News

Revealed: Yaoundé arrested more Southern Cameroonians after October 7 presidential polls

23, November 2018

Revealed: Yaoundé arrested more Southern Cameroonians after October 7 presidential polls 0

The Biya regime reportedly arrested several Southern Cameroonians in the cities of Douala and Yaounde in what seems to be part of a widened crackdown on English speaking Cameroonians after the rigged presidential elections. Biya’s kinsmen in both the army and the gendarmerie have said that the individuals were planning attacks deep inside French Cameroun territory.

Cameroon Intelligence Report gathered from a police source in Douala that many of the Southern Cameroonians are being detained after calling for a boycott of the October 7 polls in Anglophone Cameroon and took to the streets celebrating when Prof Maurice Kamto declared himself winner of the elections. A sea of bloggers have also been arrested for posting what the regime in Yaoundé described as fake news on the behaviour of the ruling CPDM candidate. At the Obili neighbourhood in Yaounde, some 4 Southern Cameroons teenagers were arrested for destroying CPDM campaign posters. The 4 recently rejected the charges.

Meanwhile, the military tribunal in Yaounde held a secret session late yesterday in a bid to sentence the leader of the Ambazonian nation, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and members of his cabinet who were abducted and forcefully repatriated from Abuja, Nigeria to Cameroon. The Southern Cameroons Interim Head of State and some of his close aides have been moved to the Kondengui High Security prison.

The legitimacy of Mr. Paul Biya’s 7th term has been widely questioned by the international community. Yaoundé has banned all opposition rallies and militarised opposition strong holds in French Cameroun. The Roman Catholic Archbishop of the Douala Diocese, Samuel Kleda pointed out last week that the Biya administration failed to provide conditions for fair and free voting and that the results were arranged even before the elections that took place in a repressive political environment.

Earlier on, a Yaoundé High court sentenced Bibixy Mancho, including several Southern Cameroons activists in what Amnesty International called a “travesty of justice.” Bibixy Mancho who headed the coffin revolution was arrested in Bamenda. The International Crisis Group including many Human rights groups have frequently said cases against Southern Cameroons activists in French Cameroun courts fail to meet the basic standards of fair trials.

Thousands of Ambazonians protesters have held numerous demonstrations in Southern Cameroons on an almost daily basis ever since a popular uprising began to end French Cameroun control of the territory. They are demanding that the United Nations recognise the Federal Republic of Ambazonia as an independent state with headquarters in Buea representing all Southern Cameroonians.

Biya and the Francophone dominated army have gone to great lengths to clamp down on any sign of dissent. Scores of people have lost their lives and hundreds of others sustained injuries or got arrested in a widespread French Cameroun regime crackdown.

By Sama Ernest and Rita Akana in Yaounde


Niger: Armed men attack French firm’s drilling camp

22, November 2018

Niger: Armed men attack French firm’s drilling camp 0

Armed men killed eight people on Thursday in a late night attack on French drilling company Foraco’s water well site in southeastern Niger, Foraco said.

“Last night at 2 a.m. local time, a group of terrorists attacked the small building where a Foraco team was sleeping and killed seven of them, plus one civil servant,” the company said in a statement.

Five other employees were wounded, with two in serious condition, it said. The workers were drilling two deep water wells for the water ministry in southeastern Niger’s Diffa region.

A security source told Reuters that the assailants were believed to belong to Nigerian extremist group Boko Haram, which is active near the border with Nigeria.

Boko Haram has been trying since 2009 to establish an extremist state in northeast Nigeria and has launched repeated attacks into neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon. Thousands of civilians have died in the violence.

Marseille-based Foraco is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and says it is the third largest global mineral driller with mining and water projects across 22 countries.

(Source: Reuters)


Yaounde moves Ambazonian leader, Others to long term incarceration

22, November 2018

Yaounde moves Ambazonian leader, Others to long term incarceration 0

Today, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2018, one of the regular visitors of incarcerated Ambazonian leaders in SED, Yaoundé, reported how he went visiting, and how upon arrival the officers on duty would not immediately disclose the whereabouts of the abductees. He was subsequently told that the leaders were rushed to the Military Tribunal. He hurried to the Military Tribunal, had a confrontation with Gendarmes who didn’t want him nor anyone to know that the leaders were in the court. The guest was interrogated and asked how he found out they were at the Military Tribunal before confiscating his phone and letting him go.

