Cameroon is sending hundreds of troops and police to the Central African Republic to protect civilians and build peace ahead of December elections.

The troops, under the U.N.’s Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission (MINUSCA), finished training this week in the border village of Motcheboum.

Cameroon’s defense minister, Joseph Beti Assomo, says the troops would foster peace by protecting civilians, election staff, their materials, international observers and refugees returning to the C.A.R.

Years of political instability and fighting between armed groups have displaced nearly a quarter of the Central African Republic’s people.  

The U.N. has asked Cameroon’s troops to help the C.A.R. address its security and sociopolitical turmoil by enabling citizens to rebuild destroyed institutions.

Assomo says Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya, has made available logistical support for the blue beret battalions and two trained police units, which will serve for one year within MINUSCA.

Since 2014, there have been more than 11,000 U.N. peacekeepers in the C.A.R. — over 1,000 of them from Cameroon.  

While U.N.-led troops have helped establish a degree of stability, armed groups control much of the country and continue to acquire weapons, despite an arms embargo.   

Upcoming elections

Albert Nseke, a conflict resolution specialist at the University of Bangui, said the rebel groups intend to disrupt the December elections in order to maintain their control of positions within the Central African Republic.

The C.A.R.’s former president, Francois Bozize, who last year returned from exile in Uganda, challenged President Faustin-Archange Touadera in July for the top office.  

Bozize took power in a 2003 coup, only to be overthrown in 2013 by Seleka rebels.  

French troops helped to defeat the rebels and ushered in the Central African Republic’s last elections in 2016.   

But the U.N. says at least a dozen armed groups continue to fight over territory and resources throughout the country.

Source: VOA

Former French Cameroun Defense Minister Edgar Alain Mebe Ngo’o has been notified of the charges against him after 18 months of detention at the Kondengui Central prison in the nation’s capital Yaoundé.

The once chartered member of the ruling CPDM crime syndicate is being prosecuted for financial crimes estimated at 20.37 billion CFA francs or a little over 30502084 euros. He and his wife reportedly awarded several contracts to the Chinese firm Poly Technologies Inc.

He is also accused of illicit enrichment within the framework of the contract with MAG Force International that was to equip the Francophone dominated army and “aggravated” money laundering of about 20 billion CFA francs.

Cameroon Intelligence Report understands his dossier includes acts of corruption and bribes.  His wife Véronique Mebe Ngo’o is prosecuted in the same framework for complicity in embezzlement and money laundering of more than FCFA 5 billion.

The French Cameroun couple withdrew billions FCFA from the state coffers. Edgar Alain Mebe Ngo’o, was taken into custody on 5 March 2019 as part of Operation “Sparrowhawk”, launched to clean up the management of public finances.

Feared and dreaded deep within the governing gang, this close friend of President Paul Biya held very high positions in the French Cameroun administration for about twenty years.

He was successively Senior Divisional Officer, Director of the Civil Cabinet at the Presidency of the Republic, Delegate-General for National Security), then Minister Delegate at the Presidency of the Republic in charge of Defense. Before leaving the government in March 2018, he was Minister of State for Transport. He held this post for 29 months.

By Rita Akana

The second in command of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government, Comrade Dabney Yerima says staging French Cameroun regional elections and holding political discourse on the so-called Special Status has no benefit for the people of Ambazonia and only serves the Biya French Cameroun regime’s interests. The exiled leader described self defense as the sole way to liberate Southern Cameroons from French Cameroun occupation.

Dabney Yerima made the remarks in a virtual address to a forum held in Belfast on the strategies for ending French Cameroun’s military atrocities in Southern Cameroons occupation.

Dabney Yerima said that the occupying French Cameroun military and its colonial administrators are enjoying material and financial including political support from France and thus cannot be flushed out of the Ambazonian homeland through reliance on the laws the French government have drawn up and handed over to French Cameroun political elites for implementation in Southern Cameroons.

France as a big power, Dabney Yerima added, see its interest in protecting and legitimizing the continuous colonization of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia; therefore, the situation would not change in favour of Southern Cameroons by making pleas to the UN or the European Union but by helping the IG procure sophisticated weaponry.

“Southern Cameroonians should support every effort for the liberation of their homeland and this will not be possible except through armed resistance! Correspondingly, the main focus of Southern Cameroonians in the diaspora must be armed resistance and by extrapolation investing in the Amba Bonds” Yerima noted.

“How could we take back British Southern Cameroons? We will take it back with our own hands, through fighting! This is the only way forward for us,” Dabney Yerima stressed.

Yerima further noted that the victories achieved by Ambazonia Restoration Forces, including those of Mezam, Manyu, Lebialem, Bui and Menchum serve the Ambazonian cause.

The Southern Cameroons Vice President also emphasized the need for Ambazonia resistance groups to maintain cohesion and cooperation.

By Isong Asu in London

The Southern Cameroons Secretary for Defense says Biya and French Cameroun have failed to achieve their objectives against the people of Southern Cameroons in all political and economic fields, citing the abortive French Cameroun military push in the city of Bamenda as an example.

“Mindful of the fact that the French Cameroun military has created obstacles for Southern Cameroonians in the economic field, the Francophone army has failed regarding political and security issues. It has faced numerous defeats in the last three years,” the Defense Secretary said in a conversation with Cameroon Concord News US bureau Chief on Monday.

The Defense Secretary also referred to the regional elections that BIya and French Cameroun political elites are trying to exploit to trigger the so-called one and indivisible Cameroon discourse.

French Cameroun leader Paul Biya recently announced La Republique du Cameroun’s first regional elections in December, including Southern Cameroons in the grip of a crisis.

The indirect elections on December 6 will put in place councils provided for in a 1996 constitution in a move towards decentralization but not yet implemented.

By Chi Prudence Asong

Two men from Cameroon, aged 19 and 20 respectively, were arrested in Paphos on Wednesday in connection with a case of robbery, kidnapping, extorting money with threats, theft and extortion.

Last Sunday a 36-year-old Briton, permanent resident of Paphos, made a formal complaint to police that on the afternoon of the previous day, four persons, one of which is familiar to the complainant, entered his residence, and threatening him and his partner, stole various electronic devices valued at €2,000.

Additionally, it seems the suspects led the Briton under threat to a bank where they made him withdraw €1,260 from his bank account and hand it over to one of the four men.

The two Cameroonians in custody have been remanded for a further 8 days under court order to facilitate investigations, and police secured arrest warrants for the other two men who are still wanted.

Investigation is ongoing.

Source: in- Cyprus

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has strongly condemned Saturday’s suicide bombing in the border village of Zeleved in northern Cameroon.

About six civilians were killed and 10 others injured in the attack, media reports quoted security sources as saying.

Guterres’ reaction came through his spokesman, Mr Stephane Dujarric, at his daily news briefing in New York on Tuesday.

“The Secretary-General strongly condemns the suicide bombing last week in the border village of Zeleved in the Far North region of the country.

“He expresses his deep sympathies to the families of the victims and the government and people of Cameroon.

“It is essential to hold those responsible for the attack to account,’’ he said.

Dujarric quoted the UN Chief as reiterating unwavering support to the countries of the Lake Chad Basin in their collective fight against Boko Haram and other terrorist organisations.

He also assured them of his strong backing of their efforts to address the security, humanitarian and socioeconomic needs of the affected populations.

“The secretray-general calls on the countries of the Lake Chad Basin, with the support of the broader international community, to maintain their resolve and  find a sustainable solution to the crisis and address its root-causes’’ he said.

Source: Naija247news

Cameroon has deployed military troops to stop opposition supporters from protesting against long-serving President Paul Biya. Political opposition and rights groups blame Biya, who has been in power for 38 years, for rights violations and a four-year separatist conflict. Cameroon authorities have vowed to arrest anyone who tries to demonstrate against the government.

Opposition supporters say at least 12 of their members have been detained since Friday by what appear to be Cameroonian military troops.

27-year-old Christophe Nkemche says eight motorcycle taxi drivers in the city of Douala were detained and have not been seen since.

He says armed men dressed in Cameroon military uniforms whisked off eight of his colleagues to an unknown location.  Nkemche says the eight men were arrested while reading newspapers and publications from opposition political parties. 

Cameroon’s opposition leaders say the detentions appear aimed at thwarting protests against the country’s first regional elections and President Paul Biya. 

Biya in late August announced the elections would take place December 6.

Cameroon Renaissance Movement (MRC) leader Maruice Kamto vowed to disrupt the polls and called for protests. 

Kamto, who says Biya stole from him the 2018 presidential election, says Cameroon should first resolve its four-year separatist conflict.

“Our fight against the dictatorship is heading towards its critical phase. Despite the essentially peaceful nature of our struggle for the freedom and development of our country, the regime once again resorts to terror and judicial barbarism,” said Kamto. “As I have said repeatedly, we want to get out of the dictatorship.”

Authorities have not confirmed or denied any military detentions of opposition supporters. 

But territorial administration minister Paul Atanga Nji confirmed that troops were deployed and instructed to arrest any protesters.

“I want to sound a stern warning to unscrupulous politicians looking for cheap popularity with a hidden agenda that they will face the law in case of any public disorder,” said Nji. “Administrative authorities have been instructed to take necessary measures to maintain law and order.”

Nji would not say how many troops were deployed, but opposition supporters and locals say the security presence is noticeable in major cities.

Cameroon’s government has banned public gatherings of opposition political party members in most cities and towns.   Nonetheless, Kamto this month has been meeting with supporters as part of what he calls plans to force Biya from power. 

Source: VOA

At least two Cameroonian soldiers and a civilian were killed on September 14 in an improvised explosive device blast in Bongong Barombi, a locality in the the Ndian County, Southern zone of Southern Cameroons.

The soldiers loyal to the French Cameroun regime in Yaounde were reportedly on patrol when the device planted along the road exploded.

The explosion destroyed the military vehicle, leaving two soldiers and a civilian killed and another civilian injured at the scene, a military source in Buea hinted Cameroon Concord News.

The Francophone dominated military have been in clashes with Ambazonia Restoration Forces since 2017.

By Fon Lawrence

The Vice President of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government says the people of Ambazonia will not commit to the so-called one and indivisible French Cameroun doctrine being marketed to the international community by the regime in Yaoundé.

“The people of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia do not believe that the one and indivisible Cameroon theory is the core of the Southern Cameroons crisis and hence it cannot be the solution,” Vice President Dabney Yerima said during a zoom meeting grouping members of a Southern Cameroons think tank in Holland on Tuesday.

The exiled Ambazonian leader furthered, “The core of the Southern Cameroons crisis is about the deplorable and drastic conditions that Ambazonians are living under as people under occupation.”

Elsewhere in his remarks, Yerima pointed to some attempts to end the disagreement among Southern Cameroons Resistance groups noting that the efforts have not yet reached a tipping point.

By Chi Prudence Asong