The 30th of December 2017 has been described by a Roman Catholic clergy as a day that will live in infamy in Okoyong history.  It was indeed a day that elements of the Francophone dominated police force stormed the village of Okoyong some 6 kilometers from Mamfe the chief town in Manyu Division and brutally murdered a young and promising Roman Catholic Christian, Prince Akwo Carlson. Cameroon Concord News understands two other Roman Catholics were shot and they are presently receiving treatment for serious injuries.

The Francophone security officers forcefully took the late Carlson away from his  mother on lame and ridiculous reasons that they were staging what is known as “cale cale”. He was beaten and when he attempted to escape for his dear life, one of the Francophone officers shot and killed him. His mother told our Manyu bureau chief that he was shot at very close range on his forehead. His body was ferried away and buried in one of the mass graves in Mamfe town.

For the first time in the history of the Roman Catholic Church in Southern Cameroons, a Catholic priest in his homily invoked the God of vengeance to punish the officer who fired the shot and all those serving in the Biya regime. In a related development, a mentally ill person was shot in the chest in Mamfe on the 29^th of December, 2017.

By Judith Fon in Mamfe

A former mayor in Cameroon arrested in September 2014 for alleged complicity with Boko Haram was acquitted Thursday, a week after a Radio France International correspondent was released on terrorism charges. Moussa Ramat, the ex-mayor of Fotokol in Cameroon’s far north, was accused of supplying weapons to the jihadist group and assisting in the sale of looted goods from Boko Haram fighters.

His lawyer Eugene Balemaken told AFP the accusations “did not correspond to reality”. “He was therefore properly acquitted following the debates.” Sources said the former mayor regularly intervened before his arrest in several negotiations that resulted in the release of Boko Haram hostages.

Ramat could be released very soon, said Balemaken, who called the trial of his client as “unfair” because of his help with negotiations.

After serving 29 months in jail, RFI correspondent Ahmed Abba was acquitted on December 22 after being suspected of collaborating with Boko Haram and not passing on information to the authorities. He was released the following day.

Since 2014, when Cameroon began its fight against Boko Haram, the group has killed at least 2,000 soldiers and civilians and kidnapped 1,000 people in the country’s far north region, according to the International Crisis Group.

At least 20,000 people have been killed and more than 2.6 million displaced in the eight-year conflict, which has destroyed livelihoods and triggered a humanitarian crisis. About 1.8 million people live in camps or with relatives in Nigeria’s worst-affected states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa. Others have fled to Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

Source: AFP

The pro ruling CPDM party’s so-called National Anti-Corruption Commission (CONAC), – the body in charge of the fight against corruption in Cameroon has revealed that the nation suffered an estimated loss of 1246 billion FCFA in the last five years.

The CONAC report stated that a survey carried out at the general treasury in Buea, Southern Cameroons found fictitious payments of court fees amounting to 7,956 billion FCFA from January 2011 to June 2016.

In Bertoua, the chief city in the East region fraudulent payments were valued at CFAF 1.699 billion in the general treasury from January 2014 to July 2016.

Last year, CONAC said it registered 2,402 reports of corruption as against 3,268 in 2015 from all the 10 regions.  The fake anti corruption body stated that areas were corruption is rife includes land disputes, public procurement and management of resources allocated to organizations.

CONAC also pointed out that Cameroonian custom officers are among the most corrupt civil servants in Cameroon. It cited in its findings the case of the customs official who owns 13 villas, a five-storey building, 10 registered land, five 30-ton trucks, and five Toyota cars, 28-seat coaster, two 18-seater coaches, a fleet of high-end personal vehicles …

Source: Cameroon Intelligence Report

Two mass graves containing dozens of bodies have been found in Mamfe, a local human rights activist hinted Cameroon Concord News today Thursday the 28^th of December 2017, adding they appeared to belong to people who had been killed by Cameroon government forces operating in Manyu Division ever since President declared war against the people of Southern Cameroons.

The mass graves were discovered behind the old council office in Mamfe, the chief town in the Manyu constituency. Our Manyu Bureau Chief reported that one of them contained 10 bodies belonging to young people from Eshobi, Egbekaw, Besongabang and Dadi including five other villages.

They had been forced out of the Mamfe prison immediately after the attack on the gendarmerie post in Egbekaw by Cameroon government troops, according to a local human rights activist.  The number and identity of the bodies in the other mass grave was not yet known. A Mamfe Rural Council Official who spoke to us but sued for anonymity confirmed that two mass graves had been found, but declined to give more details.

Passersby found the mass graves after noticing a smell and insects there, the Council officer said. The victims belong to the Manyu ethnic group which the Yaounde regime accuses of supporting the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

Dozens of armed Southern Cameroons militants have remained active in Manyu confronting the Francophone dominated army.

By Judith Fon in Mamfe