Medical charity MSF on Tuesday asked Cameroon to let it resume work in the country’s insurgency-riven English-speaking west, saying tens of thousands were deprived of medical care.

MSF (Doctors Without Borders) was banned from working in the Northwest region on 8 December on the grounds that it was “colluding” with armed local groups.

A bitter independence struggle by English-speaking rebels has been raging in Cameroon’s Northwest and Southwest regions since 2017.

Members of the anglophone minority in the French-speaking country have long complained of being marginalised.

In the past four years, more than 35 000 people have been killed and over 700 000 have fled their homes to escape the conflict.

“Given the scale of the health needs of the population, MSF urges the Cameroonian government to immediately lift this suspension,” the group said in a statement.

It added that “tens of thousands of people were without access to free and vital health care”.

MSF runs the sole free ambulance service in the region, supports several health centres and trains medical staff.

It said its workers regularly faced threats from government and non-state agents.

Source: AFP

At least two people have been killed and four others seriously injured Tuesday following a dispute over land in Cameroon’s Far North region, a government official said.

Jean Lazare Ndongo Ndongo, prefect of Logone-et-Chari division of the region, said that the feud flared early Tuesday in Makary subdivision after villagers of two rival communities paid a visit to the disputed parcel of land. A traditional leader and a notable were killed and scores of houses were set ablaze, he told local media.

“The situation is now under control. Culprits will be punished,” Ndongo said, adding that government forces have been dispatched to the area to restore peace and order.

Authorities have asked the villagers to desist from using force to settle disputes in the subdivision where militants of terror group Boko Haram are reported to be active.

Source: Xinhuanet

The French Cameroun Senior Divisional Officer for Kupe-Muanenguba, Jean-Marie Tchakui has confirmed the Amba attacks that claimed the lives of two Cameroon government army soldiers and a civil servan in Southwest.

The troops were killed in one incident, in Nguti on Friday, Mr. Jean-Marie Tchakui, told journalists during a press briefing.

“There were three soldiers. Two were killed on the spot,” said Tchakui. “And one was able to escape although he was wounded”,

“Our two soldiers died while on their way back from guarding a factory shut down due to threats by secessionists,” he added.

In the second attack, a delegate from the economy ministry in neighbouring Ndian Division was killed.

“What is certain is that he was murdered. His body was found,” Lawrence Nwafua, Senior Divisional Officer for Ndian Division was quoted as saying during Friday’s situation report.

The War in Ambazonia has already claimed at least 40 000 lives, almost all of them civilian children, men and women, murdered by Cameroun troops in a series of targeted killings, organized massacres, and killings by fire in over 400 villages burnt down to ashes across Ambazonia. Over half a million people have been forcibly displaced as refugees living in various countries and especially in refugee camps in Nigeria. Over another half a million people have become IDPs hiding in forests, caves and hills due to forced displacement. Additionally, over 1.5 million people are facing a humanitarian disaster.

Republique du Cameroun uses not only arson and the destruction of food, livestock, and crops in the fields as weapons of war. It also uses rape. Rape of Ambazonian women and girls by Cameroun government troops is systematic and widespread. This agonizing situation is compounded by the fact that a high percentage of Cameroun troops are HIV positive and also has other STDs. When they rape they infect the women and girls. This appears to be part of the genocide agenda of Cameroun. Reports are now emerging of scores of school girls raped, impregnated and infected by Republique du Cameroun’s troops. This poses a nightmare not only of the HIV and STD infections but also of rampant teenage pregnancies. Cameroun troops have burnt down health facilities and killed health workers in rural and semi-urban areas. Accessing health facilities or health practitioners is a huge challenge for rural and semi-urban folks.

By Chi Prudence Asong

Three gendarmes were killed by Ambazonia Restoration Forces in the Northwest region, the latest deaths in a bloody four-year conflict.

The attack on Saturday follows the murders of two soldiers and an official in the neighboring Southwest region in two separate incidents. Five other French Cameroun officials are still in Amba protective custody in Ndian Division.

“Three gendarmes who were at a checkpoint were attacked and killed” by Southern Cameroons Self Defense forces at Ngoketunjia. The French Cameroun civil administrator of the county Quetong Handerson Kongeh confirmed the Amba attacks and added that two of the three killed had been decapitated. A fourth managed to escape.

He said a large number of Amba fighters overwhelmed the gendarmes who “could not defend themselves.”

A bitter independence struggle by English-speaking Cameroonians has been raging in Southern Cameroons since 2017.

British Southern Cameroonians have long complained of being marginalized by the French-speaking majority and 88-year-old President Paul Biya, in power for 38 years. From 2017, their demonstrations devolved into a bloody conflict.

Ambazonia Restoration Forces have extended their violent attacks against police and soldiers to civilians suspected of aiding the Francophone dominated army.

UN and international aid groups say both army troops and Southern Cameroons forces have committed abuses and crimes against civilians.

In the past four years, more than 37,500 people have been killed and over 700,000 have fled their homes to escape the conflict.

By Rita Akana with files