11, November 2018

Trump, Macron agree on defense after row over call for European army ⁰

US President Donald Trump has reportedly reached consensus with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, on the need for more European military spending despite an earlier Trump tweet that had slammed Macron’s recent call for a European army without reliance on the US as “very insulting.”

“We had a great discussion and we are aligned,” French presidential Elysee place quoted Trump as saying on Saturday following a meeting there with his host Macron during which the two discussed trade, defense, Syria as well as the persisting controversy over last month’s murder in Istanbul of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

“We want a strong Europe, it’s very important to us, and whichever way we can do it the best and more efficient would be something we both want,” Trump added after the meeting which was held a day before commemoration events in France to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I.

“We want to help Europe but it has to be fair. Right now the burden sharing has been largely on the United States,” the US president further emphasized.

US President Donald Trump (L) speaks with French president Emmanuel Macron prior to their meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, on November 10, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

This is while the French president also echoed such sentiments, insisting that he wanted Europe to bear a greater share of the defense costs within the US-led NATO military alliance, a point Macron has repeatedly made since taking office, together with his ambitions to establish Europe’s own military capability.

“That’s why I do believe my proposals for European defense are totally consistent with that,” Macron further underlined despite his recent remarks in which he appeared to regard the US as a threat.

Discussing the growing dangers from cyber-hacking, alleged meddling in electoral processes as well as Washington’s decision to withdraw from a key arms-control treaty with Russia, Macron emphasized during a radio interview last week that Europe needed to protect itself against China, Russia “and even the United States.”

Pointing to a need for a European army, he added: “Faced by Russia, which is on our borders and which has shown that it can be threatening… we need to have a Europe that can better defend itself by itself, without depending solely on the United States.”

Trump then slammed Macron’s remarks in a tweet message just prior to landing in Paris, stating: “Very insulting, but perhaps Europe should first pay its fair share of NATO, which the US subsidizes greatly.”

However, the Elysee described the harsh exchange of remarks by Macron and Trump as a “misunderstanding” caused by what it referred to as “exaggerated” US press reports. It further underlined that the confusion was cleared up during more than an hour of “substantial” and “very constructive” talks.

According to local press reports, while the talks between the two leaders covered trade and foreign policy issues, it was not clear if they also discussed European worries regarding Trump’s plans to abandon the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Agreement (INF), signed with Russia in 1986.

Macron insisted during his Europe 1 radio interview last week that the “main victim” of the US withdrawal from the INF treaty was Europe and its security.

Moreover, the French president — who also tried but failed to talk Trump out of withdrawing from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal earlier this year — has also raised concerns about the impact of the US-led sanctions on European companies doing business with Iran.

Meanwhile, the US president may also speak briefly with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Sunday, when the two are among the 70 world leaders set to gather at the Arc de Triomphe monument in Paris. Trump and Putin are further expected to hold formal talks later this month when both attend a G-20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

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The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers. However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization. It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

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10, November 2018

UK Minister resigns, demands new Brexit referendum ⁰

British transport minister Jo Johnson has resigned from his post, dealing a severe blow to Prime Minister Theresa May who is hoping to win parliament’s backing for her Brexit plan.

Jo is the younger brother of Boris Johnson who quit as UK foreign secretary in July over May’s plans to leave the European Union.

In the 2016 referendum, Jo Johnson voted to remain in the bloc, while his brother Boris voted for leave.

On Friday, Jo called May’s Brexit deal “con,” demanding a Final Say referendum to allow the public to decide about the fate of their country.

“Brexit has divided the country. It has divided political parties. And it has divided families too,” he said in his resignation statement.

“It has become increasingly clear to me that the Withdrawal Agreement, which is being finalized in Brussels and Whitehall even as I write, will be a terrible mistake,” he added.

Johnson said, “Britain stands on the brink of the greatest crisis since the Second World War,” adding, “The democratic thing to do is to give the public the final say.”

May is in the final phases of talks with Brussels on clinching a deal that could guarantee a smooth Brexit and ensure that there would be no hard border between the two sides on the island of Ireland.

