In a statement issued on October 4, 2017, The British Minister of African Affairs Rory Stewart has stressed that the UK is “deeply concerned” about the various reports of deaths and violence recorded in Southern Cameroons. He appealed to the Biya government and the leadership of the Southern Cameroons Ambazonia Governing Council to restrained.

“We invite both parties to create an atmosphere of trust, avoid provocative acts, to the forces of order to respect human rights and to act in order to ensure the protection of men and their property “Says Rory Steward.

The British Government called on the Governing Council and the Government of Cameroon to reject acts of violence, to dialogue and to take urgent action to find solutions to the demands raised by Southern Cameroonians.

The reaction of the British Government comes after that of the Trump administration. Washington said on Wednesday that “the use of force by the Cameroonian government to restrict freedom of expression and the peaceful assembly and the violence of the demonstrators are unacceptable “. The White House urged the Government of Cameroon to respect human rights and freedom of expression, including access to the Internet.

Chi Prudence Asong, CCN

The death toll from the ongoing unrest in Cameroon’s English-speaking region has risen to 17, as the government tries to quell a separatist movement, a rights group said. Security forces opened fire on Sunday on protesters calling for the independence of the region of about eight million people.

“In order to avoid further bloodshed, the security forces must cease unnecessary and excessive use of force, and protesters should be peaceful if they want to make their voices heard. The government should investigate these killings,” Ilaria Allegrozzi, Amnesty International’s Lake Chad region researcher, said in a statement on Monday.

Internet was blocked in the region for the third day on Tuesday – the second time in less than a year. Earlier this year, the internet was blocked for three months following similar unrest. Electricity was also cut in the area.

“The reported unlawful killing of several people in the Anglophone regions by the security forces coupled with the blocks on Facebook and WhatsApp represent an extremely worrying escalation of the government’s ongoing campaign to silence any form of dissent in the West and South-West regions of Cameroon,” Allegrozzi said.

Analysts have called on the United Nations and the regional bloc, ECOWAS, to intervene in the crisis. “We have seen a government that is not responsive to the demands of the Anglophone,” Hans de Marie Heungoup, Cameroon analyst at International Crisis Group, told Al Jazeera on Monday.

“There is a need to strengthen and better coordinate the response of the international community since the beginning of this crisis in October 2016. It is time for the international community to act in a very strong way to avoid irreversible deterioration of the situation on the ground,” Heungoup said.

Late on Monday, the UN urged Yaounde to investigate the death of protesters and to show restraint. “The Secretary-General takes note of the calls by the authorities for dialogue and encourages representatives of the Anglophone community to seize the opportunity in their quest for solutions to the community’s grievances,” Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN secretary-general said.

But some Cameroonians said a government-led dialogue would not solve the unrest in the region.

“The government cannot mediate on this crisis when they are the first people responsible for this escalation. They cannot mediate on the crisis they caused,”  Albert Nchinda, a Cameroonian political blogger, told Al Jazeera.

President Paul Biya, who has been in power for 35 years, condemned the latest unrest and called for calm. “It is not forbidden to voice any concerns in the Republic. However, nothing great can be achieved by using verbal excesses, street violence, and defying authority,” Biya wrote Sunday on his official Facebook.

Cameroon’s English-speaking minority say they are being marginalised by the French-speaking majority. Dissent in the two Anglophone regions – the northwest and southwest parts of the country – has been growing over the past year, with protests taking place intermittently.

Culled from Al Jazeera

As Nigeria celebrated her 57th Independence Day on Sunday Oct. 1, her eastern neighbour Cameroon for the first time in over 30 years also officially marked her 56th year of reunification. However, Cameroonians were deeply divided over the Oct.1 anniversary as the internet was disrupted again in the English-speaking regions and security officials opened fire on Anglophone protesters killing as many as 15 people according to reports.

The killings come after renewed massive resistance against perceived marginalization of English-speaking Cameroon by the majority Francophone-led government.

The crisis stems from the country’s colonial history which created modern Cameroon in an agreement between colonial rulers Britain and France. Former British Cameroons (Southern Cameroons) got its independence on Oct. 1, 1961 by joining already independent (Jan. 1, 1960) La Republique du Cameroun to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon. There were two states—West and East Cameroons—operating under the federal system of government which were later fused on May 20, 1972 to form the United Republic of Cameroon.

But over time, citizens of the country’s English-speaking regions, which account for around 20% of the population, have complained to feeling frustrated in the union as they complain of cultural, economic, social and political deprivation.

