31, March 2018
Condition of Ambazonian refugees in Nigeria worries top UNHCR official 0
A top official with the United Nations Refugee Agency, UNHCR, has bemoaned the deplorable conditions under which Cameroonians fleeing the Anglophone crisis are living in Nigeria.
Antonio Canhandula, a Programme / Operation Manager and UNHCRrepresentative made his reservations via his twitter handle after visiting some of the refugees in Nigeria’s Cross River and Benue States earlier this week. Other refugees are living in the Akwa Ibom and Taraba States.
One tweet disclosed how some women said they had so little food to feed their families that they had to carry bricks to earn money to supplement what relief agencies provided.
Accompanying a photo of young children lined up in a school he wrote: “Beautiful Cameroon refugee students. Children do not deserve the unfortunate situation of a refugee. This is freedom and human growth arrested. Robbing children of a future. An urgent solution is called for. Ikom.”
The UNHCR’s records indicate that 20,000 plus Cameroonians have fled the country’s North West and South West regions due to what has become known as the Anglophone crisis.
Canhandula’s reservations are the same as those of the agency he represents. The UNHCR aside pushing that a political solution be found to the crisis holds that it does not have enough funds to cater for the growing number of refugees.
Secessionist elements pushing for independence under the so-called Ambazonia Republic have often clashed with state security agencies. They had earlier used guerilla style attacks to kill over twenty security forces.
The recent leg is armed exchanges and the use of kidnappings. So far, two government officials are in their custody. The Catholic Church’s relief wing in Nigeria has said the refugee influx also hurts Nigerians as it deepens their own poverty situations.
Dialogue has been advanced as a key solution to the crisis that started in October last year. Interior Minister Paul Atanga Nji is on record to have said the government will only dialogue with persons who believe in the unity of Nigeria.
1, April 2018
Ambazonia Crisis: Over 4000 arrested 0
More than 4000 Southern Cameroonians have so far been arrested by troops and security forces loyal to the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime in Yaoundé since French Cameroun declared a war against the English speaking population in West Cameroon.
Biya’s surprise war declaration came after more than a year of anti- French Cameroun government protests and increasing divisions in the once United Republic of Cameroon. The ruling CPDM crime syndicate has for the first time picked a Southern Cameroonian, Paul Atanga Nji, to be its new operations manager overseeing the genocide currently going on in Southern Cameroons.
He was sworn in as Minister of Territorial Administration and has toured the breakaway Federal Republic of Ambazonia with a dubious message calling for “inclusive dialogue”. Human rights groups have said approximately 4000 Southern Cameroonians have been detained ever since the Anglophone uprising started last year and over a thousand have been killed.
The Francophone dominated army has been killing peaceful civilians including Anglophone security forces still serving in La Republique du Cameroun, setting villages and Southern Cameroons financial institutions ablaze. The French Cameroun army is also involved in the illicit movement of firearms, destroying Southern Cameroons monuments and public institutions (and) blocking roads.
Cameroon under the 85 year-old President Biya spiraled into crisis more than a year ago when the country’s English speaking communities began protesting a diabolic harsh ploy to destroy their Anglo-Saxon heritage. The regime in Yaoundé responded with force hoping to quell the unrest. The arrests under the latest crackdown have been mainly in the rural areas in the Southern and Northern zones.
By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai