18, August 2022

The international community has failed to adequately respond to years of deadly conflict in Ambazonia ⁰

Populations in the Anglophone north-west and south-west regions of Cameroon remain at risk of atrocities amidst ongoing clashes between government forces and armed separatist groups. On 11 August Human Rights Watch reported that between 24 April and 12 June 2022 at least 10 people were summarily killed by Cameroonian security forces during military operations against armed separatists groups. During the operations soldiers burned homes and destroyed and looted health facilities and shops. Armed separatists perpetrated grave human rights abuses during the same period, including killing and kidnapping civilians. Separatists have also continued their assault on education, attacking students, teachers and schools. Human Rights Watch documented that at least 33 students and five teachers were kidnapped by armed separatists since January.

Populations in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions have faced widespread violence since tensions over cultural rights and marginalization of Anglophone populations escalated in October 2016. In the resulting clashes, government forces and armed separatist groups have perpetrated grave violations and abuses that may amount to atrocities, including extrajudicial killings, kidnappings and torture. Since the crisis began, more than 6,000 civilians have been killed and at least 666,000 displaced. Few perpetrators have been held accountable.

Since 2021 the government has intensified its attacks against armed separatist strongholds in attempts to end the conflict. During military operations, government forces have routinely targeted civilian populations for their alleged cooperation with separatist groups. Armed separatists have retaliated by using more deadly weapons, including improvised explosive devices and anti-tank rocket launchers, putting civilians at increased risk. Separatist groups have also expanded their sources of revenue through kidnapping and extortion in the north-west and south-west. Civilians are also at risk of targeted attacks by armed separatists for their suspected collaboration with the government.

Juliette Paauwe, Cameroon Expert at the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, said that, “despite escalating violence, the international community has failed to adequately respond to years of deadly conflict in Cameroon. While long overdue, the African Union (AU) and the UN Security Council (UNSC) must help establish a comprehensive ceasefire to address the growing atrocity risks faced by civilian populations in the Anglophone regions.” The AU and UNSC should also facilitate an inclusive dialogue between the government, separatist groups and Anglophone communities, mediated by a neutral player on neutral territory. Security forces must end all extrajudicial killings of unarmed civilians and ensure that the human rights of all Cameroonians are equally protected, regardless of cultural identity. Armed separatist groups must also halt attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure.

Source: reliefweb.int

18, August 2022

Southern Cameroons Flooding: Biya regime says trade with Nigeria disrupted ⁰

Cameroonian authorities say record flooding on its western border with Nigeria has killed at least six people, washed away homes, and destroyed thousands of tons of food meant for export.

In a video circulated on social media platforms by Widikum council officials, civilians asked the Cameroon government to help clear the road of earth, mud and stones to enable them to leave Widikum.

Among the merchants is Paul Okafor, a Nigerian who buys palm oil and vegetables from Widikum to sell in his country. He said floods and landslides have blocked him in Widikum for five days, and no vehicle has been able to leave or enter because flood waters have covered roads and landslides are pulling down hills on roadsides.

Okafor said the vegetables and tomatoes he bought are beginning to rot, and Widikum vegetable farmers are complaining that their harvest is decaying.

Andoh Stanilos, the mayor of Widikum district, acknowledged that his council staff shared the videos. He said floods that triggered landslides killed six people, left hundreds homeless, and destroyed homes and warehouses.

“The floodplains overflooded and completely swept off houses,” he said. “At the moment I speak, there are over 55 people who are without something to eat. The council is trying to mobilize some resources, so I send this SOS to the government and people of goodwill to come to the assistance of persons who are destitute now.”

The floods destroyed a 36-meter-long bridge on the River Momo, keeping hundreds of merchants and commuters stranded on both sides of the river. Momo, an administrative unit where Widikum is found, is a production basin for palm oil, maize, potato, tomatoes and vegetables.

Cameroon’s National Observatory on Climate Change last month predicted that floods and landslides would hit many Cameroonian towns and villages including Widikum.

Forghab Patrick, deputy director general of the observatory, said homes built in flood-risk areas made the situation even worse.

“People build in marshy areas,” Patrick said. “What happens? Water cannot circulate correctly because the houses block even the waterways and at the end of the day, those living in those homes are all exposed.”

The government said it is educating people to stop settling on risk zones, but has not said if it will provide the food and water-hungry victims are asking for.

Source: VOA

18, August 2022

France rejects Mali’s accusations that it helped arm Islamist fighters ⁰

France on Thursday denied accusations by Mali’s foreign minister that the French army has provided support to Islamist groups and violated Malian airspace. Mali’s relations with Paris have been deteriorating since a junta took power in an August 2020 coup, eventually culminating in the withdrawal of French troops that was completed on Monday after a nearly decade-long mission.

