US President Donald Trump is perhaps the world’s most famous Twitter user, but the most popular post of 2017 was from… Barack Obama.

Three tweets by the former US leader made it onto Twitter’s Top 10 list of retweeted messages for this year but there were none from Trump despite his prolific use of the platform.

Trump was, however, the elected leader most tweeted about, Twitter said.

A tweet racking up the most “likes,” about 4.6 million as of Tuesday, came from Obama’s personal Twitter account on the day of a deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The tweet showed a photo of a racially diverse group of children looking out a window at Obama as he smiled back, and bore a quote from Nelson Mandela.

The same Twitter post was the second most re-tweeted of the year, behind a tweet from a teenager trying to win a year’s supply of chicken nuggets from fast food chain Wendy’s.

(Source: AFP)

Cameroon Intelligence Report has written a strongly worded letter bearing evidence of genocide in the French Cameroun state-sponsored campaign of violence against Southern Cameroonians to the interim President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. The publication recently compiled images of atrocities committed in Ambazonia by soldiers loyal to the Biya Francophone regime in Yaoundé.

In a letter addressed to the interim Head of State, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, CIR noted that “No one, not even the Secretary General of the United Nations can rule out elements of mass killings in Southern Cameroons.”

President Ayuk Tabe was informed that none of the more than forty thousand Ambazonians who have fled the brutal atrocities by French Cameroun state forces headed by General Elokobi Daniel Njock into neighboring Nigeria should be returned to Southern Cameroons unless there was robust international monitoring on the ground.

The Biya 35 year-old regime has failed to address evident marginalization and discriminatory Francophone character in the day-to-day running of the country that target Southern Cameroonians. Meanwhile, the interim government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia has called for unity among Southern Cameroonians in the face of the French Cameroun onslaught.

Sisiku Ayuk Tabe urged Ambazonian Diaspora to keep the pressure on the French Cameroun government, insisting that La Republique’s government forces were continuing to commit crimes against humanity on a daily basis in the Manyu State.

An aide to President Ayuk Tabe told Cameroon Concord News that “The world must now stand up and send a clear message to Mr. Paul Biya and his regime and the French Cameroun military that their abhorrent treatment of Southern Cameroonians must end immediately, and that perpetrators will not enjoy impunity.”

The French Cameroun army has launched a series of brutal crackdowns on the Southern Cameroons community ever since the Anglophone revolution started last year. Soldiers have been raping, killing, and torturing the Anglophone minority. Since intensifying in November by the 84 year-old French Cameroun leader, the crackdown has forced more than four thousands Manyus to flee to neighboring Nigeria.

By Chi Prudence Asong

Images of civilians fleeing government’s rampaging soldiers in Akwaya and Eyumojock sub-divisions in the South West Region of Cameroon have begun emerging, as many Manyu citizens flee into neighboring Nigeria to seek refuge. Women and children could be seen running for their lives, with many carrying their luggage on their heads. The arriving refugees have been speaking of the terror that the Cameroon military has unleashed on its own people, especially as it is reported that four more army soldiers have been killed in the village of Babong in Eyumojock sub-division. According to our source, the killings occurred yesterday in the evening and this has sent government troops in the region on a rampage.

The government of Cameroon has dispatched thousands of well-armed troops into several Manyu villages, ostensibly to track down secessionists whom the government considers as terrorists, following the slaughtering of some six army soldiers last week. However, many people we spoke to said more than 200 army soldiers had been sent to an early grave by some armed groups which have been using hit-and-run tactics. They allege that many of those committing the atrocities are not Cameroonians and are mercenaries who have been hired to undertake such a dangerous mission.

Residents of Manyu Division have questioned the rationale behind the government’s retaliatory military action when it understands that the criminals are not necessarily people living in the villages in which the Yaoundé government has sent its troops. It should be recalled that many military trucks have been sent to Manyu Division following a declaration of war by the country’s president on Anglophone secessionists who have been calling for the total liberation of the once British trust territory. The soldiers have been deployed in villages such as Otu, Agborkem German, Esaghem, Nsanarakati and Eshobi to “mop up” the villages of the so-called “terrorists”.

