The former Minister of Lands has died due to stress from her continues audition at the Special Criminal Court in Yaoundé. Jacqueline Koung A Bessike, passed away on Wednesday, June 2, 2021 at the National Social Insurance Hospital (CNPS).

Over the last two years Mrs Koung A Bessike has gone through a series of interrogation at the Special Criminal Court accused of corruption, theft and financial malpractice in the illegal sale of a 5000m ² land, belonging to the former so-called Office National de Commercialisation des Produits de Base), to the tune of 26 million FCFA. She was also accused of having participated in the irregular retrocession of a 400-hectare plot of land to a family.

Between 2011 and 2019, she presided over the destiny of the Ministry of Lands and was replaced on 4 January 2019 by Henri Eyebe Ayissi.

Jacqueline Koung A Bessike also served as Secretary General at the Ministries of Tourism (1995-2001), Employment, Labour and Social Welfare (2001-2003), Women’s Affairs (2003-2007) and Employment and Vocational Training (2007-2009). She also served as Secretary General at the so-called Friends of Cameroon (CERAC) or better still Chantal Biya Foundation.

Koung  Bessike left at a time when an audit of Cameroon’s land holdings is demanding her to answer for her management of that the government’s department.

By Rita Akana

Manyu Ghost Warriors on Tuesday claimed responsibility for an attack on a Cameroon military convoy that killed one soldier in Akwaya town and, according to the Ambazonia Restoration Forces, wounded several more.

The killing reportedly triggered a massive deployment of Cameroon government forces to Akwaya Sub Division.

A source at the Senior Divisional Office in Mamfe confirmed that one service member died in combat Tuesday following an Amba attack. The DO’s office did not release any additional information.

Depending on how one qualifies a combat-related death, at least 19 Cameroon government soldiers have been killed in action in the main road linking Akwaya and Tinta towards the border with Nigeria this month.

The blowing up of Cameroon army vehicles using explosive devices makes 2021 the deadliest for Cameroon government forces since the 88-year-old Biya declared war against the English speaking community in Southern Cameroons.

More than 1500 Cameroon government troops have been killed in combat in Southern Cameroons since the conflict started four years ago.

By Fon Lawrence

The Francophone dominated Security Service arrested Amungwa Nicodemus, the lawyer representing jailed Southern Cameroons leader President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, on Monday in what critics argued is the most recent example of La Republique du Cameroun extensive efforts to muzzle the Ambazonia uprising.

Barrister Amungwa Nicodemus is currently being held at the Secretariat of State for Defense in Yaoundé with the Biya regime alleging the arrest was due to Amungwa divulging classified details of President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe case to the news media.

Cameroon Intelligence Report understands that after a chaotic cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Dion Ngute, the hardliners secretly agreed to arrest Barrister Amungwa on lame and ridiculous reason of further fuelling the agitation for the Federal Republic of Ambazonia

The Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime is also alleging that Amungwa Nicodemus, aside being a lawyer, is also a member of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government.

For the time being, the Francophone authorities have not yet communicated on this subject.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Two French lawyers presented evidence to a court in Cameroon yesterday which they said showed the charges against Amadou Vamoulké, the jailed former head of the state-owned national radio and TV broadcaster CRTV, were unfounded and should be dropped.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the authorities to end the judicial conspiracy against the 71-year-old journalist and release him.

The case has become bogged down in procedure. Amadou Vamoulké has been held for almost five years without trial and this was the 67th hearing, unheard of for a Cameroonian journalist.

French lawyers Benjamin Chouai and Fabrice Epstein, who joined the defence team, presented the Yaoundé court with rulings by four French courts against the accountant selected to audit the accounts of CRTV under Vamoulké’s leadership between 2015 and 2016. The documents disclosed that his French company had been wound up and cast doubt on his legitimacy and eligibility to audit one of the country’s biggest state enterprises.

Up to now, his report has formed the basis for much of the case against Vamoulké, who is accused of misappropriating millions of euros in public funds for the benefit of CRTV.

“These factors show once again that the charges against this journalist are a sham,” Arnaud Froger, the head of RSF’s Africa desk said. “It is further confirmation that the legal aspects of this case are a smokescreen designed to silence the head of a large television station whose independence of mind and professionalism are seen as a threat to some government interests.

Source: RSF

Ever since the war in Southern Cameroons started, Cameroon government soldiers who refused deployment and attempted to escape have remain in detention, awaiting trial. The regime in Yaoundé describes them as cowards but their supporters say they are scapegoats.

The situations in Southern Cameroons have opened a rare window into the Cameroon government military now struggling to combat the Ambazonia uprising. Rebuilding the army has been a major challenge for the 88-year-old President Biya with a defense budget lost to corruption and many low-level soldiers complain about not having received their salary.

Events took another nasty twist recently in Bamenda following the killing of the younger brother of the North West Legion Commander who had accompanied Governor Lele L’Afrique to Bui Division.

Cameroon government army soldiers were caught on camera celebrating and opining that the Legion Commander-a French Cameroonian now understands what death is and how one feels when a loved one is killed.

The Legion Commander recently came under attack from his close associates for repeatedly sending his kid brother only on what some soldiers painted as  “juicy missions” while other soldiers are deployed to the hinterlands even when they have health issues.

The North West Legion Commander has reportedly confirmed that his own life is in danger in Bamenda not from the Ambazonian Restoration Forces but from some disgruntled servicemen.

By our Correspondent

A report from the Ambazonia Interim Government says Cameroon government secret service officers working for Minister Paul Atanga Nji have been recently sending threatening text messages to Vice President Dabney Yerima warning him and other members of his war cabinet.

An IG statement that was addressed to Southern Cameroons Self Defense Groups in Ground Zero also pointed out that, Paul Atanga Nji and his French Cameroun gang held that burning the homes of the poor and innocent Ambazonian people will cause the population to discontinue its support to the Southern Cameroons Interim Government.

“From every indication, it is very clear that the Paul Biya-Atanga Nji policy has not worked and the situation in Southern Cameroons is now so tense due to the hostile treatment of Southern Cameroonians by French Cameroun troops and Francophone civil administrators” Vice President Yerima added.

Minister Atanga Nji Boys are attacking civilians and committing crimes in both the Northern and Southern zones of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia while top officials of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government in Europe and the US are receiving regular threatening text over the past two weeks.

The text messages are viewed by many Ambazonian exiles as an attempt to deter Southern Cameroonians from supporting the struggle against the French Cameroun regime in Yaoundé.

Dr Patrick Ayuk, a senior Yerima aide told Cameroon Concord News that he received a threatening text thrice late last week.

“I reported the issue to the Vice President, and then I realized he had it too,” Dr Patrick Ayuk said.

By Asu Vera Eyere