2, February 2019

Yaounde has detained its main opposition leader as a new anti-government crisis looms ⁰

Cameroon’s main opposition leader, Maurice Kamto, who has continuously claimed he won the last year’s contentious presidential election, is in detention after he was arrested alongside dozens of protesters in the economic capital Douala on Monday (Jan. 28) for organizing and participating in street demonstrations.

The crackdown was also extended to reporters, with the arrest of two journalists on duty, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Kamto, president of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement, was a runner up to president Paul Biya in last October’s presidential election, coming a distant second with 14.23% of the vote. He claimed the election was marred with irregularities and immediately proclaimed himself winner. Kamto has since then been organizing sporadic demonstrations to reclaim “his victory.”

The demonstrations, christened “White Marches”, which were violently quelled, left about six people with bullet wounds. Up to 117 protesters were arrested in Douala, Yaounde, Bafoussam and Mbouda, according to Rene Emmanuel Sadi, minister of communication. The minister said the public demonstrations were unauthorized and condemned the “unacceptable maneuvers to destabilize Cameroon under the false pretext of an electoral hold-up.”

Demonstrations also took place abroad. In Paris, Cameroon’s embassy was ransacked while protests also took place in the United States, United Kingdom, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy and Germany.

Many rights organizations, including Amnesty International, have called for the immediate and unconditional release of Kamto and other protesters, underscoring the need for the government to respect people’s right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

The government of president Biya, who has ruled Cameroon since 1982, is yet to respond to the many calls for the protesters to be released. This is similar to the uncompromising action the government took at the onset of the Anglophone crisis.

Back then in 2016, when a modest protest by Anglophone lawyers and teachers over perceived and real marginalization by the Francophone-dominated government erupted, the government’s instinct was to respond with force, deploying the elite Rapid Intervention Battalion and numerous arrests.

Many Cameroon watchers now believe the aggressive show of force frustrated any hope of a peaceful resolution of the conflict through dialogue early on after the government arrested trade union leaders with whom it was negotiating and outlawed the umbrella union.

There has been no end to the conflict in sight since then. And as the army has been empowered to use heavy force, many more people have been radicalized and increasingly bold armed separatists are earning support at home and from the diaspora and are multiplying in numbers.

Many now fear the recent twist of issues can take same course as the same cause always produces the same effect.

Source: Quartz Africa

1, February 2019

Southern Cameroons: Eyewitness reports horrific scenes in Kumbo Town ⁰

Kumbo Town is the second largest town in the North West Region of Cameroon, one of the restive English-speaking regions clamouring for autonomy. In recent times it has become an epicentre in the on-going conflict between Cameroon military forces and restorationist forces of the putative Republic of Ambazonia, often known as the Amba Boys. An unprecedented wave of violence has taken the town captive and is rooted in the New Year’s message of President Paul Biya as he approaches his 86th birthday, to use crude military force to quell the uprising if the terrorist/rebels do not lay down their arms.

In the early hours of January 1st, at 00.05am, to show allegiance to Biya (now in power for over 26 years), there was a deafening and frightful salvo of gunshots in all military facilities in the town causing the inhabitants flee to safety. The war had started.

The Score Board

In this month of January 2019 areas of the town such as Mbev, Ndzenji, Squares, SAC Junction, Mantum, Ber, and Meluf have been deprived of the right to own and live in decent houses. The conflagration of military fire has reduced many houses to ashes and forced many people to flee to unknown destinations, paving the way for mass looting from the forces of lawlessness and disorder. Many doors of houses are standing ajar after their crude acts. Soldiers come in waves and depart with looted material, especially Android appliances and food items. This probably is a well orchestrated and planned tool and strategy in this war of attrition. Target killings, extra-judicial execution, disappearances and abductions have become the hallmark of their presence.

In Mbve on January 18th, a pregnant nurse on her way to resume work at Shisong General Hospital was mercilessly gunned down by soldier from a rooftop.