Speaking to some of those fleeing government-organized violence, it is clear that the military has a scheme to eradicate all young men found in those villages. They explain that the terror that was unleashed on them on October 1, 2017, has been reduced to a dress rehearsal by current violent military actions undertaken by the Yaoundé government.

Over the last two days, more than 10,000 Cameroonians have arrived the Nigerian state of Cross River where they are being treated as refugees. Many of the children show signs of fatigue and illness after having covered more than 20 kilometers just to make it to Nigeria. Many of the refugees say they have not eaten and slept for days as their objective was to reach Nigeria which they consider as a safer place.

Speaking to a 40-year-old Akwaya resident who elected unanimity, he said the United Nations needed to step in to preempt government actions that are designed to cleanse the region of young active men. He said an ethnic cleansing was playing out in that part of the country and that if the international community did not step in, the world would be shocked by the scale of destruction and killings. He added that many young men had left the region, with some living in the forest to ensure they were not arrested as any arrests might only send them to an early grave.

The 40-year-old Akwaya resident urged the international community not to be deceived by any stories the government could be telling. He advised the international community to conduct investigations into government actions in the region, stressing that there were clear cases of human rights violations and crimes against humanity. He questioned the government’s military action, saying that “what could really justify the terrorizing of children and women if the government did not have a scheme to commit ethnic cleansing?”

He underscored that he would not return to his native Akwaya until the international community provided the necessary assurances. He intimated that many of the children who were still left in those villages did not know where their parents were as many had fled for their dear lives. He said he was not sure those kids would be able to take care of themselves as many were less than six-years-old.

He regretted that the military operation that was driving Manyu residents from their homes was being led by General Elokobi Daniel Njock, a son of the region. He called on him to put himself in their place, adding that those military actions would surely not achieve their goals, as violence only begets violence.

It should also be stressed that residents of Eyumojock sub-division in Manyu Division have also reported several cases of abuse by army soldiers who have been deployed in villages around Eyumojock town. They allege that women whose husbands have fled into the forest and into Nigeria to seek refuge are being brutalized, with many carrying physical scars of violence. Some have been seen carrying swollen faces while many are too scared to talk. Our call to Chief Ita of Eyumojock has not yet been returned and we would continue calling until we get through to him.

It should be recalled that a press release by the Senior Divisional Officer for Manyu, Oum II Joseph, last Friday sowed panic, causing many men to cross over into Nigeria or seek refuge in the dense equatorial forest. Although the South West Region’s Governor had said on Saturday that the said press release was fake, many Manyu Citizens who are used to government tactics knew that it was a strategy to deceive them. The villagers understand that the government has been hurt and the killing of army soldiers was a humiliation to the beleaguered government.

Our sources have also advised that the military is seizing all cell phones to ensure that no pictures make their way out of the region. The government holds that this action will help to suppress the people of this region once and for all. However, our military sources have promised to help, as they are not comfortable with the operation that is clearly designed to stamp out opposition against the aging Yaoundé government that has left Cameroonians in abject poverty.

It should also be noted that many human rights groups have been banned from operating in the region and many local journalists have been arrested and jailed for covering any government action relating to this operation. However, it is being rumored that though the International Crisis Group and Amnesty International have been proscribed in Cameroon, some of their members are operating on the ground and will be able to bring out the eerie tales of the government’s misadventure in a region that is determined to frustrate all its efforts to impose its own version of peace in the region.

The Anglophone crisis that has rocked Cameroon over the last twelve months has entered a critical phase. According to many analysts, Cameroon is sliding into a civil war and only international efforts can check this unfortunate situation, as secessionists are determined to carry their action to a logical conclusion.