It appears that the Military Tribunal held some informal hearing in the absence of the abductees’ lawyers and were transferred afterward to Yaoundé Principal Prison, in Kondengui. An eyewitness said he saw nine of them as they went through protocol into the Kondengui Principal Prison. If anything, the event of today is a clear indication that Yaoundé has no intentions to release the leaders of our revolution in spite of the calls for their immediate and unconditional release.

Yaoundé should know that continuing to keep Sisiku and other leaders isn’t helping its case. The Interim Gov’t of Ambazonia demands their unconditional release. There shall be no settlement to the current conflict without the unconditional release of President Sisiku and the other 37 Ambazonians still kept incommunicado in SED. We condemn this type of mental torture that our leaders are being subjected to and once again reiterate the fact that Yaoundé has no legal jurisdiction over them as they are not Cameroonians, they are Ambazonian citizens.

Chris Anu

Ambazonian Secretary for Communications

 


22, November 2018

“Biya not serious about peace in Southern Cameroons” Ambazonia Homeland Security Chief 0

Southern Cameroons Secretary for Homeland Security, Bishop John Egyawan has told Cameroon Concord News Washington Bureau Chief that French Cameroun’s leader, Paul Biya is merely deceiving the international community with empty rhetoric and has no interest in any dialogue or peace talks with the Ambazonian Interim Government.

Bishop John Egyawan a former soldier who served with the US army in Iraq during the Gulf war questioned Mr. Paul Biya’s sincerity when he constantly advocates peace talks aimed at ending hostilities in Southern Cameroons.”A president who currently spends millions of US dollars funding President Buhari’s campaign in Nigeria for abducting and forcefully repatriating Southern Cameroons leaders cannot be trusted in any peace process,” the Ambazonia Homeland Security Chief said.

“The Interim Government position as of now has been that they (the French Cameroun political elites) have not shown any intention to get seriously engaged in a peace process for the future of our two countries” he added. Bishop John Egyawan further noted that the French Cameroun government had infiltrated some of the Ambazonian groups but the Ambazonia Security Council (ASC ) was dealing with the disturbing situation.

The Homeland Security Chief observed that the kidnappings currently going in Southern Cameroons were teleguided from Yaounde to sabotage the Southern Cameroons revolution and quest for an independent state.

French Cameroun 56 years dominance of the political, economic and social life of the people of Southern Cameroons came to an end following last year’s declaration of independence by President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe; but a year on, French Cameroun — having failed to crush the Ambazonian resistance — is now killing hundreds of innocent Southern Cameroons women and children and destroying Ambazonia towns and villages.

Ambazonia Restoration Forces have overtaken several rural areas in many Southern Cameroons counties in a spate of brazen attacks in recent months, including villages in Manyu, Lebialem, Boyo, Menchum, Bui, Ndian and Kupe Muanenguba.

Southern Cameroon’s Acting President Dr Samuel Ikome Sako has accused French Cameroun’s 85 year old leader Paul Biya of carrying out a scorch-the-earth policy in Southern Cameroons with the support the Francophone army.

By Chi Prudence Asong


Gabon: President Ali Bongo heading to London for medical recovery

21, November 2018

Gabon: President Ali Bongo heading to London for medical recovery 0

Gabon’s sick president Ali Bongo Ondimba has recovered after he was admitted for severe fatigue on medical advice.

Even as his situation becomes better after weeks at the King Faisal hospital in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, reports indicate that he is heading to the United Kingdom to continue recuperation.

The Jeune Afrique portal which broke the news of Bongo’s ill-health in October 2018, said London was chosen to allow Bongo receive specialist care. It added that Morocco was the other destination on the cards but London had been settled on.

The last government update on Bongo’s health was on November 11 with presidential spokesman, Ike Ngouni, confirming that the president was recovering his faculties and was to remain in Saudi on expert advice.

Since then, the country’s top court has ordered a significant ruling that allows cabinet meetings to be chaired by the vice-president in the president’s absence.

The meeting had been off since Bongo was taken ill. He was in Saudi to attend an investment summit when he was taken ill. Some reports said he had suffered a stroke.

Source: Africa News


21, November 2018

Cameroon army frees kidnapped students in Kumba 0

Cameroon’s security forces have rescued kidnapped students and one teacher after a raid on a camp of separatist fighters in the South-West region.

