6, July 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Interim Government Statement on the Murder of a Physicist in Kumba ⁰

Interim Government Statement on the Murder of a Physicist in Kumba

Last Thursday, 1 July 2021, 52-year-old Mr Fuh Max Dang, a Physics teacher at GBHS Kumba, Meme County, was murdered by unidentified gunmen in the presence of his children after returning from work. The Interim Government condemns this atrocity robustly. Our thoughts and prayers are with his close family and friends during this challenging time. The Interim Government of Ambazonia directed Ambazonia Intelligence Services to open an immediate and comprehensive investigation into the tragedy.

While the investigation was still ongoing, The Interim Government of Ambazonia aimed not to make any statements that may influence its outcome. Late last night, Ambazonia Intelligence Services briefed the Interim Government that initial reports attributing the murder because Mr Fuh was a teacher are unsubstantiated. The investigation into this tragedy is still inconclusive, and the Interim Government of Ambazonia will report soonest as more facts are made available.

On Sunday 4 July 2021, in Bamenda, the French Cameroon army opened fire and killed Mr Njibril Dula in an unprovoked attack in Below Foncha neighborhood in Bamenda. The victim was unarmed in his car. This attack bears similarities with the execution of Mr Fuh Max Dang. These executions of unarmed citizens going about their business are the hallmarks of a regime on its last legs. For a long time now, Ambazonia Intelligence Services have reported that local militias loyal to the regime in Yaoundé have been carrying out executions with the intent of pinning their criminalities on our self-defense forces. So, we call on our self-defense forces to remain vigilant.

Self-defense is a right, and it is a core component of our liberation struggle. However, The Interim Government wants to caution all genuine self-defense forces within Ambazonia that acts of violence on persons for being teachers are intolerable. We must not target any non-combatants also. We know our enemy and must remain focused as we march towards Buea. The Ambazonia we intend to build will need talents from all walks of life, and we cannot afford to waste lives.

To all in Ground Zero, the Interim Government of Ambazonia urges you to persevere, for victory is coming our way soon. Soon, and very soon, we will be free. We call on the UN to commission a Security Council Mandated Fact-Finding Mission to investigate the atrocities in this conflict. Such a mission will curb the loss of lives and bring this war to an end.

Thank You, and God Bless You

Dabney Yerima

Vice President

Federal Republic of Ambazonia

6, July 2021

US troops quietly left Bagram Air Base without notifying Afghan command ⁰

After American troops withdrew without notifying them, Afghan soldiers guarding the Bagram Air Base have been left with thousands of Taliban prisoners and a fear that the enemy will attack.

The sprawling military complex about 60 kilometres north of the capital, Kabul, was at one point home to tens of thousands of US and allied soldiers, and one of the most important military sites of the two-decade war in Afghanistan.

But the last of the US soldiers quietly left the base last week, effectively completing their withdrawal from Afghanistan and leaving a massive security vacuum that the Afghan military will struggle to fill.

The new commander of the Bagram base, General Mirassadullah Kohistani, on Monday spoke candidly about the challenges ahead, as reporters were given a tour of the largely deserted base.

“You know, if we compare ourselves with the Americans, it’s a big difference,” Kohistani said, admitting his forces could not be as “powerful” as the Americans.

“But according to our capabilities … we are trying to do the best and as much as possible secure and serve all the people.”

The lack of a clear handover or transition plan appears to have made the task even more challenging.

Kohistani said he only knew of the foreign forces’ exit after they had left.

“We did not know of their timeline for departure. They did not tell us when they left.”

The US announced Friday it had completely vacated its biggest airfield in the country in advance of a final withdrawal the Pentagon says will be completed by the end of August.

“We [heard] some rumour that the Americans had left Bagram … and finally by seven o’clock in the morning, we understood that it was confirmed that they had already left Bagram,” said Kohistani.

Rotting food where restaurants once bustled

The Bagram base is key to the security of the Afghan capital while also providing strategic cover to much of the country’s rugged north, where the Taliban have focused their recent offensives.

