World

25, April 2018

419: Cameroon men arrested as alleged ‘Black Money’ gang members in Thailand ⁰

Police have arrested two Cameroon men for having swindled a man from Oman out of Bt4 million worth of Omani banknotes. Pol Maj-General Maitree Chimcherd, commander of the Crime Suppression Division (CSD), told a press conference on Wednesday that Pierre Alain Gandjui and Jean Robert Kongne were arrested on Tuesday.

The arrests were made a day after the Omani victim filed a complaint with the CSD on Monday that he had been a victim of a “Black Money” gang that stole 50,000 Omani rials from him.

The victim, who police did not name, said he was cheated in late January but only decided to file a complaint with police on Monday. The victim said the gang had an Omani man as an accomplice.

He said the Omani businessman contacted him and said that he wanted to sell him 5 kilograms of gold for Bt4 million. But, when they met, the Omani businessman changed his mind and said he wanted to sell 15 kg of gold for Bt12 million.

The victim said the Cameroon men, who were present, told him that they could use special ink and paper to make copies of the rial banknotes.

The con artists took a 200-rial note from him and placed it on a piece of white paper that had been cut to the same size as the bank note. They were wrapped together in foil and then put into some black ink. After 10 minutes, the con artists unwrapped the foil to show that the white paper had become a rial banknote.

The victim then agreed to give 50,000 rials to the con artists to use the same process. The Cameroon men appeared to wrap the bank notes in foil and wrap white paper in another bundle and put them into the black ink tank.

The victim was told to wait overnight, and the conmen would return to add more ink. The victim said the Cameroon men disappeared and he could not contact anyone. It turned out that the conmen managed to switch real money with a bundle of white paper.

Maitree said the CSD investigated and found that the gang had four members but two other members had fled the country. He said records showed that the gang members had entered Thailand several times and there could be more victims.

Source:Thai Visa News

24, April 2018

121 Cameroonian Returnees Arrive Home Safely with IOM Assistance ⁰

Last week (19 April) 121 Cameroonian migrants returned home from Libya after being assisted by IOM, the UN Migration Agency. The returnees were welcomed at Nsimalen international airport in the capital Yaoundé, by representatives from the European Union Delegation, Cameroon’s Ministry of External Relations and Boubacar Seybou, IOM Chief of Mission in Cameroon.

Upon arrival, the returnees received medical check-ups including psychological support from the Ministries of Health and Social Affairs. IOM provided food assistance and distributed a delivery kit to pregnant women, which included clothes, basins, towels and other useful material.

“I have lived the worst nightmare in Libya, moving for nine months from prison to prison. And now that I’m back, I ask myself what pushed me outside Cameroon,” one of returnees told IOM staff at the airport.

This latest charter was organized within the framework of the EU-IOM Joint initiative for migrant protection and reintegration in Cameroon, financed by the European Union and implemented by IOM. This project aims at strengthening the mechanisms for migrant protection and assistance all along the migration route.

So far 1,357 Cameroonians (1,105 men, 252 women) have returned home under the initiative.

In addition to facilitating the voluntary return to the country of origin of Cameroonian migrants, the EU-IOM joint initiative also focuses on supporting returnees’ reintegration in the country and on raising-awareness on the risks of irregular migration. The programme’s operations in Cameroon started in June 2017.

With the cooperation of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Civic Education, 184 returnees have been supported by IOM to start their livelihood activities. In addition, the business plans of more than 700 migrants have been approved as of the end of March, and the migrants will soon receive the material they need to start activities in fields such as agriculture, livestock breeding and retail, among others.

Source: International Organization for Migration

24, April 2018

Belo: French Cameroun forces killed, raped and burned civilians alive ⁰

The French Cameroun army caused mayhem over the weekend in Djichami, a small community in the Belo municipality Boyo Division. For the past three weeks, inhabitants of Belo, Anyajua, Dzikfin, and other small villages have been targeted by the Francophone dominated Cameroon military with scores of houses burnt down. It should be recalled that the Raster man (Sam Sawyer) who was infamously beheaded by the cowardly soldiers from French speaking Cameroun was from Belo.

Cameroon Intelligence Report sources on the ground revealed that the beheading of Sam Sawyer changed the phase of the revolution as the young men in his community enrolled massively in to the resistance army. Many of the Belo young men and women openly told our correspondent that they prefer to die fighting, than to be killed like Sam Sawyer whom they say was never involved in an armed resistance before his demise.

We understand that last week, a gendarme officer in Belo left his colleagues and went out with his gun raping women and young girls. The officer our informant noted was captured by unknown gun men, and shortly after pictures of him with hands tied ,soaked in his blood were circulating on social media. The Francophone administrators in the constituency were quoted as saying that the beheading of the officer prompted the killing Sam Sawyer. A position denied by many Ambazonians contacted by our reporter.

In retaliation to the abduction and killing of the said gendarmerie officer, French Cameroun troops invaded the neighboring communities’ and moved right as far as Njinikom, torturing and killing innocent civilians. The inhabitants of Belo have abandoned their ancestral homeland because of the continuous French Cameroun military incursions taking along with them their livestock. The French Cameroun army has been stealing goats, chicken and other foodstuffs in order to sustain their campaign in the area. With Belo now a ghost settlement, the inhabitants of Djichami reportedly destroyed the only bridge linking Belo and Djichami to prevent the blood thirsty French Cameroun soldiers from penetrating their neighborhoods.

This preventive measure could not protect the people of Djichami as the Francophone soldiers used the back corridor passing through Ndawara over the weekend and on Sunday morning killed 12 people. Homes were set on fire and an old man and his son were burnt alive. At the time of filing this report, we gathered that some armed men attacked the Gendarmerie Brigade down town Belo, but we are yet to confirm the casualties on the side of the French Cameroun army.

By Ntam Charles Ngeh in Bonn, Germany with files from Sama Ernest

24, April 2018

Macron in US for 3 days, will attend first Trump state dinner ⁰

French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife have arrived in Washington for a three-day state visit as US President Donald Trump hosts his administration’s first official state visit of his presidency.

Impressed by the warm welcome he received for the Bastille Day ceremony last July in Paris, the US president has returned the favor by making Macron the first foreign leader of the Trump-era to receive a state visit.

Brigitte Macron, wife of French President Emmanuel Macron, President Donald Trump, and First lady Melania Trump pose at their table at the Jules Verne restaurant for a private dinner at the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, July 13, 2017. (AFP)

The Macrons arrived at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington to the playing of both the French and American national anthem, where Macron said he was looking forward to the “very important” visit.

“This is a great honor and I think a very important state visit given the moment of our current environment,” Macron said Monday as he briefly spoke to reporters outside the plane, first conversing with the crowd in English and then in French.

The couple then took a motorcade into Washington, DC, and were spotted walking around downtown, just blocks from the White House.

The couple arrived just after 1:30 pm at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, where they received a red-carpet welcome. (Photo by Reuters)

“Is this agreement perfect and this JCPOA a perfect thing for our relationship with Iran? No,” Macron said on “Fox News Sunday,” before his trip to the US. “But for nuclear, what do you have as a better option? I don’t see it. What is the what-if scenario or your plan B? I don’t have any Plan B for nuclear against Iran. So that’s a question we will discuss.”

The French first couple decided to take a walk around Washington upon their arrival for a three-day trip to the Unites States. (AFP)

Melania Trump plans dinner menu, Democrats not invited

Donald Trump is the first president since Calvin Coolidge in the 1920s to end his first year in office without hosting a foreign leader on a state visit. But now Trump and his wife are preparing for a pomp display of hospitality. The US first lady has selected specific decor, entertainment and food options for Tuesday night’s state dinner, the White House said.

The menu will consist of three courses, which will include American dishes with French influences. The main course will be a rack of spring lamb with Carolina gold rice jambalaya.

In a break with tradition, AP has reported that Trump has invited no Democratic members of Congress or journalists. But at least one Democrat will be in the crowd: the office of Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards confirmed his attendance. Louisiana is a state with a strong French cultural heritage.

Approximately 150 guests will take their seats in the State Dining Room on Tuesday, making for a more intimate affair than those held by President Barack Obama. Obama’s guest lists numbered into the hundreds, requiring that the event be held in a tented pavilion erected on the South Lawn because no room in the White House can accommodate that many people.

Culled from Presstv

23, April 2018

Eleven asylum-seekers dead, 263 rescued off Libya coast ⁰

Eleven asylum-seekers have died at sea and another 263 rescued by the Libyan coast guard off the country’s western coast.

Libya’s Navy spokesman, General Ayoub Kacem, said in a statement on Sunday that the coast guard found the asylum-seekers in two separate operations.