The group of nine, not 20 as first reported, was taken from a school in the city of Kumba, on Tuesday.

Four attackers were shot dead in the operation but one was captured, a senior official told the BBC.

Cameroon’s North-West and South-West regions have been hit by a separatist rebellion since last year.

Armed groups in the two English-speaking regions have called on local residents to boycott schools until a referendum on independence is held.

Protests against marginalisation by the country’s French-speaking majority have been met with a crackdown.

They want to create an independent state called Ambazonia.

Gunmen entered the Lords Bilingual School on Tuesday afternoon causing panic. Many of the students jumped over the school fence walls to avoid being taken.

In the confusion, earlier reports had suggested that a higher number of students had been taken, journalist Peter Tah, who has been covering the conflict in the region, says.

Map of Cameroon

Three students were released on Tuesday night after two gunmen were shot dead in a shootout with security forces who raided their camp. In addition, one gunman was captured, Nto’ou Ndong Chamberlin, Senior Divisional Officer for Meme district, in the South-West region, told the BBC.

The seven remaining hostages, including the teacher, managed to escape after the melee.

Two other attackers, including the group’s leader called “Man of Locks” were killed in an operation on Wednesday morning, Mr Nto’ou said.

Security forces seized nine guns in the operation as well as cartridges and three motorbikes, he said.

Guns seized from the Cameroon separatistsSecurity forces seized arms from the separatists fighters

The incident comes almost a fortnight after nearly 80 students were safely returned after being taken from a school in the North-West regional capital of Bamenda.

The government had accused separatists of being behind that kidnapping. The Anglophone separatists denied they were involved.

Kidnappings of students, teachers and high profile people has become common in the Anglophone regions.

Journalist Peter Tah says that Kumba city had been badly affected by the unrest.

Most of its residents and those in surrounding towns in the South-West region have fled because of the fighting, he says.

Cameroon – still divided along colonial lines

French commentary on the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885: Otto von Bismarck, then Chancellor or Germany, is portrayed here wielding a knife over a sliced-up cake, labelled "Africa". His fellow delegates around the table look on in awe.Africa’s borders were “carved up” up by colonial powers
  • Colonised by Germany in 1884
  • British and French troops force Germans to leave in 1916
  • Cameroon is split three years later – 80% goes to the French and 20% to the British
  • French-run Cameroon becomes independent in 1960
  • Following a referendum, the (British) Southern Cameroons join Cameroon, while Northern Cameroons join English-speaking Nigeria

Culled from the BBC


436,000 Ambazonians internally displaced, Humanitarian response plan underfunded

21, November 2018

436,000 Ambazonians internally displaced, Humanitarian response plan underfunded 0

With at least 436,000 people currently internally displaced in Cameroon’s South-West and North-West – and in neighbouring departments – due to hostilities between armed groups and security forces, the country remains of urgent humanitarian concern.

Humanitarian presence and response are slowly increasing in the affected areas, with priority given to the South-West region which is the epicentre of the displacement crisis with 246,000 IDPs. OCHA has strengthened its capacity including on access and civil-military coordination, and other UN humanitarian agencies are establishing a presence in the two regions and are responding primarily through NGOs in the affected areas.

However, limited access due to insecurity and lack of funding remain impediments to the scale-up of humanitarian programming.

A special three-months response plan launched at the end of May to address the urgent needs of 160,000 vulnerable people in the South-West and North-West requested US$15 million in funding. But only a $5 million rapid response grant from the Central Emergency Response Fund has been received.

The overall 2018 Humanitarian Response Plan for Cameroon requesting $320 million is also underfunded at less than 37 per cent.

Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).


Mumbai: Cameroon women held with fake passports

21, November 2018

Mumbai: Cameroon women held with fake passports 0

Two Cameroonian nationals who wanted to join their families in France were intercepted at the Mumbai airport on Friday after attempting to fly out using forged Guatemalan passports.

Alvine Nokam and Ololie Konhawo, who live in the Central African country, arrived at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport on Friday night to board a Jet Airways flight to Paris, the police said.

At the immigration counter, they furnished passports issued this year by Guatemala’s Director of Migration, and which identified them as nationals of Cameroon. However, a routine inspection by an immigration official of their passports under a scanner’s ultra-violet lights revealed that the bio-pages of both documents, which contained their names, ages, dates of birth, passport number and expiration date, were forged.