However, the negotiations may collapse simply because of the very issue of the Irish border as the two sides keep insisting on their conditions.

According to a senior journalist, the government will officially release the details of a long-anticipated deal next week.

Sam Coates, who has seen a draft timetable on the issue, said Thursday that the cabinet would discuss the Brexit deal on Monday and the publication of the full Withdrawal Agreement would be due on Tuesday.

The reported finalization of the Brexit agreement effectively puts an end to calls for a second referendum on Brexit or a reversal of May’s Brexit strategy.

May had indicated several times that she would bring the United Kingdom out of the EU on March 29, 2019, no matter what happens at the end of the Brexit talks.

Source: Presstv

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10, November 2018

Biya’s 7th term: A standing but dying nation ⁰

On October 22, the Cameroun Constitutional Council announced that incumbent President Paul Biya won the presidential election with 71.3 percent of the vote. Opposition parties petitioned the ruling of the Constitutional Council, citing eighteen cases of voter fraud, ballot stuffing and intimidation. The Council dismissed each case. After claiming victory for himself earlier in the month, the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (MRC) leader and presidential candidate Professor Maurice Kamto rejected the results. In his refutation, Kamto called on all Cameroonians to be prepared to fight for their freedom and vowed that his party would use all legal means available to restore truth to the ballot box.

In another unusual turn, Archbishop Samuel Kleda, the Archbishop of Douala and president of the bishops’ conference in Cameroon, stated that it was virtually impossible that Biya had won in the Far North and in the two Anglophone regions, the North West and South West, by the landslide margins he claimed. The northern region is the most underdeveloped part of the country, and a majority of residents there still harbor the scars of their parents and loved ones, who were brutally executed by Paul Biya’s government on the heels of an attempted coup d’Etat in 1984. In the Anglophone North West and South West regions of the country, representing roughly 20 percent of Cameroon’s 25 million citizens, Cameroun government forces and Ambazonia Restoration Forces have been fighting since 2017.The conflict has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of civilians and fighters, and Cameroonian soldiers have burnt close to 1000 homes in at least 100 villages in the Anglophone region, following the Biya regime’s “scorched earth” policy. More than 50,000 refugees have fled to Nigeria; over 500,000 people have been internally displaced, and upwards of 300,000 people are estimated to be hiding in the forest.

This presidential election was a watershed moment for Cameroonians to salvage a collapsing nation by listening to the people’s voice at the ballot box. It offered an opportunity to peacefully transition to new and fresh leadership that would reform democratic institutions and apportion political and economic opportunities based on character and merit, instead of deferring, time and again, to corrupt party and tribal lines.

Despite glaring cases of fraud, incredibly low turnout (just 5% of the electorate voted in the Anglophone regions), and popular resentment against Biya’sregime, both domestically and internationally, it appears that the election results will stand. However, these flaws in the election process could hamper Biya’s attempts to attract foreign investment in the future and could further strain relations between Yaoundé and western capitals like Paris, London and Washington.

Biya—86 years old, President since 1982, and suffering from terminal prostate cancer—is no longer considered a force of stability in the fragile central African region. In international circles, he is perceived as a fatigued despot whose failure to adequately manage contemporary political challenges could worsen the already formidable financial, political and social crises confronting the nation. These crises could in turn incur further humanitarian consequences and could exacerbate security threats and stability challenges for neighboring countries, especially Nigeria. To that end, as a measure to contain the challenges presented by French Cameroun, western powers are likely to shift their focus and begin to support the Ambazonia Liberation War in international diplomatic forums.