In the first operation, the coast guard found 11 bodies and 83 survivors off the town of Sabratha, while in the second op 180 asylum-seekers on two inflatable boats were rescued near the town of Zliten, according to the spokesman.

The perilous journey across the Mediterranean Sea – from Libya to Italy – is one of the routes taken by asylum-seekers trying to reach Europe.

During past years, Libya’s coast guard has been financed, equipped and trained by Europeans to stop the flow of immigration to Europe by cutting migrant boats off before they can reach international vessels.

Hundreds of thousands of asylum-seekers have crossed over to Europe despite its dangers and hardships; many have perished at sea, some have fallen prey to slave-traders in Libya and a faction have returned to their countries of origin.

Eritreans, Tunisians and Pakistanis constitute the three largest groups attempting the hazardous voyage across the Mediterranean to Italy from North Africa. Twelve Pakistani asylum-seekers drowned trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea in February.

More than 600,000 asylum-seekers have made the journey from Libya to Italy during the past four years.

In November 2017, the United Nations migration agency said more than 33,000 refugees had died at sea while trying to reach European shores since 2000, making the Mediterranean “by far the world’s deadliest border.”

Source: Presstv

23, April 2018

US gov’t says Cameroon forces in gross abuse over Anglophone, Boko Haram crisis ⁰

Cameroon security forces have been cited as engaging in significant human rights abuse in respect of armed combat they are engaged in across three regions of the country, a United States government report has said.

The Central African nation is beset by Boko Haram insurgency in its Far North region whiles the Anglophone crisis continues to pose a security challenge to the government in the Northwest and Southwest i.e. Anglophone regions.

According to the U.S. Department of State’s Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2017, the military, police and gendarmerie – paramilitary – forces were using among others arbitrary killings, forced disappearances and prolonged military / unofficial detentions in the three regions.

In its Executive Summary relating to the country, the report said: “The most significant human rights issues included: arbitrary and unlawful killings through excessive use of force by security forces; disappearances by security forces and Boko Haram.”

It went on to mention: “torture and abuse by security forces including in military and unofficial detention facilities; prolonged arbitrary detentions including of suspected Boko Haram supporters and individuals in the Anglophone regions.”

Then there was the issue of “harsh and life threatening prison conditions; violations of freedoms of expression and assembly; periodic government restrictions on access to the internet; trafficking in persons; criminalization and arrest of individuals engaged in consensual same-sex sexual conduct; and violations of workers’ rights.”

The government has deployed a military unit the BIR, which continues to engage with Boko Haram insurgents in the Far North region. Communities in the region have been attacked mostly by suicide bombers and raids by the group.

Over in the Anglophone region, guerilla style attacks on security forces by suspected separatists under the so-called Ambazonia republic banner has led to the formation of a new military unit headquartered in the capital of the northwest region, Bamenda.

There has been a sustained call for dialogue to solve the crisis even though the government has insisted that it will only engage with persons with the unity of the nation at heart.

Separatists have killed over 20 security forces, locals have fled their homes for fear of being caught in the cross fire with thousands now seeking asylum in neighbouring Nigeria.

Source: Africa News

23, April 2018

Lebialem County: French Cameroun Troops Come Under Attack, But No Ambazonian Injured ⁰

Cameroon Intelligence Report has been informed that elements from the Rapid Intervention Battalion, BIR deployed from Dschang in French Cameroun to Menji were ambushed by the Red Dragons protecting the Lebialem County. A well-placed source deep within the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia who confirmed the attack also said that the Red Dragons staged the ambush around Ntsianbeh Catholic Mission in Lewoh. We gathered that 4 government soldiers were killed during the attack.

Elsewhere in the Lebialem County, Cameroon government officials accompanying the Francophone governor of the South West region came under attack by Southern Cameroons self-defense forces. The Biya regime soldiers retaliated by firing against the Red Dragons. Citing French Cameroun military sources, our Menji correspondent reported that the Red Dragons have been observing a slow buildup of pro- Biya regime forces over the past week and have alerted the Acting President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, Dr. Samuel Sako.

Source: www.cameroonintelligencereport.com

22, April 2018

Cameroon Denies It Forcibly Sent Back Nigerian Refugees ⁰

Cameroon is denying a report by the U.N. refugee agency that it has forcibly repatriated close to 400 Nigerian refugees and asylum-seekers since January, but it says people running to areas prone to regular attacks by Boko Haram had to be moved to safer localities.

