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Battle for Ambazonia: “The situation in Nkambe, Bali, Kembong, Ekok and Wum is very volatile”

24, November 2018

Battle for Ambazonia: “The situation in Nkambe, Bali, Kembong, Ekok and Wum is very volatile” 0

The French and the United States governments including the Roman Catholic Church should pressure President Biya and his small group of Francophone political elites to stop the war in Southern Cameroons, says an academic and chairman of the Manyu Global Forum Seseskou Dr. Peter Ako adding that the situation in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia is now deplorable.

In a telephone conversation with our senior political man, Soter Agbaw-Ebai late yesterday, Sesekou Dr Ako Peter revealed that the Ambazonian Interim Government (IG) and the Ambazonia Security Council (ASC) were developing a new self defense strategy that will be implemented on Ground Zero soon.  He showered praises on the Lebialem Dragons and hinted that there was an urgent need for the IG to order a tactical withdrawal of Restoration Forces in Bali, Batibo including parts of Menchum and Mezam until the new ASC policy goes operational.

“The situation in Nkambe, Bali, Kembong, Ekok and Wum is very volatile. This is nothing new. The French Cameroun government is carrying out raids in these localities in a very brutal manner. I think there is an urgent need for a kind of tactical withdrawal of Restoration Forces. I have endorsed that already in Eyumojock and Akwaya sub constituencies in the Manyu County,” said Sesekou Dr Ako Peter.

“I am not allowed to comment on self defense issues particularly with people of the press. But I want to assure Southern Cameroonians that an inquiry took place on the happenings in Nkambe that was ordered by Acting President Ikome Sako which established the use of helicopters and machine guns by French Cameroun security forces,” Sesekou Dr Ako Peter told Cameroon Concord News Group.

The former MECA USA Chairman also observed that “Whilst the French Cameroun regime is calling these genocidal campaigns a war against separatists, the killing of innocent Southern Cameroons civilians including Christian Missionaries should be condemned internationally and there should be pressure put on the French Cameroun regime to dialogue with the Ambazonian Interim Government.”

By Chi Prudence Asong with files from Soter Agbaw-Ebai


Southern Cameroons leader, 9 others charged with terrorism!! Trial to begin Dec.6

24, November 2018

Southern Cameroons leader, 9 others charged with terrorism!! Trial to begin Dec.6 0

A pro Biya Francophone Attorney General on Thursday November the 22nd charged the leader of the Ambazonian republic and nine others with terrorism.  The Yaoundé Military Tribunal held a secret hearing with what is now known as the Nera 10 in the absence of the abductees’ lawyers and the Southern Cameroons leaders were transferred afterwards to the Yaoundé Principal Prison, in Kondengui.

The Southern Cameroons Interim Government’s spokesman, Hon. Chris Anu reported that eyewitnesses saw nine of them as they went through protocol at the Kondengui high security prison. Chris Anu added that “If anything, the event 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.”

The French Cameroun judge who earlier met with the 85 year old Biya privately at the Unity Palace leveled the charge against President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe the interim head of state of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia including nine of his top aides. Cameroon Intelligence Report understands that several detained Ambazonian activists are facing the same charge. A well-placed source in Yaoundé hinted this reporter that President Biya has ordered another Francophone judge to begin the trial on December the 6th.

No human rights activist or legal representations were allowed outside or inside the Yaoundé Military Tribunal where the so-called preliminary hearing took place. The International Crisis Group including many humanitarian organizations has criticized the abduction and illegal extradition of the Southern Cameroons leaders from Abuja, Nigeria.

The Southern Cameroons Acting President Dr Samuel Ikome Sako has also been quoted as saying that President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe is not a terrorist but a great leader who has fought for years against French Cameroun colonial rule in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

Elsewhere, Cameroon military said on Friday that it has killed at least 43 armed Ambazonia separatists’ fighters. The Biya regime army spokesperson also observed that troops destroyed at least three camps in several operations since Thursday in Bali village in the Mezam administrative area and Abu village in the Fundong administrative area in the North West region. The military reportedly seized a huge consignment of guns, ammunition, machetes, motorcycles and drugs.