In the face of mounting domestic strife and piqued international attention, Biya will have to make a number of difficult decisions in the coming months and years. Will he attempt to contain domestic resistance at the possible price of alienating international powers? Ultimately, the Biya regime may opt for peaceful separation with Ambazonia and aim to establish friendly relations with their neighbors by negotiating new trade and security agreements. Otherwise, the Biya regime will face the uphill task of sustaining an asymmetric fight with highly determined guerilla splinter groups, which number over 20,000 fighters and are supported by more than 90 percent of the population. The Ambazonia decolonization process hangs over the head of Cameroon like Damocles’s sword.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

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10, November 2018

Ambazonia War of Independence: Tearing apart political union cracks with La Republique ⁰

In Cameroon, government actions are cloaked in mystery and shrouded in secrecy. It can be difficult to parse rumors from truth, inconsequential events from those of significance, facts from fiction. In 2018 alone, President Biya postponed parliamentary elections to 2019, appointed 70 of 100 total senators, and has now officially been declared the winner of the October 7 presidential election. The presidential election, though, was like something cooked up in a Hollywood writers’ room. At one-point, President Biya announced the election date via his twitter handle, shocking domestic and international communities. Next, though no formal Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) party congress was convened, and no candidate was officially designated (as required in the party charter),Biya declared that he would run in the elections. Then, he snubbed the electorate. He did not campaign as a candidate for the highest office in the country. He staged one 20-minute rally in the Far North region, and that was it.

A more striking incident passed by unnoticed. Biya and other opposition candidates did not campaign in the Anglophone regions of the country, the North West and South West. Only Akere Muna of the Popular Front for Development Party visited, and he only went to Limbe, a French dominated city in the South West Region. The fact that Presidential aspirants, including Biya, avoided the Anglophone regions sends an unmistakable message to the international community – Ambazonia is a new country in the making.

What scared Biya and the other candidates away from Ambazonia? Earlier in the year, Ambazonian Restoration Forces attacked the Minister of Defence’s convoy in the South West Region. This attack suggests that the seed of freedom has been planted in the hearts of Ambazonians that All-Or-Nothing Law now applies—we live free forever or we all die today. Of course, only one is true—we live free forever. The Cameroon military cannot kill the 8-million Ambazonians that it would take to end the Ambazonia freedom struggle. Even if Biya’s soldiers were able to kill all 5-million Ambazonians living within Ambazonia territory, the 3-million Ambazonians in the Diaspora would fight on like Israelites until they reclaimed their God given birth-land.

The Interim Government of Ambazonia, currently in exile, is steadily establishing institutional structures that would enable United Nations (U.N.) Member States to politically recognize Ambazonia as an independent and sovereign state. This could be a significant development in the Ambazonia war of independence. U.N.Member States would bring the Ambazonia case before the appropriate U.N.Committees for deliberation and decision.

Supporters of the Ambazonia independence struggle within the African Union and European Union see Biya and his tribal oligarchs as responsible for massive tax evasion and significant non-performing loans, and many understand that people’s standard of living now is considerably worse than in the pre-Biya era. Moreover, the 1961 U.N. decolonization process for British Southern Cameroons remains incomplete; although French Cameroun and Southern British Cameroons entered into a confederacy union of equal partners, for over half a century the successive governments of French Cameroun have systematically eroded the founding norms of the union such. The French Cameroun governments have changed the constitution, adopted a despotic rule, and oppressed the Anglophone minority.

The long list of institutional abuses and usurpation of the fundamental rights of the people of Ambazonia reached a breaking point in 2016 when government forces brutally cracked down on peacefully protesting lawyers, teachers and students. The die was cast in November 2017 when President Biya declared war against the unarmed people of Ambazonia for exercising their right to ensure their future security by declaring independence. Together, these developments have triggered decolonization experts and relevant stakeholder governments to re-examine the UN-plebiscite policies that encouraged two separate UN territories — English West Cameroon (then Southern Cameroons and now Ambazonia) and French East Cameroun (La Republique du Cameroun)—which would co-exist under a federal system of governance. The Biya government, though, is bent on assimilating an entire neighbouring country of people who have their own distinct identity and culture.

The evidence speaks for itself. After the people of Ambazonia declared independence on October 1 of 2017, Biya’s government responded to peaceful protests with barbaric methods of suppression, including murder, rape, executions, assassinations, kidnap, torture, and dehumanizing treatment. Biya’s presidential win, as declared by the Constitutional Council, has proven that countries cannot be forced to unite and coexist in the absence of democratic institutions, shared values, and economic and political freedoms. Two countries with irreconcilable differences cannot exist peacefully in an oppressive political union. Indeed, the fiasco of the presidential election has proven that restoration of Ambazonia independence is right, legitimate, and practicable against the Biya-loyalist propaganda of an internal issue.

The regime used a new, never-seen-before tactical tool to accomplish its election fraud. Prior to the official announcement on Oct 22, Biya’s government, in collaboration with Cameroon’s electoral body, Elections Cameroon (ELECAM) and the Constitutional Council (CC), leaked tailored election results in which he won with 71.28% vote, followed by Kamto with 14.23% of the vote, in order to test public reaction. The reaction was as expected. Kamto of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (CRM) party and Osih of the Social Democratic Front (SDF) party petitioned the Constitutional Council with 18 distinct cases of fraud. The Constitutional Council rejected all cases within hours. The questions remain: when did the judges conduct investigations? Review the cases? Deliberate to demonstrate fair and credible procedures that would merit public confidence in their capacity for institutional oversight? Even worse, the Constitutional Council judges defended the completeness and correctness of the leaked election results. Where in the world does the highest court of the land demonstrate partiality and bias in broad daylight? Only in Cameroun. At the time, it was disconcerting. But when the same Constitutional Council declared Biya the winner of the election on Oct 22 using the same earlier leaked results – then it became momentous.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

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9, November 2018

US: Trump signs immigration proclamation, limits asylum ⁰

US President Donald Trump says he has signed an immigration order that will ban migrants, who cross the US border with Mexico illegally, from claiming asylum.

The immigration proclamation signed on Friday requires asylum seekers to make their claim at their point of entry to the US and bars immigrants from requesting asylum if they are caught crossing the border illegally.

“I just signed the proclamation on asylum, very important. People can come in but they have to come in through the ports of entry. And that to me, is a very important thing. We want people to come into our country, but they have to come into the country legally,” Trump told reporters before leaving the White House for a trip to Paris.

The order – issued by the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department – circumvented laws stating that anyone is eligible for asylum no matter how he or she enters the United States.

US government officials said the measures would be in effect for at least three months but could be extended, adding that they would take effect as of November 10 and would not affect people who are already in the country.

Immigration order calls illegal migrants ‘aliens’

The interim rule states that “if applied to a proclamation suspending the entry of aliens who cross the southern border unlawfully, would bar such aliens from eligibility for asylum and thereby channel inadmissible aliens to ports of entry, where they would be processed in a controlled, orderly and lawful manner.”

The rule adds that “aliens who enter prior to the effective date of an applicable proclamation will not be subject to the asylum eligibility bar unless they depart and reenter while the proclamation remains in effect.”

The regulation does not specify whom it applies to, but it comes at a time when caravans of Central American migrants – many fleeing violence, corruption and unemployment in their homeland – are slowly moving north on foot to cross the southern US border with Mexico.

Trump has called the Central American migrants a security threat, ordering the deployment of thousands of troops to the Mexican border to contain them.

More than 7,000 active duty troops have been deployed to the US states of Texas, Arizona, and California.

The US president has also suggested that the US troopers deployed to the southwest borders can shoot at migrants if the latter threw stones or rocks at them.

Trump has announced plans to revoke the right to citizenship for babies born to non-US citizens on American soil and erect massive “tent cities” to detain migrants.

Trump has made his hard-line stance on immigration an integral part of his presidency and has promised to build a wall along the US-Mexican border to curb the flow of migrants from Mexico and Central America.

Culled from Presstv

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9, November 2018

Southern Cameroons Crisis: The real fighting begins! ⁰

The fighting in Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions has entered a new phase. After more than two years, Southern Cameroonian fighters have finally got a good arms shipment that may wreak more havoc on government forces.

The fighters, who have been using den guns, have finally received their cherished weapon, the AK-47, and they have been celebrating. The shipment, which came through Nigeria’s Niger Delta, has already brought down more than ten army soldiers in the North West region alone.

The news about the arms shipment was delivered to the Cameroon Concord News Group’s global headquarters in the United Kingdom by a member of the armed separatist group’s inner cycle in a telephone interview.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the fighter who identified himself as Captain Destroyer said they had had been longing for these weapons and now that they have them, they would make Southern Cameroonians proud.

“We have been dreaming of this day. The government’s fire power has been superior because of the type of weapons its soldiers have. We will be reversing things now that we have got this weapon of mass destruction known around the world as AK-47. With our den guns, we have succeeded to bring down more than 1,300 army soldiers. I think they are in for real trouble. We are very happy with the efforts of our brothers in the Diaspora, especially the efforts of the Interim Government that is not relenting in his efforts to ensure that we liberate our land,” Captain Destroyer said.

“We will keep them busy. They have been working hard over the last two years just to keep us in check. With this weapon, we will tell them that we can make them bite the dust. We know they have killed many of our people. We have seen many houses being burnt. Some of our people have been roasted. But we are not giving in. We must revenge the deaths of our brothers,” he added.

“We are still looking forward to having more sophisticated weapons. The country has very porous borders and their so-called soldiers are poor and easy to corrupt. Many of them are tired and scared of dying. We will deliver them a huge surprise very soon. If we lay our hands on bombs, they will regret a lot. We have seen blood. I have seen comrades being mowed down by army soldiers and this has transformed me into a beast. I am prepared to die, after all, my fate is worse than death,” he stressed.

“In the days ahead, you will be having a huge surprise. Some of our Francophone brothers have crossed the Mungo to join us and they want to take death to their own people. We are still suspicious of them, so we have sent them to Nigeria for training,” he said, adding that “many of them want to engage in sabotage that will bring the government to its knees. The tables are slowly turning. Mr. Biya and his people are in for trouble. They will soon be fighting a war on many fronts. Our partners from East Cameroon say their response will come in the form of a mushroom cloud and they will make sure civilian casualties are minimized,” he said.

“If Mr. Biya thinks it is all over because he has been sworn in, then he is deceiving himself. It is not Prof. Kamto who will be his nightmare, but the population. They may look docile, but when the time comes, the government will not recognize the same people who seem to have been intimidated into silence,” he stressed.

Meanwhile, the fighting has intensified in Kumbo, Bui County, with Southern Cameroonian soldiers destroying all bridges as news is spreading that army soldiers are advancing towards Kumbo. It is therefore challenging now to travel from Kumbo to Bamenda, as the number of checkpoints has increased.

Southern Cameroonian fighters have advised the population in Kumbo to head to the bushes as they prepare for a showdown with army soldiers. The fighters are excited to use their new weapons and they have promised hell to Mr. Biya’s struggling army.

Also, there have been many raids on the homes of Southern Cameroonians living in Yaounde. Many of those suspected by the soldiers have been arrested and taken to unknown destinations. Many Southern Cameroonians who had escaped to Yaounde during the election are already fleeing the capital city due to these raids and high cost of living.

The raids in Yaounde are being orchestrated by Beti soldiers and this has become their stock in trade. They have been arresting young Southern Cameroonians for cash and each person arrested is asked to pay CFAF 200,000 before he is released. Mr. Biya’s army has found a new way to make money and this trade seems to be netting the soldiers lots of cash, especially as the government is looking the other way.

Though Mr. Biya has been sworn in as the country’s president, it is clear that he is not having a good night’s sleep. Cameroon, which was once touted as a safe sanctuary for many people fleeing violence in their countries, has become a dangerous place for its own citizens, especially those who challenge Mr. Biya’s authority.

Journalists in particular have become the government’s fair target. Few days ago, a popular Equinox TV news anchor, Mimi Mefo, was arrested for sharing information indicating that the American missionary, Charles Trumann Wesco, was killed by government troops. This has prompted her arrest and she is currently in the New Bell Maximum Security prison in Douala where she is awaiting trial in a military court.

Mr. Wesco died in October after being shot in the head amid fighting between armed separatists and soldiers in the country’s north-west region, the director of the regional hospital said. Mr. Wesco, a missionary from the U.S. state of Indiana who had been in the region for two weeks, was rushed to the hospital in Bamenda after he was gravely wounded while in his car, hospital director Kingue Thomson Njie said.

