A senior adviser to Vice President Dabney Yerima has said the disgraced former Southern Cameroons representatives, Sako Ikome and Chris Anu are pursuing a policy of weakening Ambazonia Self Defense Forces against the French Cameroun military, noting that the Maryland cabal’s agenda serves the interests of the Biya Francophone regime in Yaoundé.

“The anti President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe messages flashed out incessantly by Mr Sako and Mr Chris Anu are meant to force the people of Ambazonia into capitulating to French Cameroun policies and achieving Biya regime’s objectives” Feh Peter Forbin noted in an interview with Cameroon Concord News.

“To be accurate, the Ambazonia Interim Government under the stewardship of Comrade Dabney Yerima is a thorn in the side of French Cameroun and poses a threat to the Biya Francophone regime. Sako and Chris are therefore helping Biya and his French Cameroun gang to pull the plug on the Interim Government” added Feh Peter.

The Yerima aide further highlighted the non existence of mask in Southern Cameroons amid the coronavirus, saying Sako Ikome and Chris Anu are primarily responsible for the problem because their social media outings is blocking the flow of cash into the Interim Government.

Elsewhere, Vice President Dabney Yerima censured French Cameroun’s continuous military operations in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, saying Yaoundé’s hostile policy against the people of Southern Cameroons will not weaken the Ambazonia revolution but will strengthen it.

By  Oke Akombi Ayukepi Akap in Glasgow

Paul Biya may not feature prominently in discussions about how Irish politics might be made more representative, more engaging, and less unattractive to myriad intelligent, socially aware, and committed citizens discouraged by the unchanging, numbing predictability of it all.

The personal and family costs risked by participation can be dissuading too.

So are the increasingly toxic, anti-democratic, character assassinations on consequence-free social media. Biya, at 88, is the world’s longest-serving state leader. He has been president of Cameroon since 1982, and served as prime minister from 1975 to 1982. He consolidated his power in 1984 during an attempted coup when he eliminated most of his rivals.

Biya has achieved what Russia’s Vladimir Putin hopes to achieve — authority for life. Just last week, Putin saw 77.9% of voters endorse ending presidential term limits allowing him the possibility of power until 2036.

China’s president, Xi Jinping, did not feel the need to even ask when, two years ago, the term limits of the Chinese presidency were abolished. When conversations about what might happen if US president Donald Trump loses in November but refuses to quit office began, they seemed liberals’ paranoia but maybe no longer.

Should he be re-elected, it seems at least possible he may try to imitate Putin and Xi .  To even suggest that may seem bizarre but then most of what he does is bizarre.

We may not, hopefully, have a Biya, Putin, Xi, or Trump hiding in the long grass but we do have a cohort all too comfortable with life-long careers as politicians.

Culled from Irish Examiner

The meeting between representatives of the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime and the President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe including eight members of his government to explore ways and means of ending the war in Southern Cameroons marks a remarkable step in the transformation and healing process of the two Cameroons. There could be further steps to come, including Southern Cameroons emergence as a source of stability in the Gulf of Guinea rather than conflict in the region. After four turbulent years with no support from the international community, Southern Cameroonians and their jailed leaders have emerged stronger politically.

French Cameroun under Paul Biya with all its so-called military might supported by the French government of President Macron and the Buhari gang in Abuja is torn by internal conflicts which now include the army and the elite force-the Rapid Intervention Battalion.

French Cameroun political elites from the South Region are slowly but surely abandoning their strategy of forcing other French Cameroun tribes and political groups to support the choice of Franck Biya, President Biya’s eldest son as the next head of state.

The much publicized anti corruption campaign and economic reforms in French Cameroun are making no progress and living standards are falling at catastrophic rapidity. With Equatorial Guinea already building a Berlin Wall aim at preventing French Cameroonians from entering their country, the Central African Republic in the middle of an unresolved armed conflict, Gabon absorbed in its own problems after a failed coup and Chad struggling to contain the fallout from the war in Libya, the Southern Cameroons Bloc has emerged as an effective power in the CEMAC region and now remains the only hope for stability when Biya finally falls.

The security situation in Yaoundé is deteriorating and international investors are leaving in their numbers!  French Cameroun has many problems but keeping Southern Cameroons as an integral part of their one and indivisible nation and getting a replacement for Mr. Biya are top on Yaoundé’s agenda.  Perhaps the most important factor behind the shift that has taken place and led to the Southern Cameroons-French Cameroun meeting is that, despite much repression of Anglophones in French Cameroun and the genocidal war currently going on in Southern Cameroons, Biya and his men have now come to the conclusion that for La Repubique du Cameroun to remain a country with a genuine political culture – an authentic nation with a history of its own, Ambazonians must be a part of it!

Swiss, German, French and US delegations have been in Yaoundé in recent months but Biya has ignored all peace initiatives including that ordered by the United Nations.

The President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and Biya regime meeting confirms that some western nations are now prepared to break ranks and to think beyond the current backing of the crime syndicate in Yaoundé by Paris. The meeting, which is carefully labelled as provisional, shows that the Southern Cameroons Interim Government headed by President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe has regained its nerve and ambition, and has understood that the solution to Ambazonia quest for an independent state can only be gotten through intensive and productive discourse. The meeting cruelly exposes the timidity of disgraced leaders like Sako Ikome and Chris Anu, who are now playing catch up and fighting to be relevant to the Southern Cameroons struggle.