With hordes of refugees heading to Nigeria, it is obvious that international community will become aware of the scale of destruction and murder that is taking place in Southern Cameroons, especially in Manyu Division that is the birthplace of Anglophone activism.  With the anger and frustration of having been marginalized and chased out of their country, these young men will surely constitute a strong pool of willing fighters if they lay their hands on weapons. Instead of fighting secession which is an idea with appeasement, the government has decided to kill an idea with missiles and this is unfortunately not producing the desired results. The government has failed to understand that in cases like this, appeasement is better than brute force. As the population gets terrorized, it becomes very hard for the government to obtain reliable intelligence on how to track the people the soldiers are looking for. No security system in the world has ever done a great job without the participation of the civilian population.

The government stands to gain if it seeks to win hearts and minds during this operation. The Anglophone problem has been playing out for over a year now, with the government taking only cosmetic measures. A strike that started with lawyers and teachers was allowed to quickly degenerate into calls for federalism that was promptly rejected by the government, with the country’s president, Paul Biya, stating that the form of the state could not be discussed. This has put him in a tight spot and, today, he does not know how to eat the giant humble pie he had made for himself. Anglophones are not backing down. The deployment of troops across the region is not synonymous with a return to the old days. The country has been caught up in unprecedented turbulence and this is taking a toll on the fragile economy. The few resources that could have been used to reboot the economy are now being used to run a war that is doomed to failure as it is guerrilla warfare and the secessionists’ hit-and-run tactics are bringing humiliation to the government, as its soldiers continue to bite the dust.

The solution to the Anglophone problem is at the negotiating table. The government has to swallow its pride and accept that there is no return to the status quo ante. Cameroon will never be the same again and instead of killing and maiming ordinary citizens, it is time to meet Anglophones halfway so that the new republic’s future can be discussed. It is unfortunate that Cameroon is ending up with a dictator’s legacy – a civil war.

By Kingley Betek in Cross River State of Nigeria

Christian militiamen killed a Mauritanian UN peacekeeper in an attack on a camp for displaced people in a Central African Republic diamond-mining town on Monday, the United Nations mission there said.

Fighters armed with AK-47s and makeshift weapons also wounded one Zambian and two Mauritanian peacekeepers during the 90-minute gunfight at the police checkpoint in the town of Bria, the UN added.

The country has been driven by sectarian conflict since 2013 when Seleka rebels ousted President Francois Bozize. That triggered a backlash by Christian anti-balaka fighters.

As many as 100 people died in Bria in June during a day of clashes between rival factions. The area is coveted by militia for its surrounding diamond mines. It also hosts tens of thousands of people displaced by the conflict.

Even with 13,000 troops, the UN mission has struggled to restore order to a country the size of France and has lost 14 peacekeepers in attacks this year alone.

(Source: Reuters)

French Cameroun Minister of State in charge of Defense, Beti Assomo has told the Francophone dominated National Assembly in Yaoundé that the people of French Cameroun will soon be seeing a massive deployment of troops to Southern Cameroons.  Beti Assomo made the declaration yesterday, Monday the 4^th of December 2017 during a presentation in front of the members of the Finance and Budget Committee.

“You will soon see with your eyes, how our military will be set up to occupy the Anglophone regions of the country” noted Minister Beti Assomo to MPs who had actually gathered in the Chamber to discuss and adopt the draft law on the ratification of the Air Transport Agreement between Cameroon and Saudi Arabia and the draft on the ratification of the Arms Trade Treaty.

On this occasion, Joseph Beti Assomo (to use his three names) informed the so-called French Cameroun elected representatives that on very high instruction from the Head of State and Commander-in-Chief, he will soon deployed French Cameroun Special Forces to the English-speaking regions.

The French Cameroun army however began an operation deep inside the Southern Cameroons territory on Monday that has claimed the lives of hundreds of innocent civilians including women and children. In the village of Kembong last week, French Cameroun troops broke into homes, arrested dozens of Ambazonians. The soldiers also confiscated huge sums of money on lame and ridiculous reasons that the Anglophone citizens were financing the Southern Cameroons struggle.

