The United States has advised Cameroon to respect human rights in order to be reinstated as a beneficiary of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), even as authorities in Yaounde insist on their innocence.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday terminated the Central African nation’s preferential trade benefits from Jan. 1, citing what he called “persistent gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.”

Trump’s decision

In a letter to the U.S. Congress, Trump said Cameroon had failed to address U.S. concerns regarding extrajudicial killings, torture and other persistent human rights violations being committed by Cameroonian security forces.

“I am taking this step because I have determined that the Government of Cameroon currently engages in gross violations of internationally recognized human rights, contravening the eligibility requirements of section 104 of the (African Growth and Opportunity Act),” Trump wrote in the letter.

Deputy U.S. Trade Representative C.J. Mahoney said the U.S. government remained deeply concerned about human rights violations committed by the Cameroonian government against its own citizens.

“This action underscores the Administration’s commitment to upholding the human rights criteria as required in the AGOA legislation,” he said in a separate statement.

Cameroon govt reacts

Cameroon’s minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji told journalists on Friday that the United States is targeting the wrong country, considering the professional record and conduct of the security forces.

“Our defence and security forces are professional. So, I believe that, if we were to condemn, we should rather condemn the secessionists who are decapitating the populations in the North-Western and South-Western Regions,” the minister said.

Several human rights groups and non-governmental organisations have on several occasions accused government security forces of gross human rights violations including the killing of civilians in the English-speaking regions.

Sixty-five civil society organizations this week urged the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights to address serious and systematic human rights violations in Cameroon.

In a joint appeal, they said violence in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions has led to 3,000 deaths over the past three years, forcing half a million people to flee their homes, and leaving over 700,000 children out of school.

What next?

Mahoney urged the government of Cameroon to work with the United States and the international community to strengthen protection of human rights under the law and to publicly hold to account those who engage in human rights violations.

In order to qualify for preferential benefits under the AGOA legislation, partner countries must meet certain eligibility requirements, including not engaging in gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.

They must also demonstrate continual progress toward establishing the rule of law, political pluralism, establishing internationally recognized worker rights, and the elimination of barriers to U.S. trade and investment.

Cameroon President Paul Biya, who has governed for nearly four decades, is seeking to calm unrest stoked by a disputed presidential election last year and the separatist insurrection.

A national dialogue organised to resolve the Anglophone crisis last month, is yet to yield tangible results, despite recommendations that included creating a ‘special status’ for the North West and South West regions.

Source: Reuters

Ambazonia Vice President Dabney Yerima says the French Cameroun government under the 86 year old Paul Biya is now in a downward spiral following US President Donald Trump’s decision to terminate its eligibility for trade preference benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), as of January 1, 2020, due to persistent gross violations of internationally recognized human rights in Southern Cameroons.

Comrade Dabney Yerima told a cream of reporters late on Friday that it was enormously satisfying for the Ambazonia Interim Government that the US President spoke of persistent human rights violations being committed by Cameroonian security forces. These violations included extrajudicial killings, arbitrary and unlawful detention, and torture of Southern Cameroonians.

Dabney Yerima observed that for three years, the French Cameroun soldiers have not been able to defeat the Ambazonia Self Defense Forces and they are currently stuck. On the contrary, he added, the Southern Cameroons resistance is thriving and actively expanding to pro Yaoundé Southern Cameroons CPDM barons.

Vice President Dabney Yerima also appealed to Washington to play a direct role in the crisis that has rocked the two Cameroons.  Yerima launched a scathing attack on the Yaoundé regime that has created armed militia groups all over the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

The French Cameroun-led war on Southern Cameroons has killed more than 20,500 people since the Francophone leader Paul Biya declared war on the 30^th of November 2017, an Ambazonia Interim Government (IG) database project that tracks La Republique du Cameroun violence in the Federal Republique of Ambazonia has revealed.

The Ambazonia leader President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe earlier made a similar revelation during a conversation with the Paris-based Jeune Afrique, saying that as a result of the on-going genocide in the Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia), an estimated 20,000 people have been killed, over 280 towns and villages have been burnt down, over 120,000 people are seeking refuge in Nigeria and further afield, over 1million people are  internally displaced or living in bushes and over 3,000 persons incarcerated in prisons and detention facilities.

The Southern Cameroons Interim Government also noted that over 4.5. Million Southern Cameroonians are at risk of famine.  The IG report said the well documented statistic has made the Southern Cameroons conflict the deadliest ever since the genocide in Rwanda.

A spokesperson for the exiled Ambazonia Vice President Dabney Yerima was quoted as saying that the post Major National Dialogue period remains the most lethal month, with over 500 reported killed in Menchum, Bui and Bali.

Immediately after his meeting with French President Macron in Lyon, France, French Cameroun head of state President Biya ordered the Francophone dominated army to carryout raids in Mezam, Manyu and Ndian counties.

The Ambazonia Interim Government also said French Cameroun soldiers from Beti-Ewondo and Bulu extractions were directly responsible for more than 19, 000 Southern Cameroons civilian deaths over the past three years.

The IG data which was handed to Vice President Dabney Yerima by the department for Homeland Security last week, covers everything from shelling and ground battles involving elements of the French Cameroun’s Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR) and the French Cameroun gendarmerie.

