Monthly Archives: January 2017

Southern Cameroons Problem: Anglophone University Lecturers are for the deprived and marginalized

21, January 2017

Southern Cameroons Problem: Anglophone University Lecturers are for the deprived and marginalized 1

THE POSITION OF THE NATIONAL UNION OF TEACHERS OF HIGHER EDUCATION (SYNES) UNIVERSITY OF BUEA

Dear Anglophone University Teachers,

It is typically Anglophone for intellectuals to stand up or speak for the deprived or marginalized. Their role as torch bearer is even more urgent when we witness the scale of injustice that has pervaded our society and pushed Anglophones to the fringes of our society. How can we sit quiet when the students who go through our educational system have no place in a country they rightly think is theirs too. They are not fit to enter even the professional schools they think were created to serve their interest because everything requires that they know someone or have money. The fact that students who go through our system with 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 or even 25 points in the GCE A/L cannot enter Medical School in UB or UBa is inexcusable. This, and a long list of other grievances pushed ALL Anglophone teachers to go on strike after they had been ignored for 10 months.

I will like to thank ALL Anglophone teachers and parents for saying “ENOUGH” to a system which insults us and our children and makes us to feel like strangers in our own home. We would also like to thank our Francophone counterparts who have stood by us and believed in the need for justice for children who go through our system of education. May I also thank our students for understanding that our goal is no less than to give them equal chances in a bi-cultural, bilingual and bi-jural Cameroon. They have well behaved so far; they stayed at home and have not yielded to any provocation.

It is, however, shameful that some intellectuals, at this critical moment in history, some of them retired professors, can still afford the shameful option of thinking that they can continue to protect their “garri” at the expense of the people’s aspirations. The press is not surprising, but it is a needless distraction and shameless expression of their appetite for impunity.

May I reiterate that the strike continues until we are given a definite solution to this beggarly life that has been imposed on us and our children. We are working in synergy with other Anglophone teacher unions and will stop at nothing to obtain fair treatment for Anglophones in Cameroon. The teachers are still on strike and we will inform students when the issues have been resolved satisfactorily.

Once again, we salute your massive support and determination to make a date with history.

PROF. JAMES ARREY ABANGMA

PRESIDENT, SYNES-UB

Southern Cameroons unprecedented ghost town protest begins on Monday

21, January 2017

Southern Cameroons unprecedented ghost town protest begins on Monday 0

Paul Biya has reportedly ordered the so-called Anglophone CPDM political elites to brave the bad roads to Southern Cameroons and lure parents to send their children to school.  The Francophone government recently changed its track and arrested the leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium in a move that was aimed at sending the revolution underground.

Francophone schools in both the South West and the North West regions have been accorded military surveillance and security guarantees to open their doors this coming Monday.  The Biya Francophone regime has shut down internet services in Southern Cameroons as a strategy to stifle the communication department of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium.

Senior Anglophone leaders including the Roman Catholic Bishops of Southern Cameroons are currently being bullied by the secret service. Southern Cameroons’s economy that revolves around farming and remittance from the Diaspora is completely grounded following the closure of all internet services in British Southern Cameroons.

Anglophone lawmakers many of whom were handpicked by the political elites at the time are presently helpless in the face of the killings, rape and torture going on in West Cameroon. The militarization of the entire Southern Cameroons territory by troops from La Republique du Cameroun has prompted West Cameroonians to be more anxious about security and the outlook for a transitioning economy.

 In a sign of change, one of the Southern Cameroon’s most powerful religious figures, the Synod Clerk of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon has called for the resistance to continue. Some traditional leaders have backed the Consortium and are calling for foreign intervention.

“There’s a line in the sand that has to be drawn,” revealed a prominent Anglophone elite based in Buea in the South West region.  The Consortium is urging Southern Cameroonians not to send their children to school and to respect the civil disobedience campaign which begins on Monday the 23rd of January.

The African Union has expressed concerns through its human rights commission on the situation in Southern Cameroons.  In a statement released late last night, the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium called on those in the Diaspora to make at least a phone call to their family members back home not to allow their kids to go to school.

By Rita Akana in Buea

Gambia: Jammeh agrees to step down after foreign troops invaded country

21, January 2017

Gambia: Jammeh agrees to step down after foreign troops invaded country 1

Gambia’s longtime leader Yahya Jammeh has declared that he would step down as West African forces invaded his country to remove him following his refusal to cede power to president-elect Adama Barrow. “I have decided today in good conscience to relinquish the mantle of leadership of this great nation,” Jammeh said on state television on Saturday.