Cameroon Concord News sources in the Manyu State hinted that many Southern Cameroonians have been transported to Yaoundé and detained in deplorable centers.  French Cameroun media houses reported that the plenary session of the National Assembly that lasted several hours, is the first that was held in serenity due to the absence Anglophone parliamentarians from the SDF.

By Sama Ernest

Yemen’s Interior Ministry has issued a statement confirming the death of the country’s ousted president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, during clashes in capital Sana’a.

The confirmation came after a Yemeni radio station announced earlier on Monday that Saleh had been killed during clashes in the Yemeni capital.

The Interior Ministry further said in its statement that Saleh had been creating “chaos” in the country through cooperating with “militias of aggression” and by providing help to “extremist militias.”

The ministry added that the Yemeni forces, backed by fighters from the popular Ansarullah Houthi movement, were in full control of all positions previously held by Saleh’s militias in Sana’a.

The statement also noted that conflicts, which had plagued Sana’a during past days, were actually over after death of Saleh.

“The Interior Ministry announces the end of the crisis of the treason militia and the killing of its leader and a number on his criminal partisans,” it added.

Later in the day, Saudi-owned al-Arabiya television quoted sources in Saleh’s General Peoples Congress as confirming that he had been killed.

The news channel added that the sources had said Saleh was killed by sniper bullets.

A few hours later, officials in Ali Abdullah Saleh’s General People’s Congress (GPC) confirmed to Reuters that Saleh had been killed outside Sana’a, in what sources in the Houthi group said was an RPG and gun attack.

The GPC officials said Saleh was killed south of the capital Sana’a along with the assistant secretary-general of the GPC, Yasser al-Awadi.

Earlier on Monday, Saudi Arabia unleashed a fresh wave of aerial bombardments against targets in Yemen’s capital in an apparent effort to support forces loyal Saleh.

Since November 29, armed clashes sparked by forces loyal to Saleh, have continued against Houthi forces that are at the forefront of a retaliatory war against the Saudi-led military coalition. Saleh loyalists accused the Houthi fighters of raiding their bases across Sana’a and beyond, an allegation that the Houthi leader has strongly denied.

Saleh stepped down following a 2011 uprising after being in power for 33 years. His resignation in 2012 paved the way for Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi to assume power as Yemen’s president. Hadi, however, resigned in 2014 and fled the country to Saudi Arabia.

The Houthi movement assumed responsibility for running state affairs after Hadi’s escape threw Yemen into a state of uncertainty and threatened a total security breakdown in the country, where an al-Qaeda affiliate was present.

Later on, Saleh joined forces with the Houthis and the Yemeni army to defend the country against the brutal Saudi aggression, which started in March 2015.

On Saturday, however, Saleh officially announced the end of his alliance with Houthis, claiming that the movement had imposed hunger on the country and worked as an ally of Iran.

Source: Presstv

Manyu Division in the South West Region of Cameroon is currently under military rule as the government continues to conduct its “clean-up campaign” in the two Anglophone regions of the country. Some 18 military trucks arrived the Manyu Divisional headquarters of Mamfe on Sunday, December 3, 2017, following a declaration of war by the country’s president on Anglophone secessionists who have been calling for the total liberation of the once British trust territory. The trucks have been heading to villages such as Otu, Agborkem German, Esaghem, Nsanarakati and Eshobi to “mop up” those villages of those the government terms as “terrorists” who have been killing army soldiers in recent months.

According to our military sources in Mamfe, the objective of the campaign is to track down those who have been responsible for the killing of army soldiers in the region. The sources who spoke on condition of anonymity said that after a roll call by the government, it was discovered that more than 200 army soldiers sent to Manyu Division to preempt the declaration of independence had not returned to their base and things were made worse when 4 gendarme officers and 2 policemen were savagely killed in the region last week.

