Fighting between government troops and anglophone separatists in parts of Southern Cameroons Sunday disrupted voting in legislative and municipal elections, local officials and other sources said. The authorities issued no details on casualties.

Sunday’s clash was in Muyuka, a rebel stronghold, although fighting takes place almost daily in both English-speaking regions: Northwest and Southwest, which border Nigeria.

 “There were exchanges of fire between separatists and soldiers,” said a witness contacted by telephone.” An election committee official who asked not to be named told AFP: “I called our superior in Muyuka and he said that there had been shooting early this morning, but that the situation was calm now and the electors were voting.”

 But an opposition candidate in the region, who also requested anonymity, said: “The secessionists and the soldiers clashed. There was no election.”

 Speaking by phone, a senior member of a non-governmental organisation in the region said the shooting had started early in the morning and continued until at least 11:00 am. And a senior official in the region’s administrative acknowledged that “there was practically no way of voting” in Muyuka.

 There had also been shooting at Buea, the main town in Southwest region and in Kumba in the same region, he added. But he thought it was mainly to warn off the rebel fighters and avoid a battle, she added. She too asked not to be identified.

Turnout in the troubled anglophone regions of Cameroon has been very weak, according to AFP’s correspondents at Buea, which has seen the least of the recent fighting. The three-year conflict between anglophone forces seeking to break away from French-speaking Cameroon has claimed more than 3,000 moves and forced more than 700,000 local people to flee their homes. The separatists, who declared independence from Cameroon in 2017, had made it clear that they would disrupt the elections.

Source:  VANGUARD

Cameroon’s so-called advanced democracy has continued its onward march towards a man-made catastrophe despite all the warning signs. While decency, responsibility and transparency are the hallmarks of genuine democracies around the world, Cameroon’s democracy has continued to be mired in corruption, controversy and irresponsibility for more than a quarter of a century.

While the natural tendency for a genuine democracy is to innovate and streamline processes and procedures, Cameroon’s democracy manufactured by its president, Paul Biya, has put the country in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

All elections held in the country from 1990 have been marred by fraud and lack of transparency. In 1992, the American election watchdog, the National Democratic Institute (NDI), documented evidence of fraud in the presidential elections and the Biya government declared the famous institute persona non grata in Cameroon.

The acts of fraud during these elections were so crude to the point that even the blind could see them. Elections were organized by the ministry of territorial administration. The minister was a member of government of the incumbent whose cardinal objective in life at the time was to stay in power in order to protect acts of corruption and fraud committed under his one-party state.

Voters’ registration was the responsibility of local chiefs and other government officials who were paid by a government that was still struggling to shake off the one-party hangover. The main opposition party leader was John Fru Ndi, a man who struck fear in the minds of one-party state believers. His supporters were not allowed to register for the elections freely. The presidential election was more of a war than a normal democratic process, with the ruling party preaching tribalism and promoting hate speech.

Anglophones living in many parts of East Cameroon were cut out of the electoral process because their loyalty was obvious. It was the best way to guarantee the incumbent a victory. Many of those who ever got registered never had their voters’ cards and even the receipts issued to them after registration were rejected on polling day.

On voting day, polling stations were changed at short notice. Voters were completely confused. Opposition election officers were refused entry into polling stations. Ballot boxes were stuffed with fake ballots and intimidation by the ruling party was clearly on the menu.

The results were compiled by the ministry of territorial administration and released by the Supreme Court whose judges were appointed by the incumbent. The signs of corruption and fraud were obvious except to members of the ruling party who thought more about their personal interest than about the country’s paramount interest.

Almost 30 years after, the ruling party, the CPDM (Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement), a party that is only democratic in name, has continued to use the same tactics to perpetuate itself in power. Yesterday’s elections were not different from what Cameroonians have witnessed for close to 30 years.

The context might have been slightly different due to the insurgency playing out in the two English-speaking regions of the country and the general voter apathy because of the past, but the ruling party has  still employed the same tactics to sustain itself in power. The results of yesterday’s elections were known long before the voting took place.

The ruling party had eliminated many opposition parties in many constituencies around the country. All opposition parties fielded only 45 candidates in the parliamentary elections out of 180 seats. This implied that the CPDM had already won 135 seats even without any real voting.

In Cameroon, there is no strict campaign financing laws. The CPDM government grants very little financial assistance to struggling opposition parties for them to be able to participate in the elections. It grants itself the state treasury and uses military and state vehicles for its campaigns. In the two English-speaking regions, government officials used military trucks and armoured cars to go to the regions just to rig the elections.

The objective is not to convince the population, but to demonstrate that elections actually took place across the country. Fuel for the trucks, drivers of the vehicles and maintenance costs are all being borne by the poor taxpayer whose interest is never considered as a priority.