The military added that they found the separatist hideouts after tracking one of the gunmen suspected of kidnapping 79 students and three staff members from a school on Nov. 4. La Republique du Cameroun and Southern Cameroons are both experiencing deadliest-ever socio-political crisis and the worst since the war to crush the UPC uprising, when the two territories were governed by the late President Ahmadou Ahidjo. More than 4000 Southern Cameroonian civilians have died in the ongoing violence including some 1600 Cameroon government army soldiers. The Southern Cameroons war has also claimed the lives of a sea of foreign and local missionaries.

The protests against French Cameroun dominance were triggered by a proposed system overhaul by Anglophone teachers and lawyers. Recently, former United States Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Affairs, Herman Jay Cohen again noted that the ongoing war for territorial control between French Cameroun and the Federal Republic of Ambazonia is unwinnable by either side, and therefore recommended that the protagonists should approach the current Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Affairs, Ambassador Tibor Nagy, to begin a mediation process to end the imbroglio. The former diplomat and scholar who brokered a peace deal to end the Eritrean versus Ethiopia war in 1991, among others, made the statement in a recent tweet on his official Twitter handle @CohenOnAfrica.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files


Nigeria: Army confirms Boko Haram rampage, mute on casualty figures

24, November 2018

Nigeria: Army confirms Boko Haram rampage, mute on casualty figures 0

The Nigerian Army has confirmed one of the the deadliest attacks by Boko Haram on its troops with the known casualty figures rising as high as a hundred slain soldiers.

The Army in a statement on Friday said the attack on 157 Task Force Battalion at Matele indeed took place.

“Whilst it is true that there was an attack on the location on 18 November 2018, it has however, become necessary to correct several misinformation being circulated with regards to this unfortunate event,” the statement read in part.

The army explained that its delay in relaying the incident was because of procedural issues on having to inform the next of kin of affected troops before going public with such information.

Whiles claiming there was misinformation in figures and videos currently circulating on social media, the army failed to provide a casualty figure. They also urged against spread of Boko Haram propaganda materials.

“Furthermore, it suffices to observe that several social media, print and online publications have been brandishing false casualty figures as well as circulating various footages of old and inaccurate BHT propaganda videos and alluding same to be the attack on 157 Task Force Battalion.

“Whilst it is understandable how such misinformation can spread in this era of social media frenzy, the spurious circulation of some of these videos only contribute to further propagate the propaganda intent of the terrorists; to misinform the populace and portray themselves as what they are not.

“So far, the situation is that the location is under control as reinforcing units have been able to repel the terrorists and stabilize the situation,” the statement added.

Meanwhile the local news portal, The Nation Nigeria quotes an unnamed soldier that escaped the attack as saying an advanced team of the insurgents came into the based as friendly forces and went into the office of the commander where they fired at him and five other soldiers that were with him in his office.

The Army command in Maiduguri have evacuated bodies of soldiers killed by Boko Haram insurgents on Sunday at Metele village in Guzamala Local Government Area of North Borno State, the portal added.

Source: Africa News


23, November 2018

UN Praises Nigerian Governor For Taking Care Of Southern Cameroons Refugees 0

Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, has been lauded by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees for hosting and taking care of the Cameroonian refugees in the state. The state government over some months now has been taking care of over 10,000 refugees who escaped from Cameroon as a result of the ongoing crisis in the country and are taking refuge in Kwande Local Government Area of Benue State.

The Representative of UNHCR in West Africa Region, Louis Ahua, gave the commendation, on Thursday, when she paid the Governor a courtesy visit at the State Government House, in Makurdi.

Mrs. Ahua, who was accompanied on the visit by the agency’s representative in Nigeria, Mr. Antonio Kanhandula, said the governor’s support had in no small way complemented the agency’s humanitarian work of providing the welfare of refugees, many of whom were being camped in Kwande Local Government Area of the state.

She commiserated with Governor Ortom over the attacks in the state which have resulted in the killing of many lives and displacement of thousands of people even as she assured of the agency’s support for his administration to do more.

Governor Ortom, while reacting to their commendation, thanked the UNHCR for donating vehicles to his government to better cater for the refugees, noted that the little challenge of the refugees with the immediate community was being addressed by the Tor Tiv.

He added that if after the intervention of the Tor Tiv, the matter was still not resolved, he would personally step in so that the refugees would have a peaceful stay in Benue State.

Source: Naijanews


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


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