Midjiyawa Bakari, governor of Cameroon’s far northern region that shares border with Nigeria’s Borno State, a former stronghold of Boko Haram, said Saturday that there had been no forced repatriations of refugees from Cameroon’s territory. He said Cameroon had complied with agreements made with Nigeria and the refugee agency regarding voluntary repatriation of Nigerian refugees, and that his government would assure the refugees’ safety until they left Cameroon.

He added, however, that people who had settled outside their camp at Minawao — especially in the Logone and Chari administrative unit that is prone to Boko Haram atrocities — had to be moved to safer localities where they could also receive humanitarian assistance from the U.N., the government of Cameroon, and well-wishers.

U.N. report

On Friday, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees reported that despite warnings, Nigerian refugees and asylum-seekers who had fled Boko Haram violence were continuing to be returned from Cameroon, and it underscored the need to provide international protection to those in need.

In the report, the UNHCR said that since the beginning of 2018, 385 Nigerian refugees and asylum-seekers had been forcibly returned from Cameroon — the majority of them last month, including 160 on April 10 and another 118 a week later.

FILE - Women watch Cameroonian military patrol in Kerawa, Cameroon, March 16, 2016. Kerawa, on the border with Nigeria, was subject to frequent Boko Haram attacks. — FILE – Women watch Cameroonian military patrol in Kerawa, Cameroon, March 16, 2016. Kerawa, on the border with Nigeria, was subject to frequent Boko Haram attacks.

The UNHCR said it recognized legitimate national security concerns of states affected by the Boko Haram crisis, and stressed that it is important that refugee protection and national security are not seen as being incompatible.

There are about 110,000 Nigerian refugees in northern Cameroon. Ninety thousand are at the Minawao refugee camp. The UNHCR says 5, 000 have arrived since January, when the multinational joint task force of the Lake Chad Basin — composed of troops from Cameroon, Chad, Nigeria and Niger — launched attacks on the Sambisa Forest, stronghold of the insurgents.

Mamadi Fatta Kourouma, coordinator of the UNHCR in northern Cameroon, said about 60,000 refugees want to return, and the Cameroon-Nigeria-UNHCR commission is assuring that any repatriation takes place in safety and dignity.

Surrounding villages

He said close to 30,000 refugees have been living in villages surrounding the Minawao camp for up to three years, and that UNCHR wants to help them return as well.

The Lake Chad Basin task force announced last year that it had rolled back Boko Haram’s gains and said the terrorist group was living its last moments, but warned the insurgency had switched to terror attacks and remained a threat.

The conflict that began in northeast Nigeria eight years ago has left at least 25,000 people dead and forced more than 2.6 million others to flee their homes, according to the United Nations.

Cameroon, Chad, Nigeria and Niger are calling on the displaced population and refugees to voluntarily return to towns and villages, but to be vigilant as the terror group is gradually being eliminated.

Source: VOA

22, April 2018

Cameroon bishops urge Biya to resolve Anglophone crisis with dialogue ⁰

Catholic Bishops in Cameroon are calling on President Paul Biya to begin a dialogue to find a sustainable solution to the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon.

Since 2016, English speakers in the Central African country have been protesting against what they say is gross marginalization by the Francophone-dominated administration. They have also been complaining about the use of French in Common Law courts and Anglophone schools.

The two English-speaking regions – in the northwest and southwest of the country – constitute 20 percent of Cameroon’s over 24 million people. The Catholic Church is the largest religious group in the country, representing about 40 percent of all Cameroonians.

At the 43rd plenary meeting of the national episcopal conference, the bishops said the president in his capacity as “father of the nation” holds the keys to the speedy resolution of the crisis, and it is through “an inclusive dialogue” that the solution will come.

“If the head of state decides today that there will be a meeting with all those spear-heading the Anglophone crisis, there will be dialogue,” said Bishop Michael Bibi, the auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Bamenda, which is located in the English-speaking part of the country.

“Those who are in prison can be granted clemency and freed. Those who are out of the country and who are engineering these problems can be called back home. Those who are back home but who are not in jail but are sympathetic to the Anglophone crisis should be invited to the discussion table…religious leaders, administrative authorities, the civil society, opinion leaders, Anglophone secessionist leaders…In fact the various stakeholders should be brought to the discussion table…let this dialogue take place so that together, we can find solutions to the crisis,” Bibi told Crux.

