Cameroonian police are on high alert for dangerous weapons after two improvised devices exploded in the capital, Yaounde, a senior police officer said on Wednesday, according to a news report by Cameroon Online.

Didier Ngah, the police commissioner has said security has been enhanced and counter-terror measures have been put in place to secure the capital after two devices exploded on Sunday in the Central African country.

He did not give details about the explosion but local media reported that two security posts were attacked by gunmen using improvised devices.

Didier Ngah said in an order issued to police in the city that there will be systematic checks of all vehicles and neighborhoods in the capital in view of finding arms, ammunition, and dangerous drugs.

In January, Cameroon police chief, Martin Mbarga Nguelle has warned of possible separatist attacks in the capital, urging the police to adopt a higher level of vigilance in “sensitive posts” and to report any suspicious activities.

Armed separatists want the Northwest and Southwest English-speaking regions to secede from the majority French-speaking Cameroon and form a new country called “Ambazonia.” They have been clashing with government forces since 2017.

Source: Devdiscourse

Cameroon’s Anglophone region remains in the grip of a seemingly never-ending crisis, even in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. International observers are increasing their calls to cease the violence, following reports of attacks and abductions of health workers.

The crisis in the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon, now four years old, started in 2016 when lawyers and teachers took to the streets of Buea and Bamenda to protest the domination of French in Anglophone courts and schools.

The strike action quickly gained public sympathy and, on November 21, a popular uprising dubbed “the coffin revolution” took place in Bamenda demanding political reforms.

The situation escalated on October 1, 2017, when militant secessionist groups, led by Julius Sisiku Ayuke Tabe, symbolically proclaimed the independence of a new nation — including the two Anglophone regions — called Ambazonia.

Clashes between the Cameroon military and separatist fighters have led to over 3,000 deaths and many displaced persons.

Peace efforts continue

Cameroon’s prime minister in 2019 organized a national dialogue on behalf of the country’s government to seek solutions to the worsening crisis — yet hostilities have continued, despite a special status being granted to the two Anglophone regions.

The Archbishop of Bamenda, Andrew Nkea Fuanya, has now joined several organizations in calling for peace in Cameroon. He announced during an April 2019 audience granted by President Paul Biya to Swiss Ambassador to Cameroon Pietro Lazzeri that the Swiss Confederation had expressed its readiness to support national initiatives that can lead to lasting peace in the country.

The proposal was welcomed by the separatists. In a letter dated April 17, the archbishop challenged the warring parties to make the difficult decision to end the conflict, in the best interests of the people. The Catholic Church in Cameroon lost several worshippers and priests in the conflict.

Titled “Now is Time for Peace,” the letter read: “Seeking peace or a ceasefire is not a sign of weakness or cowardice. On the contrary, it shows maturity and proper care for the fatherland and genuine love for others.”

Locals struggle to access food

Separatist fighters in Mamfe in the Southwest region and Bali in the Northwest regions recently set up roadblocks, barring movement of people and goods from the two regions.

Commuters were stranded and goods in transit — especially perishables — quickly spoiled. Some families were forced to bury their loved ones in Mamfe because of the road blocks.

“I bought 50 bunches of plantains from mamfe to sell in Bamenda,” said Susana Timgum who explained how she almost lost her capital.

“They were all tied up in the truck and we were forced to sleep on the way for weeks. The bunches all got ripe. Thank God I was able to sell two weeks after the roads were opened.”

Hanson Song, another victim of the road block, said he missed seeing his son immediately after delivery.

“My wife was due deliveries asked her to relocate to Bamenda because it’s safe. She was delivered of a baby boy and I only get to see my son three weeks after,” he said.

Battles continue

A local mayor was killed in Mamfe in April by suspected separatist fighters who later asked people not to attend his funeral. Six young men were later slaughtered for bypassing the separatist injunction order and attending the funeral. In Kumbo, Northwest region, there are frequent gun battles between the military and separatists fighters.

Last week, 12 separatist fighters were killed in Jackiri and a separatist fighter died in Mbingo. In Mbangolan, Belo, Bafut, Kumba and Mamfe, unending gun battles have continued with fatalities on both sides.

Lockdowns force residents inside

One of the oldest forms of civil disobedience — adopted at the start of the Anglophone crisis — has remained. Ghost town operations and lockdowns force locals in the two regions to close their shops and remain indoors for days and even weeks at a time.

This usually happens every time a government organized event takes place. On Sunday June 21, all diaspora groups leading the separatist fighters on the ground called for a lockdown to disrupt a mobilization tour of the Northwest by Paul Tasong, the head of the government-created commission to reconstruct the two Anglophone regions.

Therese Ntum says she was taken by surprise and now has no food.

“My family is living on boiled corn,” she told DW. “We woke up on Monday to hear the news of the three-day lockdown. We did not buy enough food over the weekend. We do not know how we can survive until Thursday.”

Hardships felt by all

The escalating conflict has brought untold misery to the population, according to Professor Tih Pius Muffi, director of the Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Services (CBCHS).

“Essential drugs have not been able to reach hospitals,” he told DW. “Doctors’ clinics have gone without routine support services and patients can’t access health centers and hospitals. Some of these patients have died in their homes and some have reached the hospital too late.”

Stacy Lawong, who fled from Kumbo to Bamenda, lost all her certificates.