From every indication, Cameroon seems to be in a tight spot. The insecurity is increasing by the day and this is driving away investors who are averse to insecurity. Last week, some 78 children were kidnapped by gun men and, ever since, the armed separatists and the government have been blaming each other for the kidnapping.

The kidnapped children in Southern Cameroons said their captors had warned them not to go back to school, recounting their ordeal as parents on Thursday packed up belongings from a boarding school now being shuttered.

The kidnappers freed about 80 school children and a driver in west Cameroon on Wednesday, but kept hold of a principal and one teacher, two days after snatching them in a school raid. The armed men had seized the kids on Monday in Bamenda – a green city nestled in the hills of Southern Cameroons and hub of the country’s troubled English-speaking region.

Cameroon is now in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. If it is not the armed struggle in the two English-speaking regions that is hitting the headlines, it is the insecurity born out of this unfortunate situation that has resulted in the killing of more than 4,000 people, including some 1,500 army soldiers that is giving the country a very bad name.

After more than two years of chaos in the restive regions, the government still holds that only a military solution can help bring peace to the beleaguered country. Despite calls for an inclusive dialogue by the international community, the government has continued to pursue its military operations in the region, though with limited success.

Many parts of the English-speaking regions are under the control of the separatists and schools have been closed for more than two years, with many of the students moving to the French-speaking part of the country to seek education.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai in Yaounde

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9, November 2018

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Students Kidnapped Are Freed, But Questions Remain ⁰

Nearly 80 children who were kidnapped by armed assailants from a school in northwestern Cameroon have been released by their abductors and are being reunited with their parents.

But it remains unclear who the kidnappers were and why the children were taken. The government has blamed the abductions on separatists, who in turn say the government is responsible.

The students, kidnapped Sunday night from a Presbyterian school in the northwestern city of Bamenda, were released at another school 12 miles away, The Guardian reports, noting that it’s also unclear how they were transported given a curfew that was in effect at night.

A principal and a teacher who were abducted along with the children are still being held, Reuters reported.

Nearly 80 Children Abducted From A School In Cameroon

“They look tired and psychologically tortured,” Fonki Samuel Forba, moderator of Cameroon’s Presbyterian Church, told The Associated Press.

Forba asked the parents of children at the boarding school to take them home, as their safety could not be guaranteed.

“It is unfortunate we have to close the school and send home 700 children,” he told the AP. “Their security is not assured by the state and armed groups constantly attack and kidnap them.”

The school suffered a separate kidnapping incident on Oct. 31 in which 11 students were taken and later released, according to the Guardian.

Cameroon has a majority of French speakers, with a significant minority of English speakers in the country’s western portion. Originally colonized by Germany, the country was split into English and French portions following World War I, and both French and English are official languages of Cameroon.

Tensions have been growing in the country since late 2016, as initially peaceful protests by the Anglophone minority over perceived marginalization turned into a secessionist movement in northwestern and southwestern Cameroon, in opposition to the Francophone-dominated government.

Hundreds of people have been killed in the country as the separatist movement has taken hold, and the government has put down any efforts to secede.

The country’s 85-year-old, French-speaking president, Paul Biya, was inaugurated into his seventh term on Tuesday. In an address, he promised to increase decentralization: “Measures will be taken as soon as possible to broaden the powers of local authorities in order to provide them with the means for greater autonomy. Bilingualism and multiculturalism will continue to be promoted by the commission set up to that end.”

Biya asked people in the Anglophone regions to “lend all possible support to the action of the authorities aimed at restoring peace. They know, better than anyone, what their life would be like under the yoke of extremists who have been spreading terror and desolation in their regions for some months now.”

On Tuesday, the U.S. State Department condemned the kidnapping and expressed concern over what it deemed the “burgeoning Anglophone Crisis.”

“We urge an immediate halt to the indiscriminate targeting of civilians and burning of houses by Cameroonian government forces and to attacks perpetrated by both Anglophone separatists against security forces and civilians,” the department said in a statement from spokesperson Heather Nauert. “The systematic intimidation based on ethnic and religious affiliation, including in Yaoundé and Douala, must stop.”

An American missionary was killed inside his car in Bamenda last week when he apparently was caught in crossfire.