While ruling party officials enjoy all of this, opposition party candidates simply avoid the war zone and only ruling party election officers really go to the polling stations. The outcome of the election is therefore not in doubt.

In many polling stations, only government soldiers voted. Prisoners from other regions were hauled like cattle to the two English-speaking regions for them to vote for the ruling CPDM. In Buea, Bamenda, Kumba, Mamfe and other cities in the two English-speaking regions, many young men were arrested and kept in jail until after Election Day.  They were released after having voted for the ruling party. Cameroon’s advanced democracy is making giant strides; unfortunately it is making giant strides towards dictatorship and monolithic thinking.

The ruling party, known for its Machiavellian mindset, had orchestrated the real fraud, not necessarily in the polling stations, but during the registration process. Three hours after the close of elections, some of its members could be seen celebrating the party’s victory in front of Ayaba Hotel in Bamenda like a group of monkeys that has run into a bunch of bananas.

According to the country’s electoral law, only the government manufactured elections body, ELECAM, is supposed to declare election results and anybody found declaring results without the approval of ELECAM shall be found guilty of transgressing the country’s electoral law.

But ruling party officials in the Northwest region were releasing their own results yesterday and nobody has been arrested or summoned to appear before any constituted government body for them to answer for their reckless behavior. Cameroon’s laws are simply selective, and they never find ruling party officials guilty of any crime.

The ruling party has won by a wide margin in the two English-speaking regions of the country, at least according to the party’s estimates. The population of those regions simply did not participate in the elections. They have been displaced, with more than a million of them living across the country as internally displaced persons, while a similar number is hiding in the bushes or is in Nigeria because of the government’s violent military response to the insurgency.

The population of the two regions also respected the lockdown decreed by the Southern Cameroons Interim Government that is living abroad and this has actually ruffled officials of the ruling party as the internet is awash with videos and pictures of towns abandoned by civilians who totally disagree with the way the regime has ruled the country for more than three decades. But the CPDM will surely score a 100% in both regions.

It is a party populated with people who have many skeletons in their cupboards. This is a party that started off with a slogan that captured the imagination and attention of Cameroonians. Rigour and Moralisation made the party look like a product made in Heaven. But over the last 35 years, Cameroonians have seen more corruption and demoralization spreading across the country like wildfire.

The CPDM might have won the election, but its battle to win hearts and minds, especially in the two English-speaking regions of the country, will be the one that will be the most challenging. The people of these two regions have made up their minds not to listen to the political heresy the ruling party preaches. Despite the victory it has arrogated to itself, the CPDM government, also known as a crime syndicate, will not govern Cameroon in peace.

Cameroonians have become more intelligent and the dignity, for which Anglophones are known, is gradually spreading to other regions of the country. Cameroon is in for a chaotic ride into the future. The road ahead is long and bumpy, and the drivers of the vehicle are old and inefficient. The chances of the vehicle ending up in a ravine are huge. Only the international community can pull this country back from the brink.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai in the United Kingdom and Rita Akana in Yaounde 

Cameroon voted on Sunday in polls overshadowed by a partial opposition boycott and separatist violence that has displaced hundreds of thousands of people.

Elections for the central African country’s legislature and local councils are taking place for the first time in seven years, after two postponements.

They are unlikely to ruffle the enduring rule of President Paul Biya, one of the world’s oldest and longest-serving leaders, who has held a tight grip on power for 37 of his 86 years.

As voting began large numbers of police and soldiers were seen deployed on the streets of Buea, the capital of the Southwest Region, one of two provinces gripped by bloody separatist violence.

But polling stations in the city were quiet with no violence reported about four hours after they opened at 8 am (07.00 GMT).

Most of the morning’s voting appeared to have been done by members of the security forces, deployed to keep the peace.

Opposition boycott 

The main opposition party, the Movement for the Rebirth of Cameroon (MRC) is refusing to field a single candidate.

The boycott will all but guarantee a crushing victory for the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (RDPC in its French initials), which in the outgoing legislature had 148 out of 180 seats.

The other large opposition party, the Social Democratic Front (SDF), which currently has 18 seats, will take part in Sunday’s vote, going back on a threat to snub it.

In the capital Yaounde, it appeared that enthusiasm for the vote was subdued, with no crowds outside polling stations in the district of Briqueterie.

“People went to mass first, there’ll be more coming in the afternoon,” said one election official.

“I want to do my duty as a citizen,” said Abdias Lah, one of the few voters to cast an early ballot.

‘Spiral of violence’ 

Cameroon is struggling with two conflicts.

In the two English-speaking regions – the southwest and northwest – the armed forces are battling separatists who want to secede from the majority French-speaking country.

The conflict has claimed more than 3,000 lives and caused more than 700,000 people to flee since it began over two years ago, according to tolls compiled by NGOs.