The long-lingering crisis took a turn for the worst last week when agitators operating under the aegis of the Southern Cameroons Ambazonia Governing Council called for public demonstrations. The mass protests were scheduled to culminate in celebrations on Oct. 1, the day activists had hoped to declare the independence of Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia, a country they clamour to create.

Following up on clashes on Sep. 22, protesters again poured out on the streets on Oct. 1 in villages and towns across the North West and South West regions. Their attempts to hoist blue-white flags of Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia as a sign of independence was met with stiff resistance by armed forces who have been deployed to the troubled regions.

Amnesty International confirmed up to 17 people being kill by security forces during protests in some of Cameroon’s Anglophone towns. International and local media reports said security forces opened fire on protesters in Bamenda, Buea and several other towns. The killings took place despite a call for restraint made by the UN secretary general.

President Paul Biya, who has been in power for 35 years, has yet to return to the country after taking part in the 72nd UN General Assembly in New York last month. He condemned “all acts of violence, regardless of their source and their perpetrators.”

While the troubled regions faced a ban of gatherings of more than four people, restriction of movement and another internet shutdown, demonstrations were organized in other parts of the country to call for unity.

Demonstrators carry banners as they take part in a march voicing their opposition to independence or more autonomy for the Anglophone regions, in Douala.

In the capital city Yaoundé, members of parliament gathered at the Reunification Monument to drum up calls for unity and peaceful coexistence. The celebration which is the first of its kind was largely boycotted by Anglophone opposition MPs.

In Douala, like in Yaoundé, members of the ruling Cameroon’s People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) organized street matches calling for a united Cameroon. The regional organ of the opposition Social Democratic Front party in the economic capital Douala condemned the CPDM outing. The party voiced concerns over the “discriminatory attitude of administrative authorities.”

Source: Quartz Media

Law enforcement authorities have discovered an arsenal of weapons and ammunition from the hotel room and house of the gunman who killed at least 59 people and injured another 527 at a music festival in Las Vegas, Nevada.

A total of 42 guns were found in the hotel room and house of 64-year-old Stephen Paddock, who rained down a barrage of bullets from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel towards an open-air concert Sunday night, police said.

Las Vegas Police Department Assistant Sheriff Todd R. Fasulo said that 23 guns were found in Paddock’s hotel room, and 19 were discovered out of his home in Mesquite.

Among the guns and ammunition police found in the hotel room were high-powered rifles considered capable of penetrating police armor.

Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said that Paddock brought in at least 10 suitcases into his hotel room over a period of time.

In the aftermath of the massacre, many wondered how the gunman managed to fire for so long and so quickly to cause such carnage, raising questions whether Paddock had used banned automatic weapons.

However, it later emerged that the shooter had used a modified bump stock rifle, a legal trick that allows a gun to simulate rapid automatic gunfire.

In addition, law enforcement officials found “some explosives and several thousand rounds of ammo, along with some electronic devices” in the shooter’s property.

Authorities are also working to establish the motive behind the massacre.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives announced that it was “currently conducting an urgent trace on firearms recovered from the scene in Las Vegas.”

Investigators have found no link to international terrorism, despite a claim from the Daesh terrorist group. Some investigators said the gunman might have had psychological issues, but there is no confirmation of this.

Police initially said that they had engaged Paddock but later said they found him dead in the hotel room.

Paddock was described as a gambler who lived in a quiet community of senior citizens and played golf. Officials said he had no criminal history and drew little attention to himself.

The mass shooting has once again thrust the bitter debate over gun control back to the center of politics in Washington.

As horror and disbelief rocked the nation, Congressional Democrats said the massacre underlined the necessity of new firearms laws, while Republicans only offered condolences and prayers.

In a televised address on Monday, President Donald Trump offered his “warmest condolences” for the victims of the mass shooting, but did not address the scourge of gun violence that has become a common occurrence in the country.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Monday that “there will certainly be a time for that policy discussion to take place, but that’s not the place that we’re in at this moment.”

Culled from Presstv

The catalyst that heralded a genocide in Rwanda in 1994 that left more than 800,000 people dead was hate speech against the Tutsi minority spread by Hutu extremists via mass media, radio stations in particular. This has started building up in French Cameroun with a prominent Francophone journalist calling on the Francophone dominated army to carry out an extermination campaign in Southern Cameroons.

Francophone media gurus have reportedly painted Southern Cameroonians as “rats” and “cockroaches” and there has been no strong condemnation from the French Cameroun political elites. Southern Cameroonians are now been depicted as foreigners “ Biafra” who hail from the Federal Republic of Nigeria and therefore have to be eliminated. Radio stations are also being used to preach the so-called French Cameroun supremacy- a real guide to racial hatred.

