Southern Cameroons Crisis: Yerima registers for Ambazonia’s Interim Government Vote

2, May 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Yerima registers for Ambazonia’s Interim Government Vote 0

Southern Cameroons exiled Vice President Dabney Yerima reportedly signaled his intention to continue in his capacity as deputy to President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and to intensify efforts to defeat Ambazonia’s adversaries and restore calm and security in Southern Cameroons.

Vice President Yerima hinted the Interim Government War Cabinet of his decision to forward his request to the Ambazonia Restoration Council.

Dr Patrick Ayuk, a senior Yerima aide confirmed this and noted that “Just as Vice President Yerima and Southern Cameroons Self Defense Groups have managed to confront French Cameroun occupational forces in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, each and every Southern Cameroonian should rally behind the Interim Government and resist the French Cameroun regime.”

Dabney Yerima was made Vice President after the disgraced Samuel Ikome Sako and Chris Anu siphoned huge amounts of money contributed by Ambazonians to fund the struggle for independence and Yerima has retained the capacity by winning the hearts of the people of Southern Cameroons.

In a telephone conversation with our correspondent in Holland, Comrade Dabney Yerima said that registering for the Ambazonia Interim Government Vote is simply a process to assure Southern Cameroonians that once we get to Buea, the Interim Government will pass legislation enabling the creation of a multi-party political system in the country.

By Isong Asu

French Cameroun: 7 children injured in Far North Boko Haram attack

2, May 2021

French Cameroun: 7 children injured in Far North Boko Haram attack 0

Seven children were injured in a homemade bomb explosion on Friday 30 April 2021, a security source has said.

The explosion occurred in Gouma, a locality in the Makary district of the Logone-et-Chari division in the Far North.

The improvised explosive device was concealed in a bag and was detonated from a distance. Cameroon Concord News gathered that seven children were injured in Friday’s explosion.

Some of the injured were treated and others returned to their families.

The attack has not yet been claimed. But security sources suggest that Boko Haram is behind it.

The governor of the Far North region refused to comment on this latest attack.

Since 2014, the Far North region has been the scene of bloody incursions by Boko Haram fighters.

Cameroonian soldiers serving with the Joint Multinational Force stationed in Wouglo, a locality bordering Nigeria, were also attacked by Boko Haram on 22 April.

The attackers were repelled and the army reportedly suffered no casualties.

By Rita Akana

Bodies of three Europeans killed in Burkina Faso arrive in Spain

1, May 2021

Bodies of three Europeans killed in Burkina Faso arrive in Spain 0

The bodies of three Europeans killed in Burkina Faso were flown to Spain on Friday, with Madrid pledging to keep up a “relentless” fight against the jihadist insurgency raging in Africa’s Sahel region.

The two Spanish journalists and an Irish wildlife activist were ambushed during an anti-poaching patrol in the impoverished West African nation which has been struggling with a surge in Islamist attacks since 2015.

Journalists David Beriain and Roberto Fraile were with Rory Young, head of the Chengeta Wildlife group, in the Arly National Park in eastern Burkina Faso when the attack occurred on Monday.

They were with a group that included soldiers and forest rangers when the assailants turned up in pickup trucks and on motorbikes, with the three Europeans initially reported missing.

The Burkina authorities said they had been “executed by terrorists”, becoming the latest victims of the ruthless Islamist insurgency gripping one of the poorest countries in the world.

Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya and Defence Minister Margarita Robles were on the tarmac at Torrejon de Ardoz airbase as three wooden coffins were carried off the plane by 24 air force officers.

“These are the heroes of the day: David and Robert, who have done so much to give a voice to those who do not have one, who have done so much to shed light on the realities that surround us and that are sometimes invisible,” Gonzalez Laya said.

The pair had been working on a documentary on conservation in Burkina Faso.

The Irish ambassador to Spain, Sile Maguire, was also at the airbase.

Young’s body was to be flown back to Ireland later on Friday, the Spanish foreign ministry told AFP, without giving further details.

‘We will be relentless’

Hailing the pair for “doing so much to give a voice to the voiceless,” Gonzalez Laya said the government was posthumously awarding them the Order of Civil Merit “for their work in pursuit of a journalism that enhances our democracy”.

The violence had highlighted the importance of Spain’s continued involvement in “efforts for peace and stability” in the war-torn Sahel region, she said.