Upon being questioned by a senior Bureau of Immigration official, the women admitted that they were from Cameroon, who planned to move to Paris to be with their families and in search of better financial prospects, the police said. An official at Sahar police station said earlier this year, the women had contacted a travel agent in their native country on Facebook. “Both the women paid the agent 2000 Euros each for a fake Guatemalan passport,” the official added.

Source: Indian Express


20, November 2018

Nigeria: Political class gathers as ex-president Goodluck launches book 0

Top political players in Nigeria gathered in the capital Abuja for the launch of a book by the former president, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. Jonathan chose his 61st birthday to launch the book, “The Transition Hours,” which detailed events leading up to his concession after he lost elections in 2015.

Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, and other top guns were present at the event that took place at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja. President Buhari was advertised as attending but instead he was represented by Secretary General of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, local media portals reported.

Also in attendance were top officials of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. It’s candidate in next February presidential polls, Atiku Abubakar, was also present.

Nigeria’s former presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Abdul Salam Abubakar were also present for the event. A heavy presence of former presidents across the subregion was also recorded with Ghana’s John Dramani Mahama, Benin’s Thomas Boni-Yayi and Sierra Leone’s Ernest Bai Koroma all in attendance.

‘My Transition Hours,’ chronicles how Jonathan accepted defeat in highly contested polls barely four years ago. At the time, Jonathan was seeking a final term in office as candidate of the PDP. He lost the contest to incumbent president Muhammadu Buhari.

It was the first time in Nigeria’s recent history that an opposition party had wrestled power from the ruling party? PDP had been in power for sixteen years prior to 2015.

Before the APC government, PDP had ruled eight years through Olusegun Obasanjo who handed over to Umaru Musa Yar’Adua who died in office. His then vice president Jonathan completed his term and won his substantive first term in 2011.

Culled from Africa News

 

President Goodluck Jonathan: Recognizing the vision and record of a great leader

Cameroon Concord News Group was pleased to announce former Nigeria President Good Luck Jonathan as their man of the year 2015. We arrived at this conclusion after a careful and anxious consideration of a wide range of candidates. We considered the contributions of the candidates to the development and improvement of the human condition within their communities, their countries and the world at large. Our choice fell on the former Nigerian president Good Luck Jonathan due to his contributions to the enthronement of a sound democratic culture and society, democratic constitutionalism, peace, security and good governance in his country the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The vision and record of Good Luck Jonathan will greatly contribute to the development of a credible democratic culture and economic emancipation of Africa.

Former Nigerian President Good Luck Jonathan maintained the integrity and unity of Nigeria which this paper regrets, Buhari is jeopardizing with his ethnic politics that undermines the federal character of his country. The resurgence of the popular clamour for the reactivation of the sovereign state of Biafra as the recent demonstration by millions of people of Eastern Nigeria origin at home and worldwide is an obvious indicator.

While in opposition President Buhari made statements that undermined the war effort against Boko Haram. He later rallied the ethnic support of Northern Nigeria and hoodwinked the gullible Yoruba power elite to return power to the North. Now in power President Buhari’s inconsistent policy of wanting to negotiate and fighting Boko Haram is an indication that he does not intend to fight them with the same intensity that Jonathan did.  Jonathan an ethnic minority Ejaw from the volatile Niger Delta of Nigeria succeeded in negotiating a peaceful abatement of the armed insurgency in the Niger Delta that disrupted oil exploitation, the main stay of the Federation’s economy and international maritime traffic.  That was a major achievement that merits recognition.

Jonathan has been criticized of being lax in the fight against corruption. This criticism is exaggerated considering the fact  most efforts he made in the fight against corruption were indeed sabotaged by some of the very born again torn coat politicians who energized and sponsored the then opposition APC alliance to wrestle power from Jonathan. It was on Jonathan’s watch that some of the Sani Abacha loot was repatriated and fiscal and financial discipline introduced into governance.  The Ngozi Okongo Eweala led nationally and internationally acclaimed economic policies identified and closed loopholes in government fiscal and financial policies, depriving corrupt politicians and business men of the impunity with which they looted public wealth.  This made powerful enemies against Jonathan within and out of his own political party the PDP.   Some left to join the opposition APC alliance and have since been portrayed as the saints who will wipe corruption from the face of Nigeria.  Sooner or later, the true motives underpinning the born again posturing of these political torn coats will become as obvious as day follows night to all to see. Then and only then will Nigerians discover the truth that leopards do not indeed change their spots.