Money is needed now to rebuild not only the basic structures of a society destroyed by four years of a senseless war but also to organize all Ambazonia Restoration Forces into a kind of revolutionary guard force-Vice President Dabney Yerima and his cabinet offers by far the easiest way to raise and secure that money.

Having been a destabilising force in the Southern Cameroons revolution for most of the four years, Cho Ayaba, John Mbah Akuro and Ebenezar Akwanga could now find it convenient to use their undoubted power and reach to be agents of stability.  A strategic realignment of all Southern Cameroons interest groups that only a year ago would have seemed fanciful is now entirely possible.

Long Live the Federal Republic of Ambazonia

Short Live the Struggle

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman/Editor-In-Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group

Camair-Co is seeking another government bailout but this time the CPDM thieves are saying that the financial support will be to cover aircraft insurance cost.  The trains are not functioning and the entire nation is witnessing horrible power failure.  The army and the elite force known as the Rapid Intervention Battalion are disgruntled. The Special Criminal Court has ran short of ideas, the regime is cash trapped, Southern Cameroons has become ungovernable, Boko Haram has reemerged in the Far North Region and above all, coronavirus is chasing Biya and his ageing French Cameroun political elites.

Airline tags on some few suitcases carried by Brenda Biya and her mother, First Lady Chantal Biya recently via the Nsimalen International airport did not speak of a bref sejour en Europe or hint at a family holiday in Geneva. They are fleeing from the Brenda Biya’s social media shame and the numerous political scandals exploding inside the Unity Palace. Chantal Biya and her kids have started travelling out of the country incognito! They need to move — but this time around Chantal Biya and her children are not sure of where they are going. 

Outside Brenda Biya’s window as revealed on a video she posted on Face Book, expensive TV sets, laptops and mobile telephones are jammed with luxury cars, painting a picture of a young woman desperate to escape the emptiness of the French Cameroun royalty but with little option of where to go. Her health is failing and the situation is same for her brothers.

All this is happening in the absence of the family head President Paul Biya who is busy commanding regime forces to burn everything and leave Southern Cameroonian towns and villages without a single hut.

Thousands of Southern Cameroons civilians are trapped in the bushes in rural areas in Bui, Menchum, Manyu, Ndian, Lebialem and Kupe Munaneguba where an intense military campaign and ground assault by army soldiers loyal to President Paul Biya have forced more people to flee to neighboring Nigeria despite calls by the UN Secretary General for a coronavirus pandemic ceasefire.

The French government of President Macron, diplomats from Francophone African countries and the Francophone African Union chair person, Moussa Maki Mahamat are President Biya’s main international players who are working extremely hard and making sure that the international community continues to ignore the genocidal campaign going on in Southern Cameroons.

However, Biya family problems are now the scene of an unfolding humanitarian disaster and the dying days of his ruling CPDM crime syndicate regime. His poor and corrupt leadership, his tribal structuring of the Cameroonian public service and the army including the war in Southern Cameroons has left thousands of people dead, forced half the population of Southern Cameroons from their homes and pushed more than fifty thousand Southern Cameroonians to seek refuge in Nigeria.

But things are indeed falling apart in Etoudi and in Mvomeka’a -the last areas where Biya and his family can be free! That is why we of the Cameroon Concord Group are saying that it looks like Paul Biya’s judgment day has finally come!

Biya’s demise is so important — not just to the people of the two Cameroons but to all Southern Cameroonians that have been out for four years now demanding their freedom and dignity.

Biya and his French Cameroun gang have ignored multiple calls for a ceasefire from powerful international voices and the Francophone dominated army is pushing its war machinery emptying village after village in Southern Cameroons.

Recently, the Yaoundé regime has been issuing numerous presidential decrees appointing and sacking some highly placed civil servants all in a bid to give the impression that Mr. Biya is still in charge! But underneath these empty presidential decrees is a glaring indication that there is almost nowhere left for President Biya and his family to run. 

Does Biya have enough resources to sustain his regime? No.  Is Biya on top of things in Yaoundé? No. Has he the energy level required to run the affairs of the two Cameroons? No. The scale of the crises: Southern Cameroons, Boko Haram, Central African Republic, succession palaver and failure of all administrative branches of government is enormous.

Cameroon government army and militias loyal to Minister Paul Atanga Nji have reclaimed Ambazonia-held towns and cities. But the Yaoundé regime is not in control of Southern Cameroons. With Southern Cameroonians once again rallying behind their Interim Government and its Vice President Dabney Yerima, an unthinkable scenario and a decisively turning point are expected soonest in the battle for the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. But Biya will no longer be a part of the break dance as it looks like his judgment day has finally come!

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

For some time now, many Cameroonians have been questioning the rationale behind the government’s plan to carry out major reconstruction works in the country’s two English-speaking regions, especially as the fighting that has given it a bloodshot eye is still raging.

The project, dubbed the Presidential Plan for the Reconstruction and Development of the two English-speaking Regions of the country and estimated at over CFAF 89 billion, is expected to be implemented over a two-year period in a region that is still awash with sophisticated weapons.

In a bid to defray the cost of the mega project, the cash-strapped Yaounde government has already begun negotiating with investors and development finance institutions. On May 5, 2020, the Cameroon Government and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) signed a financing agreement and a project document for the sum of CFAF 8.9 billion which accounts for about 10% of the overall project cost, an amount the government must raise to bring the two English-speaking regions at par with the other regions that have not been affected by the bloody fighting that has seriously hurt the country’s economy.

The government understands the need for a special program to help reboot the economies of the two regions, after all, most of the destruction of the regions’ infrastructure is the handiwork of army soldiers, a strategy employed to either discredit Southern Cameroonian fighters or intimidate the local population which the government suspects is supporting the fighters by providing food and logistics support.

More than 200 Southern Cameroonian villages and towns have been destroyed by government troops, with government troops accounting for more than 90% of the infrastructure destroyed. At the height of the fighting, the Yaounde government which was desperate for a fast and effective solution, dispatched sex-starved, alcohol-inflamed and trigger-happy soldiers to villages and towns and many of them burnt down schools, hospitals and personal property, a strategy that is very well known by Cameroonians, as this dirty strategy had been used to defeat an insurgency (popularly known as Marquisard Movement) in East Cameroon in the 60s.

The stakes are high and the national coordinator of the poorly conceived presidential project, Paul Tasong, has been encouraging the population to embrace the plan which, in his view, is hope-inspiring and has been designed to address some of the injustices that have been responsible for the socio-political chaos that has put the country in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

In the government’s warp thinking, the reconstruction plan is a sure path to peace even when the issues that triggered the crisis have not yet been given due consideration by the tricky and desperate Yaounde government that has been very evasive and hypocritical.

The works, Mr. Tasong said, would commence in those areas of the regions where there was some relative calm with a view to restoring the economy and security in the affected areas. Poor infrastructure and lack of economic prosperity in many parts of English-speaking Cameroon have made it hard for many Southern Cameroonians to identify themselves with the Yaounde regime ever since the country’s president, Paul Biya, came to power in 1982.

Unemployment among Southern Cameroonians is unbearably high. Most parts of the English-speaking regions do not have proper health infrastructure. Thousands of people in the regions die of curable and preventable diseases; a situation that has made it possible for the novel coronavirus to hit large cities such as Bamenda. The North West region currently counts close to 500 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and it is being reported by hospital sources that government statistics do not reflect the reality as the government lacks the capacity to capture the real figures.

With many people living in the bushes because of the fear of reckless and irresponsible army soldiers, it is obvious that many COVID-19 victims are either suffering or dying in silence. Besides, with a high level of corruption in the country, it is obvious that medical doctors will be inflating the figures in order to receive government funding.

Many people have already been confirmed as being COVID-19 positive though many of them had health situations that had nothing to do with the virus. In Cameroon, it is normal for someone heading to the hospital to complain of erectile dysfunction to end up in a COVID-19 ward, as doctors do not really want to deal with a virus that is still a challenge to scientists.

Mr. Paul Tasong, who is very much hated in the two regions, has been singing the president’s praises, hoping that the people will welcome the project and consider Mr. Biya as a Messiah. But the people of Southern Cameroons seem to have made their minds. It was Mr. Biya who declared war on them and many of them have lost their loved ones in a useless and stupid war. Rebuilding the regions will never bringing back the dead. The war was not necessary, and it was clearly avoidable if the brutal regime had sought to win hearts and minds.

Military brutality has only made things worse.  With so many armed groups emerging in the region, it is clear that the government’s reconstruction efforts will clearly fall flat. The anger is deep and the frustrations are too many. The government seems to be placing the cart before the horses when it comes to addressing the Southern Cameroons issue that has been around for more than fifty years. 

No real grievance tabled by Southern Cameroonians has really been addressed to the satisfaction of the Southern Cameroonian population. Francophone magistrates are still being sent to Southern Cameroonian courts. Francophone teachers are still being posted to Southern Cameroonian schools, including universities. No special quotas have been reserved for the indigenous people of Southern Cameroons when it comes to admission into all of the country’s professional schools. Over the last three years, ministerial appointments clearly demonstrate that the government is not repentant and will never show any remorse for its past failings.

Many Southern Cameroonians are still being arrested and taken to Yaounde for minor crimes and they are being held in custody without proper hearing. Uniformed officers of Francophone extraction still conduct themselves as if they are an army of occupation and they are using the current socio-political situation to enrich themselves as there are no avenues for the intimidated population to complain.

The soldiers now compel people in Kumba, Mamfe, Bamenda, Limbe and other towns in Southern Cameroons to express themselves in French, if not they will be killed, after all, they have the possibility of tagging any and everybody as a terrorist. The government hardly investigates such flagrant violations, and this has given the soldiers carte blanche to kill and maim innocent people.

Over the weekend, the government dispatched heavily armed soldiers to neighborhoods inhabited by Southern Cameroonians in Yaounde. The soldiers arrested many people and even forced them to express themselves in French even when they could not. Many of those arrested were internally displaced people who are seeking refuge in the nation’s capital.

 Many of them were asked to give bribe if not, they would be herded to the country’s maximum-security prison even when they had not committed any crimes. These are some of the frustrations that Southern Cameroonians are facing and this unfortunate situation is driving many young people into the waiting arms of the separatists; a situation that makes it hard for the government to win this war that requires more soft power than fire power.