Extending condolences to the families who were also at the airport but not on the tarmac, Robles said Spain would do “everything possible to find out who was behind these appalling acts”.

She vowed that Spain would press ahead with efforts to help those fighting the Islamist insurgency in the region.

“The fight against terror in these areas is not going to stop, we will be relentless,” she said.

Hotbed of lawlessness

Burkina, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger have joined forces in a French-backed alliance called the G5 Sahel to fight jihadism on the southern edge of the Sahara, with the initiative also backed by Spain, Germany and Italy.

In a joint statement on Friday, Spain, France, Germany and Italy pledged continued security support for nations in the Sahel region which stretches from Senegal to Sudan and has turned into a hotbed of lawlessness over the past decade.

“We will continue existing initiatives to support the armies of the region, as well as the gendarmerie and internal security forces in their operations, training and capacity building,” they said.

Since 2015, more than 1,300 people have been killed and one million have fled the violence in Burkina Faso, which has ravaged this land-locked nation’s once-vibrant tourist industry

(AFP)

Football: Maradona was left to die, say medical experts

1, May 2021

Football: Maradona was left to die, say medical experts 0

Argentine football icon Diego Maradona received inadequate medical care and was left to his fate for a “prolonged, agonizing period” before he died last year, an expert medical panel concluded Friday.

In a 70-page document, the panel stated that Maradona, who succumbed to a heart attack on November 25 at the age of 60, “started to die at least 12 hours before” the moment he was found dead in his bed.

Maradona died just weeks after undergoing brain surgery on a blood clot.

A panel of 20 experts was convened by Argentina’s public prosecutor to examine the cause of death and to determine if there had been any negligence.

Maradona’s neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov and psychologist Carlos Diaz are under investigation as well as two nurses, a nursing coordinator and a medical coordinator.

The finding could result in a case of wrongful death, and a prison sentence of up to 15 years if convicted.

The legal proceedings were prompted by a complaint filed by two of Maradona’s five daughters against Luque, whom they blamed for their father’s deteriorating condition after the brain operation.

Maradona underwent surgery on November 3, just four days after he celebrated his 60th birthday at the club he coached, Gimnasia y Esgrima.

However, he appeared in poor health then, and had trouble speaking.

‘Deficiencies and irregularities’

Maradona had battled cocaine and alcohol addictions during his life.

He was suffering from liver, kidney and cardiovascular disorders when he died.

Two of the football great’s daughters have accused Luque of responsibility in Maradona’s deteriorating health.

The panel concluded that Maradona “would have had a better chance of survival” with adequate treatment in an appropriate medical facility.

He died in his bed in a rented house in an exclusive Buenos Aires neighborhood, where he was receiving home care.

Maradona did not have “full use of his mental faculties” and should not have been left to decide where he would be treated, the experts said.

They also found that his treatment was rife with “deficiencies and irregularities” and the medical team had left his survival “to fate”.

Sebastian Sanchi, a former spokesman for Maradona, told AFP, “it is clear that the panel says that things were not done right.”

Maradona is an idol to millions of Argentines after he inspired the South American country to only its second World Cup triumph in 1986.

An attacking midfielder who spent two years with Spanish giants Barcelona, he is also loved in Naples where he helped Napoli win the only two Serie A titles in the club’s history.

Source: AFP

Biya regime humanitarian dashboard (January to December 2020)

1, May 2021

Biya regime humanitarian dashboard (January to December 2020) 0

Cameroon continues to be affected by three concurrent, complex humanitarian situations caused by the conflict and violence in the Far North region, hostilities in the North-West and South-West regions, and the presence of over 293,000 refugees from the Central African Republic (CAR) in the eastern regions (East, Adamawa and North). Humanitarian needs are compounded by structural development weaknesses and chronic vulnerabilities that further challenge the long-term recovery of affected people. The preexisting situation has been aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Over 3.9 million people were estimated to be in need in 2020 before the COVID-19 outbreak – a number which rose to 6.2 million due to the impact of the epidemic.

As of 31 December 2020, almost 2 million people were displaced within Cameroon, either as internally displaced persons, refugees or returnees.

The number of displaced persons in the Far North is steadily increasing mainly due to the armed conflict. As of December 2020, over 560,000 people were forced to leave their homes. Displacements in the Far North often take place in anticipation of attacks, allowing the population to carry a minimum of goods, and sometimes food stock, with them.