Cameroon Intelligence Report understands that the figures do not include Southern Cameroonians who have died in the humanitarian disasters caused by the Biya war, particularly those living in the bushes.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday wrote to congress about his decision in accordance with section 506A(a)(3)(B) of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended (19 U.S.C. 2466a(a)(3)(B)) to terminate the designation of La Republique du Cameroun as a beneficiary sub-Saharan African country under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).

“I am taking this step because I have determined that the Government of Cameroon currently engages in gross violations of internationally recognized human rights, contravening the eligibility requirements of section 104 of the AGOA” President Trump said.

The Biya war has also taken a heavy toll on Southern Cameroons infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and agro-industrial plants.

France and the Buhari administration in the Federal Republic of Nigeria are the main supporters of the Biya regime with the French government providing Yaounde with money, training and logistical support.

By Asu Isong with additional reporting from Chi Prudence Asong

A young girl survived miraculously after she got buried by a landslide in Western Cameroon.

Her father, Tabou Victor, told CNN that the 12-year old survivor was buried on Monday night after his house collapsed due to the landslide. He recalled hearing them cry for help during the mishap. He was able to save his other children — two girls and a boy — by breaking the back door and pulling them out.

He got a bruised on his left eye and a fractured arm. His children were also severely injured, while the 18-year old daughter died in the hospital.

Rising Death Toll

The landslide was triggered by torrential rain on Monday while the residents are sleeping at night.

One survivor, Albert Kenge, said that it all started around 10:00 p.m.  He first heard a loud noise and saw a huge cloud of dust. “Then, the mountain suddenly collapsed,” he told Reuters news agency.

Ever since the rescue mission has started, workers have recovered the bodies of 26 children and four pregnant women, according to the local media Cameroon Radio Television (CRTV).

The rescue mission is still going on as of Wednesday, but the recent death toll has risen to 42 people, from 37 on Tuesday.

Authorities issued an evacuation order due to the fear of more landlines to come as the rains continue.

The government had warned them…

Fonka Awa Augustine, the government of the region, said that they have warned the residents about the ground instability of the areas but people still built their houses there. The slopes in the area were making the rescue mission more difficult, Augustine added.

An inspection will be done by a delegate of the Prime Minister to evaluate the situation and decide the appropriate measures to be taken, Augustine also said.

President Paul Biya extended his condolences to the victim. “I am saddened by the death of several compatriots,” he said in a message addressed to the governor of the region.

The government also pledged to endow financial assistance on the medical bills of the eight survivors, including Victor’s family.

Non-stop Rain in Central Africa

Even if the rainy season of Central Africa, the region is still experiencing heavy rains that caused severe flooding. At least 30,000 people Cameroon’s neighbor country, the Central Africa Republic, lost their homes.

Nearly one million South Sudanese were also affected by the flood caused by the rain that has been going since July, the United Nations reported.

And the problem will not end yet once the flood recedes due to food scarcity. For at least a month, families might not be able to support themselves due to a considerable amount of crops and livestock damage.

Source: Nature World News

Vice President Dabney Yerima has slammed the Biya Francophone regime over deploying of additional troops to Southern Cameroons, stressing that Yaoundé’s genocidal measures and campaign to exterminate the people of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia is simply solidifying Southern Cameroonians and their Interim Government’s resolve.

Comrade Dabney Yerima noted during this week’s revolutionary updates to the people of Southern Cameroons that the assault against Ambazonians by the French Cameroun government is on-going. He added that the so-called Major National Dialogue was designed for French Cameroun to continue to impose its will on Ambazonians.

 “Southern Cameroons deputies serving in French Cameroun and political elites have blatantly refused to go back home and are now pretentiously waiting for the head of state of a foreign country to give them his definition of Special Status or anything that will continue to enslave them” he said.

The Ambazonia exiled leader was also full of praise for the Restoration Forces saying that Southern Cameroons Self-Defense groups have been able to score many victories against the French Cameroun army without support from outside.

Dabney Yerima concluded, “Without the sacrifices that you Ambazonians in Ground Zero are making and support from your fellow countrymen and women in the diaspora, the Ambazonia resistance would not have been able to emerge victorious in many Southern Cameroons counties. The Ambazonia Interim Government and its entire leadership are indebted to you people in Ground Zero.”

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

A family member of Cameroon’s former prime minister has just said that Ephraim Inoni, a former prime minister under Paul Biya is still alive but was fast to add that he was critically ill.

The source which elected anonymity added that the entire family was concerned for his life

He blamed the situation on administrative delays which made it hard for him to be evacuated in time.

He stressed that the government of Cameroon had been very slow at giving Chief Inoni the authorisation which could have enabled him to seek quality health care abroad.

“If our brother’s health has deteriorated very fast, it is because the government has been slow at issuing the right documents. Chief Inoni does not deserve the poor treating he is being given by the regime he faithfully served,” he said.

“Though his life hangs by a thread, we are still happy that he is still alive. We know that Chief Inoni is a good man. His involvement in the airplane affair was just because he was the assistant secretary general at the Presidency at the time of the purchase of the airplane,” he regretted.

“We are waiting for more information and we will inform the media as the details filter out,” he concluded.

By Dr Joachim Arrey