Two days later an early dawn raid was effected by the military within the premises of Shisong Hospital causing double trauma for the hospital patients as well as the Cardiac Unit. A young Internally Displaced boy of 17 who had never witnessed heavy military presence ran into the house where he was hosted for safety, but was unfortunately pulled out and riddled with bullets beyond recognition. Shisong, which hosted many IDPs, is experiencing a re-displacement, making a bad case worse. There is almost daily military presence and shooting around the hospital in the night and the IDPs plus their hosts have all flocked into the wards. No one can be certain of what is to come. There is an atmosphere of foreboding. Everyone seems resigned to their fate. The military units making their entry from the West Region into Kumbo are leaving behind a trail of destruction of houses beyond imagination. Food stuff for people’s consumption is set ablaze. This is scorched earth policy. The civilians must pay the price.

January 21st a young bike rider at Squares-Kumbo round-about, who had just dropped off a passenger, ran into a military convoy returning from Shisong and was pulled off his bike and slaughtered with impunity. In Tankum Quarter, the story was no different; two young boys in their teens had their throats slit open by the military on allegations of being Amba affiliates. Minutes later military canisters were directed to another quarter, Kongir, setting a house ablaze, killing a two year old child therein, and wounding the sister and mother, who were lying in bed. Also, women have been raped with impunity. Goats and chickens have equally paid a price with their lives for roaming freely in town. They are shot and packed into military vans possibly for consumption. Beer parlours with stocks of beer that have been locked are invaded by these unfriendly visitors who consume the stock to excess and then shatter the remains into bits and pieces, thereby ruining the business of a proprietor.

Kumbo Town which used to be bustling with activity has become a dead town, a ghost town, a town abandoned to fate. About seven out of every ten houses have been abandoned. Frequent electricity black-outs or cuts are alarming. The cost of petrol and diesel has risen to absurd heights. The prices of basic foodstuffs have risen considerably. Getting water for use and consumption has become a Herculean task. Many people die in homes because they cannot afford the means to reach hospital. Many pregnant women have escaped into the bushes and far off villages for safety, disregarding anti-natal checks and clinics.

Commercial activities are at a standstill, with a gross shortage of basic commodities – even those that are available are sold at unbearable prices. Educational facilities are completely shut down and unemployment has soared. Dead IDPs are buried in the absence of relations by people of good will. Houses along the main road in the town are branded with bullet holes. Civilian farms within the precincts of military facilities have been torched and destroyed in order to create a buffer zone. Fugitives and IDPs moving into other regions are not free from harassment and death-threats. In Douala, IDPs are forced to pay a tax before being accommodated. Some are demeaned through innuendo and ethnic slurs. Many people wearing clothing of certain colours have become targets for the military. Wearers of black, the classic icon of tough guys, and red the emblematic insignia of Amba Boys, have become targets for elimination by the military. Bike Riders have not been spared from this fate.

On the other hand, Amba Boys that shoot for restoration forces, though defending and fighting for the marginalised, have equally left their own mark. Government sympathisers and those critical of them are whisked-off to unknown destinations where they are tortured beyond recognition and released only when a ransom is paid. They have frequently interrupted the little attempted commercial activity with death threats. Any Amba critic or sell-out receives the crown of brutality from the Amba Fist of Fury. Transit fees/fares demanded by Amba affiliates are heartbreaking. Moving from one Administrative Division to another is a nightmare with numerous check-points for both Amba and military forces. Having identity papers with a Cameroon Government Logo is nauseating and acrimonious to Amba Boys and a lack of them at Cameroon Government checkpoints is an occasion for arrest, torture, incarceration and death. This is the predicament of the inhabitants of Kumbo.

Reflection: “Actions that are designed for the methodical extermination of an entire people, nation or ethnic minority are always to be condemned as horrendous crimes” (Gaudium et Spes 79). “Any act of war aimed indiscriminately at the destruction of entire cities or of extensive areas along with their population is a crime against God and man himself. It merits unequivocal and unhesitating condemnation” (Gaudium et Spes 80). The obligation of preventing war lies on all nations. A world organisation that has Supreme legitimacy and authority seem to be the most apt means of preventing war and promoting peace.

