As the international community continues to condemn the killings in Ngarbuh in the Northwest region of Cameroon, the country’s Territorial Administration Minister, Paul Atanga Nji, is once more doing what he knows how to do best – doing the dirty job of the Yaoundé government.

The Territorial Administration Minister, an ex-convict and a conman, has been holding a series of meetings with the survivors of the Ngarbuh attack behind closed doors.

The first of those meetings was held on Friday, February 28, 2020, in Ayaba Hotel in the Northwest region’s capital, Bamenda, with the objective of preparing the victims and survivors of the gruesome and brutal attack for them to testify that those who  murdered their family members were armed  non-state actors and that not more than five persons were killed during the attack which the country’s defense minister said was a military operation that had gone wrong  and that those who were killed were ‘simply’ collateral damage.

On Friday, some Ngarbuh residents who had been transported in a military truck to Bamenda were received by Paul Atanga Nji, one of the brains behind many of the killings in the Northwest region, in Ayaba Hotel.

It should be recalled that a few days ago, a contingent of the country’s military had been deployed to Ngarbuh in an operation that is raising more questions.

Sources close to the Northwest Governor’s Office have revealed that the heavy military presence in the village is part of the government’s attempt to deter international NGOs from obtaining information from the locals on the February 14, 2020, massacre.

Observers hold that the military’s presence is an attempt to push the government’s narrative which holds that only five people had been killed during the government’s punitive expedition in Ngarbuh.

Meanwhile, military sources have reliably informed Cameroon Concord News Group that army soldiers sent by the beleaguered Yaounde government on an appeasement mission through humanitarian action in the village had succeeded to lure some Ngarbuh residents whose houses had been torched during the February 14, 2020, government punitive raid.

These survivors had been transported to Bamenda for them to benefit from government assistance and to memorize the government’s version of the events so that they can help to sell the government fabricated narrative that is clearly at variance with the reality on the ground.

Mr. Paul Atanga Nji has been holding close door sessions with the survivors at the Governor’s Office, promising them more government assistance and the rebuilding of their homes if they played ball with the corrupt government.

The Ngarbuh residents who are being corrupted by Paul Atanga Nji through a carefully planned scheme,  have already testified before the commission set up by the country’s  president, Paul Biya, to investigate the Feb 14 massacre that has gone a long way in ruining relations between France and Cameroon.

The public has already rejected the idea of a government sponsored investigation as it sounds like a culpable thief is seeking to cleanse his name than a true and sincere effort made to establish the truth and to bring those guilty of the heinous crime to justice.

It should be remembered that the country’s defense minister, Joseph Beti Assomo, had reluctantly admitted the government’s role in the murdering of children and pregnant women in Ngarbuh.

Also, the country’s Communications Minister, Rene Sadi (Sardine), has continued to condemn the international community for criticizing the government about the Ngarbuh massacre.

Rene Sadi’s version of events contradicts not only Joseph Beti Assomo’s version, it is also at variance with reports released by Human Rights Watch (HRW), the global human rights watchdog that went to Ngarbuh and interviewed survivors and their families.

By Rita Akana in Bamenda

President Biya’s Francophone dominated Beti Ewondo government has been rocked by the Ngarbuh massacre and French President Macron’s acknowledgement that  intolerable rights violations were taking place in Cameroon. Cameroon Intelligence Report has gathered that the numerous waves of wrong decisions and crimes committed by Cameroon government army soldiers in Southern Cameroons have prompted the Elysée Palace to seek regime change in Yaoundé as the 87 year old President Biya scrambles to repair his image, tainted by a string of economic and political missteps.

A string of high profile arrests including current minister of defense, Joseph Beti Assomo is expected soonest as Biya’s continued stay in power is now being undermined by claims from the international community that his leadership style is aloof and autocratic.

A number of ministers have been prevented from travelling out of the country and those from the Far North region are reportedly planning to exit Biya’s all-stripes cabinet. A well-placed source in Etoudi who spoke to our Yaoundé City reporter made a mockery of the situation by observing that “Every cabinet minister is now a government spokesman.”

Yaoundé confirmed that Biya recently ordered an investigation into the Ngarbuh killings. However, Cameroon Intelligence Report understands President Macron’s office sent an emailed statement asking the dictator to step down without naming Biya’s possible successor.

Millions of Cameroonians are unemployed, and many major corporations are not really doing well. The country is dealing with many crises and the impact of these crises is hitting the population like a ton of bricks.  The French can no longer continue playing spectator to an insidious genocide that is playing out in Southern Cameroons.

Unemployment, crime, dishonesty, corruption and mismanagement seem to have taken up residence in Cameroon because of a regime that has overstayed its welcome. President Macron has turned a new page following his conversation with the Cameroonian activist in France. Another one will be written soon and very soon.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

The commander of the Ambazonia Restoration Forces in the Manyu County has defended recent decision to seek financial support from the business community in the constituency, saying the Manyu Ghost Warriors Odeshi will be able to fight and survive as a self defense body without help from the disorganise diaspora.