The Presidential Plan for the Reconstruction and Development of the two English speaking Regions of the country may be part of the government’s response to restore peace in Southern Cameroons, but its timing leaves much to be desired. How can reconstruction be going on in a region that is awash with guns and everyday civilians and soldiers are being killed?

The plan may be an outcome of the Major National Dialogue that took place in the nation’s capital in 2019, but the dialogue itself never received any popular recognition. It was a forum remote-controlled by the presidency with topics carefully chosen by the government and their discussion controlled by government surrogates who chaired the various sessions. Those who attended the event did not represent the various factions that have been battling the government for the total liberation of Southern Cameroons and the meaningful Diaspora was carefully excluded, reducing the forum to a ruling party convention.

If the government really wants to restore peace in the two English-speaking regions of the country, then it must start thinking of doing the right things. It must reach out to the separatists whom it has branded as terrorists. You never make peace with your friends if you don’t have any issues. You make peace with those you have problems, and, in this case, it must make peace with Southern Cameroonians who have their leaders abroad and in prison.

Mr. Julius Ayuk Tabe remains the President of Ambazonia and a poster boy of the insurgency that has crippled the country economically. If any real discussions must take place, he must be involved, if not, the people of Southern Cameroons will see any government action as a joke designed for children. 

Cameroon needs peace, but not the version the government is selling. If the Yaoundé government really wants to restore peace in the two English-speaking regions of the country with a view to keeping the country one and indivisible, then it must stop playing tricks. It must reconcile with the country’s Diaspora and reduce police harassment to the barest minimum.

Cameroonians are sick and tired of those tricks and those gimmicks have simply pushed the country into a downward economic and political spiral. The regime must stop placing the cart ahead of the horses. It should take time off its tricks to examine what actually took the country down the path of a war that has resulted in the death of some 5,000 Cameroonians. If it does not adopt the right approach, its reconstruction program will be a waste of time and taxpayers’ money. The folly must be stopped before it results in more deaths. It is time to be realistic and Paul Tasong should find a better job.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai in the United Kingdom

The ills of one of Southern Cameroons desperate town deepened today with the election of 32-year old   Tabenchong Robertson Ashu, as the new Mayor of Mamfe. All 20 councilors of the ruling CPDM crime syndicate with charges of corruption, taking bribes from Market women and okada riders and financing pro Yaoundé armed militias in Manyu took part in the voting process that was teleguided by Chief Tabetando and Minister Mengot.

Mayor Tabenchong Robertson Ashu has now replaced his late brother Mayor Ojong Priestly who was murdered recently via a combined action staged by the Cameroon government army and an armed militia group sponsored by Yaoundé CPDM barons. Both Tabenchong and the late Ojong Priestly hail from Eshobi Village and are from the same family.

The two Eshobi men were jointly involved in a rolling Cameroon Concord News Group investigation into illegal petrol dealing from Nigeria and official corruption and are noted for giving beer to underage girls in exchange for sex.

Cat calls have greeted the choice of Tabenchong Robertson as mayor following strong allegations from senior title holders that he was in the military vehicle that was transporting the late mayor at the time of the so-called Amba attack. But he reportedly came out unhurt.  

 A source deep within the ruling party hinted this reporter that Chief Tabetando gave standing instructions that Eshobi must finish their tenure at the head of the Mamfe council.

By Kingsley Betek in Mamfe

Journalist Ernest Obama pushed for a complete extermination of every living creature who goes by the appellation Anglophone or Southern Cameroonian. He opined that British Southern Cameroonians fled the civil war in Nigeria and were given political asylum in French Cameroun territory by the regime of Prime Minister Andre Marie Mbida. He saluted the humiliating decision by a French Cameroun court against the renowned veteran journalist Peter Esoka and observed that the Bamilekes had a home somewhere else and not in La Republique du Cameroun. Today, from his detention cell at the State Secretariat for Defense popularly known as SED, Ernest Obama is claiming that Cameroon’s security forces are arresting him because he is not in support of Biya’s continued stay in power.

Dieudonné Ernest Obama Nana (to use his four names) the former CEO of the private television channel VISION 4 has been the “shu shu” of French Cameroun billionaire business tycoon Jean Pierre Amougou Belinga with strong ties to President Biya, Paul Atanga Nji Minister of Territorial Administration, Laurent Esso, Minister of Justice and Keeper of the Seal and the controversial Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary. His televised arrest in Yaoundé has made public the dispute within the Biya family, which has ruled Cameroon for more than 40 years.

Jean Pierre Amougou Belinga owns a business empire in Cameroon, Gabon, Central Africa Republic, Equatorial Guinea and Chad ranging from telecoms to cocoa and coffee, oil and gas trading that no one in Yaoundé and Douala including top officials in the Cameroon secret service cannot explain how it all started! People in the know only say he and Minister Atanga Nji have questions to answer in the CAMPOST Affair. (See Special Criminal Court documents).

Jean Pierre Amougou Belinga is said to be playing a big role in financing President Biya’s war against the people of Southern Cameroons and making sure that the Bamileke LAAKAM mafia do not get hold of the Cameroonian presidency.  Correspondingly, he and his right hand man, journalist Ernest Obama previously viewed as part of the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo project have now broken ranks.