These internal displacements are characterized by their short distances: more than 80 per cent of the IDPs find refuge in a locality within their division of origin. Furthermore, daily pendular displacements are also reported in areas affected by conflict. Due to insecurity, families work in their fields during the day, but leave their villages at nightfall to sleep in the mountains or nearby villages.

Heavy rain and flooding in the Far North aggravated the impact of armed violence and exacerbated existing food insecurity and poverty, especially affecting destitute households and persons displaced from previous emergencies. While the region is flood prone and some degree of flooding occurs annually due to the Logone river overflowing, in 2020 the scale was more severe. In September 2020, heavy rains impacted lowland locations, pushing people to leave their villages to less affected areas, especially in the Logone et Chari and Mayo-Danay divisions. Houses and farmland were damaged or destroyed and many roads rendered impassable, isolating villages, making it difficult to assess damages and needs and to provide assistance. The situation further deteriorated in November 2020 as downstream areas closer to Lake Chad became more impacted. Overall, this flooding affected over 162,000 people, in comparison to 80,000 in 2019, causing substantial loss of livelihoods (loss of over 3,200 animals and the destruction of 19,676 hectares of farmland).

A multi-sectoral needs assessment which was carried out in the Far North in December 2020 found that food is the priority need for the displaced population as well as for the host community, followed by access to drinking water and health for the host community and shelter for the displaced population.

As of December 2020, the crisis in the North-West and South-West led to the displacement of over 1.1 million people, including almost 706,000 IDPs, 361,000 returnees and 64,000 people who fled to Nigeria. People continue to move within the two regions and to other regions, some being displaced by violence several times. Temporary displacements continue to be recorded as civilians flee for safety. 11,479 sudden internal displacements were reported in the North-West and South-West due to ongoing violence from October to December 2020. Most displaced individuals intend to go back to their locations of origin once the situation would allow them to. Protection continues to be a major humanitarian concern in the two regions.

Since the reopening of schools on 5 October 2020, after a months-long period of school closure due to COVID-19 restrictions, a noticeable increase in school enrolment rates was followed by a spike in attacks against education. From October to December, 35 attacks against education were recorded in the North-West and South-West regions. This figure almost certainly underestimates the real impact, as some incidents may not have been reported. Major incidents took place in Meme (SW), Fako (SW), Mezam (NW), Bui (NW), and Boyo (NW) divisions, with the Kumba massacre on 24 October 2020 being the most violent incident. Major incidents included cases of killing, torture and abduction of students and teachers, as well as arson of education facilities.

The number of Central African refugees located in the eastern regions of Cameroon, has increased from 284,000 in September to 293,000 in December 2020. 70 per cent of these refugees have no formal education and 47 per cent are without employment. 27 per cent live in formal sites while 73 per cent stay with host communities. Mounting tension and hostilities before, during and after the 27 December 2020 Presidential elections in the Central African Republic led to an anew flight of Central Africans to Cameroon.

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

One of Southern Cameroons greatest footballers of all time dies

1, May 2021

One of Southern Cameroons greatest footballers of all time dies 0

The Indomitable Lions of Cameroon, Meme Works, Canon Yaoundé, Cammark Bamenda, Manyu Tigers and the world of football are mourning the death of Ashu James, in many Anglophone Cameroon eyes the greatest player of all time, following an accident on his motorbike in Besongabang. He was 60.


Captain Ashu with Captain Kunde Emmanuel

Mbeng Ebot, one of his kinsmen who announced his passing on social media said that Nsok Manyi popularly known as “goal scorer” was a magical footballer who took PWD Kumba to the highest of the nation with his virtuoso performances.

When his death was announced, the Chairman of the Cameroonian community in Essen, Germany Ndakwa Martin Talli could not hold back his tears. “Part of our football childhood has died,” he said. “I thought he could never die,” he added.

Ashu James had an accident in Besongabang on Thursday the 29th of April 2021 at about 2:30 p.m and was rushed to the Mamfe Divisional Hospital where he breathed his last.


Le buteur (The goal scorer)

Le buteur leaves behind his wife and 6 children to mourn him.

By Oke Akombi Ayukepi Akap in Glasgow with files from Mamfe

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Five Cameroon gov’t troops killed in Ambazonia Attack (Video)

30, April 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Five Cameroon gov’t troops killed in Ambazonia Attack (Video) 0

Five Cameroon government soldiers were killed and several injured and dozens missing when Ambazonia Restoration Forces also known as the Marines of Bambalang in the North West Region attacked a military base last night, a military officer told Cameroon Concord News.

