Monthly Archives: March 2017

Explosive growth in Cameroon’s White weapon sale

8, March 2017

Explosive growth in Cameroon’s White weapon sale 0

White weapons and all dangerous objects that can kill are now sold on the streets or in bars in Cameroon. The phenomenon is growing at catastrophic rapidity in the nation’s capital, Yaoundé, Douala and in many towns and cities in the country.

Universities graduates who can find jobs are predominantly the vendors who sell knives and machetes, between 5000 and 10000 FCFA. This arms trade that takes place on the streets, precisely in the numerous bars is slowly but surely feeding the crime industry.

The Biya regime is aware of the dangers involved in the activities currently going on in the informal sector but has turned a blind eye due to its failure to resolve the issue of high rate of unemployment. According to recent figures, the unemployment rate in Cameroon is 15.5% in urban areas and 4.3% in rural areas. It is 8.8% for male youth and 23.5% for females. The overall underemployment is 84.8% among 15-24 year olds. While it is 73.1% in the 25-34 age group.

Consequently, young Cameroonians are rushing to the informal sector, to survive, hence the emergence of unframed activities such as the trading of white weapons and dangerous objects.  Anyone can buy a machete or a knife in any part of the country for any purpose.

By Sonne Peter

Philemon Yang Bamenda Mission stresses nothing as regards to the connectedness, contestedness and complexity of happenings in Southern Cameroons

8, March 2017

Philemon Yang Bamenda Mission stresses nothing as regards to the connectedness, contestedness and complexity of happenings in Southern Cameroons 0

Southern Cameroon’s pain commands international headlines, demands quick action and sets the scene for a geopolitical drama on Cameroon’s future power in the CEMAC-Sub Saharan region.  The poor handling of the Anglophone crisis by the Biya Beti Ewondo regime is pushing the intractable conflict to get worse before it gets better.  What can be done about it needs much more informed and constructive African Union debate, especially in Abuja which will bear many of the actual and potential consequences if Anglophones should secede from La Republique du Cameroun.

Since 2016, there has been a systematically Bokoharamization by troops loyal to the regime in Yaoundé of West Cameroon. For several months, Anglophone Cameroon has witnessed rapes, extra judicial killings and hundreds of abductions.  The North West and South West CPDM political elites blame each other, with none citing the numerous atrocities committed against their own people by Francophone soldiers deployed to the region. The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium and its leadership have been targeted. Internet connection in Southern Cameroons has been shut down.  Unconfirmed reports say hundreds of innocent Southern Cameroonians youths have been killed and buried in mass graves in the Soa locality near Yaoundé. Prominent Anglophone judges and lawyers have been arrested.   These are war crimes, documented on the ground and in appalling TV and social media footage.

The only prominent Anglophone citizen in the Biya regime, Prime Minister Yang Philemon has failed to take genuine actions to tackle the escalation, arising from La Republique du Cameroun’s ruthless military campaign to bully Southern Cameroonians to submission. The 84 year old President Biya’s failure to engage the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium on the Anglophone crisis adds to uncertainty over the fragmented peace that reigns in the country.

Taking advantage

The political rhetoric coming out of Yaoundé has been very telling. Francophone media gurus have described the Anglophone people as “rats”. President Biya in his nationwide address said Anglophones were extremists and terrorists. Higher Education Minister, Fame Ndongo observed that Southern Cameroonians were like a fly in an ointment. The Biya regime is taking advantage of the division that exists among the Southern Cameroon groups both at home and in the Diaspora to assert its military and political roles in the territory while Abuja is cautious on supporting the Consortium for fear of an escalation into war with Biafra.

Whoever wins in this current Anglophone crisis will have to deal with an armed conflict in the nearest future. In the meantime, Prime Minister Philemon Yang is struggling alone to develop a coherent approach to the diplomacy on the Southern Cameroons crisis amid demands by Southern Cameroonians that the Biya Francophone government should do more by releasing all Anglophone detainees including the leaders of the Consortium, reinstate internet services in Southern Cameroons and engaged in meaning dialogue with the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium.