Jammeh, who lost the vote by a slim margin to Barrow, first accepted the defeat in December’s election but then changed his mind and said there were irregularities in a recount. He said his decision to step down was taken in the national interest, urging the Gambian people to work together as one nation.

The 51-year-old Barrow was sworn in on Thursday inside Gambia’s embassy in neighboring Senegal, where he had been remaining after Jammeh refused to endorse the results of the presidential election. Later on Thursday, military forces from regional states, unanimously approved by the United Nations Security Council, entered the country to exert pressure on Jammeh to hand power to Barrow.

Guinea’s President Alpha Conde and Mauritania’s President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz headed to Gambia’s capital of Banjul on Friday to allow Jammeh one last chance to leave peacefully. Troops from five African nations are deployed on the tiny west African nation’s borders in the event Jammeh refuses to cede power.

Jammeh had seized power in a coup in 1994. His reign was denounced for torturing and killing perceived opponents to gag dissent. Barrow will take over from Jammeh as soon as his safety can be guaranteed. The new president hailed the “victory of the Gambian nation” and demanded loyalty from his armed forces in his swearing-in speech. Gambia’s army chief Ousman Badjie said foreign troops would be welcomed “with a cup of tea” rather than gunfire if they intervene to ensure Jammeh stands down. Police chief Yankuba Sonko and customs boss Momat Cham also swore allegiance to Barrow.

Presstv

Anglophone Uprising: Francophone government threatens to Gag media

21, January 2017

Anglophone Uprising: Francophone government threatens to Gag media 1

The Francophone Government of Cameroon has just revealed its ugly face in the ongoing struggle by Teachers and Common Law Lawyers to fight for the restore of the Anglo Saxon system of education and Common Law practice by using brutality and all measures to mute protesters.

After shutting down internet connection last Tuesday in the North West and South West regions without explanation from any of the mobile Telecommunication companies, the President of National Communication Council who was appointed by Presidential decree, Peter Essoka has just made another step forward in gagging the Press.

Newspapers such as Le Massager, The Times Journal, The Guardian Post, Cameroon Post; Television Channels such as Equinoxe TV, Canal 2 and Spectrum TV have been warned to desist from given rooms to people who talk of Federalism or secession which according to Mr Essoka will undermine the integrity and unitary nature of the country.

The National Communication Council has promised to shut down such media houses if they continue to broadcast such. Observers hold that Peter Essoka in his release did not sound like an instructor teaching his pupil new things, his choice of words was a perfect indication that the regime is bent on seeing into it that the Anglophone struggle crumbles especially gagging the Press which for now has stood as a means of information. The NCC boss used words like anti-democratic which observers see as a leeway to tell the media that they are not free to cover such events because their closure will be eminent.

Anglophone so-called political elites in Yaounde passing for Biya emissaries have been crossing towns in North West and South West regions to lure parents send their children to school next Monday. The Leaders of the Consortium, Tapang  Ivo and Mark Bara have called for ghost towns beginning on Monday the 23rd and runs through Tuesday and Wednesday.  The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium stated that the three-day ghost town operation shall be observe for a period of one month before further instructions on the struggle will be made public.

Cameroun Info.Net

 

 

African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights releases statement on the situation in Cameroon

20, January 2017

African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights releases statement on the situation in Cameroon 0

Press Release on the Human Rights Situation in Cameroon Following strike actions of Lawyers, Teachers and Civil Society

The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the Commission) continues to follow closely the deteriorating human rights situation in Cameroon, State Party to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the African Charter) caused by the ongoing protests in the English speaking North West and South West regions of the country.

The Commission’s Country Rapporteur for Cameroon and Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders in Africa, Hon. Commissioner Reine Alapini-Gansou, is deeply concerned by the deteriorating human rights situation in Cameroon, in particular: killings of civilians; the deployment of armed military personnel, special security forces (BIR) and war machines to these two regions; the disproportionate and deathly use of force and violence to dispel peaceful and unarmed Lawyers, Teachers, Students, civilians and protesters in Bamenda, Buea and Kumba; the raping of students in Buea; the arbitrary arrests, detention and merciless beatings orchestrated by the police, gendarmerie, military and the BIR following strikes and protests that have been going on since October 2016.

The Special Rapporteur has received information that the strikes and protests are allegedly provoked by what has been dubbed, “the Anglophone problem,”  due to discontented Anglophone Lawyers, Teachers and Civil Society in English speaking Cameroon legitimately and peacefully seeking a halt to: the gradual, but systematic destruction and obliteration of the Common Law Legal System and the Anglosaxon System of Education; the marginalisation and neglect by the administration of Cameroon of the two English speaking regions of Cameroon; and the return to Federal system of governance.

The Special Rapporteur is particularly concerned about the alleged deaths of more than nine (9) Cameroonians during the protests in Bamenda, Buea and Kumba, and the allegations that the Government is planning mass arrest, kidnappings and assassination of leaders of Lawyers’ associations, Teachers’ unions, Civil Society and human rights defenders as a means to thwart the Anglophone cause.

The Special Rapporteur condemns very strongly the alleged use of disproportionate force against civilians, the violent and deathly suppression of peaceful demonstrators and calls on the Government of the Republic of Cameroon to:

  1. Investigate the alleged killings, rapes, inhumane treatment and human rights violations on peaceful protesters by the riot Police, elements of the gendarmerie, the military and the (BIR) in Bamenda, Buea and Kumba;
  2. Immediately end the alleged violence against civilians and take necessary steps to ensure that the human rights of its citizens and all its inhabitants are respected;
  3. Uphold the right to freedom of expression, assembly, the right to peaceful protest and ensure the security of its citizens, as provided by the African Charter;
  4. Cease all arbitrary arrests and detention; and
  5. Release all individuals unlawfully arrested during the protest.

The Special Rapporteur would like to remind the Cameroonian authorities of their obligations to guarantee fundamental rights, including the right to life, the right to freedom of assembly, association and expression as well as the right to self-determination as provided in Articles 6, 7, 9, 10, 11 and 20 of the African Charter.

The Special Rapporteur also calls on the international Community to look into the matter and support the Government of Cameroon in the peaceful resolution of the “Anglophone problem”; by encouraging genuine and inclusive dialogue between the Government of Cameroon and the Cameroon Common Law Lawyers, Teachers, and Civil society in the Anglophone regions and other such bodies established to resolve the issue.

The Special Rapporteur will continue to monitor developments in the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon and calls on the African Union to contribute towards the effective realization of human and peoples’ rights in the country as a whole.

Done in Banjul-The Gambia

Honourable Commissioner Reine Alapini-Gansou

Country Rapporteur for Cameroon and Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders in Africa

Consortium confirms Ghost Town to resume on Monday, MTN, CAMTEL, NETTEL to face boycott action

20, January 2017

Consortium confirms Ghost Town to resume on Monday, MTN, CAMTEL, NETTEL to face boycott action 0

Since Tuesday January 17, 2017 the English speaking regions of Cameroon partitioned by the Francophone regime as North West and South West have been cut off from the internet world. Internet connection was shut down late Tuesday shortly after the government arrested the main leaders of the now outlawed Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium.

Businesses have been grounded in both regions. Several Money transfer agencies are unable to operate, banks are inactive and mobile telephone operators who deal with internet have had their businesses closed. The leaders of the Consortium have announced a continuation of the civil disobedience campaign beginning on Monday the 23rd of January. The seat of the Consortium has also been moved to an unnamed European country and Southern Cameroonians have been called to listen to the Consortium.

The ghost town operation starting next week will be staged every Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Schools will remain closed and Anglophone parents have been cautioned not to end their children to school. The Consortium is aware that the Yaoundé regime has ordered Francophone schools in Southern Cameroons to open their doors this coming Monday.

Cameroon Intelligence Report gathered that the Consortium considers the Yaounde position as an act of provocation. The interim leaders of the Consortium have announced that they are discussing plans with the Southern Cameroons business community to develop a strategy for a complete and total boycott of  CAMTEL, MTN, ORANGE and NEXTTEL.

The shutting down of internet was intended to make communication difficult for locals of these two regions who have been using the internet as fast means of disseminating information to one another. Denizens see this as a failure by these companies to risk their businesses by forgetting the Customer King philosophy and allegedly working with the government.