The accusations mark a new low in relations amid reports that Russian mercenaries hired by Mali’s military government were flocking to fill the power vacuum left by French troops leaving the country, prompting new worries among Western powers over the security situation in the Sahel region.

Mali says France has violated its airspace and delivered arms to Islamist militants in an attempt to destabilise the West African country, the latest in a barrage of accusations that have marked a bitter end to their once-close relations.

In a letter to the head of the United Nations Security Council dated Monday, Mali’s foreign affairs minister, Abdoulaye Diop, said its airspace has been breached more than 50 times this year, mostly by French forces using drones, military helicopters and fighter jets. “These flagrant violations of Malian airspace were used by France to collect information for terrorist groups operating in the Sahel and to drop arms and ammunition to them,” the letter said.

Mali provided no evidence that France had supplied arms to Islamist groups. France has spent a decade and billions of dollars to stamp out Islamist militants, some with links to al Qaeda and the Islamic State group, in its former colony and across the Sahel region.

“France has obviously never supported, directly or indirectly, these terrorist groups, which remain its designated enemies across the planet,” the French embassy in Mali said in a Twitter thread.

The embassy said that 53 French soldiers had died during its nine-year mission in Mali and that France had killed hundreds of Islamist fighters to restore security for Malians. France has also suffered Islamist attacks at home, it added.

German UN soldiers said they saw Russian forces landing at the airport in Gao and unloading equipment on Monday, the day the last French soldiers left, according to a German military document dated Tuesday.

Fighters from the Wagner Group, a Kremlin-linked private military company, have been supporting the Malian army in its fight against Islamist insurgents since late last year.

French forces were welcomed as heroes in Mali in 2013 after the government in Bamako asked France for help against the Islamist groups that had taken over much of the north, including the fabled city of Timbuktu.

But a series of setbacks and prolonged attacks by the militants have soured relations, which became worse since a military junta overthrew the government in 2020 and later overthrew an interim civilian cabinet.

Mali’s ruling junta called in February for France to withdraw its troops “without delay”. In May the junta announced it was leaving the defence accords it concluded with France, condemning “flagrant violations” of its national sovereignty by French troops.

Its military rulers had pledged to return power to civilians in 2022 but subsequently extended the timetable to 2024, incurring regional sanctions.

Reported by AFP and REUTERS

18, August 2022

Mali accuses France of arming terrorists, seeks emergency UN meeting ⁰

Mali has requested an emergency UN Security Council meeting as the country has accused France of violating its airspace and delivering weapons to armed groups, an attempt considered to destabilize the West African country.

In a letter to the head of the United Nations Security Council on Monday, Mali’s foreign minister, Abdoulaye Diop, said its airspace has been breached more than 50 times this year, mostly by French forces using drones, military helicopters, and fighter jets.

Malian authorities have “several pieces of evidence that these flagrant violations of Malian airspace were used by France to collect intelligence for terrorist groups operating in the Sahel and to drop arms and ammunition to them,” the letter said.

Diop called for an emergency meeting of the Security Council in his letter in order to ensure that France “immediately ceases its acts of aggression,” in the form of the alleged violations of its sovereignty, support for terrorist groups, and spying.

“In the event of the persistence of this posture which undermines the stability and security of our country, Mali reserves the right to use self defense,” he said.

“France has obviously never supported, directly or indirectly, these terrorist groups, which remain its designated enemies across the planet,” said the French Embassy in Mali in a Twitter thread.

The Malian army says that after an attack on Tessit camp one week ago that claimed the lives of 42 Malian soldiers, “clandestine and uncoordinated overflight operations” were conducted.

The letter is the latest in a barrage of accusations that have strained the relationship between the West African country and its former colonizer. On Monday, France allegedly completed the withdrawal of its forces from Mali, ending a nine-year operation in the country.

A French mission began in Mali in 2013 to allegedly counter militants that Paris claimed were linked to the al-Qaeda and Daesh terrorist groups. Accordingly, the French government deployed thousands of soldiers to purportedly prevent separatist forces from reaching Bamako.

The war caused several thousand deaths and more than a million people to flee their homes. There have been two military coups in roughly a year, amid growing demonstrations against France’s military presence.

France has been a former colonizer in Africa, and, after years of outright colonization, still seeks control over countries spread over more than 12 territories and treats their people as second-class citizens. It has had more than 50 military interventions in Africa since 1960, when many of its former colonies gained nominal independence.

As French troops were pulled out of Mali, the Malian military leaders said they invited “Russian trainers” to strengthen national defense. The swap has worried Western powers, who see their influence slipping in the Sahel.

Over the past few years, Russia has built military alliances with governments in African countries facing violent armed conflicts, including Libya, Mali, Sudan, the Central African Republic (CAR), and Mozambique. Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed possibly supplying food, fertilizers, and fuel to Mali in a call with the country’s interim president last week.