It follows reports Ernest Obama, considered French Cameroun’s best Mister News and former boss of Vision 4 is being prosecuted by Jean Pierre Amougou Belinga, the business tycoon and owner of the television station, for breach of trust, high treason and embezzlement of company funds.

By some strange happenstance, Vision 4 aired spectacular images of Mister Obama’s arrest and a report detailing the reasons for the judicial action. Ernest Obama is now getting his own share of the drug he gave to the thousands of innocent Southern Cameroonians killed by French Cameroun army soldiers and of course, he will welcome a visit from the Chairman of the National Communication Council, Mr Peter Esoka anytime soon.

His arrest began in an unacceptable way and the Fren ch Cameroun security forces including his former colleagues who filmed the whole scenario also acted in an inhumane pattern.

Did anyone expect French Cameroun security forces would pounce on Mister Ernest Obama who is their biggest supporter and their propaganda mouth piece ever since the beginning of the Southern Cameroons war?

Mr Jean Pierre Amougou Belinga’s action against Mr Ernest Obama is said to have possibly been ordered by Etoudi, who have propped up the Amougou Belinga business empire, while others have said it is the result of a dispute with Mr Amougou Belinga, over who decides who to succeed President Biya.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Maurice Kamto is the leader of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (MRC) and was the main challenger in Cameroon’s 2018 presidential election. He was imprisoned by the government from January to October in 2019.

Nearly one year ago, on August 2, 2019, journalist Samuel Ajiekah Abuwe—better known as Wazizi—was arrested and detained by government forces in Buea, located in the South-West region of Cameroon. Since 2017, Buea has been home to unrelenting violence between the government and separatist fighters. For three hundred days after his arrest, despite numerous domestic and international calls to produce Wazizi, authorities in Cameroon remained silent about his fate. This detention was indeed a textbook case of enforced disappearance. Despite holding out bleak hopes that Wazizi might eventually emerge alive, our worst fears came true when we learned he had died in custody following torture.

Like many other critics in Cameroon—including additional journalists—Wazizi was accused of “collaborating with separatists,” though his lawyers claim he had not been charged with any offense prior to his disappearance. I personally experienced this treatment. In early 2019, I was charged by a military court with rebellion and “hostility to the homeland” after my political party—the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (CRM)—staged peaceful protests in major cities, following a rigged presidential election in October 2018. Since that time, I have been repeatedly intimidated by the government and its associated militia groups, often being threatened with arrest and death.

Luckily, I am alive today and can raise my voice, while Wazizi can no longer. His commitment to basic freedoms, and his legacy, will surely live on. Importantly as well, his death at the hands of Cameroonian authorities raises major questions about the future of our country. Just last week—for the second year in a row—Cameroon topped the Norwegian Refugee Council’s list of “most neglected crises” worldwide. Our country is hemorrhaging under the boots of a dictatorship. More than ever, we need international assistance.

Indeed, for Cameroon to meet the long-subdued aspirations of its people, we must implement a democratic agenda—a viable path forward. The situation demands leadership and it is evident that the current ruling regime is unwilling to exercise the necessary courage.

First and foremost, all political prisoners incarcerated in Cameroon must be released—this would include Ayuk Tabe, the Anglophone separatist leader, and Mamadou Yakuba, our first Vice-President at the CRM. Secondly, to ensure that Wazizi’s death is not in vain, the government and key political and civic actors, should agree to a consensual political roadmap that principally includes an overhaul of the electoral system to end the ongoing post-electoral crisis.

Lastly, we must agree to definitively end our country’s ongoing civil war in the Anglophone regions. Too often over the years, the government has used conflict to justify the incarceration of journalists like Wazizi and opposition leaders like myself and my colleagues. This is why the international community must organize an all-inclusive dialogue with Cameroonian leaders across the political spectrum. This initiative would ideally fall under the auspices of the United Nations and cooperate directly with African Union leadership and Cameroon’s development partners.

For now, it is not yet too late to act. But act we must.

Culled from Council on Foreign Relations

Civilians in Cameroon’s Anglophone Northwest and Southwest regions are at immediate risk of mass atrocities in a political crisis that emerged from the government’s real and perceived marginalization of Anglophone linguistic and cultural rights and identity.

Cameroon currently ranks number nine of countries at risk of mass killing in the Simon-Skjodt Center’s Statistical Risk Assessment. The situation has deteriorated significantly since 2017, when Cameroon ranked 36th. After Anglophone civilians launched protests in late 2016 alleging marginalization by the Francophone-majority government, state security forces responded violently, allegedly arresting, beating, and shooting demonstrators. Clashes ensued, with security forces reportedly killing over 20 people in a 12-day period in largely peaceful protests in September and October 2017. Shortly after, Anglophone separatists began fighting for independence for the territory they referred to as Southern Cameroons or Ambazonia.

The crisis emerged from the long-standing political grievances of the Anglophone community. Yet today, fighting between the two sides makes it difficult to discern motives. Security forces are reportedly targeting Anglophone civilians accused of supporting separatists. It is unclear to what extent security forces are also targeting the Anglophone linguistic and cultural identity. Meanwhile, armed separatists claiming to represent the Anglophone population are reportedly targeting civilians they perceive as supporting the government.