In his recent message to the French Cameroun army, the renowned Francophone journalist, Thierry Mbouli posted on his Face Book page that the army should seal the Southern Cameroons border with Nigeria and killed everyone including 6 months old babies. He described Southern Cameronians as sheep and pigs not worth any existence. By some strange happenstance, no one within the National Communications Council has raised a finger against the buildup towards a genocide.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai, CCN

At least 58 people have been killed and over 500 others injured when a gunman opened fire at a music concert in Las Vegas, Nevada, making it the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.

The “nonstop gunfire” sent bystanders outside the resort scrambling for their lives while tourists hid in their hotel rooms. Disturbing footage showed the aftermath as the injured lay on stretchers or on the ground with responders and bystanders trying to provide assistance.

The gunman rained down bullets from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino for several minutes before shooting himself dead, according to police. Earlier reports indicated that the gunman, identified as 64-year-old Stephen Paddock from Mesquite, Nevada, had been shot by police.

“Officers responded to that location and engaged the suspect at that location,” Las Vegas Metro Police Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said.

Paddock had more than 10 rifles in his hotel room.

Lombardo said Paddock was not believed to be connected to any militant group.

“We have no idea what his belief system was,” he said. “We’ve located numerous firearms within the room that he occupied.”

However, the Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group later claimed responsibility for the shooting, according to the group’s news agency. It provided no evidence to back up its claim. The terror organization often claims such incidents.

At least 406 people were taken to area hospitals with injuries, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police said.

The death toll, which police emphasized was preliminary, eclipses last year’s massacre of 49 people at an Orlando night club. The dead included one off-duty police officer. Two officers were also injured.

The Las Vegas Police Department advised people in a statement to stay away from Mandalay Bay Casino on the south end of the Vegas strip on Las Vegas Boulevard and across from McCarran International Airport.

“Confirming that one suspect is down. This is an active investigation. Again, please do not head down to the Strip at this time,” LVMPD said in a tweet.

Thousands of fans were attending the concert next to the Mandalay Bay which was part of a three-day music festival. Witnesses said they thought fireworks were going off as part of the concert.

Special SWAT units were deployed to the scene of the shooting and police shut down the strip.

Gunman and his companion identified

The suspected gunman had reportedly checked in as a hotel guest.

Police released the name of a female companion of the gunman, identified as Mari Lou Danley, 62.

According to authorities, Danley who was being sought as a person of interest has been located.

Witnesses said the gunman opened fire with an initial burst and then appeared to reload as he continued his firing spree.

Police also asked onlookers to avoid sharing “tactical positions” of its officers on the internet out of fear that it would endanger the operation.

Singer Jason Aldean was on stage when the shooting started. And it came towards the end of the concert.

“I guess it was an automatic weapon going off but it literally sounded like firecrackers. Then soon enough there was commotion on the Mandalay Bay side of the stage. They were motioning for medics to come and safety people to come and Jason Aldean ran off the stage,” he said.

“Everybody in the vicinity went down. I don’t know if they were ducking or if they were but it was chaos.”

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement Monday morning that President Donald Trump had been briefed on the mass shooting.

“We are monitoring the situation closely and offer our full support to state and local officials,” Sanders said. “All of those affected are in our thoughts and prayers.”

Shortly after Sanders’ statement, Trump tweeted, “My warmest condolences and sympathies to the victims and families of the terrible Las Vegas shooting. God bless you!”

Nevada politicians also responded to the massacre, denouncing the violence and offering thanks to first responders.

“Senseless, horrifying act of violence in Las Vegas tonight,” Republican Senator Dean Heller said in a tweet. “Thankful for police and first-responders on the scene,” Heller said.

Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval, a Republican, called the shooting a “tragic” and “heinous act of violence” and offered his prayers for the victims.

Culled from Presstv

France has officially commented on the ongoing political crisis in the Southern Cameroons. Paris called on all parties to exercise restraint and to reject violence.

“France is following the situation in Cameroon carefully and is preoccupied by the incidents that took place over the weekend,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Agnes Romatet-Espagne told reporters in a daily online briefing on Monday.

“We call on all the actors to show restraint and reject violence,” she added. The latest round of violence on Sunday resulted in the loss of eight lives as security forces clashed with protesters.
The casualty figure has since been revised as some activists are reporting that fifteen people had so far died from the clashes of October 1 which has extended to today.