Fighters from the Ambazonia Restoration Forces successfully dislodged Cameroon government troops from a base in Menfung in the Ngalim district after a gunfight.

“The Amba fighters killed five soldiers and injured several others in the attack on the base,” a military officer told Cameroon Concord News.

The Ambazonia Restoration Forces sacked the base, forcing troops to withdraw in disarray, hinted another military officer, who gave Cameroon Concord News the same toll.

We gathered that so far 22 army soldiers have returned while 32 are still missing and are presumed to have escaped the attack.

Yaoundé has reportedly launched a search and rescue operation to locate the missing soldiers.

The Marines of Bambalang have also released a video of the attack which is attached to this report.

By Alain Tabot-Tanyi

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Catholic Bishops criticize violent campaign to quell independence movement

30, April 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Catholic Bishops criticize violent campaign to quell independence movement 0

Several Catholic bishops in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions are sharply criticizing President Paul Biya’s violent, years long campaign to quell an independence movement in those regions. In recent NCR interviews, three prelates suggested that Biya’s government had initially underestimated the growing influence of those calling for the creation of a new, separate state and then responded with disproportionate force. Retired Archbishop Cornelius Fontem Esua, who led Cameroon’s Bamenda Archdiocese from 2006 to 2019, said Biya had erred drastically in late 2017 when he pledged to “eliminate” independence fighters. “Violence only begets violence,” Esua told NCR. “The moment the government started using live bullets on peaceful protesters, it was evident that things would simply go out of hand.”

Africa-Cameroon.jpg

(NCR graphic/Toni-Ann Ortiz) The conflict had erupted in Cameroon’s Northwest and Southwest regions earlier in 2017 when protests against new government-appointed judges in the regions turned violent. As government forces responded with lethal force, tensions mounted and many English speakers in the predominantly French-speaking country started asking for independence. The ensuing conflict between separatist fighters and government forces has killed at least 3,000 civilians, according to Human Rights Watch. The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre estimates that at least 460,000 have been forced to flee the affected areas, with tens of thousands seeking refuge in neighboring Nigeria. The Catholic bishops said the government has been too violent in its response to those seeking to form an English-speaking state. Esua said Biya’s 2017 pledge effectively made clear that “anybody who identified himself with the Anglophone cause was considered a terrorist.” After two years of fighting between the two sides, Biya called for a one-week “Major National Dialogue,” held Sept. 30-Oct. 4, 2019. However, the president said the dialogue would not only consider the insurgency but also “issues of national interest such as national unity, national integration and living together.” Bishop George Nkuo, who has headed the Kumbo Diocese in the Northwest Region since 2006, said that approach was wrong because it didn’t address the urgency of the Anglophone problem. Nkuo said the forum should have been used to discuss the Anglophone problem and not all the problems of the nation. He said it was necessary to use that dialogue to revisit the root causes of the conflict as the only possible way of bringing forth a sustainable solution. And the causes of the problem, he said, are rooted in Cameroon history. Initially colonized by Germany in 1884, Cameroon would be divided between Britain and France after the defeat of the Germans in World War I. Britain got one-fifth of the formerly German territory, which it administered as part of Nigeria until 1961 — when through a plebiscite, the British Southern Cameroons (as the British administered entity of Cameroon was then called) voted to reunite with the part formerly administered by France (which had gained its independence in 1960). The two entities went into a federal structure of government, with each entity allowed to freely run its affairs in line with the systems inherited from the colonial powers. But in recent years, some people in the English-speaking regions had accused the central government of trying to quash their traditions.