Noting that the search for peace had become a national emergency, Archbishop Jean Mbarga of Yaoundé told Crux the bishops had decided to organize “Novenas for Peace” in the days leading up to the celebration of Cameroon’s National Day, May 20.

But the deputy Secretary General of the National Episcopal Conference, Msgr. Jervis Kebei said that peace will only come if it is accompanied by justice.

“We all want peace, but there can be no peace without justice, there can be no peace without reconciliation,” Kebbei told Crux.

He said the government had taken a number of measures to resolve the crisis.

These include the creation of a National Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism and Multi-culturalism; the creation of a Common Law Bench at the Supreme Court; the deployment of English-speaking lawyers and teachers to Anglophone schools and courts; and the appointment – for the first time since independence – of Anglophones to head the Ministries of Territorial Administration and Secondary Education.

But these measures are seen by many in the Anglophone regions as “too little, too late.”

“If all the measures taken by the government are not helping out the situation, if they are instead making young people to be more radicalized, it means that there is something more fundamental that the government has to do,” Kebei said.

The monsignor said only an inclusive dialogue can help Cameroon go “to the root cause of the problem,” noting that understanding the problem could provide important indications on how a solution can be found.

No talks with separatists, says government

Despite the plea of the bishops for an all-inclusive dialogue, the government has made it clear that there will be no discussion whatsoever with separatists.

Paul Atanga Nji, the first-ever Anglophone to head the Ministry of Territorial Administration, said on state media that “everything we do must be done within constitutional order.”

“Those who wish to operate outside that order can expect nothing else than to be dealt with firmly. We shall not entertain any language, we shall not entertain any action that either threatens territorial integrity of our nation or threatens life,” he said.

He said however that government was ready for dialogue “with those who seek the oneness of Cameroon.”

But the stance has been criticized by the bishops, since it would exclude those advocating independence for “Ambazonia,” what they call the Anglophone regions.

A surge in violence

Meanwhile, the crisis has continued to escalate. Local media continue to file daily reports of fighting between security forces and “Ambazonian” fighters.

The bi-weekly newspaper The Voice reported that on April 11 a police commissioner was killed in the locality of Kom in Cameroon’s Northwest Region, allegedly by separatist forces. In response, the military killed 18 civilians.

Kebei told Crux that the bishops “strongly deplore the insecurity that is going on, perpetrated by people who are angry and – most often – by the military that goes reckless and on the rampage.”

“The military men are still being killed. In retaliation, the military kill the civilians and destroy property, and I think that it has reached a stage that the Head of State… (should) bring all together for an inclusive dialogue… and if a solution can not be reached then it means there is something fundamental that still needs to be done,” Kebei told Crux.

The monsignor said such dialogue must be accompanied by faith in God. He said the power of the Gospel can be employed to resolve the problem. “Christ’s message is the Word, and if this is applied to the existing situation, it will touch on people’s consciences.”

Source: Crux

22, April 2018

Do not send refugees back to the violence they fled from, UN agency urges Cameroon ⁰

Despite warnings, Nigerian refugees and asylum-seekers who fled Boko Haram violence continue to be returned from Cameroon, the United Nations refugee agency has said, underscoring the need to accord international protection to those in need.

“We appeal once again to the authorities in Cameroon to refrain from further forced returns and to ensure protection to those fleeing insecurity and persecution in Nigeria, in accordance with Cameroon’s national and international obligations,” the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a statement.

Since the beginning of 2018, 385 Nigerians refugees and asylum-seekers have been forcibly returned from Cameroon – the majority of them last month, including 160 on 10 April and a further 118 a week later.

In total, the UN agency has registered some 87,600 Nigerian refugees in the country.

“The forced returns are in violation of the principle of no forced returns or non-refoulement. They are also a significant setback to progress previously achieved by Cameroon in granting asylum to Nigerian civilians fleeing Boko Haram violence,” said UNHCR.

In the statement, UNHCR also noted that it recognized legitimate national security concerns of States affected by the Boko Haram crisis, and stressed that it is important that refugee protection and national security are not seen as being incompatible.

“Properly functioning screening, registration and asylum systems help safeguard host country security,” it said, reiterating its support to the Government of Cameroon to ensure that all those seeking international protection have access to efficient screening and registration procedures, as well as appropriate reception arrangements.

Source: UN