Jonathan’s respect of the Federal character in critical government appointments; in particular appointments into ministries and portfolios overseeing national sovereignty insured that Nigerians of all ethnicities had roles and stakes in national decision making.  The national conference organized by Jonathan provides Nigerians an opportunity to chart a new future for their country and to recommit to the idea of unity in diversity.  The national conference is one of the landmark attainments of Jonathan enduring legacies to his people which history has recognized and recorded for our generation and generations unborn.

Cameroon Concord News Group has always held the considered opinion that Boko Haram is a tricky adversary which is hated and loved in equal measures by gullible politicians in Nigeria and Cameroon.  First it offers power thirsty politicians the opportunity to attain power. It also provides them the opportunity to retain power, siphon money meant to support the war effort.

Like President Yaradua before, President Jonathan inherited Fulani cattlemen attacks in the Middle Belt, the Niger Delta crisis and the Boko Haram insurgency in the North from the previous administration of President Obasanjo. During his reign, President Jonathan made considerable efforts in rallying sub-regional and national efforts   to confront these challenges. Time has so far proved that President Buhari who criticized Jonathan’s Boko Haram strategy promising to end the insurgency if elected in a matter of months, has  so far not offered any combat strategy different from that of President Jonathan to confront the armed challenges.  He has also not offered any specific economic policies that defer from those put in place by President Jonathan.  The slow pace of the Buhari administration may indeed be interpreted due to be a paucity of any credible economic policies that are superior to those put in place by President Jonathan.

Most significant, history will retain that President Jonathan successfully organized a free and fair election, the outcome of which he graciously accepted and respected, sparing Nigeria the risk of the bloodletting that has characterized several elections within the troubled continent of Africa.

It is sad that those who won the elections promising to bring better reforms than those put in place by Jonathan are still struggling to realize even a single promise they made to the electorate. The admitted rationale for the election of President Buhari in the last election was his proven record in combatting corruption as a military leader.  President Buhari’s famed war against corruption largely succeeded then because of the dictatorial military instruments of coercion he wielded then to impose and enforce his policies. Those instruments were not available to Jonathan and absent them now a civilian president, President Buhari, facing the same adversaries may not be a hopeful of the successes he recorded in the war against corruption as a military ruler. The same forces that applauded him to power this time around will be an impediment to his corruption fighting policies and strategies due in part on human rights and rule of law considerations and potential impediments.

History will rate Jonathan fairly and may be classify him as one of the great political leaders to come out of Africa. He has demonstrated by words and deeds that he is patriotic, visionary, democratic, humane, and honest and readily one the great leaders of our generation, Africa and the democratic world. He merits our recognition.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai


233 Ambazonian children killed by the Rapid Intervention Battalion in three months

20, November 2018

233 Ambazonian children killed by the Rapid Intervention Battalion in three months 0

Cameroon government forces have shot and killed more than 233 Southern Cameroonian children in Boyo, Mezam, Menchum, Ndian, Kupe Muanenguba, Bui, Lebialem and Manyu in the last three months. A Roman Catholic priest in Bamenda told Cameroon Concord News on Monday that 233 Southern Cameroonian children lost their lives due to live fire from soldiers serving with the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR).

The clergy who spoke to us on condition of anonymity said a group of religious leaders will be making public a detail report of teenagers killed by Francophone soldiers. According to the man of God, majority of the children were either shot in the head, chest or belly.

Figures from the Ambazonian Interim Government show that more than 4000 Southern Cameroonians have been killed and over 165,000 internally displaced. The UN says it has registered more than twenty-thousand as refugees in the Federal Republic of Nigeria with many of those fleeing wounded by Cameroon army live bullets since the outbreak of the Anglophone crisis.

The UN and the EU are yet to make calls for the arrest of Cameroon government troops, who kill or maim Southern Cameroons children in clear violation of international law. The French government of President Macron supporting the Francophone regime in Yaoundé has reportedly blocked all diplomatic channels at the United Nations General Assembly and the African Union aimed at condemning the Biya Francophone regime for Ambazonian civilian deaths.

The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has appealed for inclusive dialogue-a move rejected by the 85 year old Francophone dictator, Paul Biya.

By Rita Akana


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