Culled from Presstv

17, August 2022

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Renowned Muslim scholar Abdul Karim detained again ⁰

In September 2019, prominent Cameroonian Anglophone peace activist Abdul Karim Ali was arrested. He was held without access to a lawyer for five days before authorities finally released him weeks later. But history has a sad way of repeating itself in Cameroon, where Ali has once again been detained.

On August 11, soldiers arrested Ali in Ntamulung neighborhood in Bamenda, North-West region, and took him to the local gendarmerie station. He was not allowed to see family members until August 13 when, following sustained pressure from his lawyers, authorities allowed his wife to visit.

Ali’s lawyers told Human Rights Watch they were not permitted to view his file and that he was questioned in their absence, in violation of Cameroonian law. While there are no official charges against Ali, he was told he is accused of “apology of terrorism” for possessing a video on his phone showing alleged human rights abuses committed by a Cameroonian soldier against civilians in the country’s English-speaking regions.

Ali’s lawyers said he is being detained in deplorable conditions, in a six-square-meter cell without windows, a toilet, or mattresses. He shares the cell with 12 other detainees.

Arbitrary detention and mistreatment of detainees are rife in Cameroon. Many people perceived as opposing the government are held on bogus charges related to national security or terrorism. Following his arrest in 2019, Ali was taken to the State Defense Secretariat (Secrétariat d’État à la défense, SED), a notorious detention facility in the capital, Yaoundé, where Human Rights Watch has documented widespread use of torture. Ali was held incommunicado until his whereabouts were finally made public in September 2019 when he appeared before the Yaoundé Military Court and was charged with acts of terrorism, financing terrorism, and secession. He was released on November 1, 2019.

Jailing Ali instead of working with him is a missed opportunity for the government, said Barrister Awah Joseph Fru, one of Ali’s lawyers. “Arresting a peace advocate stifles an environment for genuine dialogue,” he told me.

Authorities should clarify Ali’s status and respect his rights. Possessing videos of soldiers allegedly committing abuse is not a crime. Unless he is promptly brought before a judge and charged with a genuine offense, he should be released and allowed to continue his work.

Culled from Human Rights Watch

17, August 2022

Cameroon gov’t military kills three Southern Cameroonians, injures dozens in incursion in Akwaya ⁰

The Francophone dominated military has killed three Southern Cameroonians and injured more than twenty-nine others during an incursion into Akwaya Sub Division.

Clashes broke out when the Cameroon government army soldiers raided Tinta one of the last Manyu settlements in the borders with Nigeria. The Biya regime forces destroyed houses and part of the building hosting the only primary school in the village wounding or killing those who were hiding inside.

According to our informant at the SDO’s office in Mamfe, three people who were brought to the Akwaya so-called health centre in very critical conditions succumbed to their injuries.

The Cameroon government military is reportedly carrying out night raids in many villages in Akwaya on lame and ridiculous reason that it is fighting separatists.

Following the raid, there was a trade of gunfire in Akwaya town itself while clashes with the Francophone soldiers also broke out in other parts of Manyu.

By Kingsley Betek in Mamfe

17, August 2022

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Yerima hails Amba fighters ⁰

The Vice President of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government (IG) has described Ambazonian fighters as the frontrunners of the battle against French Cameroun.

Dabney Yerima made the remarks in a speech aired recently by the Southern Cameroons Broadcasting Cooperation (SCBC) as he addressed the people in Ground Zero and Ground One on the state of the resistance.

The Southern Cameroons exiled leader said Ambazonia fighters are at the forefront of battle against the French Cameroun enemy. Yerima added that the resistance is getting stronger again than ever and that Southern Cameroonians in the diaspora should continue to invest in the Big Rubbergun project which has caused senior Francophone military officials to be gripped by fear.

Dabney Yerima pointed out that the people of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia will no longer accept the looting of their natural resources.

The front line leader furthered that the hand extended from Yaoundé that has been plundering Southern Cameroons natural wealth is now being cut off.

He called for the swift formation of a more efficient Southern Cameroons think tank in Europe and North America, urging all restoration groups to join forces in order to overcome existing crises and resolve the sufferings of the Ambazonian nation.

Yerima concluded that the Ambazonia Interim Government is working to achieve a powerful Federal Republic of Ambazonia, which is capable to defend its own sovereignty and wealth.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

16, August 2022

Cameroon gov’t forces invade Biafra separatist camp in Bakassi ⁰

Cameroonian forces have invaded the camp of separatist militants in Isangele sub-division of Bakassi Peninsula but with no casualty.

It was gathered that the invasion, which took place at the weekend, may not be unconnected with the attack by the Black Marine, a suspected armed wing of the Biafra Nations League (BnL), that reportedly killed four members of the Rapid D’intervention Battalion (BIR) about two weeks ago when they attempted to forcefully invade the camp.

