French Cameroun army commanders have started ordering the execution of some internally displaced persons arrested in Belo, Muyenge and Lebialem. The UN says some 160,000 Southern Cameroonians displaced as a result of the crisis are stranded in the bushes and along the border with Nigeria. Reports by the United Nations Office in Yaoundé said last week that human rights groups have not been able to assess the situation in Belo, Lebialem, Kwa Kwa and Muyenge.

Francophone administrative officials in Southern Cameroons are using state radio and television to make repeated announcements that Southern Cameroonians should move somewhere else or face a military onslaught.  Some 40,000 Southern Cameroonians, mostly women and children, have fled widespread violence in the territory now known as the Federal Republic of Ambazonia and taken shelter in Nigeria.

The French Cameroun military has not come under any intense criticism since its commander-in-chief President Biya launched a deadly crackdown against the English speaking minority in West Cameroon. Hundreds of Southern Cameroonians have been killed in the ongoing crackdown.

Thousands who have fled to Nigeria have brought with them horrifying accounts of massacres, rape, and arson by Cameroon government’s military forces and armed groups created by the Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji. The US ambassador to Cameroon, Peter Barlerin has described the violence against Southern Cameroonians as targeted killings and possibly genocide.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from Sama Ernest

British authorities have not issued a new visa to the Russian oligarch and Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich and it is not clear whether one will be granted, according to Russian media reports and people who know the businessman.

Abramovich, who is the 13^th richest man in Britain with a net worth of £9.3bn, according to the Sunday Times, held an entrepreneurial visa to the UK that expired several weeks ago. He has filed for a new visa, but has not yet been granted one.

He was not seen at Saturday’s FA Cup final at Wembley, which ended in a 1-0 victory for Chelsea over Manchester United.

A person who knows Abramovich said he had not been denied a visa, but that it was taking longer than usual to renew and it was unclear why.

A representative for Abramovich declined to comment on the reports, calling it a “personal matter”.

The delay was first reported by the Russian news agency the Bell, which wrote on Sunday that Abramovich’s visa had expired three weeks ago and that his private Boeing 767 last travelled to London on 1 April. The report cited three people who know Abramovich.

Abramovich bought Chelsea in 2003 and has helped bankroll the club during a period of unprecedented success, including five league titles.

Culled from the Guardian

Cameroon’s national day Sunday was marked by violence in its troubled English-speaking region, with two policemen killed, soldiers wounded and a mayor kidnapped by suspected armed separatists.

In the capital, Yaounde, in central Cameroon, President Paul Biya, who has ruled since 1982, presided over a public show of the country’s military might.

But in the English-speaking town of Bangem in southwest Cameroon, the mayor, Ekuh Simon, was kidnapped. In a video shared by suspected armed separatists Simon said he and his deputy were kidnapped by separatists for planning independence celebrations. He said he is being held hostage by the Ambazonia Restoration Forces that had said the national day should not be celebrated. Ambazonia is the name separatists have given to the English-speaking area they want to become independent from French-speaking Cameroon.

Fighting was also reported in the English-speaking towns of Konye, Batibo, Ekona and several villages of Kupe Muanenguba, an administrative area in southwestern Cameroon.

At least two policemen and several people were killed, according to the governor of the south west region Bernard Okalia Bilai. In the towns that were attacked, many escaped to the bushes and safer neighboring towns.

In the northwestern city of Bamenda, there was a strong show of force to prevent any violence, but only a few residents turned up for the celebrations, saying that they feared retaliation from the separatists. Some students at the University of Bamenda showed up for the parade, saying they were forced by officials to come under the penalty of expulsion. Government officials also said they were also forced to come.

The Cameroon government had asked the population to come out in numbers and celebrate the national day as a sign of national unity adding that the military will protect the people from armed separatists who had vowed the day will not be celebrated in the English-speaking regions.

Cameron again imposed a curfew on its English-speaking regions. In spite of the curfew and heavy presence of the military, the armed separatists were able to chase out some public officials and close some schools.

Both the government and separatists have committed abuses, according to the U.S. ambassador. Ambassador Peter Henry Barlerin last week met with Biya and urged the president to initiate dialogue to lead the way out of violence.

“On the side of the government, there have been targeted killings, detentions without access to legal support, family, or the Red Cross, and burning and looting of villages. On the side of the separatists, there have been murders of gendarmes, kidnapping of government officials, and burning of schools,” said Barlerin in a statement issued after he met with Biya. “People on both sides of the conflict have engaged in speech that dehumanizes the opposite side.”

International humanitarian organizations and rights groups have accused the government of harsh measures in its crackdown and the indiscriminate arrests of suspects.

Unrest in Cameroon began in November 2016, when English-speaking teachers and lawyers in the northwest and southwest regions took to the streets, calling for reforms and greater autonomy. They expressed frustration by the dominance of the French-speaking parts of the country and with what they charged is the marginalization of Cameroon’s Anglophone population. Cameroon’s English-speaking community accounts for about one-fifth of the country’s 25 million people.

The protests were followed by a harsh government crackdown, including arrests and a shutdown of the internet.

The crisis intensified when Ayuk Tabe, who declared himself the president of the English-speaking Republic of Ambazonia, was arrested in December with 48 others in Nigeria and extradited to Cameroon. They have not been seen in public since. The separatists are demanding his immediate release.

The separatists have chased many government workers and forced the closure of man schools, timber and palm oil processing factories. They vowed on social media to paralyze the country until they Ayuk Tabe and his colleagues are released.

Parts of southwest Cameroon remain under a curfew because the separatists continue to commit atrocities, said Bernard Okalia Bilai, governor of the Southwest Region

“The gunmen are hiding in the bushes, in the forests and usually they would appear on the roads to try to kidnap some passengers,” said Bilai. He said security information indicates most of the armed separatists are hiding in the bush along Cameroon’s southwestern border with Nigeria, especially in the Manyu and Lebialem administrative areas.

Source: News wpxi.com

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has congratulated President of the Republic of Cameroon Paul Biya.

“On behalf of the people of Azerbaijan and on my own behalf, I congratulate you and the whole people of your country on the occasion of the national holiday of the Republic of Cameroon,” President Aliyev said.

“On this remarkable day, I extend my regards to you, and wish the friendly people of your country peace and progress,” the president added.

Source: azernews