The Humanitarian Coordinator ad interim in Cameroon strongly condemns the destruction of the district hospital of Mamfe in the South-West region.

On 8 June 2022, suspected elements of a non-State armed group (NSAG) reportedly carried out an attack in the locality of Egbekaw and in the course of the event, the hospital was also set on fire and destroyed. All patients had to be transferred to other medical centers. The Mamfe district hospital is covering more than 85,000 people living in the area. The hospital serves as main medical reference covering medical needs of remote areas in Manyu division. Its destruction will deprive people of urgently needed care and further weaken the local health system.

There has been at least five attacks against healthcare since January 2022. The crisis in the NorthWest and South-West regions of Cameroon has seen a large number of attacks on healthcare, with health workers or patients threatened, abducted, injured or killed, as well as medical infrastructures damaged or destroyed.

Attacks on healthcare workers, patients and facilities are serious violations of international human rights law, they must be investigated and perpetrators must be held to account,” said the Humanitarian Coordinator a.i. “Health care workers are every day saving the lives of thousands of people and must be allowed to work without fear or concern for their safety or that of their patients.” he added.

The Humanitarian Coordinator a.i. in Cameroon calls on all parties to protect healthcare and refrain from hindering access to medical services. The humanitarian community remains mobilized to support affected populations in the region.

Karen Perrin, Head of Office, OCHA Cameroon, perrink@un.org

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued a Federal Register notice with instructions on how to apply for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Cameroon. The designation runs for 18 months, until December 7, 2023, and the government estimates that approximately 11,700 individuals may be eligible.

Cameroon has been designated for TPS due to extreme violence between government forces and armed separatists, deadly attacks by terrorist groups and vigilante self-defense groups, and human rights violations leading to a humanitarian crisis and economic decline.

Cameroonians who have continuously resided in the United States since April 14, 2022, may apply for TPS. Individuals arriving after that date will not be eligible. Those who meet the eligibility requirements, including demonstrating continuous physical presence in the United States since June 7, 2022, will be able to register for TPS and apply for employment and travel authorization during the registration period, which runs from June 7, 2022, until December 7, 2023.

Cameroonian students who are in the United States in F-1 status and who are suffering from severe economic hardship may be able to request work authorization, reduce their course loads, and work more hours.

Culled from The National Law Review

The Vice President of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government has reacted to the fire incident that destroyed the Mamfe District Hospital saying Yaoundé should stop fabricating and spreading false information on the complete destruction of the health sector in Southern Cameroons.

In a statement released late on Friday, Vice President Dabney Yerima said it was reasonable that the so-called disinformation committee established by the Biya regime deep within the Francophone military to get Southern Cameroonians away from the liberation struggle and accept the current status quo be shutdown because the Yaoundé administration is now becoming the biggest distributor of misinformation on the war in Southern Cameroons.

French Cameroun military officials and politicians are full of lies, but it is the people of Southern Cameroons who pay with their lives for disinformation made by the French Cameroun regime, Dabney Yerima said.

Vice President Dabney Yerima pointed out that the dire healthcare situation in Ground Zero has been exacerbated by continued Francophone military operations.

Yerima listed some examples, including the burning of hospitals in Kumba, Banso, Batibo and now Mamfe which is causing the death of hundreds of Southern Cameroons civilians.

The exiled Ambazonian leader noted that troops loyal to the French Cameroun regime in Yaoundé often defend as legitimate operations that have killed civilians across Southern Cameroons over the past five years. 

The more the French backed Francophone regime lies, the greater support the Ambazonian Interim Government gets from Southern Cameroonians, Yerima concluded. 

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

The onetime prominent South West political figure who propagated anti North West sentiments during his time as Secretary General of the South West Elites Association is currently hospitalized and critically ill in a Douala hospital.

Calvin Nnoko Mbele, who moonlighted as Mayor and later on as Government Delegate to the Kumba City Council is in the most critical of conditions and because of complications coming from political neglect by the regime in Yaoundé, he recently went into septic shock and many organs are struggling, Cameroon Intelligence Report has gathered from family sources.

“Medics are working hard to keep him comfortable and continuously monitoring him” our intelligence officer in Douala who contributed to this report said.

Cameroon Intelligence Report understands the blood gas levels of the former Secretary General of the South West Elites Association have improved recently and his numbers are holding.

The news of Calvin Nnoko Mbele’s hospitalization in Douala comes after he was rushed out of Kumba due to the poor security situation in the city.

‘We are aware of Nnoko Mbele’s situation and are praying for his health and his family,’ a friend of the veteran CPDM politician said to CIR.

By Edia Peter in Douala

Once news about the burning of the Mamfe General Hospital emerged, many people started condemning the military and most people based their argument on the fact that a checkpoint had been established opposite the hospital and that those military officers at the checkpoint were supposed to have acted while the operation was going on.