Protesters in the Anglophone region – the North West and South West regions – have long complained about marginalization and are seeking to secede from Cameroon. The government, however, insists that the unity of the Central African country remains non-negotiable.

Contrary to an earlier government position, access to some social media platforms were cut on Saturday ahead of the ‘Independence Day’ declaration on October 1. There was heavy security deployment in the said regions.
The United States and United Kingdom have all issued travel alerts advising their nationals against all but essential travel to the Anglophone regions, citing political disturbances and violence.

Source: Africa News

When Cameroon’s President for the past 30-plus years Paul Biya came to meet Antonio Guterres on September 22, before he went back to the Hotel Inter-Continental in Geneva, he was accompanied by his state media and… Inner City Press. Now Biya, still in Geneva, has directed his forced to use water cannons in Buea, as they shoot to kill in Belo in North-West Cameroon. Inner City Press asked the UN Resident Coordinator in Cameroon Allegra Baiocchi for her response – none yet – noted the similarity to the UN’s silence in Myanmar and emailed the UN’s top three spokespeople: ”

In light of the government crackdown on communications and unarmed civilians in North-West and South-West Cameroon, after the UN’s readout of September 22 and subsequent statement of concern, this is a request for the UN’s already belated response to the government’s killing. How many people does the UN acknowledge have been killed? What is the UN, both the country team and the wider UN, doing?” The lead spokesman has provided this interim response: “We will try but may not have answers until tomorrow.”

Inner City Press has asked that any and all information be emailed to it as soon as available. According to the UN read-out, the September 22 conversation was entirely positive and did not mention Biya’s abuse of Anglophones, or human rights in any way. Now on October 1 Biya’s forces have opened fire from Buea to Ikiliwindi, Mamfe to Nkwen, Ndu to Nguti. Still, grainy footage has been sent to Inner City Press of Ambazonia independence celebrations in Bamenda despite the orders against freedom of association and movement, and ultimately freedom of speech and of belief.

Biya has again undermined the Internet and rights to communicate in Southern Cameroons, to which Inner City Press after asking the UN  four days in a row until exclusion now turns. Here is a letter sent not only to Inner City Press, but to the UN Office of the Spokesperson: “I am writing from Southern Cameroons. I am pleading you should use your high office to stop the genocide that President Biya wants to exercise on the English speaking Cameroonians. a lot of people have lost their lives already and yet the President of Cameroons is seriously planning to shed more blood.  The truth is clear, the people of southern Cameroons (English speaking ) was a country  of its own that legally voted to joint La Republic of Cameroon. But now La Republic of Cameroon are treating these people as if they colonize them or conquered them in a war. sir use your conscience, it could have been your family going through what we are going through. Where is human rights in the 21st Century where people of a particular nation turns to treat their fellow brothers and sisters as slaves and the whole world is reacting as if there is nothing happening Does it mean that if tomorrow if I’m in one top position in the world that has to deal with the society i will give deaf ears to a situation that has to do with millions of lives ? what is wrong with the world today? where is human right? there is no justice at all? is it that human lives no longer matters? Please kindly react to stop the genocide that is about to happen in 48 hours.” No response from the UN.

Here is another letter: “Dear Matthew Russell Lee, Inner City Press: Accept my greetings and that of those who can’t write to you. I am writing to you from Buea, Southern Cameroons. Am reacting to your articles on September 28 concerning the crisis in Southern Cameroons. The approach of the UN concerning the Southern Cameroons and it people, proves time and again that the UN must be very corrupt, and have turned it back against in commitment to protect human rights freedoms, and states sovereignty. How can the Secretary General be talking of his to consolidate peace and the Territorial integrity of Cameroon, when knows very well that, the UN holds no legal treaty that binds the British Southern Cameroons with LA Republique DU Cameroun? I hereby want to inform you that, I, as well as an overwhelming majority have chosen to separate from la Republique DU Cameroun because of what we have gone through in 56 of forced union. If the government of la République du Cameroun, considered us Southern Cameroonians as a people with the same rights as Francophones, if the government wanted to make peace and resolve this problem from it core, I think the repression taking place now won’t have been. While you published on the Cameroon crises yesterday, the government of la Republique DU Cameroun became violently repressive and attacked and beating people their homes, taking seizing money and smart phones, and taking them to jail. As am writing to you now, six people were shot yesterday in the town of Ekona, and a grandmother was killed by the military in her home. 14 years old kids are being arrested and detained in jails under very cruel conditions. Since the beginning of this crises since November last year, 112 people have been killed by the military of la Republique DU Cameroun. The la République du Cameroun’s government have been using terrorism blackmail the peaceful protests. I hereby call on the Secretary General to read the the UN charter on human right and freedoms, and the right for self governance.”

