Raissa Kengne, a Cameroonian woman, has been detained in the US after she allegedly shot three people.

According to news sources, she was detained by Atlanta police in connection with the August 22, 2022 shootings of three people in Midtown.

The international airport of the city is where the shooting took place.

Westley Freeman, 41, of Atlanta, and Michael Shinners, 60, of Alpharetta, were both killed in the shooting, the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office says.

Raïssa Kengne is an information security manager who appears to have named two of the victims in a string of social media posts and a lawsuit alleging a conspiracy against her.

Freeman’s LinkedIn page describes him as an information security auditor who has worked at Ms Kengne’s former employer for nearly 17 years while Shinners is identified in Ms Kengne’s lawsuit as the general manager of her apartment complex at 1280 West Peachtree St.

In a 407-page complaint, Raissa Djuissi Kengne accused her former employer of conspiring with her building management company, her neighbours, and her own previous lawyers in order to retaliate against her.

“This case concerns the retaliation, persecution, harassment, intimidation, threats, burglary, computer hacking, phone spoofng, and other attacks the Plaintiff was subjected to upon reporting to the relevant authorities a violation of [various finance laws],” the complaint read.

Source: Salemgists

Once a thriving city in Cameroon, Bamenda has been ripped of its soul by the five-year war between English-speaking secessionists and the mainly French-speaking government.

Bamenda is all but dead. Only the coffin trade is booming. Bodies are dumped regularly all over the city – in mortuaries, on streets and in rivers.

Council workers pick them up and give them a pauper’s burial.

“It is a blessing to be buried at all, let alone by family and friends,” says a cemetery worker as he comes to pick up 10 cheap coffins from a funeral parlour.

Demand has dropped for the once-popular elaborately designed coffins – shaped like bibles, cars or beer bottles to reflect the lifestyle, interests or last wishes of the dead.

“Coffins that used to sell for a million CFA francs [about $1,500, £1,270] are out of commission because nobody can afford them. Most people can only afford coffins for 50,000 CFA francs,” says an attendee at a funeral parlour.

The regular funerals for young men and boys are a brutal reminder of the conflict in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions of North-West and South-West.

In just five years, that conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives, while forcing more than one million to flee to French-speaking areas and a further 80,000 to take refuge in next-door Nigeria.

The war has its roots in grievances that date back to the end of colonialism, when British-controlled territory was unified with French areas to create what is now Cameroon.

Many English-speaking Cameroonians have felt marginalised ever since and have opposed what they see as attempts by the government – dominated by the French-speaking majority – to force them to give up their way of life, including their language, history and education and legal systems.

Tensions boiled over in 2016 when tens of thousands of people in Bamenda and other English-speaking areas embarked on a series of protests against the use of French in their schools and courts, as well as the failure to publish government documents in English, even though it is an official language.

With the government ordering the security forces to crackdown on the protests rather than entering into talks to resolve their grievances, young men took up arms the following year to demand the independent state of Ambazonia, as they call the two English-speaking regions.

Now, military vehicles – including those with mounted machine-guns – constantly criss-cross Bamenda.

Residents say soldiers raid homes, make arrests, burn markets and even display the bodies of their victims, including commanders of militias, at major intersections to warn residents against joining the separatist fighters.

Government forces have also suffered heavy losses in the conflict, with the bodies of fallen soldiers removed from the military’s mortuary in the capital, Yaoundé, every Thursday and Friday.

Widows wail in front of the long lines of coffins draped in the Cameroonian flag, before the soldiers are buried amid the pomp and ceremony that mark military funerals.

Separatist fighters have also gained notoriety for atrocities against civilians, including beheadings and the torturing of women whom they denounce for “betraying the struggle”, calling them “black legs” – a term regularly bandied about now.

They circulate videos of these atrocities to warn people of the punishment they face if they are suspected of colluding with the security forces.

On Mondays, Bamenda becomes a “ghost town” with the roads empty and markets closed – part of a civil economic disobedience campaign dating back to before the armed struggle. These days, residents who dare ignore the lockdown order are either shot dead or see their shops go up in smoke.

The military and police also disappear from the streets, so that they do not become soft targets for separatists fighters who have a strong presence in the city.

The separatists even ordered the closure of all schools four years ago as part of their campaign. A few have bravely remain open, but children do not dare wear uniforms.

The military enforces a curfew virtually every night in the city, resulting in many of its restaurants, bars and clubs – once reputed to be the best in Cameroon – going out of business, not helped by the now-erratic electricity supply.

“The constant frying of popcorn has driven everybody away,” says a waitress using a metaphor to describe the never-ending sound of gunfire.

She says it has also prevented those who live abroad from coming home. Known as “bushfallers” – a Pidgin term for hunters (in this case seeking greener pastures) – those in the diaspora were responsible for Bamenda’s economic heartbeat, sending back money to invest in the once-mushrooming building trade and coming back at Christmas to share their largesse.

But the authorities accused them of bankrolling the Anglophone rebellion. Visiting returnees soon found themselves arrested – some are now in the maximum security prisons of Yaoundé or Douala – while others simply disappeared. Bushfallers’ money has dried up and none of them now visit.

Long-time resident Peter Shang, who once loved life in the city, says people now take one day at a time: “Life is a lottery. Too many things remind you about untimely death. You talk to someone today and tomorrow they are gone.”

For Marie Clair Bisu, there is a silver lining – she sees more of her husband, because he gets home before curfew.

“He has now discovered his children. This is a man who used to come back late sometimes drunk and would just head to bed. Now he can play with the kids and check their books. This conflict has reunited us,” she says.

“The only problem is that the gunshots always spoil our nights.”

And after a night of shooting, residents have to make several calls and listen out for traffic to check the situation is safe before venturing out. Even so, gunfire has become so common in Bamenda during the day that people no longer immediately flee at the sound.

“What would we eat if we keep running? I have children to feed,” a vegetable seller says.

“We simply dive for cover and get back to business when the gunshots stop.”

Another woman says her child has got so used to the sound of gunfire that she knows who is shooting.

“My daughter is seven and she can tell whether the sounds are from machine guns of the army or the AK-47 rifles of ‘The Boys’,” she says, referring to the separatist fighters.

Some nuns who I meet by a road in the city centre say they are waiting for a taxi to go to the Abangoh Orphanage.

The war has seen an explosion in unwanted teenage pregnancies, they say – with girls who have been forced to flee their homes becoming victims of sexual violence and exploitation by both sides. One angrily says: “Rape as a weapon of war is despicable.”

At every corner, there is evidence that the very fabric of this once-glitzy city, where piles of billowing rubbish now tumble, has been permeated by the stench and misery of what many here regard as an unnecessary war.

Cameroon – still divided along colonial lines:

• Colonised by Germany in 1884
• British and French troops force Germans to leave in 1916
• Cameroon is split three years later – 80% goes to the French and 20% to the British
• French-run Cameroon becomes independent in 1960
• Following a referendum, the (British) Southern Cameroons join Cameroon, while Northern Cameroons join English-speaking Nigeria
• Culled from the BBC

Southern Cameroonians marched across southern Nicosia on Friday to protest the violent intercommunal clashes that forced thousands to flee the African country.

Dozens of demonstrators gathered outside the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Engomi. They were holding placards with photos of bodies with the description suggesting they belonged to civilians killed by the military during the ongoing crisis in the north-west and south-west regions of Cameroon.

The group submitted a petition to the UN community in Cyprus as an appeal to the international community and humanitarian organisations to understand their plight and help put an end to the deadly conflict.

The petition cited incidents of discrimination from the francophone government of Cameroon against the two anglophone communities in the North-West and South-West regions. This led to the internal displacement of over 712,000 people as of August last year, while at least 2.2 million people were in need of humanitarian aid, according to estimates by the Human Rights Watch NGO.

“So many southern Cameroonians fled the country and are flooding to other countries including Cyprus. This is a crisis and that has been going on since 2016,” representative of the community in Cyprus Mokundu Elvis Bokanda told the Cyprus Mail.

According to the United Nations, at least 15,000 Cameroonians were forced to flee their homeland in just a few days in December due to violent incidents.

Commenting on the peaceful demonstration, UNHCR public information officer Emilia Strovolidou said “we received their petition, and we will forward it to our European bureau”.

Protestors left the UN refugee agency singing their traditional songs.

Earlier, they had presented a memorandum of understanding during a meeting at the foreign ministry, where they also updated officials on the “atrocities” taking place in the country using photos and videos.

Demonstrators marched to EU House at 11.30am before heading to the interior ministry at noon where they handed a relevant memorandum to a representative.

Representatives of the community were also expected to hold an open information event at Strovolos municipality in the evening.

Source: Cyprus Mail

An Ambazonian fighter seriously injured in the latest Cameroon government military operation in the rural areas of Fako Division has died of his wounds.

Ambazonia Interim Government sources are yet to identify the fighter. But our sources revealed that the 36-year-old who was seriously injured last week was a member of the Inkhata Group fighting Cameroon government forces in Muyuka, Mautu and Ekona.

Recently, Cameroon government army spokesperson announced in a statement that a prominent Amba Commander known as General No Pity had been wounded in attacks in the Northern Zone and many other Amba fighters were critically injured.

Five years into a deadly separatist conflict in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions, hopes of finding a negotiated settlement seem more distant than ever as both the government and secessionist rebels dig in, according to civil society activists.

It’s a conflict marked by spikes of extreme violence that invariably target civilians. The latest high-profile incident was last month, when government soldiers killed nine people in Missong village, in the anglophone Northwest region.

Rights groups accuse both the security forces and secessionist fighters of serious abuses that include extrajudicial killings, rape, kidnapping, and torture.

The root of the conflict is the central government’s historical marginalisation of the two English-speaking regions, the Northwest and Southwest, home to about 20 percent of the population.

By Rita Akana with files

In September 2019, prominent Cameroonian Anglophone peace activist Abdul Karim Ali was arrested. He was held without access to a lawyer for five days before authorities finally released him weeks later. But history has a sad way of repeating itself in Cameroon, where Ali has once again been detained.

On August 11, soldiers arrested Ali in Ntamulung neighborhood in Bamenda, North-West region, and took him to the local gendarmerie station. He was not allowed to see family members until August 13 when, following sustained pressure from his lawyers, authorities allowed his wife to visit.

Ali’s lawyers told Human Rights Watch they were not permitted to view his file and that he was questioned in their absence, in violation of Cameroonian law. While there are no official charges against Ali, he was told he is accused of “apology of terrorism” for possessing a video on his phone showing alleged human rights abuses committed by a Cameroonian soldier against civilians in the country’s English-speaking regions.

Ali’s lawyers said he is being detained in deplorable conditions, in a six-square-meter cell without windows, a toilet, or mattresses. He shares the cell with 12 other detainees.

Arbitrary detention and mistreatment of detainees are rife in Cameroon. Many people perceived as opposing the government are held on bogus charges related to national security or terrorism. Following his arrest in 2019, Ali was taken to the State Defense Secretariat (Secrétariat d’État à la défense, SED), a notorious detention facility in the capital, Yaoundé, where Human Rights Watch has documented widespread use of torture. Ali was held incommunicado until his whereabouts were finally made public in September 2019 when he appeared before the Yaoundé Military Court and was charged with acts of terrorism, financing terrorism, and secession. He was released on November 1, 2019.

Jailing Ali instead of working with him is a missed opportunity for the government, said Barrister Awah Joseph Fru, one of Ali’s lawyers. “Arresting a peace advocate stifles an environment for genuine dialogue,” he told me.

Authorities should clarify Ali’s status and respect his rights. Possessing videos of soldiers allegedly committing abuse is not a crime. Unless he is promptly brought before a judge and charged with a genuine offense, he should be released and allowed to continue his work.

Culled from Human Rights Watch

The Francophone dominated military has killed three Southern Cameroonians and injured more than twenty-nine others during an incursion into Akwaya Sub Division.

Clashes broke out when the Cameroon government army soldiers raided Tinta one of the last Manyu settlements in the borders with Nigeria.  The Biya regime forces destroyed houses and part of the building hosting the only primary school in the village wounding or killing those who were hiding inside.

According to our informant at the SDO’s office in Mamfe, three people who were brought to the Akwaya so-called health centre in very critical conditions succumbed to their injuries.

The Cameroon government military is reportedly carrying out night raids in many villages in Akwaya on lame and ridiculous reason that it is fighting separatists.

Following the raid, there was a trade of gunfire in Akwaya town itself while clashes with the Francophone soldiers also broke out in other parts of Manyu.

By Kingsley Betek in Mamfe

The Vice President of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government (IG) has described Ambazonian fighters as the frontrunners of the battle against French Cameroun.

Dabney Yerima made the remarks in a speech aired recently by the Southern Cameroons Broadcasting Cooperation (SCBC) as he addressed the people in Ground Zero and Ground One on the state of the resistance.

The Southern Cameroons exiled leader said Ambazonia fighters are at the forefront of battle against the French Cameroun enemy. Yerima added that the resistance is getting stronger again than ever and that Southern Cameroonians in the diaspora should continue to invest in the Big Rubbergun project which has caused senior Francophone military officials to be gripped by fear.

Dabney Yerima pointed out that the people of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia will no longer accept the looting of their natural resources.

The front line leader furthered that the hand extended from Yaoundé that has been plundering Southern Cameroons natural wealth is now being cut off.

He called for the swift formation of a more efficient Southern Cameroons think tank in Europe and North America, urging all restoration groups to join forces in order to overcome existing crises and resolve the sufferings of the Ambazonian nation.

Yerima concluded that the Ambazonia Interim Government is working to achieve a powerful Federal Republic of Ambazonia, which is capable to defend its own sovereignty and wealth.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Cameroonian forces have invaded the camp of separatist militants in Isangele sub-division of Bakassi Peninsula but with no casualty.

It was gathered that the invasion, which took place at the weekend, may not be unconnected with the attack by the Black Marine, a suspected armed wing of the Biafra Nations League (BnL), that reportedly killed four members of the Rapid D’intervention Battalion (BIR) about two weeks ago when they attempted to forcefully invade the camp.

Sources said the Cameroonian soldiers did not meet anybody in the camp as the separatist fighters were said to have relocated, leaving items such as Biafran flags on the trees.

They said the militant group moved inwards into the creek, leaving the military wondering about their position.

The BnL leader of Bakassi, Ita Bassey, in a statement, yesterday, confirmed the attack. He said: “Our members are not afraid of military reinforcement in Isangele as we are fighting a genuine course.”

He declined to comment if the Black Marine were working for the BnL, but warned that BnL commands large loyalists in the Gulf of Guinea. He added: “We are ready to die for our course.”

Meanwhile, the leader of BnL, Princewill Richards, was in Idabato sub-division for few days, following reinforcement of troops. It was gathered that he sneaked in at night on Wednesday last week to engage his members.

Recall that the Black Marine has been terrorising the Gulf of Guinea and threatening Cameroonian oil companies operating in the area.

Source: The Guardian