Conclusion: Pride which is the spurious feeling of superiority leads to errors of judgement with the consequences of disgrace, destruction, opposition and downfall. There is the need for upgrading the call to the international community to intervene and force the warring parties to the bargaining table in an inclusive dialogue; for the pen is mightier than the sword. If the present trend of events continues unabated, there will surely be a replay of the Rwandan episode, plunging the entire Central African Sub-region into a morass. A stitch in time saves nine! For now, “as wanton boys are to the flies so are we to the gods, they kill us for their sport.”

Source: Independent Catholic News

1, February 2019

African Diaspora Forum on Cameroon Atrocities and Butchering of Opposition Leaders and Civilians ⁰

This needs someone who is heartless and inhumane to say let the Cameroon people resolve their own problems. This statement might sound reckless and inciting violence, but how does an unarmed person negotiate with the barrel of a gun pointed to his head? Maybe they need to be given guns to balance the negotiation because in this case there is no arbiter. The arbiter stands at arm’s length to ensure they do not get muddied by the blood of the uneducated, unsophisticated or those who claim they are too educated to dirty themselves with the details of a revolution and rewriting the wrongs of the past and present regimes including those who dare rise and question these practices.

When people talk about the ills of government it is blamed as regime change rhetoric and the influences of the west. But the west aint here and yet there is so much black on black violence by the government using the state organs and hiding behind rogue elements. The shooting of defenceless persons, serious beatings, gunshot wounds by the police and the military clearly show that Cameroon has failed to uphold the concept of sovereignty in the same way that Zimbabwe has, and many other African states.

The people we expect to protect the defenceless, the arbiters go into these countries and strengthen camaraderie relationships accusing people who are fed up of poor governance of being unruly opposition parties hell bent on destabilising the region or country. It is so unfair and unrealistic that we are being killed every day, killed by our own governments who are resorting to self-help to protect their bad governance and dictatorship. Assume the people were indeed unruly looters and promoting insurgence and traitors to the nation or rebellion against the fatherland, group rebellion and public disorder as per the charges levelled against Maurice Kamto, does not the state have lawful means of charging him and sending him to prison after a just trial without violating his rights? Why should soldiers be released on people and beat people working together with the police?

This has become a norm in Africa than an anomaly. We as the ADF take exception to the failure by the South African government seen as the big brother to condemn these actions but to actual send delegations in solidarity with such governments as seen with the ZANU and ANC meeting and the resolutions of that meeting. How can ZANU stop that abuse when the only African country that sits on the UN condones the butchering of people and such a violation of these fundamental human rights? South Africa is complicity in all the crimes that have been perpetuated by the various African leaders who have been killing their citizens with impunity and yet it has kept quiet and even shown such support for these people.

What is happening in Cameroon is the most gross violation of human rights that we can talk about and unfortunately it is not only happening there but across the divide of the continent and the AU is sitting over tea and coffee daily fraternising. The syndrome of passing the blame is seen again in Zimbabwe where ANC supports ZANU to blame sanctions for the killings. What caused the 1st August 2018 killings? What is causing the Cameroon atrocities? Clearly it must be the illegal regime change elements planted by the west? Please our leaders, do respect your people for once and take them seriously. We deal with serious problems of xenophobic attacks and we the ordinary people are fighting amongst ourselves over the meagre resources because the lion’s share is with our leaders. The people are suffering from the blunt consequences of this African rhetoric while the leaders are safe and protected and we are used as tools to kill each other. Who should we turn to? We flee these countries, our own heritage and the neighbours who watch in laughter and great disinterest to the plight of the poor men, also tighten their laws to ensure that we must go back to the burning furnace and in some cases they even incite locals to met street justice by killing these foreigners who are crowding and taking away the meagre resources causing poor service delivery is their pathetic line.