While the military is not made up of saints and angels, the evidence emerging is gradually incriminating Amba fighters who, many Mamfe residents accuse of having been masterminding the destruction of the town for months now. Many point to the burning of the Mamfe Motor Park which resulted in the deaths of at least two people and there are people in Mamfe who know a lot but cannot speak because of threats and fear of possible revenge.  

According to a nurse who was on duty at the Mamfe General hospital on Wednesday when hell suddenly broke loose at the hospital and who has pleaded for her name and identity to be protected, the military checkpoint opposite the hospital had been dismantled long before the burning of the hospital.

She added that she did recognize some of the boys who are Mamfe boys, adding that she was scared of her security and was going through a depression after having known that the boys who burnt down the hospital were indeed young Mamfe boys she knew.

She explained that before the buildings were burned down, the criminals who pass off as Amba fighters had ordered every sick person to leave, but there was a lady who could not walk because she had just been operated upon. The criminals had to carry the lady to a house close to the hospital to drop her off there as if that was their home. 

When the owner of the house, Mr. Adolf Limungang, who is a businessman in Mamfe refused that the lady should not be kept there, the Amba boys kidnapped Mr. Limungang who is now in the bush for challenging the Amba boys. The criminals are now asking for a CFAF 10 million ransom if they must release Mr. Limungang who has nothing to do with the struggle and Amba boys. 

Mr. Adolf Limungang is now in the bushes and based on information from those who saw the boys, Mr Mr. Adolf Limungang also knew the boys and this may complicate things for him. While some Manyu people living abroad and out of the Division have been insinuating that those who committed such atrocities were boys coming from other parts of Southern Cameroons, the evidence is now pointing to something else, and our source is clearly urging people of Manyu to stop blaming other people for their problems.

“Brother, we cannot continue to blame other people for our stupidity. I know some of the boys who came and brunt the hospital. They are boys I see here in town all the time. They are young unemployed boys who are totally under the influence of drugs. I am simply scared to call their names and I think if I call their names, they may come after me,” she stressed. 

“We are our own worst enemy. The military only came in after the incident and the soldiers helped to carry some of the helpless patients who were in the corridor to safety. The military can be blamed for other things, but they are not responsible for this act of wickedness. I saw it with my own eyes, and it will be unfair and wrong for me to blame other people. Our own Manyu boys have ruined one big asset we had in our Division. Where will our pregnant women be going for consultations now? Not everybody has money to travel out of the Division or to go to private clinics,” she lamented. 

“Why would any normal person be burning a hospital that is helping everybody? Do Amba fighters and their families not need a hospital? The same boys have issued threats that they will burn the Mamfe Central Market and there has been a mad rush to pack out of the market on Thursday. Traders have taken their products out of the market and most shops will be closed for days. How is the ordinary man going to cope with this unhealthy situation that Mamfe boys are creating for their own people. Inflation is already killing us. Why are we doing this to ourselves?” he regretted.

“I have lost my job. Like most nurses, I just wanted to help the sick. I liked seeing people recover from their illnesses. If the hospital cannot be rebuilt in a few months’ time, then I might be heading out of the town to look for a different job. Let us not try to pin this on the military. Mamfe boys are responsible. I saw them and I know them, and I know where their families are. A friend of mine who was also on duty is now going through a depression. She is already in Kumba and she might not be coming back to Mamfe. None of us ever thought Manyu boys would destroy their own hospital,” she said.

Many people have been asking and will continue to ask why Amba fighters will burn the Mamfe General hospital, but the answer is also a question. What do they gain by stopping children from going to school for five years? What do they gain by undressing young girls who only want to study? The videos are out there and those who undressed those young girls and boys were not soldiers.

What do they gain by chasing students from schools in rural parts of Southern Cameroons? Are they Olympians who just want to be running? Even if they want to represent a country at the Olympics, which country will they be representing? Why practice for Olympics with young schoolboys and girls who simply need knowledge in order to be ready for a future which will be knowledge-based?

While investigations are still underway, it is wrong to dismiss the role Amba fighters are playing in the destruction of infrastructure in a region which is infrastructure deficient.

The initial objectives of the struggle were noble, but with time, they have morphed into something many people no longer understand. Many young men who pass off as Amba fighters are now very destructive and their objective is to make money – be it by crook or by hook.

It is good to support struggles, but it is wise to support a struggle that is well coordinated and under the control of responsible leaders. The Amba struggle is off its rails and those holding guns are intent on destroying than promoting the well-being of their people.

In villages today, Amba fighters have become judges and lawyers, with many imposing stratospheric amounts on people who have not committed any crime. Many innocent people have lost their lives not because the military killed them, but because gun-toting Amba fighters hold that they have the right to determine who has to die and who has to live. 

A revolution is not supposed to make things worse, but the one in Southern Cameroons is destroying the very people and properties it is supposed to protect. It is time to revisit the struggle and to redefine new objectives, if only the leaders have any control over the Amba fighters.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from Kingsley Betek, John Besong and  Fon Lawrence