Tobin_View_of_the_Cathedral CROP.jpg

A view of the Catholic cathedral of Kumbo, in Cameroon's English-speaking Northwest Region (Wikimedia Commons/Kintong) A view of the Catholic cathedral of Kumbo, in Cameroon’s English-speaking Northwest Region In 2016, four Catholic bishops in the English-speaking regions accused Biya’s government of trying to strangle their culture. “Anglophone Cameroonians are slowly being asphyxiated as every element of their culture is systematically targeted and absorbed into the Francophone Cameroon culture and way of doing things,” they wrote at the time. Nkuo said the 2019 dialogue should have revisited these historical perspectives to come up with the right answers to the problem. The current archbishop of Bamenda, Andrew Nkea Fuanya, criticized the format of the dialogue, saying it didn’t involve the appropriate representatives of the English-speaking regions. “That wasn’t a dialogue at all,” Fuanya told NCR. Esua was invited to participate in the dialogue. “To be frank, it was a monologue,” he said. “In a dialogue, you take two people to dialogue. And in a dialogue, you have different opinions. You have to listen to the other person and the other person listens to you, and gradually you come to an agreement.” “Ninety percent of the participants at the National Dialogue were all government people, or people with government allegiance, but the real persons with whom you had to dialogue were not there,” said Esua. Separatist leaders weren’t part of the dialogue. Sesseku Ayuk Tabe, the recognized leader of the movement to form a new country of Ambazonia, was arrested in 2018 and is now serving a life sentence. “You couldn’t talk of a dialogue if these people weren’t there,” Esua said of the separatist leaders’ absence at the negotiating table. Nevertheless, the dialogue came up with a number of recommendations, including the adoption of a special status for the two Anglophone regions, the immediate relaunch of certain airport and seaport projects in the regions, the rapid integration of ex-combatants into society, and a hastening of decentralization of power away from the central government.

Esua said none of these recommendations responds to the demands of Cameroon’s English speakers.

“The whole problem of Cameroon and the sociopolitical situation in the Northwest and Southwest regions is about the form of government. It’s about the two systems of education, it’s about the two systems of law, the two systems of administration. That was not part of the discussion,” the cleric told NCR.

He said he was frustrated that a “special status” for Anglophone regions should even come up as a recommendation, since it’s something already enshrined in the country’s 1996 Constitution.

“It’s not a question of a special status, because it’s not a gift they are giving to the Anglophones. The Anglophones have a right to organize themselves according to their customs and cultures as inherited from the British,” said Esua.

He also blasted the recommendation about hastening the decentralization process, noting that it was paradoxical that the government keeps the centralized structures in place and continues talking about decentralization.

“I’m afraid they are not giving the right solutions to the problem,” said the retired archbishop.

Culled from ncronline.org

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Yerima to call for attacks on French Cameroun officials and interests

30, April 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Yerima to call for attacks on French Cameroun officials and interests 0

Southern Cameroons Vice President Dabney Yerima will call for an attack on interests of La Republique du Cameroun in Ambazonia, Cameroon Intelligence Report has learnt from sources close to the Interim Government.

Our informant revealed that the exiled Southern Cameroons leader told his war cabinet late on Wednesday to make French Cameroun colonial officers and business interests in the Ambazonia homeland the highest priority of targets for the Restoration Forces.

Dabney Yerima lambasted President Biya of French Cameroun for turning the Federal Republic of Ambazonia into a military base from which every evil against the people of Southern Cameroons is planned and executed.

Ever since the French Cameroun dictator declared war against the English speaking people of Southern Cameroons, Ambazonia towns and villages are now home to La Republique du Cameroun’s largest contingent of troops.

Despite its bloody and persisting military campaign against Ambazonia Self Defense Groups for over four years now, the Cameroon government army has lost large parts it once held in Southern Cameroons to the Amba forces loyal to the Southern Cameroons Interim Government.

By Chi Prudence Asong

Chad’s Idi Amin Dada tells opposition to “caution supporters” after crackdown

29, April 2021

Chad’s Idi Amin Dada tells opposition to “caution supporters” after crackdown 0

The Chadian Transitional Military Council, CMT, expressed itself for the first time on the demonstrations against the establishment of the military council led by Mahamat Idriss Déby, one of the sons of the former Chadian president killed on 19 April.

The Ministry of Public Security and Immigration had earlier placed a ban on protests but various civil society and democratic opposition bodies defied it.

According to the spokesman of the Transitional Military Council, General Azem Bermandoa, the so-called peaceful demonstration paradoxically led to the deliberate destruction of 15 national police vehicles as well as two stations belonging to the Total company.

He further added that there were intentional assaults on law enforcement officers on mission where a retired policewoman was pulled out of a public transport vehicle to be lynched.

The General called on the organisers of demonstrations to discipline their militants and deplored the death of six people.

On another hand, President Xi Jinping sent condolences on Wednesday to Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, head of Chad’s transitional military council, over the passing of Chadian president Idriss Deby.

Source: Africa News

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