Sources said the Cameroonian soldiers did not meet anybody in the camp as the separatist fighters were said to have relocated, leaving items such as Biafran flags on the trees.

They said the militant group moved inwards into the creek, leaving the military wondering about their position.

The BnL leader of Bakassi, Ita Bassey, in a statement, yesterday, confirmed the attack. He said: “Our members are not afraid of military reinforcement in Isangele as we are fighting a genuine course.”

He declined to comment if the Black Marine were working for the BnL, but warned that BnL commands large loyalists in the Gulf of Guinea. He added: “We are ready to die for our course.”

Meanwhile, the leader of BnL, Princewill Richards, was in Idabato sub-division for few days, following reinforcement of troops. It was gathered that he sneaked in at night on Wednesday last week to engage his members.

Recall that the Black Marine has been terrorising the Gulf of Guinea and threatening Cameroonian oil companies operating in the area.

Source: The Guardian

16, August 2022

Ambazonian struggle against French Cameroun cannot stop unless occupation ends ⁰

The Ambazonia Interim Government (IG) says the Southern Cameroons resistance groups will not quit fighting La Republique du Cameroun until the entire Federal Republic of Ambazonia is fully liberated.

The IG said in a statement on Monday that French Cameroun’s latest episode of brutality against the people of Southern Cameroons was criminal and provocative.

The press statement that was made public by the Southern Cameroons Department of Foreign Affairs said what happened in the Northern Zone as recorded by Human Rights Watch was proof that there can never be any genuine dialogue with French Cameroun so long as the 89 year old Paul Biya was still at the head of affairs in Yaoundé.

Tensions have skyrocketed across the entire Southern Cameroons ever since Human Rights Watch published its report on the atrocities committed by Francophone soldiers in the Ambazonian homeland. Over 40000 people including women and children have been killed.

Several Ambazonian commanders leading the resistance have also been killed.

Recent escalation particularly in the Northern Zone remains the worst since the 89 year old Biya declared war against English speaking Cameroonians in 2016.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

16, August 2022

CPDM Crime Syndicate: Yaoundé blames war in Ukraine for food price spikes ⁰

Officials in Cameroon are urging people to eat local foods instead of imports, following protests over shortages and price spikes caused in part by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

President Paul Biya last week ordered ministers to explain to the public that Russia’s Black Sea blockade, not local taxes, has caused a nearly 60% increase in prices for fertilizer and imported foods.

Hundreds of people, a majority of them women, listened to explanations offered by government officials dispatched to the Mfoundi market in the capital Yaounde.

Harouna Nyandji Mgbatou, the top official in Yaounde’s first district, called on the public to consume locally grown food, which he sai was cheaper than imported food.

Asta Koumam, a 30-year old medical laboratory technician, was among those listening. She said that the price of a liter of imported vegetable oil has increased from less than two dollars to about three and a half. She said she and her children have decided to measure vegetable oil in a spoon no matter the quantity of food they are cooking because they cannot cope with food price hikes.

Territorial administration minister Paul Atanga Nji outlined the scope of the problem.

Nji said a 50-kilogram bag of imported rice that sold at $25 in February now sells at $55. He said the same quantity of rice grown in Cameroon has seen a 5% price increase to $25 because the price of fertilizer imported from Ukraine and Russia has also increased from $30 to more than $70.

Cameroon’s trade ministry reports that the central African country imported more than 850,000 tons of cereals from Russia and Ukraine in 2020. In contrast, the Cameroon Importers Union said less than 45,000 tons have been imported since January of this year.

Last week, five government officials, including the ministers of agriculture, trade, finance and mines, held a press conference to explain the consequences of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The press conference, ordered by President Biya, was to help quell protests against price hikes in several towns and villages across Cameroon.

Rene Emmanuel Sadi, spokesperson for Cameroon’s government, said that Yaounde has provisionally suspended the export of cereal crops, palm oil and other staple foods to neighboring countries to make sure that there is enough food for its own population. He said the government has also removed or suspended import duties and taxes on rice, fish, palm oil and building material to protect consumers from skyrocketing prices.

Julienne Gregoire Onguene Ateba, an economist and international transport and logistic specialist at Cameroon’s seaport in Douala, said that the current situation could have been avoided with more foresight.

He said if Cameroon’s government had invested in local production, especially of food as economists suggested to cushion the effects of COVID-19, the population should have been spared the price spikes and food scarcity that has resulted from Russia’s war in Ukraine.

In July, Cameroon’s government called for emergency food support for more than two million people facing hunger. Authorities said destitute civilians threatened by food insecurity along the northern borders with Chad and Nigeria are finding it especially hard to cope with the rising prices.

Source: VOA