Ambazonians at Ikom rally demand UN-sponsored referendum in Southern Cameroons

7, January 2021

Ambazonians at Ikom rally demand UN-sponsored referendum in Southern Cameroons 0

Southern Cameroons activists at a rally in Ikom bordering Ekok in Nigeria have called on the United Nations (UN) to ensure the Federal Republic of Ambazonia’s right to self-determination by organizing a referendum in Ground Zero.

The Ambazonians at the rally in the outskirts of Ikom on Tuesday demanded the UN to support British Southern Cameroons push for the realization of the UN multilateral treaty obligation towards the Southern Cameroons on 1 October 1961 which Great Britain by some strange happenstance handed the articles of sovereignty over the territory to French vassal state of French Cameroun and France’s proxy army of occupation in the night of 30 September 1961.

The Southern Cameroonians chanted pro-independence slogans and urged the European Union and the US President-elect Joe Biden to take notice of the French Cameroun human rights violations in the English speaking-minority region.

Thousands of British Southern Cameroonians have died since a French Cameroun war erupted four years ago and more than a quarter of the population have fled their homes. Of these, 75,000 are refugees in neighbouring Nigeria.

Even though bloodshed has receded in intensity over the last two months, violence remains chronic. Ambazonia Restoration Forces hold sways over two-thirds of the territory. At least four people were killed on Wednesday January 6 2021 following an explosion of a home-made bomb in the Northern Zone of Southern Cameroons.

The Biya Francophone regime in Yaoundé confirmed that the convoy of the prefect of Momo came under attack from Ambazonia Restoration Forces.

At the heart of the crisis, which started in 2016, was a strike by teachers and lawyers, in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon. The professionals, supported by citizens of their areas, protested the unfair use of the French language and unjustified appointments of French speakers in their territories. Cameroon was passing for a bilingual country. By 2017, the situation had spiralled out of control and developed into a fully-fledged separatist war. Both government forces and separatists are now bogged down in a conflict that observers say, can only be resolved through dialogue.

By Kingsley Betek in Ekok

CPDM Crime Syndicate: Biya ready to sell Camair-Co

7, January 2021

CPDM Crime Syndicate: Biya ready to sell Camair-Co 0

Cameroon Concord News Group made some key points to the ruling CPDM crime syndicate when the disgraced Minister of State in charge of Transport Edgar Alain Mebo Ngo’o announced that renovation work had been completed at the Douala International Airport.

We asked if a neutral government body had gone to inspect the work done at the Douala International airport. What was replaced during the one month period of work? How much did it cost the Cameroonian task payer?  Was the Minister of Transport Edgar Alain Mebo Ngo’o ready to vouch for the safety of the airport? And we concluded that with regard to that operation and money spent, the nation needed an independent assessment.

We told the world that the same was true with the national carrier Camair-co. But because the French Cameroun dictator Paul Biya heads a government that no one takes responsibility, no one apologize and no one resigns, Yaoundé kept on appointing new managing directors of Camair-co. To be sure, Louis-Georges Njipendi Kouotou successfully became the seventh managing director of Camair-co in recent times. 

Louis-Georges Njipendi Kouotou and six others grounded the national carrier. Camair-co ever since President Biya and his Beti Ewondo kinsmen and women took over became short of viable planes. The situation grew from bad to worse and forced to travel by road for want of available Camair-Co aircraft, three French Cameroun government ministers ended up in a river. The accident again placed the national carrier’s management in a bind.

Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, which has grounded aircraft all around the world, Yaoundé has been actively seeking a consultancy firm to help it to develop the country’s civil aviation industry destroyed by President Biya and his gang.

Recently, Camair-co managed to get back in the air with a plane hired from Ukraine but our senior economic reporter in Douala confirmed late on Monday that Camair-Co’s future is sealed: the government is making plans to privatise 51% of the national carrier.

By Rita Akana in Yaounde

World leaders react with shock to Trump mob storming US Capitol

7, January 2021

World leaders react with shock to Trump mob storming US Capitol 0

World leaders reacted with shock to the storming of the US Capitol building by enraged supporters of US President Donald Trump who are unable or unwilling to accept that he lost the November 3 election to Democrat Joe Biden. The Congress was in the process of certifying Biden’s win, with some objections from Republicans, when the siege began.

Leaders around the world condemned the storming of the US Capitol building by supporters of President Donald Trump on Wednesday, expressing shock at the chaos unfolding in a country long known for its peaceful transfers of power.

“Disgraceful scenes in US Congress,” tweeted Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain, a staunch ally of the United States over generations. “The United States stands for democracy around the world and it is now vital that there should be a peaceful and orderly transfer of power.”

President of the European Parliament David Sassoli, who leads one of the largest legislatures in the world, also denounced the scenes at the Capitol. The European Union has spent four cantankerous years dealing with the Trump administration and its top officials have repeatedly said they are looking forward to a better relationship under President-elect Joe Biden.

“This is insurrection. Nothing less. In Washington,” tweeted Carl Bildt, a former prime minister of Sweden.

‘The looting of democracy’

French President Emmanuel Macron published a video on Twitter, criticising the violence in while reiterating his faith in the US democratic process.

Macron ended the video with a brief statement in English, which carried the hashtag “#WeAreOne.”

“I just wanted to express our friendship and our faith in the United States,” he said. “What happened today in Washington DC is not America. Definitely. We believe in the strength of our democracies. We believe in the strength of American democracy.”

Macron: ‘What happened today in Washington, DC, is not America’

Other allies were similarly appalled at what they described as an attack on American democracy, though many said they believed US democratic institutions would withstand the turmoil.

Several leaders blamed Trump directly for the violence, with some warning: “It won’t end today.” 

“This is the widely anticipated outcome of Trumpism,” tweeted a retired Italian centre-left politician, Pierluigi Castagnetti. “And unfortunately it won’t end today. When politics is replaced by deception and fanaticism of the people the drift is inevitable.”

Many Italians watched with shock as the events unfolded in a country that helped Italy after its fascist era during World War II.

Turkey, a NATO ally that has sometimes been at odds with the Trump administration, expressed concern over the images of angry Trump supporters trying to thwart the certification of Biden as the new president. A foreign ministry statement urged all parties in the United States to use “moderation and common sense”.

“We believe that the United States will overcome this domestic political crisis with maturity,” the ministry said.

“Trump and his supporters should finally accept the decision of the American voters and stop trampling on democracy,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas wrote on Twitter. “From inflammatory words come violent deeds.”

He added that, “contempt for democratic institutions has disastrous effects”.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his country was “deeply disturbed and saddened” by the events in the US, Canada’s closest ally and neighbor.

“Violence will never succeed in overruling the will of the people. Democracy in the US must be upheld – and it will be,” Trudeau tweeted.

Other reactions were not so supportive.

Venezuela, which remains under US sanctions, said events in Washington show that the US “is suffering what it has generated in other countries with its politics of aggression”. President Nicolas Maduro has survived US-backed opposition efforts to oust him despite accusations of human rights abuses and a humanitarian crisis that has seen much of its population descend into poverty and forced millions to flee the oil-rich country.

As his supporters stormed the Capitol, Trump issued a lukewarm call for them to “stay peaceful” but did not immediately ask them to disperse. Hours later he urged them to go home but added, “We love you” and called them “very special” people. 

(FRANCE 24 with AP)

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Journalist shot dead in Mbengui attack

7, January 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Journalist shot dead in Mbengui attack 0

The death has been announced of Becky Jeme İyabo, the Divisional Delegate for Communication in Momo Division.

The journalist is said to be among six persons who fell when armed separatist fighters attacked the convoy of the Senior Divisional Officer, SDO, for Momo Division on Wednesday, January 6, 2021.

Open sources say the SDO was returning from Njikwa when his convoy was attacked by separatists, leading to the death of Ms. Jeme İyabo and five soldiers.

Local journalists in Bamenda say the convoy fell on improvised explosive devices, IEDs, planted along the road by armed separatists in the area.

Fouda Etaba Benoit Nicaise, Senior Divisional Officer for Momo Division is said to have been in Ngie and Njikwa on Tuesday, January 5, 2021, for the installation of new sub divisional officers appointed to the aforementioned subdivisions.

On December 18, 2020, President Paul Biya signed a decree appointing and transferring some subdivisional officers across the country.

In Momo Division, North West Region of Cameroon, two new sub divisional officers were appointed.

Mr. Arrah Ama Tagana Maxime was appointed Sub divisional Officer of Ngie Subdivision. The Administrative Officer was previously the First Assistant Senior Divisional Officer of Momo Division. He replaced Mr. Nyaso Mohamadou Nfor, who has been transferred to other duties.

The December 18, 2020 decree also appointed Mr. Belinga Benjamin as Sub divisional Officer of Njikwa Subdivision. The Senior Executive Officer, previously Second Assistant Senior Divisional Officer of Momo Division replaced Mr. Shu Carnicious Numfor, who has been transferred to other duties.

Officials are yet to comment on the attack. Hon. Marinette NGO YETNA, Member of Parliament for Sanaga Maritime has however taken to Facebook to extend her condolences to the bereaved families. She also wonders when the crisis will end.

The 2004 batch of graduates of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, JMC, mourns one of theirs Jeme Iyabo. The people of her native Buea, the entire media family, and the people of Cameroon are in mourning.

Cameroon’s state forces have been battling to dislodge armed separatists who pitched their tents in the North West and South West Regions since Anglophone protests transformed into an armed conflict in 2017.

Source: Cameroon Info.Net

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Yaoundé says 3 French Cameroun troops, journalist killed in Momo County attack

6, January 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Yaoundé says 3 French Cameroun troops, journalist killed in Momo County attack 0

At least four people were killed this Wednesday morning following an explosion of a home-made bomb in the Northern Zone of Southern Cameroons.

Yaoundé confirmed late today that the convoy of the prefect of Momo came under attack from Ambazonia Restoration Forces.

A statement from the Biya Francophone regime said “The prefect’s convoy was ambushed by the separatists on their way back from the sub-prefect’s installation in Njikwa.”

Cameroon Concord News gathered that the lead vehicle of the convoy mounted on an explosive device before the entire convoy then riddled with bullets by Ambazonia Restoration Forces responsible for providing security in the area.

Three Cameroon government army soldiers and a journalist lost their lives in the explosion, according to a provisional assessment.

The journalist Becky Jeme was in charge of communication in the Momo constituency. As such, she was part of the official French Cameroun delegation violating standing orders put in place by the Southern Cameroons Interim Government.

By Fon Lawrence

US: Biden and then Trump call for US Capitol “insurrection” to stop

6, January 2021

US: Biden and then Trump call for US Capitol “insurrection” to stop 0

Angry supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol Wednesday, marching through the building, shouting and waving both Trump and American flags, and forcing a halt to congressional deliberations over challenges to Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory. Senators were evacuated and some House lawmakers tweeted they were sheltering in place in their offices.

US President-elect Joe Biden called on Trump to go on national TV to denounce the “insurrection”, calling the scenes at the Capitol “disgraceful”, that they should “stop now”.

Trump supporters fought with Capitol Police and then forced their way into the building, not long after a rally near the White House, during which Trump had egged them on, saying: “We will never give up, we will never concede … We will stop the steal.”

Multiple police officers have been injured at the Capitol and the National Guard has been mobilised to provide support.

Vice President Pence has called for the violence to ‘stop now’ – but outgoing president Trump has not.

The violence at the Capitol came as Congress sat to certify the election victory of Joe Biden.

Source: France 24

Dr Merkel confirms Germany will extend coronavirus lockdown until January 31

6, January 2021

Dr Merkel confirms Germany will extend coronavirus lockdown until January 31 0

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday that she has agreed with state governors to extend the country’s current lockdown by three weeks until Jan. 31.

Merkel said they also are tightening curbs on social contacts, in line with measures imposed at the beginning of the pandemic in March. And they called for new restrictions on movement for people living in areas with particularly high infection rates.

The decision came as new coronavirus cases and deaths are running at stubbornly high levels, and officials remain uncertain what effect the Christmas and New Year holidays have had on the situation.

Germany launched a nationwide partial shutdown on Nov. 2, closing restaurants, bars, leisure and sports facilities. That failed to reduce infection figures, and the current lockdown — which closed nonessential shops and schools, and further limited social contacts — took effect Dec. 16. It was initially due to run through Jan. 10.

Germany’s disease control centre on Tuesday reported 944 more COVID-19 deaths, fueling expectations that Chancellor Angela Merkel and the country’s 16 state governors will extend the country’s lockdown until the end of the month.

Merkel’s meeting with the governors on Tuesday will decide how long the lockdown should go on and to what extent schools will reopen. Another topic high on the agenda will be addressing criticism of the country’s vaccination program amid frustrations over its gradual start.

Vaccinations in Germany and the rest of the 27-nation European Union started over a week ago. In Germany, a nation of 83 million, nearly 265,000 vaccinations had been reported by Monday, the Robert Koch Institute said.

Opposition politicians and even some within Germany’s governing coalition have criticized the EU’s cautious advance ordering of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine — the only one so far cleared for use in EU nations. The EU’s medical regulator is also evaluating a vaccine by Moderna.

The country’s health minister has repeatedly said that the vaccinations are progressing as expected and that the slow start is because mobile teams are first going to nursing homes to vaccinate the most vulnerable, which takes more time than inviting people to mass vaccination centers.

Still, in a nod to the heavy pressure, Health Minister Jens Spahn said he has asked the country’s agency in charge of vaccinations if the second shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine could be delayed in order to be able to vaccinate more people right away with a first shot. Britain has embraced such a plan with its vaccinations, but the move is being hotly debated by scientists and governments around the world.

Germany’s new infections remain at more than twice the level of 50 per 100,000 residents over seven days, which the government wants to reach. In part because of lower testing and delayed reporting, it’s not yet clear what effect the Christmas holidays will have on Germany’s new coronavirus infections, hospitalizations and deaths.

Germany has reported 35,518 virus-related deaths overall.

(AP)

“Revenge for the killing of thousands of Southern Cameroonians by Francophone soldiers has no expiry date”

6, January 2021

“Revenge for the killing of thousands of Southern Cameroonians by Francophone soldiers has no expiry date” 0

Southern Cameroons Vice President Dabney Yerima has said that revenge for the killings of thousands of Ambazonians by French Cameroun army soldiers has no expiry date.

The exiled Ambazonia leader made the remarks while addressing a Southern Cameroons think tank in Dublin, Ireland on Tuesday.

Vice President Yerima told the zoom forum that there was need for every Southern Cameroonian to offer a word of prayer for the Ambazonia leader President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and the eleven members of his cabinet abducted in NERA hotel in Abuja three years ago.

Comrade Dabney Yerima underlined the need for efforts to understand President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe’s school of thought, saying the Ambazonia Interim Government and several world powers including the United States are now determined to deliver justice to those who ordered and perpetrated the killings of thousands of Southern Cameroons women and children

“On this day three years ago, French Cameroun and Nigerian authorities engaged in an unacceptable violation of human rights and international law. Secret Service and military personnel of both nations interrupted a meeting chaired by President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, the leader of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, and abducted him with eleven members of his cabinet from the NERA hotel in Abuja. Our leaders were held incommunicado for 21 days in Nigeria before they were transferred to Yaoundé where they have all been sentenced to life by a military court” Yerima observed.

Dabney Yerima furthered that “Since the abduction of our leaders, the Federal High Court in Abuja, Nigeria denounced the act as “illegal and unconstitutional”. The Nigerian judge said that irrespective of whether the Southern Cameroons leaders posed a threat to the Nigerian state or not, the Federal Government did not follow due process and thus violated both the Nigerian constitution and articles 32 and 33 of the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. Observing that their human rights were violated, Justice Chikere ordered their return to Nigeria. He also decided that the government should pay compensation of ₦5 million each to the 12 and ₦200 000 each to the 39 other deportees.

The US Senate Resolution 684 published on 01 January 2021 must give the Southern Cameroons hope” he concluded.

By Chi Prudence Asong

CPDM Crime Syndicate: Shareholders approve the premature dissolution of Messapresse

6, January 2021

CPDM Crime Syndicate: Shareholders approve the premature dissolution of Messapresse 0

During the extraordinary general meeting held on December 16, 2020, the shareholders of Messapresse ruled in favor of the premature dissolution and the liquidation of the company which is the main newsagent in Cameroon. This decision follows a suggestion submitted by the administrative board during a meeting held barely a month earlier (November 30, 2020).

According to the official release published in that regard, the decision was prompted by the losses (estimated at XAF1.3 billion) being accumulated by Messapresse for six years now. This decision occurs barely one (1) year after the newsagent restarted distributing local newspapers in September 2019. Indeed, two years earlier, the company had stopped distributing such newspapers after French group Presstalis (the majority shareholder in Messapresse) decided to withdraw from the distribution of Cameroonian newspapers, 80% of which it claims are unsold. 

When Messapresse decided to relaunch the distribution of local media, it did so without the expertise of Presstalis (that supplies it with foreign newspapers distributed in Cameroon). Also, some news companies had launched their distribution networks (after Messapresse stopped the distribution of local newspapers in 2017). They include state-owned media Cameroon Tribune and various private media. For Messapresse’s management, these distribution networks also contributed to the dissolution decisions.

Source: Business in Cameroon

Southern Cameroons Crisis: The U.S. Can Help Fill the Void

6, January 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: The U.S. Can Help Fill the Void 0

Over the last several years, since at least 2016, an inconceivably violent conflict has ravaged the Central African nation of Cameroon. The daily barrage of bloody images posted to social media and the accounts of cruelty and likely war crimes have – at least to date – not been enough to galvanize meaningful or concerted action to resolve what has become known as the Anglophone Crisis. After years of wreckage, there is now a domestic stalemate, a paralyzed status quo that has served to radicalize hardliners on both sides of the conflict.

The roots of the Anglophone crisis date back much farther than 2016, of course. Like many long-simmering issues in the region, hostilities can be traced to the maneuvering of former colonial powers who spliced up African territories with little regard for the dignity or preferences of local populations. This fact, however, does not excuse the failed leadership that has more recently been the norm – embodied most profoundly by President Paul Biya, who has been in power since 1982, longer than most Cameroonians have been alive. In October 2018, Biya secured yet another term in office during an electoral exercise that was marred by credible allegations of vote rigging and a clampdown on political adversaries, including opposition leader Maurice Kamto, who had remained under house arrest until last month.

The Anglophone crisis has registered among the world’s most neglected,’ according to assessments by the Norwegian Refugee Council. And according to the International Crisis Group, the fighting has killed well over 3,000 people and displaced an additional 600,000 more. In Anglophone regions, an estimated 850,000 children are currently out of school – likely much higher today in light of the covid-19 pandemic – and one in three of the region’s four million people are in need of humanitarian aid. Cameroon, once a reputed host for refugees is now a major exporter of people who are fleeing violence and government persecution. The number of Cameroonians seeking refuge in neighboring Nigeria, for example, has crossed the 300,000 mark. The instability inside Cameroon has thus produced negative ripple effects on an entire region, including disastrous economic and commercial blowback.

These statistics, as staggering as they are, barely do justice to the overall magnitude of a conflict that has exacted a huge toll on the lives of ordinary Cameroonians – mainly women and children – who have literally been caught in the crossfire between government forces and Anglophone fighters. In the words of local journalist Comfort Mussa, “hardly a day goes by without news of deaths, abductions, arson attacks and other forms of violence that have become a reality for people in [Anglophone] regions.”

As 2021 gets underway, however, there is a small glimmer of hope that momentum has built behind a reform agenda. Rather symbolically, on New Year’s Day, the United States Senate passed a resolution (bit.ly/3rU9lf1) by unanimous bipartisan consent – no small feat in Washington these days – that sent a strong signal to the Biya government and armed groups alike to end the violence and to commit to an inclusive process of international arbitration. The resolution also raised the prospect of punitive sanctions on those individuals responsible for participating in atrocities. (This author has long called for these actions by the U.S. government, a significant donor to and enduring security partner of the Biya government).

As a longtime partner of human rights defenders and pro-democracy leaders in Cameroon, we at Vanguard Africa heartily welcome this development in the halls of the U.S. Senate. We will also advocate that the incoming Biden-Harris Administration make this resolution – and the key principles upon which it is premised – a key priority of its US-Africa policy moving forward.

Put simply, it is time for both sides of the Anglophone crisis to come to terms with the fact that there is no military solution. The guns need to be silenced. The chaos can no longer continue. Importantly, there is some recognition even among the most militant Anglophone leaders, that this is the only feasible way forward. What is needed today is a negotiated settlement that holds human rights violators accountable and paves the way for a new era of leadership that many Cameroonians are demanding.

The violence perpetrated during the Anglophone crisis, and the lack of respect for the sanctity of human life, has taken a massive toll on future generations of Cameroonians. To relieve citizens from this tailspin, both the government and Anglophone leaders need to take a hard look at this freefall and their respective roles in perpetuating it. A genuinely inclusive dialogue must begin, and the U.S. Government – now vitalized by a rare act of bipartisanship – should help to fill Cameroon’s leadership void that has been so readily exploited.

Source:  Vanguard Africa

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