Philemon Yang’s recent decision to tour the Bamenda province of Southern Cameroons could be seen as another form of provocation coming from the Yaoundé regime. The Prime Minister is in the North West with nothing to offer. To be sure, his trip stresses nothing as regards to the connectedness, contestedness and complexity of happenings in Southern Cameroons. Biya should be at the center of the diplomacy on Southern Cameroons not Philemon Yang.  Philemon Yang does not have the political acumen and authority to open small spaces that can lead to sane political solutions on the Anglophone problem. The Prime Minister’s Bamenda trip is not a worthy endeavour.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Biya and British High Commissioner hold “tense” Southern Cameroons talk

8, March 2017

Biya and British High Commissioner hold “tense” Southern Cameroons talk 5

President Paul BIYA has granted an audience to the British High Commissioner to Cameroon, Brian Olley. Both men met on Wednesday 7 March 2017 at the presidential palace and held intensive and productive discussions on the situation in Southern Cameroons and to reinforce the long-lasting partnership between the United Kingdom and Cameroon.

The British Diplomat briefed reporters on the subjects raised during the audience. He emphasized on the necessity to strategize on the future of the Commonwealth because the UK will host next year’s Commonwealth summit. Brian Olley said they also discussed the fight against terrorism and the economic situation in the CEMAC sub-region.

The British top diplomat reiterated Her Majesty’s government desire to work closely with Yaoundé, to resolve the social tension in the North West and South West regions. The Southern Cameroons talks were frank, candid and thoughtful. It was equally revealed that economic negotiations between both countries are progressing smoothly. The British Government is ready to facilitate investments worth 3 billion U.S. dollars in Cameroon.

There are plans to construct 13 water networks, introduce an electronic visa issuing system, and extend the electricity contract with Actis. In addition, there is the construction of social houses in Douala, as announced in November 2016.

By Rita Akana with files from the presidency

The actualization of the Independence and Sovereignty of Southern Cameroons

8, March 2017

The actualization of the Independence and Sovereignty of Southern Cameroons 0

 By Justice (Mr.) Frederick Alobwede Ebong.

The quest for self-determination and independence of the peoples and territory of the Southern Cameroons is an incontrovertible issue. At the 896th General Assembly meeting in October 6, 1959, speaking for the USA, the UN Ambassador Clement J. Zabloiski said: “The USA had voted for resolution 1350 (XIII) and still finds its provisions satisfactorily. The USA congratulates the people of the Southern Cameroons for their accession to auto determination as it constitutes the will of the population who wants to run its affairs democratically. The government and the opposition parties of the Southern Cameroons unfortunately have not come to an agreement, however, there is no reason to deny the population of the Southern Cameroons a brief; the results of a hurried choice imposed on the population of the Trust Territory would be catastrophic for their political future.”Ebong

Speaking for India Ambassador Krishna Menon; answering Mr. Stravopoulos the Trusteeship Council Legal Adviser said, inter-alia “in this regard, my delegation sees no reason why the Southern Cameroons shall not achieve independence on the same date like Nigeria and Northern Cameroons”.

Hon. G. M. Thompson (M.P Dundee East) addressing the British House of Commons August 1st, 1961 on the poor handling of unification issue said; “The problem of uniting these two territories would in any event be difficult. There are two territories of completely different cultures with different political systems – there are extremely complex problems in bringing these two countries together within one National State.”

In 1998, Lord Thompson raised his voice again on the Southern Cameroons issue. This time, the British peer was begging the British and UN to intervene immediately to avert a future conflict.

In 2000, the then Secretary General of the UN called for dialogue. “I leave Cameroon with the impression that there is only one Cameroon, multilingual and multi-ethnic. I encourage dialogue of these stakeholders. In every country, there are problems of marginalisation. The way it has to be solved is by dialogue and not by walking away,” Kofi Annan said.

La Republique du Cameroun and the Biya regime continue to spurn dialogue. In fact, we now know that on 3rd May 2000, Kofi Annan was sent to Cameroon by the Security Council to intervene because I was arrested and detained in La Republique du Cameroun. I was held in an underground prison “INCOMMUNICADO” at SED, the National Gendarmerie in Yaounde. I was arrested for proclaiming the Independence and restoration of Sovereignty of the Southern Cameroons over radio CRTV BUEA in the Territory of the Southern Cameroons on 30th December 1999.

Paul Biya spurns dialogues because the British transferred the sovereignty of Southern Cameroons to France and the then French president, Charles De Gaulle, transferred the sovereignty of Southern Cameroons to Biya. On September 30th, 1961, De Gaulle said, “On vient d’ avoir un petit cadeau de la reine” (a small gift from the Queen of England). That is why the United Kingdom treats Southern Cameroons as a chattel.

Paul Biya should now know that there is legal proof of this illegal transfer of the Southern Cameroons by Britain, the Administrative Authority of the UN Trust Territory of the Southern Cameroons. He should know that the people of the Southern Cameroons are now aware thanks to the “Declassification of the Secret files in London in accordance with the British Official Secrets Act.” Southern Cameroonians now know that on the 19th April, 1961, at 3.15pm, the United Nations General Assembly took up the case of the separate Independence for the Southern Cameroons and that a total of 50 (fifty) Nations voted yes for Southern Cameroons Independence.

The Chairman of that Session was Adam Pachachi (Iraq); Vice Chairman, Miss Silvia Shelton Vilallon (Cuba); Raporteur, Eamon L. Kennedy (Ireland). This was the 15th session of the United Nations General Assembly and they met on Wednesday at 3.15pm where they pronounced the 1st October as the Southern Cameroons Independence Day, not 1st January and certainly not 20th May. May 20 is a provocation.

Among the 50 (fifty) countries which voted yes for separate Independence of Southern Cameroons on 19th April 1961 were USA and Nigeria. The approval of the voting was at the 1152nd meeting; same Wednesday, 19th April, 1961 at 9pm New York; page 381 paragraph 110 in the official records of the United Nations General Assembly-Fifteenth Session-Fourth Committee.

The United Nations General Assembly voting was 50 yes votes, 2 against and 9 abstentions. This validated the Independence of the Southern Cameroons. This historical fact is un-impeachable. This fact has been kept secret from the people of the Southern Cameroons. The fact also came out thanks to the expiry date of the “British Official Secret Acts. The right to self-determination is prescribed by the UN Charter, United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Optional Protocol. The people of the Southern Cameroons are made to toil for the francophone majority to reap the fruits while we fight and blackmail one another for the crumbs. This is totally unacceptable. It is cruel, and is inhuman; it is camouflage slavery at the dawn of the 3rd millennium.

The United Nations must ensure that self-determination and independence of the peoples and territory of the Southern Cameroons is rectified and regularized in accordance with Article 76 (b) of the United Nations Charter.

The Nigeria/La Republique du Cameroun Mixed Commission on border problems provides an opportunity for the issue to be raised and regularized. The non-implementation of Article 76 (b) and UN resolution 1608 (XV), paragraph 5, of 21 April 1961 means that la Republique du Cameroun had, and has no Legal Right to claim sovereignty over Bakassi Peninsula which is in the Territory of Southern Cameroons. Bakassi Peninsula is in the Territory of the Southern Cameroons, which has been independent since April 19, 1961. This independence was packaged with annexation. This is in accordance with article 102 (2) of the charter of the United Nations, which states: “No party to any such treaty or international agreement which has not been registered in accordance with provisions of paragraph 1 of this article may invoke that treaty or agreement before any organ of the United Nations.”

That is why we are requesting the UN Secretary General through the UN network, to make use of his good offices to bring to the attention of the Security Council and the United Nations General Assembly to the following:

The non-implement of UN Resolution 1608 (XV), paragraph 5, of 21 April 1961, on the future of the Southern Cameroons.

The urgent rectification and regularization of the self-determination and independence of the Territory of the Southern Cameroons in application of the UN Resolution 1514 (XV) granting of independence to colonial countries.

The admission of the Southern Cameroons State into the United Nations Organization as a full member in application of Article 4 of the UN Charter. The SCNC pray the Secretary General to diligently study the application for membership of the UN signed by President Frederick Alobwede Ebong and was forwarded to his office on 8 April, 2000. Southern Cameroonians all six million of them, await one and only one thing from the UN – the recognition of its independence. Southern Cameroonians should remain determined to re-assert their independence as proclaimed in December 1999.

We point out that UN Resolution 1349 (XIII), paragraph 1, 2, and 3, of March 1959 gave independence to the State of La Republique du Cameroun on 1st January 1960. A separate resolution gave Southern Cameroons independence.

No Union Treaty was worked out between, and ratified by the Southern Cameroons and La Republique Du Cameroun in 1961 as required by un resolution 1608 (XV), para 5, of 21 April, 1961, of the 994th plenary session of the UN General Assembly.

La Republique du Camerouns Administration in the Southern Cameroons is illegal and illegitimate and “ipsu-facto” Questionable.

The presence of La Republique du Cameroun’s forces of occupation in the territory is annexation, (the General Assembly Resolution 224 – 111 – of 18 November 1948).

La Republique du Cameroun should immediately release all Southern Cameroonians political prisoners in their maximum-security prisons and/or concentration camps and be prepared to pay compensation to the heirs of those that have died.

Fellow Southern Cameroonians, the actualisation of the sovereignty and independence of the Southern Cameroons is a task that must be done. The annexation bridge is down. Annexation in a civilized world is abhorred. The United Nations Security Council, Resolution 497, of 1981, held that the annexation of Kuwait by Iraq is “null and void ab initio.”

The United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2625 (XXV) of 24 October 1970 held that no territorial obtained by threat or use of force shall not be recVognized as legal.

International law acknowledges Southern Cameroons as a state with recognized boundaries (fixed) by the League of Nations.

Prime Minister Philemon Yang’s North West trip: Heartless, Provocative and Unacceptable

8, March 2017

Prime Minister Philemon Yang’s North West trip: Heartless, Provocative and Unacceptable 2

As the images of the bestiality, indignities and other inhumane acts perpetrated against armless students in the University of Buea and elsewhere in the Southern Cameroons incessantly play in my mind and hopefully those of reasonable people, I wonder how any reasonable person can in good conscience call for a resumption of schools without first providing answers to the plethora of questions these crimes have elicited. The militarization of schools and places of learning violate the sanctity of sound education. The absence of the internet deprives students and knowledge seekers the modern tools of learning. Most conditions for free dispensation of education and knowledge are presently absent from our schools and places of learning. The blame cannot be put on the victims and parents whose primary duty is to ensure the safety of their children and assurances that the education provided to their children meets the standards in civilized societies worldwide.

We the parents have watched the educational system imposed in our community bastardised and regulated by presidential fiat intended to serve a political and colonial agenda. Faculty administration in our public universities has been handed down to ruling party stooges and academic racketeers. Time and again, we were shocked to see our children sent out of school to conduct public demonstrations of support of a false god-president to boast the career objectives of handpicked university administrators. Although deemed to be at school, our children were indeed deprived of access to universally accepted quality education which is guaranteed by international human rights treaties.

The war cry that school must open without freeing the captives and hostages whose only crime was raising awareness on these violations of international human rights law and the wicked ploy to force-start schools without providing enduring solutions to the egregious violations that have eviscerated the soul and conscience of the Southern Cameroons is heartless, provocative and unacceptable.

If the images of the indignities perpetrated on armless girls captured from the intimate privacy of their Molyko hostels, the raped, the murdered, the tortured, the abducted and the incarcerated do not agitate the minds of those calling for a resumption of schools while these violations persist, then their agenda in doing so, must be to satisfy to the criminal proclivities of the false god whom they love and worship and not the supposed interest of our children.

Lest we forget, the ongoing boycott of schools and symbols of oppression is no longer a teachers’ or lawyers’ strike. It is a logical step in the revolt against more than half a century of provocations, oppression, egregious violations and systemic criminality. The imposed structures that oversaw the implementation of these inhumane policies have simply collapsed on their own weight. The slave master must have known that a house built on sand must collapse. So, therefore, the messengers of deception who assured the slave master that the motions of support supposedly thanking the slave master for systemic crimes against their own people are by calling for a resumption of classes while these violations endure, preaching the wrong sermons to the wrong audience. They should be telling their slave master the truth and there is only one truth: enough is enough.