Source: National Public Radio

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9, November 2018

Nigeria: Taraba govt takes in Ambazonians displaced by war ⁰

The conflict between the Cameroonian Government and Ambazonia Separatists has led to influx of many asylum seekers into Nigeria’s border towns in Sardauna and Kurmi Local Government Areas in Taraba. Confirming the development during a visit to the area on Thursday, Taraba Governor, Mr Darius Ishaku, said that the state government would assist the refugees with shelter and relief materials.

Darius appealed to the host communities to accommodate the refuge seekers as same gesture was extended to Taraba residents when Cameroon took them after being displaced by the Mambilla crisis in June, 2017. Investigations by News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) revealed that the worst-hit communities are in Nwah Sub-Division of Nkembe Division in Cameroon, where the Ambazonian fighters allegedly attacked Fulani communities, killing many people and rustling their cattle.

A senior Nigeria Immigration Service official in Gembu, who pleaded anonymity, told NAN that the displaced Cameroonians were still moving into Nigeria for safety through border villages of Lip, Mbankim and Chabbal-Kareje. He said that no fewer than 500 refugees were inside Gembu town while more than 1,500 others were scattered across other border villages, including Sakaka, Warkaka, Ndumyaji and Inkiri. The official said that no fewer than 1,000 Cameroonians were also taking refuge with relatives in Tep, Leme, Nguroje, Yerimaru, Mbar, Dorofi and Barup villages.

The source said the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) had in March, 2018, received no fewer 556 refugees in the area, some of whom were given letters of attestation. The official urged the UNHCR and the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Displaced Persons (NCFRMI) to intervene urgently by screening and issuing the fresh “refugees’’ appropriate means of identification. “This will help in monitoring their activities and check any criminal tendencies among them,’’ the source added.

Also in an interview, a Cameroonian Human Rights defender, Prof. Sarli Saadu-Nana, told NAN that the Ambazonian separatists were targeting Fulani communities because of their wealth which the fighters believed could finance their war. “Secondly, they are perceived as supporting the government, and as such, are legitimate targets for reprisals when soldiers burn their villages or kill the fighters. “They are easy targets as they are isolated, while the fighters have their camps in grazing areas. When the fighters are attacked by security agencies, they believe herders betrayed them. “Similarly, some farmers are settling old scores of farmer-grazer disputes,’’ he said. He called on the Federal Government and other well-meaning individuals and organisations to come to the aid of the refugees.

A visit to the area revealed that the refugees were living under difficult conditions, without enough food, shelter and medicines. An elderly woman, Dudu Maimuna, who narrated her ordeal in Tep village, told NAN that they escaped from Tim community in Cameroon without a single property. “We have lost everything and we have no food, no water, no shelter; we therefore, need urgent help because as you can see, our children are hungry and sick,’’ she said in Fulfulde dialect.

Malam Abdu Yerima from Jam village in Tim said he narrowly escaped death as his family was trapped in a hut while the fighters set the house ablaze. “Two of my brothers were shot and killed when they attempted to escape, but by the grace of God I found myself here. “We are currently living under harsh conditions without basic needs such as food, clothes and shelter,’’ Yerima said. Alhaji Saidu Bawa, Leader of Fulani community in Sardauna Local Government Area, said they were aware of the condition of the displaced persons, adding that the community had been mobilising aid for them even before government’s intervention.

Source: vanguardngr.com

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9, November 2018

Southern Cameroons Journalist Jailed in Anglophone Unrest ⁰

A popular journalist from Cameroon’s restive Anglophone region remains in jail after she was arrested and charged with propagating false information and terrorism. Media rights groups say the arrest of Equinoxe broadcast journalist Mimi Mefo is an attempt to silence outlets that report on the crisis in that region.

Mefo’s lawyer, Alice Nkon, said her client was taken to a prison called New Bell around midnight Wednesday, some 10 hours after she showed up as requested at a gendarmerie station in Cameroon’s economic capital, Douala.

Mefo had opted for the right to remain silent after gendarmerie officials accused her of reporting false information, Nkon said. According to Nkon, the gendarmerie were referring to a report in which Mefo said bullets found in bodies of civilians killed in violence came from the regular army, not armed separatists, as the military had alleged.

