Cameroonian villagers along the Nigerian border need humanitarian aid after deadly Boko Haram attacks displaced at least 7,000 people, authorities and rights groups say. Villagers have been fleeing their homes since early August because of attacks, which killed at least 22 people and wounded 29. 

Several humanitarian groups, including the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), handed out goats and bags of rice, among other goods, to more than a hundred people gathered Monday in the town of Mora 

Cameroon authorities say a suicide bomber hit the village of Goldavi last week, killing seven people and wounding 14 others. For the past seven years, the village hosted 18,000 displaced people who sought refuge from Boko Haram, according to the United Nations.

Sixty-four-year-old Cameroonian Maahamat Doudje was among those who fled Goldavi.

He said after receiving three goats and a bag of rice, he is sure of having at least one meal a day for the next few weeks. 

FAO representative Fulbert Haiba Daliwa said the group is working to help those whose livelihoods have been disturbed by the militants. Many people, he said, have lost everything to Boko Haram.

Forty-eight-year-old Alida Wakilou, a spokeswoman for female displaced in Goldavi, said the women and children have been living in hunger since last week’s attack. They need safe places to go, where they can grow maize, millet and onions to feed their families, she added.

In August, authorities blamed Boko Haram for an attack that killed 17 people and wounded six others in a camp for displaced in the border village of Nguetchewe.

Spokesman for Cameroon’s military Cyrille Atonfack said troops have been sent to assist civilians in areas still prone to Boko Haram attacks.

Atonfack said Boko Haram has destroyed hospitals and chased away health workers on Cameroon’s border with Nigeria, so the military offers food aid and medical and psychological care to victims.

The U.N. said Boko Haram attacks in the Lake Chad Basin have killed more than 30,000 people and displaced over three million in the past decade.

Source: VOA

The people of Southern Cameroons will not allow French Cameroun officials to stage any so-called regional elections in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

The Vice President of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government on Monday also appealed to all Southern Cameroons traditional rulers not to take part in the election, saying Ambazonia Restoration Forces would punish any Chief or Fon who participate in the election or arrange them.

The 87 year old French Cameroun dictator Paul Biya on Monday announced La Republique du Cameroun’s first regional elections in December, including Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia in the grip of a war he declared against British Southern Cameroonians.

The indirect elections on December 6 in the country will put in place councils provided for in a 1996 constitution in a move towards decentralisation but not yet implemented.

The Southern Cameroons Interim Government and other Ambazonian factions have said they will not allow the people of Southern Cameroons to take part in the poll, which French Cameroun President Paul Biya declared for December.

Speaking exclusively to Cameroon Concord News Group on Monday, the Southern Cameroons Vice President Dabney Yerima declared the French Cameroun’s electoral commission known as ELECAM an “illegal body.”

The people of Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia and their Interim Government have said they would continue to resist anything French Cameroun until the international community recognizes the independence of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai in Dusselddorf

Over 1,500 families in Northern Cameroon have been displaced as overwhelming floods – from heavy rainfall in the town of Maroua the last few days, have destroyed their homes, washed away livestock and devastated plantations.

The installed embankment along the Logone River has also given out and even bridges have collapsed, leaving the inhabitants despondent.

Many locals struggle to deal with the environmental crisis

Ibrahim Sala, a victim of the flood, shared his concerns, “We’re losing people, animals, onions, grain, the chickens, everything. The floods just take everything. We are left with nothing here in Merem.”

Another local victim, Issa Nassifou, called out those in charge to come to the aid of the people, “Today, we ask the public authorities to help the population of Merem, which is underwater and flooded. We even have displaced people, some of them have been resettled in Youma, Congeleo, Wideo, even in Kairoum.”

More heavy rains are expected to the fall in the same region this week.

Last year, more than 20,000 people had to abandon their homes. According to the authorities, a total of more than 40,000 people were affected.