Our African leaders ae facilitating the spirit of divide and conquer so that the people of Africa do not come together but look at each other with great scepticism because they know that once the people come together and compare their notes a great revolt will overthrow and reject this mediocrity, looting and despotism across Africa.

We know that indeed we the people are nothing in the sight of the mighty giants, but our cry is for a small share of the loot, to live in peace and let them enjoy the loot without killing and maiming us. The situation in our African states, Cameroon, the DRC, Sudan, Zimbabwe and many that seem to have borrowed peace because elections are a distance off, is dire. We implore the AU, SADC and the United Nations to be true to the plight of the defenceless, the people. We cannot continue to allow bad governance to thrive while we hide behind state sovereignty and the principle of non-interference. It is this same kind of suffering and ostracization that led to our fathers standing up against the colonial regimes. We cannot afford to continue looking aside in the face of such inhumane raping, buttering, of people by soldiers and the police.

Do the people do not have rights? Or our rights are the right to be abused, killed, segregated against, right to suffer, to be uneducated, to be demeaned and dehumanised? We therefore call upon the international community, the regional bodies and South Africa which has become home to so many migrants fleeing these atrocities to speak unashamedly against the brutality and violation of human rights in Cameroon. President Biya, is indeed a dictator who is holding the Cameroon people at ransom without leaving the Presidency. There is no one person more intelligent and superior than all others to rule over others alone and decide their fate. We live in an age of democratic constitutionalism which is being corrupted by our own leaders into perennial presidency without observed term limits.

The African Diaspora forum is saddened, appalled, ashamed, by the actions of those who are in a position to deal with these issues but instead choose to take the wrong side and join in on the oppression of the defenceless. We have many dying daily crossing the Mediterranean trying to flee to Europe and we ae not asking ourselves the million dollar question, why?

Dr Vusumuzi Sibanda – ADF Chairperson

1, February 2019

Norwegian refugee agency tasks Biya regime on admission of 30,000 Nigerians ⁰

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has pleaded with the Cameroonian government to accommodate 30,000 Nigerians that fled from recent attacks in Rann, Borno State

The Country Director in Nigeria, Eric Batonon, in a statement yesterday in Maiduguri, said: “The Norwegian Refugee Council is alarmed by the massive displacement of 30,000 people from the Nigerian town of Rann into Cameroon.”

According to him, the Nigerian refugees, who had crossed into the Francophone nation last week, were forced to return.

He urged Cameroon to keep its borders open in consonance with a tripartite agreement. The humanitarian assistance, Batonon explained, was in tune with the pact entered by the two countries with the UNHCR.

“The women, men, and children fleeing are not opportunists. They are civilians running for their lives,” he lamented.

Meanwhile, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has received another batch of 162 stranded Nigerian returnees from Libya.

They consist of 100 females, including four pregnant women, 62 males, 13 female children and five infants.

In the male category, there are 50 adults, four male children and 13 infants. So far, 8,808 returnees had landed in the country.

Coordinator of Lagos Territorial Office of NEMA, Idris Muhammed, in a statement yesterday by the agency’s Information Officer, Ibrahim Farinloye, urged the returnees to be agents of positive change by joining the campaign against irregular migration.

Source: The Guardian

1, February 2019

Francophone Crisis: Maurice Kamto faces 8 charges ⁰

The lawyer for Cameroon’s arrested main opposition leader says he now faces eight charges including sedition, insurrection and inciting violence.

Christopher Ndong told The Associated Press Thursday that Maurice Kamto also faces charges that include hostility against the fatherland and disruption of peace. If he is found guilty, he could face five years to life in prison.

Kamto and members of his Movement for the Renaissance of Cameroon party were arrested on Monday in Douala. The party over the weekend had called for protests against what it called irregularities in the Oct. 7 election that saw President Paul Biya easily win a seventh term. Official results said Kamto finished a distant second.

More than 100 protesters were arrested in various cities. International rights groups have called for their release.

Source: AP

1, February 2019

Premier League: Fulham beat three rivals to sign Cameroon defender ⁰

Slavia Prague defender Michael Ngadeu-Ngadjui is set for a Deadline Day move to the Premier League, we can reveal.

Ngadeu-Ngadjui is ready to fly into the UK to finalise a move, with Fulham having won the race for his signature.

Cardiff, Crystal Palace and Derby County also asked about the Cameroon international – who was recently named captain of his country by coach Clarence Seedorf.

The 28-year-old is a domineering centre-half, and Slavia are loathed to lose him but the lure of the Premier League has proven too much and are ready to cash in for the right price.

Fulham hope to secure his signature before the window shuts at 11pm on Thursday night.

Source: Teamtalk

1, February 2019

Biya regime rapidly destabilizing as government forces fight on two fronts ⁰

Senior Cameroon military leaders have assembled the country’s armed forces in light of recent security vulnerabilities. Troops have been ordered to stand by at their headquarters in Yaounde to await deployment assignments. In a recent report, officials say the military is redeploying more resources to hotspots around the country.

ISWAP, best known as Boko Haram, has been menacing the country’s northern border with Nigeria, recruiting local militants to organize attacks on Cameroon soil. ISWAP, or a splinter group from Nigeria, has been on the rise in the region for some time, and there appears to be a strong resurgence brewing near the Lake Chad basin. There have been five reported attacks across the border and in the Lake Chad basin just this month. Last week, in the border town of Fotokol, three people were slaughtered. Boko Haram has taken responsibility for the attacks. Reports say government troops repelled the assault.

If that wasn’t enough to deal with, there are also separatists fighting to establish an English-speaking state. The separatist forces have recruited mercenaries to support them in their fight to destabilize the Cameroon government, and in so doing, have begun a fresh chapter of bloodshed in the region. Fighting has taken place near separatist strongholds in the northwest and southwest provinces. The Cameroon military reported it has killed more than 40 separatists already this year. The separatists have denied these claims, instead arguing that “we are the ones doing the killing.” Last year Cameroon was under the microscope internationally for their handling of another separatist uprising in the west.

According to VOA, Cameroon Defense Minister Joseph Beti Assomo, speaking at the defense headquarters in Yaounde on Jan. 21st, said, “2019 will not be a bed of roses. We shall continue with various operations in the far north, northwest and southwest regions, reactivating special operations in the Adamawa region where criminal groups specialized in kidnapping are wreaking havoc and requesting ransom.”

Clearly, worrying times lie ahead for the people of Cameroon. Although no conclusive data has emerged about the increase in violence, locals, turning to social media to have their voices heard, have indicated that things are heating up in the country.

Although the deployments of the Cameroon military are reasonable at this stage, the government should look to Ukraine as a lesson. They should strive to engage in more peaceful negotiations with the would-be separatists to avoid further armed conflict. Otherwise, the government could quickly become embroiled in one of these never-ending wars. Since fighting first broke out with the separatists in 2016, more than 1,200 people have been killed and approximately a quarter of a million displaced.

Source: Newsrep.com

31, January 2019

Francophone Crisis: Pressure on Biya to free Maurice Kamto ⁰

Human rights groups and activists are appealing to the Cameroonian authorities to immediately release opposition leader Maurice Kamto, who was arrested in the economic capital Douala on Monday night.

Prof Kamto was reportedly whisked away to the Judicial Police Headquarters in the capital Yaoundé. The area was cordoned off and no one, including his lawyers and journalists, were allowed access to the detained opposition leader on Tuesday.

Amnesty International said the arrest of the leader of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (MRC), who came second in the October 2018 presidential election, signalled an escalating crackdown on opposition leaders, human rights defenders and activists.

Prof Kamto was arrested alongside four of his supporters.

“The authorities must immediately and unconditionally release them, as well as the peaceful protesters detained at the weekend simply for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly,” Amnesty’s West and Central Africa director Samira Daoud said in a statement.

