken their region.

Clashes erupted in early July between the national army and local fighters known as Fano, prompting the authorities in Addis Ababa on August 4 to declare a six-month state of emergency.

The status gives the authorities broad powers to arrest suspects without a court order, impose curfews and ban public gatherings, Hurtado said.

“We have received reports that more than 1,000 people have been arrested across Ethiopia under this law. Many of those detained were reported to be young people of Amhara ethnic origin suspected of being Fano supporters,” she said.

“Since early August, mass house-to-house searches have reportedly been taking place.

“We call on the authorities to stop mass arrests, ensure that any deprivation of liberty is judicially reviewed, and release those arbitrarily detained.”

She added: “We call on all actors to stop killings, other violations and abuses.”

Source: AFP

29, August 2023

Bamenda: Muslim scholar Abdulkarim detained without trial for one year ⁰

Amnesty International has called on the Biya Francophone regime in Yaoundé to release Muslim scholar, Abdulkarim Ali, who has been detained without trial since August 11, 2023.

Marking the first year in detention for Abdulkarin Ali, who has reportedly been accused of inciting subversion of state power and having strong ties with the leaderships of the Southern Cameroons restoration groups, Karim said he was abducted and not arrested by Francophone army soldiers in Bamenda.

Cameroon Concord News understands Yaoundé reproached him for managing the human rights situation of the war in Southern Cameroons.

Karim has also been the defender of women’s rights ever since the beginning of the crisis in Southern Cameroons and was quoted recently as saying that many women are wailing and suffering as the war in Anglophone regions continues.

In December 2022, Amnesty International called for his release, observing that Mr. Karim was arrested for expressing his views.

“He was arrested only for exercising his right to freedom of expression,” Fabien Offner, Amnesty International’s researcher for West and Central Africa, said.

Anglophone lawyers who successively offered to defend him were previously rejected by the Francophone authorities in Bamenda. The National gendarmerie is also putting pressure on Mr. Karim’s family members particularly his mother to dissuade them from assisting him in detention.

By Fon Lawrence

28, August 2023

Retired but not tired: Pro Biya Supreme Court judge found dead in car ⁰

Retired Justice Bisseck Dagobert has been found dead in his car in Yaoundé the nation’s capital.

His lifeless body was discovered on Saturday August 26, 2023 in the Nkolbison neighborhood.

Early reports suggested that the pro President Biya judge was seen in a hotel at about 2pm and was visited by a young lady. The lady reportedly left the hotel by 7:30pm and the lifeless body of the Magistrate was later discovered at about 9:45pm.

Bisseck Dagobert died aged 74. He was serving the corrupt regime as a judge at the Chamber of Accounts at the Supreme Court and also moonlighted as president of the judicial Chamber.

Reported by Cameroon News Agency with additional editing from Ewang Miriam Metchane