Source: AFP

Location:  Cameroon’s Border with Chad and Kousseri, Far North Region

The U.S. Embassy in Yaoundé informs U.S. citizens that it has received information that as of September 2020, extremists were reportedly considering kidnapping unidentified foreigners in the Far North region of Cameroon and bordering areas inside Chad.  The kidnapping events could occur in major cities in these areas, to include Kousseri or N’Djamena.  We have no further information on the timing, method, or targets of the allegedly planned kidnappings.

Actions to Take:

As stated in the State Department Cameroon Travel Advisory, travel to the Far North Region is strongly discouraged.

Review your personal security plans.

Stay alert in public places, including schools, hospitals, government facilities, places of worship, tourist locations, and transportation hubs.

Vary your times and routes; change patterns that have become predictable or routine.

Remain aware of your surroundings and keep a low profile.

Always carry proof of your legal presence in Cameroon, such as a U.S. passport with a valid visa, or a residency card. Since Cameroon does not recognize dual citizenship, U.S. citizens of Cameroonian descent should never attempt to use a Cameroonian passport or identification card.

Cameroon Intelligence Report has gathered from reliable sources in Yaoundé that the Biya Francophone regime is denying imprisoned Southern Cameroons activists and French Cameroun pro-democracy campaigners contact with their family members and lawyers.

 Information filtered recently to our Yaoundé city reporter that Ministers Paul Atanga Nji and Laurent Esso of the ministries of Territorial Administration and Justice appear intent on making certain Ambazonia and French Cameroun detainees including their loved ones suffer by denying them the ability to meet each other and know for certain that they are still alive.

A member of the legal team representing President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and his top aides was quoted as saying that “All prisoners be they from Southern Cameroons or supporters of Prof Maurice Kamto should be allowed unfettered communication with their families and the world outside their prison cells.”

Several family members of leading Southern Cameroons detainees are still seeking Cameroon government permission to visit loved ones being held in incommunicado detention by the French Cameroun regime in Yaoundé. Many Southern Cameroonians including President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe have gone on hunger strike.

Cameroon Intelligence Report understands several of the Southern Cameroons detainees are being held in solitary confinement and facing torture and sexual harassment.

By Rita Akana in Yaounde

The French Cameroun army reportedly came under attacked late on Sunday by elements of the Nigerian Islamic sect, Boko Haram in Toufou in the Mayo-Tsanaga Division in the Far North Region. Cameroon Concord News learnt from security sources that two soldiers were killed and their weapons taken away.

Our source revealed that the Boko Haram fighters targeted the military post at Toufou and destroyed the dilapidated building.

The last skirmishes between the French Cameroun army and the Islamist group were several months ago, but the Sunday incident demonstrated that the group seems to have regained confidence and is now ready more than ever before to confront the French Cameroonian soldiers.

 According to a statement transmitted by Commander Cyrille Serge Atonfack Guemo spokesman of the Cameroon government army, soldiers loyal to the regime in Yaoundé had the upper hand during the attack and five Boko Haram fighters were killed.

However, a military source who sued for anonymity said the fighting lasted several hours before the French Cameroun army managed to repel the attackers. In the end, two Cameroonian soldiers were killed.

By Fon Lawrence

The war declared by President Paul Biya against the people of Southern Cameroons is pushing all working health facilities in the Ambazonian territory toward total collapse, many health organizations including Medicine Without Borders have warned.

In a Saturday statement released by the Southern Cameroons Interim Government, Vice President Dabney Yerima issued a warning, saying that several medical facilities in Southern Cameroons are no longer functioning and many are expected to be shut down in the near future due to attacks on medics coming from the French Cameroun military.

Vice President Yerima added that the UN Security Council including other international bodies is not paying serious attention to the humanitarian disaster in Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia.

The Dabney Yerima statement also pointed out that nearly all major hospitals in Southern Cameroons towns and cities are suffering from the war.

Supported militarily by the French government of President Emmanuel Macron and several other French multinationals, the 87 year old President Biya and the Cameroon government military launched the devastating war on Southern Cameroons four years ago to crush a popular uprising that witnessed the creation of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

The Southern Cameroons Interim Government estimates that the war has claimed more than 35,000 lives in Southern Cameroons.

By Isong Asu in London