Kohistani insists his troops can hold the base from the Taliban and that he has “quite enough” soldiers.

But with roughly 3,000 troops under his command, the figure is a tiny percentage of the number of American and allied forces during its US-led heyday.

For US troops, morale was kept up in the then-buzzing mini-city with swimming pools, cinemas, spas and fast food outlets like Burger King and Pizza Hut.

For Kohistani’s men, the entertainment venues are closed, the warehouses are locked and the shuttered dining facilities offer only the stench of rotten food from boxes of expired meal packs.

In a sign of the challenges the Afghan military faces without US backing, 1,000 troops fighting the Taliban in the country’s north fled into neighbouring Tajikistan on Monday.

Taliban ‘will definitely try to attack here’

At Bagram, Kohistani said he was already receiving reports that the Taliban were making “movements in rural areas”.

One soldier, a private named Rafiullah, offered a clear picture of what he expected would come.

“The enemy are determined and will definitely try to attack here,” Rafiullah said as two Afghan military helicopters took off behind him.

“But we will not give them the chance.”

If or when the Taliban do mount an offensive to take Bagram, one of their targets will undoubtedly be a huge prison that holds up to 5,000 Taliban inmates.

“We haven’t come here to sleep. Everybody here is prepared to secure Bagram. Our morale is high,” insisted Rafiullah.

Another soldier also defiantly said he was ready to fight the Taliban but nevertheless signalled a feeling of unease over a lack of firepower and leadership.

“We will not surrender but we need weapons and strong backing from our leaders,” he said.

Witnessing history since the start of Cold War

If the Taliban do seize control of Bagram, it will be part of a longstanding pattern. The airfield was first built by the Americans for its Afghan ally during the Cold War in the 1950s.

The Soviet Union vastly expanded it after the Red Army invaded Afghanistan in 1979. After their withdrawal, the base was controlled by the Moscow-backed government and later by the shaky mujahideen administration during the 1990s civil war.

It was reported that at one point the Taliban controlled one end of the three-kilometre runway, and the opposition Northern Alliance the other.

Bagram ultimately fell into the Taliban’s hands after they overran large swaths of the country in the mid-1990s.

Following the September 11 attacks and the US invasion of Afghanistan, the Americans took control of the base and used it as the launching pad for air strikes against the Taliban and to protect Afghan forces.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and AP)

6, July 2021

Exposed: Cameroon gov’t military killing rampage on Southern Cameroons minors ⁰

In Bamenda on Sunday, a young man was killed by Cameroon government army soldiers in a neighborhood known as “Below Foncha” and the killing revolted young people in the city of Bamenda, sending thousands of them to the streets.

The latest killing resuscitated old demons, with many young people calling on the Francophone dominated military to pack and leave their homeland.

The Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime is notorious for excessive use of force, where any protest against the ruling CPDM crime syndicate might cost the protesters their lives – no matter how old, or young, they might be.

Since 1990 after the emergence of the Social Democratic Front, hundreds of young Southern Cameroonians have been killed by Cameroon government troops deployed to Southern Cameroons for participating in anti-government protests.

British Southern Cameroons has been the scene of peaceful demonstrations by the English speaking minority against social and political as well as economic discrimination.

The Yaoundé regime has executed thousands of teenagers from the North West and South West regions for their participation in peaceful protests against the Francophone dominated regime.

Thousands of Southern Cameroons teenagers have reportedly escaped to Nigeria and some to French Cameroun only because they took part in peaceful protests calling for reforms.

The Francophone dominated military and elements of the Rapid Intervention Battalion treat the people of Southern Cameroons in a drastic manner, and they think that they are slaves. French speaking Cameroonians use Anglophones and they prevent them from the simplest rights in a country they voluntarily came together to build.

Many of the Southern Cameroons young people arrested ever since the crisis started four years ago have been placed in solitary confinements and beaten so badly that most of them keep losing consciousness. To make the torture stop, they confessed to the charges against them.

In fact, Southern Cameroons young people in French Cameroun detention centers are the latest victims of La Republique du Cameroun’s deeply flawed justice system which regularly sees people sentenced after unfair trials.