Chief Charles A.Taku

Pro Biya newspaper announces the creation of a Southern Cameroons Defense Force

7, March 2017

Pro Biya newspaper announces the creation of a Southern Cameroons Defense Force 4

The Francophone Beti Ewondo political newspaper, La Nouvelle has again published a report aimed at the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium. The Yaoundé based tabloid reported on its March 6, 2017 edition that the Consortium have created an army called the “Southern Cameroon Defense Forces”. The Francophone newspaper added that the leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium had previously sent threatening messages to President Biya in which they announced that Southern Cameroonians were contributing money for the purchase of very sophisticated weapons.

The paper sponsored by barons of the Biya Francophone regime observed that the weapons were already in circulation in West Cameroon. In its attempt to make it look real to the French Cameroun public opinion, La Nouvelle revealed that the military hardware were smuggled to Cameroon through the same circuit as the flags and gadgets used by activists during the demonstrations organized in the Northwest and South-West regions.

The newspaper La Nouvelle, had in some previous editions, maintained that the oil fields of the Bakassi peninsula was one of the major stakes of the Anglophone crisis. The editors of the said publication reportedly have access to heavy government funding and are encouraging the massive rapes, extra judicial killings and arrest by the Cameroun army in Southern Cameroons.

La Nouvelle also stated that the goal of the Southern Cameroon Defense Forces would be to: “train, sensitize young people to the creation of an armed front, to fight law enforcement forces in the Northwest and South-West regions.”  La Nouvelle indicated that the rebellion in the making is headed by Nsoh Foncha Nkem, who has declared himself Chief of Defense Staff of Southern Cameroon.  Cameroon Intelligence Report understands Nsoh Foncha Nkem loves posting pictures of him in military attire on his Face Book page even before the Anglophone revolution started in 2016.

Culled from CIR

4 policemen killed in ‘terrorist’ attack in western Niger

7, March 2017

4 policemen killed in ‘terrorist’ attack in western Niger 0

An attack on a police post west of Niger has left at least four officers dead. A security source said Monday that the attack, which took place a day earlier, struck Wanzarbe, a town located in the western region of Tillaberi.

“The provisional toll is four police officers killed in a clear terrorist attack on Sunday night,” said the source, adding that the assault targeted a police station. The government of Niger on Saturday declared a state of emergency in Tillaberi and other areas near the country’s border with Mali and Burkina Faso.

Tillaberi and neighboring Tahoua region have witnessed several deadly attacks by militants from MUJAO, a terror outfit mainly operating in West Africa region. Most of those attacks have targeted army posts and refugee camps, including a late February assault in Ouallam, Tillaberi, which killed 16 soldiers and wounded 18 others.

Last October, a daring attack on a refugee camp in Tahoua also left 22 soldiers dead. Officials say at least 43 people were killed in militant attacks in Tillaberi and Tahoua between October 2016 and February this year. Niger is a northern neighbor to Nigeria, where the Boko Haram Takfiri terror group launched bloody militancy against the government seven years ago.

More than 20,000 people have been killed in the insurgency, which has also spread to neighboring countries of Niger, Chad and Cameron.

Presstv

US: Democrats respond to Trump’s ‘ridiculous’ wiretapping claims

7, March 2017

US: Democrats respond to Trump’s ‘ridiculous’ wiretapping claims 0

US Democratic lawmakers have denounced as “ridiculous” President Donald Trump’s claims that his predecessor, Barack Obama, wiretapped his telephones during the 2016 presidential campaign. On Monday, senators of the Democratic Party vehemently criticized the new president over the baseless claims he had made two days earlier, describing Trump’s accusations as an attempt to distract officials and the public from renewed scrutiny of his senior aides and allies’ alleged ties to Russia and the interference of Moscow in the last year election.

Senator Bernie Sanders slammed Trump’s claims in a tweet, saying, “President Trump cannot continue to lie, lie, lie,” adding that, “It diminishes the office of the president and our standing in the world.” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said that the president was trying to create a distraction and referred to Trump as a “deflector-in-chief.” “That’s just ridiculous for President Trump to say that President Obama would ever order any wiretap of an American citizen, any president,” Pelosi said. “It’s the tool of an authoritarian to have them always be talking about what you want to be talking about.”