Nkon said the gendarmes also presented screen shots of Mefo’s Facebook pages and accused her client of cyber crimes, saying that most of what was published constituted an attack on state security.

Libom Li Likeng, Cameroon’s telecommunication’s minister, says the law provides for several sanctions, including prison sentences of up to two years for people guilty of using social media to propagate false information.

She says the propagation of such information on social media is punishable by six months to two years in prison and a fine ranging from $8,000 to $16,000. She says her ministry has cyber surveillance equipment and will be proposing additional texts to the law on cyber criminality.

Other journalists who have been detained for several weeks in Cameroon include Michel Biem Tong, known for being highly critical of executions he alleges are committed by the military fighting the Boko Haram insurgency and crisis in the English-speaking regions. He was arrested October 23. Gustave Flaubert Kengne, publisher of Orientation Hebdo that specializes in reporting human rights abuses, was arrested in the western town of Bafoussam on October 29, just after Joseph Olinga of Le Jour newspaper was arrested.

The Anglophone community in Cameroon is protesting political and economic discrimination in the majority French-speaking country.

In June, a report by international human rights group Amnesty International criticized both the military and separatists for using unnecessary and excessive force. Amnesty said civilians frequently were caught up in the violence. The government criticized the report as biased and stated that its military was professional.

FILE - Students, their principal and school staff were kidnapped from the Presbyterian School of Science and Technology in Bafut, near Bamenda, Cameroon, Nov. 5, 2018. — FILE – Students, their principal and school staff were kidnapped from the Presbyterian School of Science and Technology in Bafut, near Bamenda, Cameroon, Nov. 5, 2018.

On Tuesday, the U.S. State Department issued a statement condemning the kidnapping of dozens of students and staff in Cameroon’s restive northwest region. The 79 students who were abducted from their school along with their principal have been freed. Three school staffers kidnapped with the students were still being held captive.

The statement also made note of the death of American missionary Charles Wesco in the Anglophone crisis.

The governor of the northwest region of Cameroon, Deben Tchoffo, says he has called on the administration and soldiers to look for the remaining staff, but he is counting on the collaboration of the population.

The governor says the administration, traditional rulers, and elite and local council authorities have been mobilized to work with the population and ensure that all those abducted are freed, the kidnappings are stopped and peace returns. He says he is appealing to all youth who have taken up weapons against their people and the state to repent, warning that otherwise the military will kill them.

Source: VOA

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9, November 2018

PSS Nkwen Affair: Principal and one teacher still being held ⁰

Dozens of children kidnapped by armed men in Cameroon have been freed, a priest conducting the negotiations said Wednesday. Although all 79 children and a driver were released, a principal and one teacher were still being held. They were abducted on Monday in Bamenda, a commercial hub of Cameroon’s restive English-speaking region, according to military and government sources.

“Praise God 78 children and the driver have been released. The principal and one teacher are still with the kidnappers. Let us keep praying,” said Samuel Fonki, a minister of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon. “They look tired and psychologically tortured.”

One other child had escaped earlier, he added. The students are between 11 and 17 years old. The priest did not say precisely when the children were freed, or whether any deal had been made with the kidnappers. He had earlier said another 11 children were kidnapped by the same armed group on Oct. 31, then released after the school paid a ransom of 2.5 million CFA francs ($4,400).

Image: A woman awaits for news of her child at a school where 79 children were kidnapped in Bamenda — A woman waits for news of her child at the school in Bamenda

Most people in Cameroon speak French. Fonki and the Cameroonian military have accused English-speaking separatists of carrying out the kidnappings, but a separatist spokesman denied involvement.

The secessionists have imposed curfews and closed schools as part of their protest against Biya’s French-speaking government and its perceived marginalization of the English-speaking minority.

Cameroon’s separatist movement turned violent in 2017 after a government crackdown on initially peaceful demonstrations by English-speakers. The linguistic divide is a legacy of a former German colony in central Africa that was divided between allies France and Britain at the end of World War One.

Source: Reuters

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