Less tolerant

“Instead of taking steps towards improving the country’s human rights record, we are witnessing the authorities becoming less and less tolerant of criticism. This must stop,” the statement further quoted Ms Daoud.

The Network of Human Rights Defenders in Central Africa (REDHAC) said Prof Kamto’s arrest was a “flagrant violation of the law” and called for the “immediate and unconditional release” of the opposition leader and all those who were arrested in relation to last weekend’s protests.

The MRC secretary-general secretary, Mr Christopher Ndong, said Prof Kamto was arrested alongside several other party members. Two journalists were among those arrested.

Prof Kamto has continuously insisted that he won the presidential poll, whose official result show he emerged a distant second with 14.23 percent vote. His supporters have been organising sporadic protests against what they term “an electoral hold-up” in defiance of a government warning against post-electoral disorder.

Remain calm

At least 117 people, including Prof Kamto’s former campaign manager, Mr Paul Eric Kingue, and popular musician Gaston Serval Abe (Valsero), were arrested during protest marches in several towns including Yaoundé and Bafoussam at the weekend.

Saturday’s nationwide “white marches” by the opposition party were unauthorised according to Communication minister Rene Emmanuel Sadi. He said those arrested were “caught disrupting public order and perpetrating various assaults”.

However, according to the MRC third vice-president, Mr Emmanuel Simh, the hidden aim of the “unjustified political arrests, was to decapitate the MRC and Prof Maurice Kamto’s winning coalition”.

MRC has called on its members and sympathisers to remain calm and attentive to instructions the party national directorate would give.

Source: The East African

31, January 2019

Biya Regime Summons French, German Envoys Over Embassy Violence ⁰

Cameroon summoned French and German envoys to protest “violence and vandalism” during opposition demonstrations at the central African nation’s embassies in Paris and Berlin.

The two European host governments failed to provide ample diplomatic and consular protection during the Jan. 26 protests by backers of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement, in violation of international conventions, Cameroon’s Communication Minister and government spokesman Rene Emmanuel said in a statement Tuesday in the capital, Yaounde.

While the United Nations condemned the violence at the Cameroonian embassies, it also expressed concern about alleged use of force by security forces during demonstrations in Cameroon’s port city of Douala in recent days, and the arrest of opposition leader Maurice Kamto, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ office said Tuesday in an emailed statement.

“The UN calls on Cameroonian authorities to respect the freedom of assembly, association and expression and stress the need for restraint by all political actors,” according to the statement.

Source: Bloomberg

31, January 2019

UK army accused of targeting children with recruitment scheme ⁰

The British army’s controversial recruitment policy has sparked fresh criticism as minor children interested in video games have been encouraged to join the military. A report by The Guardian newspaper on Wednesday showed that the British army had sent a military magazine to teenage gamers, calling on them to join its ranks.

The report said army recruiters had allegedly arranged for the glossy magazine, called The Locker, to be distributed with the latest issue of a PlayStation publication in February. The Locker included information on lifestyle and details on how to join the army, said the report, adding that the magazine also contained direct pleas from the army in the form of images and articles encouraging the minors to join the military’s ranks.

The British army has been struggling to recruit from a new generation of the British youth who are mostly disinterested in the country’s expanding military missions around the world.

Rights campaigners had previously criticized army’s policy to seek recruitment from socially-odd groups such as addicted gamers and internet savvy teenagers. “It is distressing to see the British Army use a gaming magazine as a vehicle to advertise army recruitment,” said Charlotte Cooper, UK research and campaign officer at Child Soldiers International.

Cooper said teenagers receiving The Locker could be easily influenced by the content and style of the magazine, adding that it was a dishonest gesture of the army to draw comparisons between gaming environment and military activity.

“Comparing a military environment to playing a games console is frankly ridiculous and disingenuous, and gives young people no sense of the risks involved in a military career,” she said.

Many believe the declining public interest in joining the British army is mainly a result of the country’s vast contribution to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past decades which left thousands of members of the armed forces killed, injured or mentally unfit to continue a normal life.

Source: Presstv