“Our house was burnt down while we were in the bush,” she told DW. “We ran to Bamenda. I can’t find a job. I cant move out because I do not have identification papers. We are surviving thanks to the benevolence of our neighbors and people of goodwill. Doing business in the two Anglophone regions has become difficult.”

Tanwi Godwill survives by selling raw banyans and plantains he buys from the divisions. His business no longer provides for him and his family.

“I always go to the bush market on the weekend to buy [food],” he told DW. “Now time and again, you get to the park just to hear the road is blocked. When you succeed [in buying something], ghost towns and lockdowns won’t allow you to [take the goods]. It is difficult.”

In an effort to sabotage the economy of the two regions, separatists have also started to burn down power transmitters and cut down pylons, leaving the lone power supply company ENEO to ration electricity, further crippling businesses and startups.

No hope for a swift end

President Biya has called on separatist fighters to drop their guns and come out of the bush. But tensions remain high.

He has addressed the nation several times during the crisis, however separatists maintain that he must first call off the war and initiate meaningful dialogue with all sides.

But, despite a call from the UN secretary general at the dawn of the COVID-19 crisis for a ceasefire, nothing has changed in the two Anglophone regions, where gun battles continue unabated.

Culled from Deutsche Welle

Boko Haram terrorists attacked and abducted at least 16 villagers in Cameroon’s Far North Region, authorities said on Tuesday.

Midjiyawa Bakari, the governor of the region, said the attack took place around 3 p.m. local time (1400GMT) in the village of Mainankoua, bordering Nigeria.

”They abducted 17 people, including 14 women and three men, but one of the men was released and returned to the village. 16 remain in captivity,” he said.

The governor said the terror group also attacked Sandawadjiri village near the town of Kolofata, adding that the army has launched a search and rescue operation in the area ”to find the hostages.”

Gen. Bouba Dobekreo, the commander of a joint military operation in the region, said the Cameroonian army neutralized three Boko Haram terrorists on Monday, while several others were injured.

Boko Haram launched a bloody insurgency in 2009 in northeastern Nigeria but later spread its atrocities to neighboring Niger, Chad, and Cameroon, prompting a military response.

More than 30,000 people have been killed and nearly 3 million displaced in a decade of Boko Haram’s terrorist activities in Nigeria, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Violence committed by Boko Haram has affected some 26 million people in the Lake Chad region and displaced 2.6 million others, according to the UN Refugee Agency.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Cameroonian aid and health workers have welcomed calls by Nobel Peace laureates and former heads of state for a COVID-19 cease-fire in the country’s troubled western regions.  Fighting between Cameroon’s military and rebels has forced over a thousand health and aid workers to flee, putting tens of thousands of patients at risk in the middle of the pandemic.  Cameroon has so far confirmed 12,321 infections and 309 deaths from the virus.

Nobel Prize laureates calling for a COVID-19 cease-fire in Cameroon include Muhammad Yunus, the Bangladeshi banker to the poor, and the former presidents of East Timor, José Ramos-Horta, and South Africa, FW de Klerk.  

They’re part of the Global Campaign for Peace and Justice in Cameroon, which on Monday urged the U.N. Security Council and the African Union to push for an end to the fighting.  

The group of 15, which includes three former U.S. ambassadors to Cameroon, wants a truce between the military and anglophone rebels in the troubled western regions so health workers can safely stop the virus. 

Cameroon’s health workers, hundreds of whom have fled insecurity in the region, welcomed the high-profile support.  

A man wears a mask while walking outside the entrance to the Yaounde General Hospital in Yaounde on March 6, 2020 as Cameroon…

Director of the Cameroon Baptist Convention of Churches’ Health Services Tih Pius spoke via a messaging app from the northwestern town of Bamenda.

“The COVID-19 has even placed a more serious problem now on the population because you need to identify these cases quickly, isolate them and treat those that you can treat while preventing more infections in the community,” he said.  “We are unable to reach out to do this.  Workers are afraid when they see all these arms by the government or by the non-government armed groups.”

Pius says four of their health workers were abducted in the region on Monday.

Tanyi Christian Eselekwe is with the Cameroon branch of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Foundation, a U.S. group providing aid to the troubled region. 

He says the foundation’s services were disrupted in May when armed groups abducted his staff and stole vehicles transporting humanitarian supplies.  

He also spoke via a messaging app from Bamenda.

“Our plea is that there is the need for a cease-fire to allow those who are affected by the crisis to receive the needed assistance,” he said.  “As humanitarian organizations, we work strictly based on the humanitarian principles and the international humanitarian law.  We do not take sides and we make sure that all our operations are geared towards relieving the sufferings of those affected by these crises.”

On social media, Cameroon’s anglophone rebel groups, who want independence from Francophone-majority Cameroon, had mixed reactions to the cease-fire call.

The Anglophone Defense Forces (ADF) said it supported a truce but warned that it would retaliate if provoked by Cameroon’s military.  

The Southern Cameroon Defense Forces had some members supporting a break while others called for continuing to fight for independence until the government withdraws troops.  

Cameroon’s military has indicated it would continue raids on separatist strongholds, which last week killed 24 rebels in the English-speaking northwest. 

Cameroon government spokesman Rene Emmanuel Sadi said they would comment on the calls for a cease-fire at what he called an appropriate moment.

The U.N. says Cameroon’s separatist conflict has left more than 3,000 people dead and displaced more than half a million in four years of fighting. 

Source: VOA