Culled from Cameroon Intelligence Report

Justice Ayah releases statement says the Anglophone struggle must continue till the end

20, January 2017

Justice Ayah releases statement says the Anglophone struggle must continue till the end 2

Justice Ayah Paul Abine released a statement via his Face Book page detailing an arrest attempt made on his person in Yaounde yesterday the 19th of January 2017. The Judge of the Supreme Court of Cameroon is reportedly wanted by the Francophone regime for his pro Anglophone stance and support for the civil disobedience campaign. Contrary to what was announced late yesterday, the Anglophone Judge will appear before a Francophone army colonel today Friday the 20th 2017. Attached to this report is the Justice Ayah Statement:

ARREST ATTEMPT: UNPERTURBED

A worker of the Supreme Court rushed into the office some 90 minutes ago to inform Ayah Paul Abine that some persons were asking to know the location of his residence. The man said he had replied that Ayah was either in a hotel or at Buea… The informant had hardly finished talking when two persons smashed into Ayah’s office. They required Ayah to sign that he had received a summons (“convocation”) to appear before a colonel at the gendarmerie (SED) at once or get arrested…

Ayah told them that, by law, he could only be served through his departmental head. After lengthy exchanges, including telephone calls by the persons in question, it was settled that Ayah would report to the gendarmerie tomorrow, January 20 at 11 AM.

But when the colonel explained that Ayah would have to make a statement, Ayah explained that he would report only by way of courtesy and not to answer to accusation. So it is because, Ayah explained, any investigation about or against him as a serving magistrate must comply with Section 629 of the Criminal Procedure Code…

Detentions of Anglophone figures continue as ghost town returns on Monday

20, January 2017

Detentions of Anglophone figures continue as ghost town returns on Monday 0

Several Francophone government officials have downplayed the ghost town operation and non resumption of schools in Southern Cameroons describing the Anglophone strike as a non event and nonsense. Large segments of Southern Cameroonians have already engaged in a three-day civil disobedience campaign called by the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium to protest the recent rapes, killings and militarization of the Anglophone regions of the country by the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime.

Southern Cameroons activists launched a wide electronic campaign to mobilize West Cameroonians to engage in the second phase of the civil disobedience action starting Monday the 23rd and to run through Tuesday and Wednesday the 24th and 25th of February 2017.  Opposition forces and groups have expressed support for the general one month strike called by the detained leaders of the Consortium and Southern Cameroonians including those in the Diaspora and their affiliates are expected to play an active role to ensure its success.

This week, the 83 year old dictator, Paul Biya who has been in power for 34 years boastfully told one of Cameroon Intelligence Report’s informant at State House that his government wouldn’t be overthrown by “WhatsApp” and Face Book including Twitter pointing he wouldn’t hand over the country to a new leader but arrest and jail any Anglophone activists hiding behind the “keyboards”. The Minister of Communication and the Francophone government spokesman, Issa Tchiroma told reporters last night that the outcome of the previous ghost town operations in Southern Cameroons was zero and the upcoming one would be a big zero since the presidency has shut down all internet and telephone services in the British Southern Cameroons territory.

Issa Tchiroma accepted that his government was holding many Southern Cameroons political detainees including the Chairman and Secretary General of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium, Barrister Agbor Nkongho Felix and Dr. Neba Fontem. We got intelligence that the leader of the Anglophone teachers trade union, Wilfred Tassang has seek refuge in the American embassy in Yaoundé and the whereabouts of Barrister Bobga Harmony is still unknown. Commenting on the recent crackdown including rapes and extra judicial killings going on in the Anglophone regions of the country, the Minister of Communication said the Yaoundé authorities have the right to take all the necessary measures to maintain the security and stability if there is any security threat to the country.

Boko Haram is now a thing of the past as the Francophone dominated Intelligence and Security Services has recently intensified crackdown on journalists for publishing news reports and articles on the Anglophone Problem. Radio stations and newspapers houses have been forced to close down. With the world turning a blind eye to the atrocities committed by the Francophone regime in Southern Cameroons, the Yaoundé government launched a large arrest campaign and has detained senior Anglophone officials including attempts at arresting Justice Ayah Paul of the Cameroon Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium has said the civil disobedience could be extended beyond February with the sole aim of paralyzing all economic and academic activities in Southern Cameroons. Southern Cameroons youth have been called to join a telephone campaign to increase participation in the ghost town operations and the Anglophone struggle.  At the time of filing this report, Consortium forces announced more detentions among its members across Southern Cameroons as Monday the 23rd 2017, the date of the civil disobedience approaches.