The commander whose names we are withholding also said in an audio released on Thursday that he would stand by a decision announced late last year by Vice President Dabney Yerima that all Ambazonia Restoration Forces should have a central command.

In the audio message that was aired in the Kenyang language, the commander was heard wondering aloud if the Federal Republic of Ambazonia really needs the corrupt leaders in the USA to survive as a nation. “Do we need … the lies from the US to defend our homeland and protect our people? “The Federal Republic of Ambazonia, its leader Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and its Restoration Forces have all said no we don’t it” the Manyu commander said.

In a passionate appeal to Vice President Yerima and the Ambazonia Security Council (ASC) the commander of the Manyu Warriors noted that “If after 4 years, we still cannot force every business organization in Southern Cameroons to pay their taxes to the Ambazonian treasury, then we have no business being a republic,” the commander opined. “Ambazonians both in Ground Zero and in the diaspora might as well choose. We can be a French Cameroun colony with special status or our Northern and Southern Zones can be provinces administered from West and Littoral regions by the ruling CPDM crime syndicate.”

Senior officials deep within the regime in Yaounde have been murmuring privately that things have deteriorated to a point where regime insiders are scared and there are fears thatsomething terribly bad could happen, especially as the economy has been caught in a downward spiral.

The 87 year old French Cameroun dictator is totally absent while his aides are taking all the wrong decisions. The war in Southern Cameroons has finally highlighted how the leadership of the so-called one and indivisible Cameroon is ineffective and inefficient.

A baron of the regime to who spoke to Cameroon Intelligence Report recently in Yaounde observed that “What is of importance to those at the helm is just the power. They don’t care about the country. It is like their goal is to make money while the rest of the country continues to head to the bottom of the abyss.”

By Chi Prudence Asong with additional editing from Oke Akombi Ayukepi Akap in Glasgow

Ever since French President, Emmanuel Macron, expressed his frustration with the Yaounde government’s inability to address the issues that have triggered the fighting in the country’s English-speaking minority, the relationship between the two countries seems to be falling apart. The Ngarbuh Massacre seems to be the tipping point. The French have repeatedly called on the Yaounde government to explore other options, but the Yaounde old regime seems to be stuck in the past.

In the government’s opinion, only military violence can bring about peace in that part of the country. Unfortunately, after close to four years and billions of dollars poured into the fighting, the situation has only gotten worse, with the country’s economy taking a nosedive.

The government has been in dire straits for a long time, but Macrons public statements have clearly sent the beleaguered Yaounde government into a tailspin. The Yaounde government never expected the French to throw it under the bus. It is completely taken aback.

No man will continue to support a bad child until his death. If a child chooses to be ineffective, he must be cut out at one point and this is what appears to be playing out between France and its struggling former colony – Cameroon.

The French have stood behind the corrupt and ineffective government ever since the fighting in Cameroon started. The corrupt government’s insistence on using violent military action to wrap up the insurgency and its establishment of tribe-based militia to kill thousands of people in the two English-speaking regions have turned out to be the wedge that will separate it from its French masters who now believe that at 87, Paul Biya, Cameroon’s second president, clearly belongs to a different and distant epoch.

It takes a lot of courage and determination to speak the truth in public. The French are noted for their diplomatic double-speak and nobody could imagine that Emmanuel Macron would speak about Biya in such despicable and demeaning language. The cat is out of the bag. The Yaounde government has not only been receiving money from Paris, it has also been receiving firm instructions from the Elysee Palace on how to run the country.

Macron’s statement has really angered and weakened the Yaounde government. The hastily organized protests in front of the French Embassy in Yaounde and in other parts of Cameroon are clear testimonies to the desperation into which Mr. Macron has dumped the Yaounde government.

soldiers supporting anti French protesters in Yaounde

Generally, in Cameroon, demonstrations are not tolerated. But since Monday’s demonstrations were organized by regime surrogates, there was no tear gas and no riot police to beat, maim and kill peaceful protesters. The Yaounde regime has simply evolved from a struggling democracy into a full-blown dictatorship that has no regard for human rights and human life.

The disappointment of the Yaounde government is so glaring that even Cameroon soldiers of Beti extraction could be seen trampling on the French flag right in front of the French Embassy. This has touched some raw nerves in Paris and many French officials are already talking of sanctions against the Yaounde government that has reluctantly been talking of its sovereignty. Indeed, there is no love lost between France and Cameroon.

Cameroon soldiers of Beti extraction trampling on the French flag right in front of the French Embassy

This faux-pas made by the Yaounde regime will certainly cost it a ton of money and its reputation. Its leading donor and backer, France, is angry and there will be consequences for Yaounde’s refusal to obey instructions from the Elysee on how to deal with the Southern Cameroons crisis.

The government is aware of this and government ministers have been working overtime to see if things could be repaired before they get out of hand. Cabinet ministers in Yaounde have been calling their contacts in France to see if they can help repair the damaged relationship.

A source at the Unity Palace in Yaounde said that the Presidency has been transformed into a call center, with government officials working the phones all day long in a bid to find a genuine solution to the situation that has left cracks on the Franco-Cameroon wall of unity.