Amnesty International said there has been a “surge in violence” by the Cameroon military in the weeks leading up to the vote, resulting in killings and the displacement of thousands in the English-speaking regions.

“In recent weeks, brutal military operations have been conducted while crimes committed by armed separatists continue unabated. Civilians are finding themselves trapped in a spiral of violence,” said Fabien Offner, Amnesty’s Lake Chad Researcher.

The SDF traditionally draws much of its support from the anglophone regions but now fears that it has been outflanked by the radicals –– and says its candidates there have come under attack.

Similar worries are being voiced for the safety of polling stations in Cameroon’s Far North region, which has been battered by Boko Haram militants crossing from Nigeria.

The government on Friday announced that all of Cameroon’s borders would be closed until Monday, and shops and drink outlets had to close on polling day.

At least 120 candidates have been abducted in the North West and South West regions over the past two weeks. 

Only about 60 of the candidates have been released, and the separatists on social media have indicated they will release the rest after the election.

Residents say suspected separatists have chopped off the fingers of at least 12 people caught with voter cards.

City power

MRC leader, Maurice Kamto, spent nine months in jail after his defeat in the 2018 presidential elections and is now abroad.

“We could have had a few seats in parliament and some town councillors, but how would that enable us to influence events in Cameroon?” Kamto said in an interview with AFP news agency in Paris last month.

Given the seemingly inevitable outcome of a legislative vote, most media attention has focused on the municipal elections that are also taking place.

Some cities, including Douala, the country’s economic hub, could swing to the opposition, according to some forecasts.

City chiefs are to gain new powers under measures taken in December to decentralise some authority out of Yaounde.

The reforms have been triggered by the anglophone crisis although they fall far short of meeting the separatists’ demands.

“The stakes (on Sunday) are local,” said Stephane Akoa, a researcher at the Paul Ango Ela think tank in Yaounde.

Source: AFP

Reports reaching Cameroon Concord News Group indicate that Prof. Maurice Kamto who is on a tour of Europe and North America, has avoided meeting Ambazonians in the city of Toronto in Canada.

The winner of the 2018 presidential election in Cameroon had said he would meet with separatists if he became the president of Cameroon.

But his actions in Toronto, Canada, have clearly indicated that he is simply paying lip service to the idea of meeting with Southern Cameroonians with a view to gaining a better understanding of their perspective.

Kamto, who was jailed for 8 months in Yaoundé for holding that he was the rightful winner of the 2018 poll, had made many public statements that it would be better to understand Ambazonians although in his view, secession was not an option.

His action in Toronto equates him to Paul Biya, the country’s contested president, who holds that he will never sit and talk with secessionists.

Because of this action in Toronto, Ambazonians have decided to withdraw their support of Kamto, a man they thought could be an ally in the peaceful resolution of the crisis that is tearing the country apart, a source in Toronto said.

“Kamto, like most Francophones, can never be trusted. He has proven in Toronto that we should never trust him,” an angry Ambazonian in Toronto said.

“We will be severing all our ties with his party and we urge all Southern Cameroonians to dissociate themselves from this man who seems to be selling illusions,” the Ambazonian who elected anonymity said.

Kamto, who is scheduled to go to the United States, will surely not be welcomed by Southern Cameroonians who now know that he cannot be trusted.

“We have already raised the issue with our fellow Ambazonian citizens in the United States and many have already declared him persona non grata. He cannot be trusted and we won’t encourage any of our leaders in the United States to meet with him,” the frustrated Ambazonian stressed.

Prof. Kamto, who is accompanied by several of his party officials, has stirred a hornet’s nest and he will surely be facing huge challenges in the United States where more than a million Ambazonians live.

“He has a choice. He can clean up the mess he has created. He should get in touch with Ambazonian leaders in the USA to schedule a meeting with them if he wants to remain a national figure,” he stressed.

“If he does not take corrective action, then he would have clearly demonstrated that his party is a regional party made up of Bamilekes,” he concluded.

Prof. Kamto should have understood that Toronto, Canada’s largest city, is home to thousands of Ambazonians and much of the money that is flowing to the two English-speaking regions of the country to fund the war comes from the Greater Toronto Area.

Many Ambazonians are based in Brampton, Mississauga, Ajax and Oakville and they are making significant financial efforts to ensure that Ambazonia becomes independent. They have been victims of marginalization and they hold that a divorce from Yaoundé will be the best option.

“Kamto and his people will have to talk with us. We are private sector operators and our money will keep on causing sleepless nights to whoever is at the Unity Palace in Yaoundé. We have the potential to sow chaos in Cameroon and avoiding us only makes it hard for whoever is running the country. Kamto must address this very fast before he goes down in our estimation,” an upset Ambazonian said.