Since 2017, the crisis has resulted in:

• More than 3,000 Cameroonians killed.
• Approximately 700,000 internally displaced people and nearly 60,000 refugees in neighboring Nigeria.
• Nearly two million Cameroonians in need of humanitarian assistance, a 15-fold increase since 2017.
• Targeting of civilians by state security forces and Anglophone armed separatist groups.

With the government set on a military victory and armed separatists set on independence, there are no readily apparent pathways to a peaceful, negotiated resolution of the crisis. As long as this situation persists, civilians are at immediate risk of mass atrocities.

This policy brief provides an overview of the risks of mass atrocities in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions and provides recommendations to the Cameroonian government, armed separatist groups, and international actors to prevent atrocities and protect civilians.

BACKGROUND

The crisis in Cameroon’s Northwest and Southwest regions emerged from decades of lingering grievances of Anglophone citizens, who make up 20 percent of the population in a mostly Francophone country. After World War I, the colonial powers of France and the United Kingdom administered the former German colony of Kamerun as mandate territories and then as joint trustees, leading to the development of politically and culturally distinct Francophone and Anglophone regions. The French territory gained independence in 1960. Meanwhile, the United Nations (UN) gave the British territory of Northern Cameroons and Southern Cameroons no option for independence in a 1961 referendum. Northern Cameroons joined Nigeria while Southern Cameroons joined the Republic of Cameroon, which became the Federal Republic of Cameroon.

Anglophones were promised a degree of autonomy under the new federal system. Instead, the Francophone government abolished federalism just a decade later and changed the name of the country to the United Republic of Cameroon. It instituted policies that economically and politically marginalized the Anglophone regions over the next four decades.

In October 2016, Anglophone teachers and lawyers launched protests over the imposition of French-speaking teachers in Anglophone schools and the “francization” of the Anglophone common law system. In November, security forces reportedly responded to the growing protests with violence, which fed Anglophone nationalism and prompted clashes between the two sides. Initially the government attempted to negotiate with the lawyers and teachers, but by January 2017, the government-sponsored negotiations broke down and leaders of Anglophone associations were arrested. On October 1 of that year an increasingly militant separatist movement declared an independent Anglophone “Ambazonia.” Violent conflict between armed separatists and state security forces, as well as pro-government militias, intensified and continues to date.(i)

ATROCITIES & HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS

Experts have asserted that attacks by security forces and separatists may rise to the level of crimes against humanity.(ii) In violation of their duty to protect civilians, Cameroonian security forces are waging a targeted campaign against civilians they perceive to support separatists. Security forces have been accused of arbitrarily arresting, detaining, and torturing civilians; firing indiscriminately into crowds; forcibly entering homes and killing inhabitants; and rounding up and shooting villagers. Security forces’ “scorched earth” tactic of burning and razing villages suspected of harboring separatists has resulted in more than 200 villages allegedly raided or partially destroyed. Sexual violence is reported to be widespread. According to civilian witnesses, attacks on civilians are frequently retaliation for the actions of armed separatists. Some experts say this could be part of a strategy to bring the crisis to an end by exhausting the civilian population so they stop supporting separatists. In one of the deadliest massacres of the crisis, security forces and allied Fulani militia reportedly killed nearly two dozen people, including at least 13 children, suspected of harboring separatists in Ngarbuh village in Northwest Cameroon in February 2020.(iii)

Meanwhile, armed separatists have been accused of attacking and killing civilians they perceive to be associated with or sympathetic to the government. Separatists have allegedly brutally attacked, shot, harassed, and kidnapped students, teachers, and administrators on their way to school to enforce a school boycott in the Anglophone regions. The school boycott, which some experts allege is an attempt to make the region ungovernable and thereby garner political recognition, is now in its third year, although some schools reportedly have opened in the regional capital cities of Bamenda and Buea. As a result of the school shutdown, more than 855,000 children have been out of school since 2017 according to the UN Children’s Fund. Separatists have also been accused of torture, arson, kidnapping, and abducting and attacking traditional chiefs accused of supporting the government. They have targeted government-owned and local businesses, burned schools, and transformed classrooms into armed bases.

On numerous occasions, the government has reportedly imposed internet shutdowns, threatened journalists, and restricted access for independent researchers in an effort to dispel attention to the crisis. These measures, in addition to threats posed by armed separatists, have resulted in the underreporting of attacks and uncertainty around the scale of the crisis.

RESPONSE

Both the government and separatists deny many of the reported violations, and neither side appears willing to make meaningful concessions that could lead to genuine dialogue. In September 2019, Cameroonian President Paul Biya launched a five-day national dialogue focused on the Anglophone crisis. Separatist leaders refused to attend because the Cameroonian government ignored their conditions for participating, including mediation in an external location and consideration of the terms of a separation. The dialogue resulted in a series of recommendations and the release of hundreds of activists, including prominent opposition leader Maurice Kamto, but failed to solve the Anglophone crisis. In December 2019, the government adopted legislation for a special status for the Anglophone regions, as part of an Omnibus Decentralization Law. Special status has been rejected by separatists and other Anglophone groups who claim that it falls short of even federalist demands. Mediation efforts led by Switzerland that began in June 2019 have produced limited results. Following intense international pressure, the Cameroonian government released a report in April 2020 which admitted that soldiers were responsible for civilian deaths in the Ngarbuh massacre, an important step in accountability but one that does not replace inclusive efforts to resolve the crisis.