By Isong Asu

London Bureau Chief

6, July 2021

Southern Cameroonians should reject call for peace with those killing them ⁰

A senior Southern Cameroons leader Prof Carlson Anyangwe has reacted to the latest remarks by the Francophone governor of the South West region Okala Bilai about holding dialogue among Ambazonian families emphasizing that the people of Southern Cameroons should immediately dismiss the call for family dialogue with French Cameroonians that are targeting and killing them on a daily basis.

The Southern Cameroons veteran leader was quoted as saying that “Ambazonians hate wars, hate attacks by French Cameroun army soldiers and their Atanga Nji Boys, as well as the call for peace with aggressors who are killing them every day,” Southern Cameroons Broadcasting Cooperation (SCBC TV) reported.

He added, “The hatred for French Camerounians and their invading military will end in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia as soon as its aggression stops, French Cameroun civil administrators withdrawn and an international peace conference held in a neutral country to determine the terms of separation. This is what the Ambazonian Leader and President of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government Sisiku Ayuk Tabe has long been demanding,” Prof. Anyangwe pointed out.

Professor Carlson Anyangwe’s remarks come as all efforts and collective action at the international level for establishing peace and ending the imposed war have failed.

The arrogance on the part of the Biya Francophone leadership in Yaoundé is hurting the two Cameroons. By not listening to the people, the Francophone dominated regime authorities have created a very nasty situation that might result in the splitting of a country that is expected to be a good example to other countries on the continent.

Arrogance could be a very bad ally if not well managed. It could result in self-destruction and excruciating pain. This is exactly what is happening in French Cameroun wherein appointments, even those negotiated in the most difficult circumstances, are seen as a sign of intelligence.

This mentality is consuming French Cameroun political elites and it is generating conflicts and giving tribalism a chance to rear its ugly head. The United Republic of Cameroon, once an oasis of peace in a desert of peace, is falling apart.

Disagreement is as old as time and negotiations are the easiest way to bring about peace and security when people disagree. This philosophy has been embraced by many around the world but the Yaoundé government seems to be frozen in time. It is stuck in the past and it clearly holds that the old tool in its toolbox that can bring about peace in the country is military violence.

But the government’s principle on peace-building and nation-building seems to clearly belong to the past. Its monopoly of holding weapons and spreading falsehood has been shattered by new technologies also known as technologies of freedom.

By Chi Prudence Asong with additional reporting from Soter Agbaw-Ebai

6, July 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Doctors Without Borders rejects claims of supporting Amba Fighters ⁰

International medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on Monday rejected claims that it is providing support for separatist fighters in Cameroon’s Anglophone region of Northwest that has been ravaged by an ongoing separatist conflict.

Last week, some Cameroonian news media quoting local authorities reported that MSF was providing assistance to separatist fighters who have been fighting since 2017 to breakaway from largely French-speaking Cameroon and create an independent nation in the Anglophone regions of Northwest and Southwest.

“We affirm as an absolute that we have never facilitated the transport of arms, ammunition, or armed combatants, and have never provided logistical or financial support to any of the parties to the ongoing crisis,” MSF said in a statement.

The news publications have put both patients and staff in “serious and immediate danger” with armed actors, MSF said, calling for “vigilance and accountability when issuing public statements and reports.”

Last year, Cameroon suspended MSF activities in the Northwest region following allegations of meddling in separatists’ activities.

“We also reiterate our call that the suspension of our activities be lifted in the Northwest in view of its impact on local communities,” the statement said.

Source: Xinhuanet

5, July 2021

Ambassadors in limbo in Yaoundé as they await accreditation from Paul Biya ⁰

Having an older leader has advantages and disadvantages. It has often been said that older leaders have had the time to build up knowledge and experience that can help them accomplish their policy goals. On the other hand, they may be more likely to struggle with health issues, face concerns about how fit they are for office, and may struggle to connect with younger citizens.

There are dozens of world leaders who are well into their 70s or their 80s. But the situation in Cameroon is now very disturbing as the number of foreign embassies waiting for accreditation from President Paul Biya keeps growing, much to the dismay of those concerned.

We reported recently that Mr. Paul Biya was rushed to a Yaoundé hospital and his sycophants responded by making the 88-year-old meet Nigerian business tycoon Aliko Dangote. Cameroon Intelligence Report can now reveal that President Biya is no longer administering the executive duties of the Cameroon government.

The French Cameroun politician, who consolidated his stay in power via election tampering, has refused to let it go for decades. Biya has forced out political opponents, bribed allies, and changed the laws governing Cameroon so many times to allow him to stay in power indefinitely.

With age telling on him and his body now a colony of diseases, diplomats from other countries are in limbo in the nation’s capital Yaoundé as they await accreditation from Biya who is reportedly spending his last days at the extension of his palace in Mvomeka’a.

By Rita Akana in Yaoundé

5, July 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Yaoundé plotting Yerima’s assassination ⁰

The Southern Cameroons Interim Government has once again accused the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime in Yaoundé of plotting to assassinate the Ambazonia Vice President Dabney Yerima.

Yaoundé is preparing a plan to attack the life of Comrade Dabney Yerima and that of important Southern Cameroons figures in the US and Western Europe, a senior aide to the Ambazonia Vice President, Dr Patrick Ayuk told Cameroon Intelligence Report.

Dr Patrick Ayuk suggested that a recent meeting in Yaoundé grouping senior intelligence officers among them Theophile Atengue Onana, Leopold Maxime Eko Eko, the Director of Intelligence, Colonel Joel Emile Bamkoui, Jacques Dili, the Director of the Judicial Police and Eloi Gaetan Puigui Ngosso Commander of the Death Squad was to finish preparations for a violent plan to assassinate Vice President Dabney Yerima.

Dr Patrick Ayuk said the Biya French Cameroun regime planned to assassinate President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and his top aides in Abuja, Nigeria but met with a stone wall erected by senior Nigerian intelligence officers.

“Paul Biya gave an order to kill President Ayuk Tabe in Nigeria” Dr Patrick Ayuk told CIR.

“We have again received information from very reliable Francophone intelligence sources that they were preparing to assassinate VP Yerima” Patrick Ayuk furthered.

By Isong Asu

5, July 2021

French Cameroun must stop looting Southern Cameroons natural resources ⁰

Dr Ngassa Anyangwe, a senior Southern Cameroons medic in the Federal Republic of Germany has called on French Cameroun to end its plunder of Southern Cameroons natural resources and concentrate on the deteriorating health situation of their leader, the 88-year-old Paul Biya.

The prominent Southern Cameroons activist who also moonlights on the Southern Cameroons Broadcasting Cooperation (SCBC TV) stated in a recent conversation with Cameroon Concord News that Southern Cameroonians in Germany firmly support the Ambazonia Interim Government headed by Vice President Dabney Yerima in its efforts to wipe out the occupying French Cameroun military with the Big Rubbergun Project.

Dr Ngassa Anyangwe stressed that top Southern Cameroons academics in Germany are legally providing support to the suffering Ambazonians in Ground Zero and Ground One, while some in the US and parts of Europe are busy helping indirectly the occupying forces on the pretext of fighting for Amba leadership.

The renowned medical practitioner went on to say that any Southern Cameroons group purportedly formed to fight French Cameroun colonization should foremost eliminate the French Cameroun threats against our homeland, help in stopping the occupation of a large proportion of Southern Cameroons towns and villages as well as looting Ambazonia natural resources. “But what I see are so-called front line leaders who only rush to respond to what President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe says to Jeune Afrique” Dr Ngassa added.

The Southern Cameroons was one of the territories set for decolonization in the context of the UN decolonization agenda. Britain’s devious handling of it and the British wheeling and dealing at the UN in 1959 and 1960 caused a great historical injustice to the people of the Southern Cameroons. That injustice continues to cry out for redress. British action resulted in the unconscionable imposition of an unnecessary and precipitated plebiscite with dead-end alternatives. Speaking through Lord Perth, Britain shamefully said the Southern Cameroons and its people were “expendable”.