US House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi speaks during a press conference at the National Press Club on February 27, 2017 in Washington,DC. (Photo by AFP)

In an interview with NBC News, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer said Obama had “flatly denied that he has done this,” adding that the claims by Trump showed that “the president’s in trouble.” “It’s beneath the dignity of the presidency. It is something that really hurts people’s view of government,” Schumer noted. “If he falsely spread this kind of misinformation, that is so wrong.”

US Senate Minority Leader Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) takes questions during a news briefing on January 10, 2017 at the Capitol in Washington, DC. (Photo by AFP)

Chris Coons, the Democratic Senator from Delaware, called the allegations made by Trump “remarkable,” saying that, “I think another attempt by President Trump to change the subject.” Coons (pictured below) noted that he does not think any president should ever “directly order an intercept or wiretap of an American citizen.”

The Democratic Senator raised the possibilities that either Trump “inappropriately released classified information and was himself the subject of a court-ordered wiretap” or there was “inappropriate actions by the previous administration.” “It ought to be worked out in a full, fair, prompt and thorough investigation, whether by the Senate Intelligence Committee, if they can get to the bottom of this, or by a special prosecutor,” Coons noted.

The comments are made as Obama’s intelligence chief, James Clapper, has rejected the claims and a spokesman for Obama dismissed the accusation as “simply false.” FBI Director James Comey has reportedly asked the Justice Department to publicly reject Trump’s claim because it falsely insinuates that the agency broke the law.

According to officials, the move has potential risks for the president, particularly if the House and Senate intelligence committees unearth damaging information about Trump, his aides or his associates.

The new unsubstantiated claims by Trump and the continued political wrangling over ties with Russia will likely heighten the seemingly-unending tensions and controversies that have thrown the new administration into disarray and chaos.

Presstv

Revealed: Cameroon invested more than 200 billion FCFA in the purchase of arms

7, March 2017

Revealed: Cameroon invested more than 200 billion FCFA in the purchase of arms 0

The National Institute for Peace in Stockholm (SIPRI) has published a report that Cameroon invested more than 200 billion CFA francs in the purchase of arms in 2016. The release also indicated that Cameroon ranks 6th of the 10 African countries that have bought the most heavy weapons in Africa between 2012 and 2016.

While Cameroon’s military spending has been on an upward trend since 1988, the report further pointed out the war against the Nigerian Islamic, Boko Haram sect was the main cause of the exponential increase in military spending. The exactions of these Islamist fighters in the Far North region of Cameroon have already claimed the lives of more than 1500 people including women and children.

Cameroon’s military spending reached up to 209 billion CFA francs in 2015, against 199 billion CFA francs in 2013. However, the country still remains a small importer of heavy weapons, compared to Algeria, which head the list of the largest African importer over the period 2012-2016. The purchase of heavy weapons in Africa during the period 2012-2016 reportedly decreased by 6.6%. Worldwide, the top 5 exporters of military hardware are dominated by the United States, followed by Russia, China, France and Germany.

CIR

Philemon Yang Bamenda mission meets a Southern Cameroons stonewall

7, March 2017

Philemon Yang Bamenda mission meets a Southern Cameroons stonewall 0

Prime Minister Philemon Yang has been told that schools can only resume if the Biya Francophone government releases all Anglophone detainees, demilitarized Southern Cameroons and reinstate internet services.  The Biya emissary who started a tour of the Bamenda Province of Southern Cameroons in the Mezam constituency had insisted that parents should send their children to school.

Hon. Wilfred Fusi Naamukong was the prophetic voice of the people in the forum that held at the Bamenda Congress Hall. The MP dismissed claims by the Head of Government that the Yaoundé regime was engaged in broader dialogue with the Anglophone communities.

Yang Philemon angered participants at the meeting when he opined that the government ordered the massive arrest of Southern Cameroonians and militarized the territory because of the hostile attitude of some locals. The meeting at the congress hall grouped elites, parliamentarians, traditional rulers, head teachers, principals, and parents but failed to come out with any concrete solution to the Anglophone crisis.

Philemon Yang will be visiting other administrative units of the Bamenda province such as Boyo, Momo, Menchum, Ngo-Ketundjia, Donga Mantung and Bui.

CIN

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