Since 2019, the U.S. government has responded to the situation in Cameroon by taking a number of important steps, including: withholding military aid; reducing security assistance;(iv) ending trade preference for the country under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA); and calling for an independent investigation into the massacre in Ngarbuh village. A U.S. Congressional delegation visited Cameroon in July 2019, and members of Congress supported a resolution calling for dialogue and an end to violence, which was passed in the House and introduced in the Senate.

The U.S. has taken helpful measures to ensure consequences for the government’s targeting of civilians, but these initial actions cannot replace regional or multilateral initiatives and pressure to bring both parties to an inclusive process of dialogue and resolution. The absence of sustained and priority-level engagement of the UN, the African Union (AU), and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) lessens the positive impact of one-off actions of individual nations. Cameroon is not on the official agenda of the UN Security Council, and with the exception of a May 2019 Arria Formula meeting on the humanitarian situation, the Security Council has paid minimal attention. In February 2020, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights called for an independent investigation into the Ngarbuh massacre, as did the UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide. The AU has remained relatively quiet, but has lent support to the Swiss mediation efforts. The AU also joined the Commonwealth and the International Organisation of la Francophonie in a tripartite mission to Cameroon to reduce violence, however the mission did not visit any Anglophone towns or cities where the crisis persists.

RISKS OF FUTURE MASS ATROCITIES

Since the end of 2019, Cameroon’s Anglophone crisis has seemingly entered a new phase of increased attacks on civilians. The longer the crisis persists, the more civilians will be harmed. The current greatest risk facing civilians is that the crisis becomes more protracted as both sides refuse to seek a political solution and the capacity of separatist groups to commit violence increases. The death of President Biya in office could also produce instability that could escalate the crisis.

The following developments fuel the risk of mass atrocities:

1. Abuses by security forces and separatists are on the rise.

In the months leading up to the February 2020 legislative and local elections, separatists and security forces launched an unprecedented barrage of attacks on civilians. Separatists attacked candidates and voters who participated in what they called “sham” elections. Security forces, instead of protecting voters, burned several villages and committed dozens of killings, including the Ngarbuh massacre. It is uncertain how the COVID-19 pandemic will affect this rise in violence. It is possible that COVID-19 may divert attention away from the Anglophone crisis, allowing attacks on civilians to proliferate unchecked.

2. The separatist movement is fracturing.

There is no united separatist movement, but rather an increasingly disorganized collection of distinct groups, some of which are clashing. Some separatist groups are reportedly becoming increasingly brutal in their attacks on civilians. Security forces use this as justification to conduct more violent attacks on separatist groups and civilians accused of hosting or housing them in their communities. It is unclear the degree of control that separatist leaders in the diaspora have over armed groups on the ground.

3. Separatist groups are becoming better equipped and trained.

To replace the improvised or locally-produced hunting shotguns used at the beginning of the crisis, separatists are reportedly capturing more sophisticated weapons from Cameroonian security forces, in addition to smuggling weapons in from Nigeria. There have been recent reports of separatists producing homemade bombs and improvised explosive devices. Separatist groups may also be setting up training camps in Nigeria, according to some experts. Up to this point, external actors have been unwilling to fund a fragmented separatist movement, though some diaspora have allegedly crowdsourced funds for weapons for separatists. If groups become significantly better equipped, trained, and funded, their attacks might become more strategic and inflict greater damage on both civilians and security forces. This could lead security forces to double down and increase attacks on separatists and civilians. Additionally, there are some allegations that separatists have recently conducted attacks outside the Anglophone regions. If the allegations of separatist involvement in these attacks are proven, this would signal that separatists are capable of projecting force outside the Anglophone regions, which could cause violence to spread and escalate, putting more civilians (including internally displaced Anglophones in neighboring Francophone regions) at risk.

4. Security forces are becoming emboldened by a sense of impunity and more brazen in their attacks on civilians.

As the crisis persists and security forces are not held accountable, they are pursuing increasingly brutal attacks on civilians, including reportedly attacking former safe havens, such as hospitals, health facilities, and palaces of traditional leaders. As some separatist groups become more violent, security forces have more freedom to act with impunity.

5. Neither side appears willing to make the concessions necessary for a political solution.

Anglophone Cameroonians are increasingly leaning toward a common call for independence. Largely because of the government’s half-hearted response to Anglophone grievances, many Anglophones who were willing to discuss federalism early in the crisis now do not see a solution besides independence. Meanwhile, the Cameroonian government is determined to obtain a military victory over the separatists. At the end of 2019, President Biya reiterated his commitment to using military force against separatists, despite widespread international acknowledgment that the crisis requires a political solution. The government refuses to make meaningful concessions on key Anglophone grievances, including political autonomy and recognition of historical and structural inequities. Faced with increasingly sophisticated armed separatist groups, pursuing a military solution will only prolong the crisis.

6. The sudden death or departure from office of the aging president may leave a power vacuum that could further destabilize the Anglophone regions.

Despite his fragile health, President Biya, 87, has maintained a tight grip on power since 1982. He has failed to groom a successor for a peaceful political transition. An abrupt end to his rule could prompt a chaotic and possibly violent power scramble, which could further destabilize the Anglophone crisis. Separatists would likely take advantage of a power vacuum to wage further attacks, and the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR), Cameroon’s elite security force which is allegedly loyal to Biya, could escalate its attacks on civilians without restraint. On the other hand, a shift in power could also bring fresh thinking and greater impetus for a negotiated resolution to the crisis.

7. Public events are potential triggers.

Narratives around holidays and public events like elections – including the idea that there can be national holidays or “free and fair” elections in the midst of the Anglophone crisis – have historically provoked outrage among separatists and led them to impose lockdowns. These lockdowns are often a pretext for further violence against civilians, as was the case in lead-up to the February 2020 elections. Though most public events, including Cameroon’s National Day on May 20, have been cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, future public events could trigger such violence in the absence of efforts from the Cameroonian government toward an inclusive dialogue.

POLICY OPTIONS

Anglophone grievances are longstanding and deep-seated. Solving the crisis requires a good faith commitment by the state to directly address substantive grievances and a willingness by separatists to come to the table.

For the government of Cameroon

• Cease the targeting of civilians by state security forces.
• Embrace a credible mediation process that includes the voices of armed groups, civil society, and affected Anglophone communities.
• End discriminatory practices against Anglophones and include Anglophone leaders and affected communities in discussions about fostering proper representation across the regions’ schools, courts, and other civilian infrastructure.
• Launch a credible investigation into all abuses, supported by the AU and/or UN. This could include a truly independent office to investigate all atrocities. Ensure that perpetrators on both the government and separatist sides are held accountable according to international legal standards.
• Improve access to the Anglophone regions for humanitarian organizations.

For Anglophone armed separatist groups and their civilian leaders

• Cease the targeting of civilians and, should the government declare a ceasefire, respond to such ceasefire by stopping all hostilities against state institutions and individuals associated with them.
• End the years-long shutdown of schools in Anglophone regions.
• Participate in a credible mediation process that includes representatives of civil society and affected Anglophone communities.
• Cooperate with any future international investigative mechanisms tasked with gathering information from the Anglophone areas.

For foreign governments

• Undertake an assessment of atrocity risks and implement prevention and mitigation strategies, including the following:
• Support and encourage the government and separatists to welcome external assistance in a credible mediation process.
• Ensure no military assistance is directly or indirectly supporting the violence being perpetrated against civilians. Link security assistance to demonstrable progress by the Cameroonian government on protecting civilians, investigating human rights violations, and promoting accountability for such crimes.
• Through the UN Security Council, General Assembly, Human Rights Council, or Secretary General, establish a formal investigation into the commission of atrocities in Cameroon.
• Call for a Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Cameroon through the UN or the AU.
• Consider targeted sanctions against members of security forces and separatist leaders, including in the diaspora, who are committing, aiding, or abetting attacks on civilians.

For the African Union

• The AU Peace and Security Council (AUPSC) should add Cameroon to its agenda and use the array of prevention tools available, including but not limited to activating the Panel of the Wise on the Anglophone crisis.
• The AUPSC should request monthly updates on the crisis from their Continental Early Warning System and adopt appropriate actions in response to the early warnings received.
• Appoint a Special Envoy to facilitate dialogue between the Cameroonian government and separatist groups. Ensure civil society and affected communities are represented.
• If the government fails to immediately launch a credible and comprehensive investigation into the atrocities and crimes, initiate an AU Commission of Inquiry.
• Pursue the Cameroon crisis under point two of the AU’s Master Roadmap of Practical Steps to Silence the Guns in Africa by Year 2020, which is “consideration of cases of denials of early warning signs on looming crises.”

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Boko Haram in the Far North

As media, political, and military attention is increasingly focused on the Anglophone crisis, civilians in the Far North region fear being abandoned. Since at least 2014, they have been targeted by Boko Haram. The government declared war in 2014. The crisis has seen 2,000 civilians killed and nearly 300,000 Cameroonians displaced.

The tactics of the government have led to some reduction in the threat posed by Boko Haram, but this has come at a cost. Government forces are reported to have committed widespread human rights violations, including arbitrary killings, torture, and arrests. All civilians in Cameroon must be protected from the risk of atrocities.

COVID-19 in Cameroon

As of this writing, Cameroon has the highest COVID-19 caseload in Central Africa. Civilians in conflict-affected regions, particularly the nearly 700,000 civilians who are internally displaced as a result of the Anglophone crisis, are at disproportionate risk of contracting the virus. Thirty-four percent of the health facilities in the Anglophone regions are non-functional or only partially functional as a result of the Anglophone crisis, and attacks on healthcare workers by security forces and armed separatists have reduced their presence. Lockdowns, roadblocks, and checkpoints maintained by separatists and security forces will likely block humanitarian aid.

It is unclear how the COVID-19 pandemic will impact the dynamics of the Anglophone crisis. In March 2020, one separatist group declared a ceasefire in response to the pandemic, but neither the Cameroonian government nor other separatist groups have followed suit. Attacks on civilians by both security forces and armed separatists are reportedly ongoing. Due to the distraction of COVID-19 and the inaccessibility of the Anglophone regions to international monitors and journalists, attacks on civilians, which are currently on the rise, could be covered up or under reported. Security forces and armed separatist groups should respond to the COVID-19 pandemic by ending attacks on civilians and pursuing a peaceful, negotiated resolution to the Anglophone crisis.

Culled from United States Holocaust Memorial Museum