The plebiscite was imposed in the teeth of opposition by the leadership of the trust territory. It offered a Hobson’s choice of ‘joining’ either Nigeria or French Cameroun. The internationally-prescribed political status option of sovereign independence was deliberately excluded. There was no good reason for doing so. On 11 February 1961, a skewed plebiscite was foisted on the people of the Southern Cameroons. Faced with the Hobson’s ‘choice’ that was forced down their throat, the people opted for independence in political association with Republique du Cameroun. It was agreed in writing between the two countries and to the knowledge of Britain and the UN, that the political association would take the form of an aggregative federation of two states, equal in status.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

5, July 2021

South West Chiefs say Ambazonia Restoration Force is the guarantor of Southern Cameroons security ⁰

A group of prominent South West traditional rulers have thrown their weight behind the Ambazonia Restoration Force describing the Southern Cameroons Self Defense Group as the guarantor of true security, unity, and power in British Southern Cameroons.

In a secret memo reportedly addressed to the Vice President of the Ambazonia Interim Government and leaked to Cameroon Concord News Group, the South West Chiefs noted that the Biya regime in Yaoundé and its troops deployed to Southern Cameroons have lost control and were no longer in charge of anything.

The South West Chiefs including some notables who endorsed the said document, also pointed out that Biya is not the one at the head of affairs in Yaoundé. Correspondingly, the traditional leaders expressed their support for constructive self defense and observed that there was an urgent need for leaders of the two Cameroons to meet again and examine the bill of health of the 1961 union including the way forward.

The chiefs whose names we are withholding stated in the document to Vice President Yerima that all South West and North West traditional rulers residing in Douala and Yaoundé can no longer speak for the suffering people of Southern Cameroons.

The strongly worded document revealed that the 88-year-old President Biya and his gang of corrupt French Cameroun political elites do not want stability and peace be established in British Southern Cameroons.

The South West Chiefs urged Vice President Dabney Yerima to make it an absolute necessity the withdrawal of all Francophone army soldiers from Southern Cameroons according to a long-overdue position taken by the jailed Ambazonian leader President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe.

In their July 2 2021 letter, the South West Chiefs praised the special role played by the Southern Cameroons Interim in the four years of fight against an evil marginalization.

The South West Chiefs further opined that to safeguard and protect the achievements of the Southern Cameroons revolution, every Southern Cameroonian should support the Ambazonia Restoration Forces and value their efforts, because the Southern Cameroons Self Defense Group is the hoisted flag and the only guarantor of security as well as the only protector of unity and power of British Southern Cameroons.

It is vital to include in this report that last week, General Nka Valere of the Cameroon government military said residents, elites, chiefs, and church leaders have embraced the separatist ideology in all areas, making it difficult for the Francophone army to fight.

The Ambazonia Restoration Force is a thorn in the side of La Republique du Cameroun’s military which is widely believed to be managing an array of militant groups, including Atanga Nji Boys to advance its French centric agenda in British Southern Cameroons.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

4, July 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Their arrogance is hurting the country ⁰

Cameroon has been in the throes of a military conflict for more than four years now and the violence has continued to claim both civilian and military lives.

In Bamenda on Sunday, a young man was killed by soldiers in a neighborhood known as “Below Foncha” and this killing has revolted young people in the city of Bamenda, sending thousands of them to the streets.

The latest killing has resuscitated old demons, with many young people calling on the military to pack and leave their land.

The military check-point where the young man was gunned down has been dismantled by angry youths who say they were sick and tired of the military brutality that the country’s arrogant government has unleashed on the Southern Cameroonian population.

The killing will surely not be ending anytime soon. Over the last month, Southern Cameroonian fighters have been killing army soldiers like flies and this has created doubts in the minds of many politicians who were counting on the military for a fast and clean military operation.

But Southern Cameroonian fighters are not ready to turn down the heat on the military. They have found new ways of demystifying the soldiers, especially officers of the Brigade d’intervention rapide (BIR) which had been touted as the finest and the best in the business of suppressing the population.