According to civilian sources in Mamfe town and in Otu, a border village, the soldiers who are heading to these villages have been brutalizing women whose husbands have fled into the forest and into Nigeria to seek refuge. It should be recalled that a press release by the Senior Divisional Officer for Manyu, Oum II Joseph, last Friday sowed panic, causing many men to cross over into Nigeria or seek refuge in the dense equatorial forest. Although the South West Region’s Governor had said on Saturday that the said press release was fake, many Manyu Citizens who are used to government tactics knew that it was a strategy to deceive them. The villagers understand that the government has been hurt and the killing of army soldiers was a humiliation to the beleaguered government.

Our sources have also advised that the military is seizing all cell phones to ensure that no pictures make their way out of the region. The government holds that this action will help to suppress the people of this region once and for all. However, our military sources have promised that they will make sure pictures emerge as they are not comfortable with the operation that is clearly designed to suppress the English-speaking minority.

Though the International Crisis Group and Amnesty International have been proscribed in Cameroon, our sources have alleged that some of their members are operating on the ground and will be able to bring out the eerie tales of the government’s misadventure in a region that is determined to frustrate all its  efforts to impose its own version of peace in the region.

It should be recalled that the Anglophone crisis that has rocked Cameroon over the last twelve months has entered a critical phase. According to many analysts, Cameroon is sliding into a civil war and only international efforts can check this unfortunate situation, as secessionists are determined to carry their action to a logical conclusion.

Today, many parts of Manyu Division have been militarized and the citizens are not allowed to move from one location to the other. The people seem to have been rolled back into the dark ages against their wish. It also seems the government is helping to enforce the ghost towns that have been going on in the region for one year by undertaking such unnecessary military actions.

In border villages and towns like Ekok, Otu, Agborkem German and Nsanarakati, army soldiers are abusing young girls and the population does not know where to turn to for protection. For those who have escaped, the unfortunate thing is that many of them may never return home, especially those who are hiding in the jungle as the conditions out there are not the best.

With hordes of refugees heading to Nigeria, it is obvious that international community will become aware of the scale of destruction and murder that is taking place in Southern Cameroons, especially in Manyu Division that is the birthplace of Anglophone activism.  With the anger and frustration of having been marginalized and chased out of the country, these young men will surely constitute a strong pool of willing fighters if they lay their hands on weapons. Instead of fighting secession which is an idea with appeasement, the government has decided to kill an idea with missiles and this is unfortunately not producing the desired results. The government has failed to understand that in cases like this, appeasement is better than brute force. As the population gets terrorized, it becomes very hard for the government to obtain reliable intelligence on how to track the people the soldiers are looking for. No security system in the world has ever done a great job without the participation of the civilian population.

The government stands to gain if it seeks to win hearts and minds. The Anglophone problem has been playing out for over a year now and Anglophones have clearly stated their problems. A strike that started with lawyers and teachers was allowed to quickly degenerate into calls for federalism that was promptly rejected by the government, with the country’s president, Paul Biya, stating that the form of the state could not be discussed. This has put him in a tight spot and, today, he does not know how to eat the giant humble pie he had made for himself. Anglophones are not backing down. The deployment of troops across the region is not synonymous with a return to the old days. The country has been caught up in unprecedented turbulence and this is taking a toll on the fragile economy. The few resources that could have been used to reboot the economy are now being used to run a war that is doomed to failure as it is a guerrilla warfare and the secessionists’ hit-and-run tactics are bringing humiliation to the government, as its soldiers continue to bite the dust.

The solution to the Anglophone problem is at the negotiating table. The government has to swallow its pride and accept that there is no return to the status quo ante. Cameroon will never be the same again and instead of killing and maiming ordinary citizens, it is time to meet Anglophones halfway so that the new republic’s future can be discussed. It is unfortunate that Cameroon is ending up with a dictator’s legacy – a civil war.

By Kingley Betek in Ekok