But the French are not buying into whatever excuses President Biya’s ministers are giving. Paris wants a sustainable solution to the Southern Cameroons crisis that has torn the country apart. It also wants the country’s authorities to find a solution to the socio-political crisis that was triggered by the fake presidential elections in 2018 which gave Mr. Biya another 7-year term.

Paris needs genuine solutions and not cosmetic arrangements which have become the hallmark of the beleaguered Yaounde regime.

The French president is sick and tired of being embarrassed everywhere he goes. He is being accused of aiding and abetting the criminal regime in Yaounde and this is not reflecting well on him, especially as a leader whose democracy is predicated upon democracy and human rights.

The French will be going to the polls sometime next year and the French president wants to go into the polls knowing that he has no blemishes on him. Cameroon’s multiple problems have become another Coronavirus and Mr. Macron wants to distance himself from this virus that might mar his re-election next year.

For the moment, the French are focused on finding a more viable option to Mr. Biya. He has fallen short of the international community’s expectation and he must be made to leave the political scene which should be full of young energetic Cameroonians who can engineer real and long-term solutions to the issues facing the country.

The world does not need leaders who are driven by their egos. The world needs leaders who can display a lot of flexibility when faced with tough challenges. While Mr. Biya may be the head of the corrupt regime, the crowd around him must be axed too as those are some of the people who are spreading extremism and ordering the killing of other young Cameroonians just because they want to perpetuate themselves in the corridor of power.

The cleanup will be challenging, but it must be done if Cameroon, Central Africa’s engine of growth and stability, must know long-lasting peace. The journey ahead is long, but everything is doable. With Kamto eroding the government’s credibility abroad and Southern Cameroonians sapping the economy of its vitality, it is clear that before long, the Biya regime will be on its knees just like its wobbly economy.

Cameroonians must continue to pile the pressure on the crumbling government. With the French walking away from the establishment, it is obvious that Mr. Biya and his people will soon be in the disgraceful past.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai in the United Kingdom

Firefighters were called out to Holland Park in Kensington this afternoon (Wednesday, February 26) after a protester attempted to set herself on fire outside the Cameroonian High Commission.

A protest was taking place outside the embassy in reaction to the Ngarbuh massacre, which took place on February 14.

A Metropolitan Police said: “At around 2.10pm officers became aware of a woman attempting to douse herself in petrol and set herself on fire during a pre-planned event in Holland Park.

“Officers who were present immediately intervened and safeguarded the woman, who was not successful in igniting her clothing.

“The London Fire Brigade and the London Ambulance Service also attended – medics assessed the woman at the scene and she was not found to be injured.”

At least 22 civilians were killed in the massacre which has been blamed on government forces in Ngarbuh, in the north west of the African country.

Reports on the incident state that at least 13 children and one woman were killed in the attack.

Source: My London

The Cross River State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) on Monday said that the state was currently hosting 36,044 Cameroonian refugees in its settlements across the state.

Mr Princewill Ayim, Director General of SEMA in Cross River, disclosed this in an Interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Calabar.

Ayim said the refugees were currently in three settlements in Adagom 1, Adagom 3 and Ukende, all in Ogoja Local Government Area of the state.

Ayim told NAN that with the increasing number of refugees been registered by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), the number has risen from 35,965 in 2019 to 36,044 in January 2020.

According to him, the figure represents 69.5 per cent of the total number of Cameroonian refugees in Nigeria, adding that the new figure was released by the UNHCR in January 2020.

The DG said that since the crisis broke out in October 2017 in Cameroon over the demand for Ambazonia Republic by the Anglophone Cameroonians, the settlement had continued to witness an increase of Cameroonian refugees into the state through land borders.

Ayim told NAN that the official number of refugees in Nigeria has risen from 51,723 in December 2019 to 51,864 in the latest data obtained by UNHCR.

He added that from the latest figure, 45.9 per cent of the refugees are male, while the female represents 54.1 per cent.

“As we speak, the number of Cameroonian refugees in Cross River has increased from 35,965 in December 2019 to 36,044 in January 2020.

“This is so because the number keeps increasing due to the crisis that is yet to be addressed in Southern Cameroon.

“These refugees are being registered by the UNHCR as they come in. As we speak, the facilities in the camps are been overstretched because of the increasing numbers.

“We wish to call on the international bodies and the federal government to come in and assist the state government in providing certain facilities like water, education, social support and others,” he said.

He told NAN that the host communities have been very hospitable and cooperative with the refugees, adding that most refugees have integrated themselves with the way of life of the people in the area.

“On security, Gov. Ben Ayade has done a lot in ensuring that the refugees are protected and allowed to move freely with their identity cards like any other resident in the state.

“Ayade is a humanitarian by nature, he does not joke with cases of refugees in the state; he is intervening in healthcare, social and security support among many others,” he said.

Ayim added that plans were on to expand the camps with a view to prevent any disease outbreak.

Source: The Guardian