By Joachim Arrey in Toronto

Hundreds of people have marched in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon, calling for the cancellation of Sunday’s local and parliamentary elections in favor of a transition ending long-serving president Paul Biya’s regime The protesters say only a transition will lay the foundation for democracy. The government has again insisted that the elections must be held Sunday.

These are the voices of at least 500 men, women and youths dressed in black, singing as they march through the streets of Cameroon’s capital Yaounde Friday. They sang that Cameroon needs a political transition to end President Paul Biya’s 38 years in power, not the local and parliamentary elections the government is organizing on Sunday.

Fifty-eight political parties including the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement some old opposition political parties, such as the Social Democratic Front, Cameroonian Democratic Union, Movement for the Defense of the Republic and the National Union for Democracy and Progress are taking part in both elections are. All of them say they are going into Parliament to enact laws that can solve the crisis Cameroon is facing.

Among the leaders of the protest is Kah Walla, president of the Cameroon Peoples Party and former presidential candidate. She says Biya’s dictatorial regime has rigged the system and can never be ousted in an election.

Kah Walla says she is certain that if the elections take place, Biya’s Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement party will still have a majority that is loyal to the long-serving leader.

“We are not going to have a parliament that would be able to do any better than the outgoing parliament has done nor mayors who will be able to do any better,” Walla said. “Yes to political transition. We need an end to this regime, we need reforms of institutions including the electoral system and then we can talk about elections.”

Kah Walla said she was calling on all Cameroonians to join protests for a transition because it was unfortunate that since Biya   became president of Cameroon 38 years ago, he has been deaf to calls for electoral reforms the opposition has been clamoring for.

The protests were organized by Stand Up For Cameroon, a movement launched by five opposition political parties, including Union of Cameroon People-Manidem and the Cameroon Renaissance Movement of Maurice Kamto, who claims he won the October 2018 presidential election and that his victory was stolen by Biya.

Stand Up for Cameroon says its objective is to create for a genuine political transition in Cameroon.

Minister of Communication and government spokesperson Rene Emmanuel Sadi says Biya enjoys legitimacy after a landslide victory, with 71% of the vote in the 2018 presidential poll, with Maurice Kamto in a distant second with 14%.

Sadi says the elections must take place as planned and that any person who wants to disrupt it will be arrested.

“It is suprising that some leaders of political parties are today putting forth various considerations either to boycott the elections or to simply demand their postponement,” Sadi said. “A vast majority of Cameroonians are also legitimately and impatiently aspiring to take part in the twin elections whose importance is secret to no one.”

None of the protesters were arrested in the march that apparently suprised the government and the police. Opposition parties have always complained of widespread irregularities, insecurity and low turnout in Cameroon’s elections.

They say Biya who has been in power for over 40 years, seven as prime minister and 38 as president, uses his party’s parliamentary majority to rule Cameroon with a iron fist.

Separatist fighters have also vowed that the elections will not take place in the English-speaking regions, and imposed a travel ban in the Northwest and Southwest regions. Civilians are fleeing the English-speaking regions, where there have been battles between the military and rebels. The civilians say they do not believe the government will be able to protect them.

Cameroon says polls will be opened on Sunday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Vote counting starts immediately afterward.

Source: VOA

There’s been a surge in political violence in Southern Cameroons ahead of parliamentary and municipal elections on 9 February. Amnesty International has accused the army of dozens of killings, the burning of villages, and the displacement of thousands of people as it tries to stamp out a separatist movement.

The anglophone militants demanding independence from the rest of francophone Cameroon have vowed to disrupt the polls and have also stepped up their attacks. They have ordered the closure of schools and markets, and told people to stay indoors between 7 and 12 February.

 The crisis has shuttered more than 40 percent of the health centres in the two regions, and more than 600,000 children are out of school. At least 3,000 civilians have died since the conflict began in 2016, and 730,000 people have been displaced.

Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a male Cameroonian national who is suspected of posing as an American serviceman online to swindle a Japanese woman seeking marriage, reports TBS News (Feb. 7).

In 2018, Tekom Romeo, 35, communicated with the woman, 48, via a social-networking service whereby he falsely claimed to be an American soldier worth 500 million yen.

During the exchanges, he used a photograph featuring a man in uniform who was not him. “I want to retire and live in Japan,” he wrote. “I want to send you money and for you to pay the shipping fee.”

The suspect then allegedly defrauded the woman out of 1.83 million yen.

Upon his arrest on suspicion of fraud, Romeo denied the allegations. “A Pakistani national requested me to

,” the suspect was quoted by the Tomisaka Police Station. “I didn’t know the money was obtained illegally.”

Last year, police arrested three Cameroonian nationals for the same crime.

Source: Tokyo Reporter