Biya’s renewed attacks on the Internet have ranged from Bamenda to Kumbo and Kumba, but are being circumvented by VPNs. Meanwhile Inner City Press is receiving video of protests in front of the Inter-Continental Hotel in Geneva where Biya is staying. Guterres praised Biya, then belatedly called on him to dialogue: while Biya is not even in the country. His landing in Geneva: “VP-CAL used by #PaulBiya, President of Cameroon (Boeing 777) on 2017/09/26 at 08:56:46.” We ran this sample letter to Inner City Press: ” woke up this morning and discovered Internet Services in Cameroon have somehow been limited. I am suspected the regime of Paul Biya have tampered with the internet service and Facebook, Twitter,  WhatsApp, VPNs, Vcontact  aren’t working. I am sure many other social media have been cut off as well.

There have been plans to celebrate the symbolic independence of this region ‘the Former British Southern Cameroons’ on the 1st of October 2017. That is on Sunday and the region have been heavily militarized by the Biya regime, Homes of people invaded, beaten , some killed, many kidnapped and with this shutdown to major social media to  which it is where most of these crimes are exposed, many have been fearing a total Genocide that can be perpetrated on the people of that region. There were rumors that, the internet will be shutdown come 30th September. The Minister of Communications made a public communique two days ago to say, the internet won’t be shutdown but I guess it was just a ploy as through some websites are working, major social medias ( Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter) have been cut off. Please, make the world know what is happening in this region. This is a sly move to blackout to the world what atrocities the Biya’s regime is/will be perpetrating in these regions.”

In Fiango, Biya’s security forces have killed, reportedly Enogene Basile, following their September 28 killings in Ekona. Inner City Press on September 26, 27 and 28 asked Guterres’ spokesman Stephane Dujarric about these glaring omissions. The first time, Dujarric alluded to “private” diplomacy. Then on September 27 when Inner City Press asked ask, Dujarric said that UN envoy Francois Fall will be going to Cameroon “next week.” On September 28, Inner City Press asked Dujarric deputy Farhan Haq if this would be before or after October 1, and Haq said he didn’t know. Hours later, Dujarric’s office put out a statement of concern below, which many see as too little, too late, with its emphasis on territorial integrity. On September 29, Inner City Press asked Dujarric not only about the UN’s surveillance of the Press, on which he refused to answer referring to the question to the UN Department of Public Information whose chief Alison Smale has refused to answer basic questions for a month (now keeping a close eye on Catalonia, if not blatant crackdowns in Cameroon), but also if Guterres’ concern is at threats to those in Anglophone Cameroon to stay indoors or be treated as “terrorists,” for citing UN General Assembly Resolution 1608. Dujarric replied that he doesn’t have “granularity” about what’s being done and said.

But he put this out: “The Secretary-General is deeply concerned about the situation in Cameroon, including with regard to the recent security incidents in Bamenda and in Douala, and mounting tensions in the South-West and North-West regions related to planned events on 1 October. The Secretary-General has encouraged the Cameroonian authorities to continue their efforts to address the grievances of the Anglophone community. He urges the authorities to promote measures of national reconciliation aimed at finding a durable solution to the crisis, including by addressing its root causes. The Secretary-General supports upholding the unity and territorial integrity of Cameroon and urges all parties to refrain from acts that could lead to an escalation of tension and violence. The Secretary-General believes that genuine and inclusive dialogue between the Government and the communities in the South-West and North-West regions is the best way to preserve the unity and stability of the country.  The Secretary-General stands ready to support these efforts, including through the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA). ” We’ll see.

On September 26, Dujarric replied that Guterres would say there is a time for public diplomacy, and a time for private diplomacy. Some wonder, how many people have to die, or what kind of people, for it to be time for UN “public” diplomacy? Earlier on September 22 Inner City Press interviewed Southern Cameroonians out on 47th Street, then asked Guterres’ spokesman Stephane Dujarric about people killed that very day.  The crackdown is also financial: Biya’s Minister of Finance has threatened the National Financial Credit Bank in Bamenda with loss of its license for taking part in the “Ghost Town” expression of desire for independence, or in the first instance a referendum.  This politicization should trigger action by the “decision making phere” [sic] written about by Biya’s state media, the kind of media that the UN and now its new head of Public Information favor over independent press.