Culled from Cameroon Intelligence Report

Gambia: Adama Barrow sworn in as new President

19, January 2017

Gambia: Adama Barrow sworn in as new President 0

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has unanimously approved a resolution endorsing efforts by some West African countries to ensure the respect of “the will of the people” in The Gambia. The 15-member body on Thursday approved a Senegal-drafted resolution expressing “full support” to Gambia’s new President Adama Barrow and calling on ex-leader Yahya Jammeh to step down. The resolution calls on the council to give “its full support” to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to ensure that Barrow’s election victory on December 1 is respected by “political means first.” Senegal presented the draft resolution to the council on Wednesday, requesting UN approval for ECOWAS to take “all necessary measures” to force Jammeh to cede power to Barrow.

The harsh language of the resolution was dropped during negotiations late Wednesday because some UNSC members objected to backing military action, according to diplomats. The vote came shortly after Barrow was sworn in as Gambia’s new president. Barrow, 51, was sworn in inside Gambia’s embassy in neighboring Senegal, where he had been remaining after Jammeh refused to endorse the results of the presidential election. “This is a victory of the Gambian nation. Our flag will now fly high among those of the most democratic nations of the world,” Barrow said, waving to crowds in Senegal’s capital Dakar.

Jammeh, who lost the votes by a slim margin to Barrow, first accepted the defeat but then changed his mind and said there were irregularities in a recount. Following the UN vote, Senegalese troops moved across the border into The Gambia. “They entered this afternoon,” army spokesman Colonel Abdoul Ndiaye told AFP. Troops from Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria began building up along Gambia’s border with Senegal hours before Jammeh’s mandate was to expire by January 19.

During the swearing-in ceremony, Barrow called on members of Gambia’s small-size military to pledge loyalty to him as the commander in chief. “I command the chief of defense staff and officers of high command to demonstrate their loyalty to me as commander in chief without any delay,” Barrow said. “I command all members of the armed forces to remain in their barracks, those found wanting or in possession of firearms without my order will be considered rebels,” he added. Gambia’s army chief Ousman Badjie had said earlier on Thursday that his troops would not get involved in the country’s deepening “political dispute.” He also said that troops would not prevent foreign forces from entering The Gambia.

Presstv

Kah Walla says Consortium leaders to be charged with treason, secession, terrorism

19, January 2017

Kah Walla says Consortium leaders to be charged with treason, secession, terrorism 0

The only prominent female politician in Cameroon, Kah Walla has met with the detained leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium. Kah Walla issued a statement after the meeting which was sent to our London news desk some few hours ago. Below is the press release from Madam Kah Wall:

Very happy to report that we have seen Barrister Nkongho Felix Balla and Dr. Fontem Neba today. They are both well and in strong spirits. They report being literally kidnapped from the South West region on Tuesday 17 January and brought to Yaoundé by car, via Douala in the very early hours of Wednesday morning. They are being held at the SED (Sécretariat d’Etat à la Défense). Since their arrival there they have been treated humanely.

The charges brought against them are of extreme gravity including secession, treason, inciting rebellion and acts of terrorism. These charges require that we as Cameroonians mobilize and act swiftly, non-violently, but with mass determination, to ensure their IMMEDIATE RELEASE. If we do not mobilize quickly, efficiently and effectively, these leaders will pay a very heavy price.

Dr. Fontem Neba and Barrister Nkongho Balla have been part of the leadership of a movement that will forever change the perspective of how we determine the future of Cameroon. We must not let them pay the price of decades in prison or even their lives for these unfounded charges. The Deputy Secretary General of the Cameroon People’s Party and myself as President of the CPP joined a delegation of lawyers from the South West who had traveled to meet with Balla and Fontem.

We discussed the importance of mobilization with them. We are asking all political and civil society organizations and all citizens to follow the lead of the lawyers as they mobilize for the IMMEDIATE RELEASE of Dr. Fontem and Barrister Balla. We must not cede to the fear that the government is trying to instill in us. It is time to STAND UP! Stand Up for Nkongho Balla and Fontem Neba, Stand Up for all those who have sacrificed their lives in this movement. Stand Up for Bobga and Tassang, stand up for the many who stood in the streets of Buea, Bamenda, Kumba and throughout the SW and NW.

It is in the eye of the storm, that the strength of the people will be known. STAND UP, STAND UP, STAND UP! We must act without violence and with utmost determination to obtain freedom for these leaders! As we receive information on precise non-violent action to be taken, we will relay here.

Note: As we left the SED, we were informed that Mancho BBC had been brought there in the night. We were unable to see him, but will provide more information on his situation as we receive it.

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