The news of Southern Cameroonian fighters killing thousands of army soldiers over the last four years is gradually deflating extremist politicians in Yaoundé who thought they would teach rebelling Southern Cameroonians a bitter lesson by dispatching the military to the two English-speaking regions of the country.

The Southern Cameroons conflict was not even supposed to have existed. It was simply a situation that could have been addressed through frank and fruitful discussions if the country’s authorities had rid themselves of their legendary arrogance that has put the country on a downward spiral both politically and economically.

The arrogance of the country’s officials is hurting the country. By not listening to the people, Cameroon authorities have created a very nasty situation that might result in the splitting of a country that is expected to be a good example to other countries on the continent.

Arrogance could be a very bad ally if not well managed. It could result in self-destruction and excruciating pain. This is exactly what is happening in a country wherein appointments, even those negotiated in the most difficult circumstances, are seen as a sign of intelligence.

This mentality is consuming Cameroonians and it is generating conflicts and giving tribalism a chance to rear its ugly head. Cameroon, once an oasis of peace in a desert of peace, is falling apart.

The Internet has produced billions of citizen journalists all over the world and many Southern Cameroonians have used these technologies to sell their case and win hearts and minds across the world.

The same technologies have granted Southern Cameroonians the ability to mobilize resources to purchase arms to confront a military and government that have unleashed death and destruction on their own people.

The government has been in denial and has been living in the past to the point of not noticing what globalization was throwing up for many people around the world. It has not only made it possible for lots of people to collaborate, it has also created huge economic and financial opportunities which have made it possible for Cameroonians to be less dependent on their government.

But old habits die hard. The arrogance of the past is still stalking the country’s officials like a stubborn shadow. They are not ready to walk away from those bad ways which have dumped the country in a massive military conflict that has already consumed more than ten thousand lives and has robbed the country of its development dollars.

The conflict in Southern Cameroons is the easiest to address. The differences might be huge and complicated, but only the negotiating table can throw up much-needed solutions.

Arrogance has ruined Cameroon. It has transformed the country into a pretty mess that is driving its citizens out of the country. Unfortunately, only the leaders are not seeing the adverse impact of their arrogance on the population. They seem to be locked in in a form of blindness that is without a cure. Their disease – arrogance – does not seem to have a cure.

However, with Southern Cameroonian fighters kicking the country’s army soldiers in the teeth, the country’s boastful and arrogant authorities will be cut down to normal human proportions and this might push them into thinking that dialogue will surely solve the problem which military violence has not been able to address too close to five years.

Recently, members of the regime’s inner circle have been testing the waters, clearly indicating that the ruling party also known as the crime syndicate was open to the idea of federalism which they had criminalized in the past.

But many analysts hold that the government might be shutting the barn when the horses might have bolted. Southern Cameroonians have been hurt by the government’s arrogance.

Their family members have been killed by soldiers even when they were not combatants. Their businesses and farms have been destroyed by soldiers who thought a scorch earth policy would bring the population to its knees, thus reducing its support for the fighters.

But the government’s extreme measures have only turned out to be counter-productive. By pauperizing the population of the two English-speaking regions of the country, the government has simply pushed the population into the waiting hands of those it considers as terrorists and separatists.

The pain and anger are palpable. Southern Cameroonians simply want to walk away from a hastily stitched union with East Cameroon, a union that has brought them more pain and death rather than the peace and prosperity they had been promised by their Francophone counterparts.

The deaths and destruction of businesses will make negotiations tough, but there is no conflict that cannot be addressed. When people talk, they turn to understand each other and, in the process, they will see their mistakes and will work together to clear out those obstacles that have made it hard for them to work together for the prosperity of their people and common humanity.

Arrogance is not a curse. It can be addressed. When reality stares us in the face, we are bound to change course. If we don’t, we will continue down the same path and many things will continue to fall apart.

Cameroon authorities must change course. The reality is there. There will never be a military victory in this conflict. Dialogue will deliver better answers than the costly and ineffective military operations. It is time to think differently!

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai