Monthly Archives: January 2018

Ambazonia: Secretary of State for Finance meets US officials

20, January 2018

Ambazonia: Secretary of State for Finance meets US officials 0

Ambazonia’s Secretary of State for Finance & Economy Hon. Brado Etchu Tabenyang has held a very intensive and productive discussion with senior officials in the US House of Representatives.  Mr. Tabenyang told Cameroon Concord News that his meeting with the US elected representatives was prompted by events in Abuja, Nigeria and the genocide currently going in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

Kimberly Stanton, Russell Hemenway and Senior Democratic Fellow Tom Lantos who is also a member of the Human Rights Commission in the U.S. House of Representatives and Committee on Foreign Affairs were given a briefing with images from Kembong, Dadi, Mbonge, Egbekaw and Kwa Kwa.

The Secretary of State for Finance and Economy described the meeting as “Very exciting” and revealed that the Commission also has credible reporting on the happenings in Ambazonia from Amnesty International and is actively gathering evidence of atrocities and human rights violations in Southern Cameroons.

Some of the gruesome images they have seen were very worrying. The senior US officials hinted that the atrocities of the Francophone dominated army will be submitted to Congress after recess. The Interim Government made a passionate appeal to the commission to act immediately and stop the complete annihilation of Ambazonians from the brutality of the French Cameroun army.

By Chi Prudence Asong


Ambazonia Crisis: Concern grows for women and children fleeing Cameroon

19, January 2018

Ambazonia Crisis: Concern grows for women and children fleeing Cameroon 0

With the number of people fleeing English-speaking areas of Cameroon for Nigeria growing, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is increasingly concerned at the plight of women and children among them.

Women and children represent about 80 per cent of the approximately 10,000 refugees registered so far in eastern Nigeria’s Cross River state. Thousands more are among the population of unregistered Cameroonians in neighbouring states.

Some of these are boys and girls who fled to Nigeria alone. Unaccompanied and separated children are particularly affected by difficult access to food and the lack of subsistence opportunities.

UNHCR staff have received numerous reports that children have to work or beg to survive or to help their families. Many children are unable to attend school, as they lack both the time and funds for education. Although schooling in Nigeria is free, there are still some basic costs, such as those for school materials.

UNHCR is working with the Nigerian authorities to assist with the reunification of separated children with their families, to provide unaccompanied children with protection services and to restore the basic right of all children to education. Some children arriving to Nigeria reported to UNHCR that they had been out of school in Cameroon for the whole of the past academic year.

For women, the lack of work combined with the over-stretched reception facilities, creates a higher risk of sexual and gender-based violence, particularly from survival sex. So far, only a limited number of such cases have been recorded, mainly in the Amana community of Cross River state. However, UNHCR is concerned that many more incidents go unreported or are referred only to community elders. Incidents of domestic violence, as well as cases of teenage pregnancies involving girls as young as 14, have also been reported.

In Nigeria’s Benue state, where two school buildings have been reserved by authorities to serve as temporary refugee hosting accommodation, women and their families are forced to sleep inside communal school halls, deprived of private space and the right to family dignity. For them – and for the rest of the population living in temporary tents hastily built next to local residences – sufficient and appropriate shelter is key to ensure adequate registration, systematic aid distribution and reduced protection risks.

UNHCR is currently working with the Nigerian authorities to identify sites away from the border, where the refugees can be hosted according to international standards. We are also establishing offices in the towns of Calabar and Adikpo to better provide assistance and protection to the women and children. Our support includes food, basic relief items, health, and water and sanitation facilities.

UNHCR recognizes the enormous generosity of the Nigerian border communities, opening their doors to Cameroonian refugees. Almost all of those registered reported that they had left their homes because of insecurity and that they would go back only when it’s safe to do so.

 

Source: The UN Refugee Agency


Ambazonia Crisis: Money threatens the integrity of the military

19, January 2018

Ambazonia Crisis: Money threatens the integrity of the military 0

The Southern Cameroons crisis that has split the country and put the country on a downward economic and political spiral is gradually destroying the country’s military. According to our source in the military, there is growing disgruntlement within the military, especially among Anglophones who are not happy with what is being done to fellow Anglophones in the two English-speaking regions of the country.

According to our source, money is very likely to cause huge cracks on the military’s wall. Top military officials are, according to our source, taking advantage of the military actions that are currently playing out in the South West region. It is being rumored that the defense minister, Joseph Beti Assomo, and his friends are robbing the country blind. While the foot soldiers are being killed in the South West region, the generals and government officials are making hay while the sun shines.

It is alleged that Mr. Assomo is now taking financial decisions without following national procurement rules. He claims that the country is at war and if processes and procedures have to be followed, the president’s decision to eradicate the separatists will not be implemented to the letter. Many observers hold that the war could just be an excuse for some government officials to implement their personal agenda and this is causing many foot soldiers to question the rationale behind the killing of innocent civilians and the burning of their homes.

Our source further adds that even among the rank and file, there is a lot of frustration. Most of the government soldiers claim that they are not properly paid and that the risk of having to fight those tough “Ambazonian Tigers” was causing many of them to develop mental issues. Many are sleep deprived, especially those who have witnessed the killing of their colleagues, our source add. He intimated that the soldiers whose duty posts are in the South West region are not being paid per diem, but those coming from Yaoundé are entitled to huge per diems and this is gradually destroying the unity the military needs to prosecute the war.

Our source stressed that the soldiers who are permanently resident in the South West region are now helping Anglophone fighters who are known for their toughness. It is alleged that in Mamfe, the “Odeshi boys”, the fighters who have killed close to two hundred army soldiers have been aided and abetted by government troops who are not satisfied with their financial arrangements.

It is alleged that some government troops have been informing the fighters of troop movement and this accounts for the heavy casualty that government troops have taken over the last two months, especially in the Manyu jungle that has been a tough terrain for most army soldiers.

Meanwhile, discussions between arrested Anglophone leaders and government officials are continuing in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, despite the numerous hitches deriving from differences of opinion. The Cameroon government delegation, led by Mr. Rene Said, the country’s territorial administration minister, is still trying to sell its decentralization policy that is being rejected by Ambazonian leaders. The arrested leaders argue that the decentralization policy is enshrined in the country’s constitution, but for over twenty-two years, it has not been implemented and this, in their opinion, makes it hard to trust any word from the government.

According to our source which elected anonymity, Mr. Rene Sadi has threatened on many occasions to quit the negotiations as Ambazonian leaders keep on arguing that their objective was to get the government of Cameroon to discuss divorce issues. Some of those divorce issues include, debt-sharing, oil revenue, general amnesty and the peaceful return of refugees to the Federal Republic of Ambazonia; things that are not sitting well with the Cameroon delegation at the negotiations.

The Ambazonian President, Julius Ayuk Tabe, for his part, is insisting that it will be hard working with the government of Cameroon that is wont to deceit, intimidation and corruption. He argues that the concentration of power in the hands of one man in Cameroon is responsible for all the issues Anglophones have faced in Cameroon. He insists that it will be hard for the Francophone leadership to understand that centralization has only bred corruption and intimidation. He points to the general malaise in the country as evidence of the negative effects of centralization. He argues that Mr. Biya and his people have pauperized Cameroonians and their love for power and control has rolled back the country by at least five decades.

While the negotiations are not producing any meaningful results, both sides are at least talking and agreeing that the fighting was not necessary, as many lives have been lost. UN and Nigerian negotiators, for their part, are asking both parties to meet each other halfway. Both the UN and Nigeria have very little appetite for separation, but are hugely in favor of a federal structure that will bring powers to the regions, while reducing the red tape that has been the hallmark of the centralized system that has been the bane of people’s lives in Cameroon.

It should be recalled that the Southern Cameroons crisis started in October 2016 with calls from lawyers and teachers for better working conditions. But the government’s brutal reaction to these peaceful calls only made matters worse, especially when the Anglophone Diaspora jumped into the fray following the arrest of the leasers and the banning of the Anglophone Consortium that was negotiating with government officials.

By Kingsley Betek

West Africa Bureau Chief (Abuja, Nigeria)

Cameroon Concord News Group

 


Ambazonia: Interim Government threaten attacks on foreign companies

19, January 2018

Ambazonia: Interim Government threaten attacks on foreign companies 0

A group of Cameroonian activists demanding secession from the French-speaking regions says it’s considering attacks on foreign companies operating in the central African nation.

The group, which hails from the country’s two Anglophone regions, says it wants to “target foreign companies investing in Cameroon” because their revenues sustain “incompetent officials” in President Paul Biya’s government, according to emailed comments from a spokesman, Chris Anu, on Friday. Anu didn’t specify the nature of the attacks.

Ten leaders of the separatist movement, which refers to the two Anglophone regions as the Republic of Ambazonia, have been held in neighboring Nigeria since Jan. 6 at an undisclosed location, according to their Nigerian lawyer, Femi Falana. Nigeria’s State Security Service has denied knowledge of their detention, he said. Nigerian authorities haven’t yet commented on the issue.

“Abducting our leaders isn’t going to deter us, it will only just spur us the more,” the group said in a statement last week.

Thousands of people have crossed the border into Nigeria and more refugees are expected to arrive in the coming weeks as the Cameroonian government intensifies its actions against the pro-independent movement, the United Nations Refugee Agency said in a Jan. 16 statement. The agency and its Nigerian counterpart, the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons, officially registered 9,620 asylum seekers by Jan. 12, according to the statement.

 

www.bloomberg.com


US says dialogue the ‘only path’ to resolve Cameroon Anglophone crisis

19, January 2018

US says dialogue the ‘only path’ to resolve Cameroon Anglophone crisis 0

The United States has reiterated its call for dialogue in Cameroon’s Anglophone crisis tasking the government to engage aggrieved parties in the restive region.

The U.S. embassy in Yaounde were reacting to the recent deaths of two members of the Cameroon security apparatus. “We urge the Government of the Republic of Cameroon to act with restraint in response to these acts of violence.

“We continue to appeal to all sides to enter into meaningful, broad-based dialogue.  Dialogue is the only path towards a resolution of legitimate grievances,” a statement issued early this week read.

The U.S. condemned the murders and sent condolences to the families of the slain officers – the Marine was killed in Ekondo-Titi (southwest) on January 14 whiles the gendarme was killed in the town of Wum (northwest) on January 15.

The deaths are a continuation of an armed attack on state security forces. President Paul Biya late last year declared war on the secessionists after four troops were killed. The number of slain troops is about a dozen with the latest incident.

 

Source: Africa News


Egypt: Sisi fires spy chief in surprise decree

19, January 2018

Egypt: Sisi fires spy chief in surprise decree 0

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has fired the country’s head of the intelligence in an unexpected move as presidential elections draw nearer.

Sisi’s office announced the move in a terse statement on Thursday. The decree replaced Khaled Fawzi, the head of General Intelligence Directorate, with close Sisi aide and the head of the president’s office, Abbas Kamel as the agency’s interim head.

The president also ordered a cabinet reshuffle last week.

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has fired the country’s head of the intelligence in an unexpected move as presidential elections draw near.

Sisi’s office announced the move in a terse statement on Thursday. The decree replaced Khaled Fawzi, the head of General Intelligence Directorate, with close Sisi aide and head of the president’s office, Abbas Kamel, as the agency’s interim head.

The president also ordered a cabinet reshuffle last week.

The presidential polls are to be held in March. The former prime minister, Ahmed Shafiq, who had declared his candidacy last month and was once seen as a main challenger to Sisi, said earlier in January that he would not be running.

Sisi has been leading an unassailable rule since ousting Egypt’s first-ever democratically-elected President Mohamed Morsi in a coup in 2014.

Ever since the coup, the country’s northern Sinai region has been awash with Takfiri terrorism. The terrorists, mainly based there, have been staging heinous attacks elsewhere in the country.

Sisi named a new Armed Forces chief of staff and announced changes in key security positions last October, after at least 16 police officers were killed in the Western Desert some 200 kilometers (125 miles) southwest of Cairo.

 

Source: Presstv


Biya regime putting the internet back on in its Anglophone regions for diplomatic visitors

19, January 2018

Biya regime putting the internet back on in its Anglophone regions for diplomatic visitors 0

Cameroon put the internet back on in its English-speaking regions on Wednesday (Jan. 17) after nearly four months.

But it only lasted for 48 hours. It was the latest example of a political strategy by the government to try and have it both ways. This week it switched on the internet ahead of a visit from a Confederation of African Football (CAF) delegation to towns in its troubled South West region. The delegation was there to examine the readiness of stadia and other facilities needed to host next year’s African Cup of Nations, the continent’s most high profile sporting event.

 After the CAF delegation moved out of the city of Limbe on Thursday (Jan.18), the internet left with them. The delegation visited the towns of Buea and Limbe over two days. During their stay in the region, local internet users could access internet normally. But soon after the delegation moved out of the city of Limbe on Thursday (Jan.18), the internet left with it. People in the region said that later in the evening the region still had internet but it was slow to the extent that nothing could be downloaded or uploaded.

Since Jan. 17, 2017, the internet in Cameroon’s South West and North West regions has been completely off or severely slowed down for a total of 206 days as of Jan. 19 this year, according to Internet Sans Frontieres.

The shutdown is part of a wider effort by the Cameroon government to clamp down on local activists in the English-speaking regions who have been protesting against what they say are injustices and economic depravity being imposed by the dominant Francophone government.

Young startup promoters work on their computers in New Bonako village
Workers at tech startups in New Bonako village which has been affected by the internet shutdowns over the last year.(Reuters/Stringer)

Otto Akam of the Buea Silicon Mountain hub of young digital startup owners said they had been expecting the internet to be switched off when the delegation left. He said the same thing happened when the Commonwealth secretary-general, Patricia Scotland, visited the region in December to meet religious, political and traditional leaders to find a way out of the ongoing crisis which has degenerated into an armed conflict. “We had 24 hours of smooth internet connectivity. It was completely switched off when she left. We returned to using other means of bypassing the blockage” he said.

Local journalists in the region, who asked not to be named, confirmed both events. The belief is that the temporary reinstatements are attempts to reassure important international guests like CAF and the Commonwealth that there are no issues with internet connectivity in the troubled region.

The internet was switched off in English-speaking Cameroon, on Oct. 1 when the region self-declared its independence with the formation of an interim government. Since then, citizens in the region have been using virtual private networks (VPN) to access the and bypass the blockage. A message circulated on WhatsApp groups while the internet was on advised internet users in the crisis region not to uninstall VPNs from their mobile devices because the internet reinstatement might last only two days; it did.

 

Source: Quartz Media


Moscow says US leaking Russian diplomats’ bank data

19, January 2018

Moscow says US leaking Russian diplomats’ bank data 0

Russia says the United States has been leaking to the media the confidential financial data of the Russian diplomats based in America, thereby violating their privacy and diplomatic immunity.

US media outlet Buzzfeed reported Wednesday that US officials investigating allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election in the US were inspecting newly uncovered financial transactions between the Russian government and people or businesses inside the US.

Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement the following day that the transactions that had been leaked contained nothing except routine payments but that hey were being twisted to make them appear suspicious.

“It’s obvious that this could not have happened without the knowledge of the authorities of that country (the United States),” the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday. “In other words, this intrusion on the sanctity of the accounts of the [Russian] embassy and its staff, who have diplomatic immunity, is the work of Washington officialdom.”

The ministry criticized Washington for “not ensuring the appropriate conditions for the functioning of Russia’s diplomatic missions,” saying the pressure on the diplomats “continues and is growing.”

The ministry demanded that Washington “immediately stop the unlawful distribution of confidential information… and hold responsible those who are to blame, including those who hold relevant posts in the American state administration.”

The US Justice Department’s special counsel, Robert Mueller, has been leading a team of investigators looking into allegations of Russian interference in the presidential election that put Donald Trump into office. Both Moscow and the White House have repeatedly dismissed the allegations.

Investigators are now looking into a number of transactions between the government in Moscow and entities in the US flagged to the Treasury Department as suspicious.

A spokesman for the Russian Embassy, Nikolay Lakhonin, told Buzzfeed on Wednesday that the embassy’s transactions in America were in compliance with the law and said that the leaked activity reports were intended to “discredit Russian official missions.”

 

Source: Presstv


Visit of CAF Delegation to Ambazonia leads to temporary internet access in Ambaland

19, January 2018

Visit of CAF Delegation to Ambazonia leads to temporary internet access in Ambaland 0

On Wednesday the 17th of January 2018, Ambazonians woke up much to their amazement to find internet access restored in their country. After more than four months of complete internet shutdown, our people are ‘temporarily’ enjoying a fundamental freedom thanks to the ‘goodwill’ of someone in Yaoundé.

There have been several conferences, initiatives and lectures around the world over the last few years on the role of governments on internet freedom and human rights. The role of the internet can’t be overemphasized in the twenty-first century and the United Nations has stated unequivocally that it’s a fundamental human right along with freedom of Opinion and Expression.

Mindful of the presence of a CAF delegation in the country to scrutinize infrastructures to assess La Republique’s readiness to host next year’s AFCON, CPDM has shamelessly re-instated internet access in our country. The evidence is overwhelming that even the darkest minds in La Republique understand the ignominy of cutting off internet access. The simple truth is that Yaoundé has no respect for the human rights of Ambazonians. This flagrant abuse of a fundamental human right is intolerable. Whilst the excitement amongst the population is understandable, the unlawful activity of restricting internet access is one of the most shameful in a long list of unpardonable law-breaking actions from Biya and his mob.

Small and medium size businesses are struggling in Ambaland. Many small businesses have ceased trading which has resulted to higher unemployment in a country where joblessness is unacceptably high. Do the authorities in Yaoundé care about the loss of business and subsequent suffering in Ambaland? The answer is simply NO.

With high unemployment and dreadful misemployment, the youths of Ambaland are getting more and more frustrated. The cumulative effect of this gloomy scenario is the growth and continuous growth of a disenchanted populace. These people have a sense of worthlessness, and are left with no option but to vent their anger in guerrilla style attacks on the forces of La Republique. These attacks are becoming more and more frequent in Ambaland with devastating consequences.

The striking intellectual inanimation from the so-called leaders in Yaoundé is profusely ostensible. Until they realize that actions like cutting off the internet are counterproductive, the road to peaceful coexistence is rough and unexciting. The casualties their military is currently suffering stand to escalate.

Calling Ambazonians dogs, terrorists, banning the Consortium, firing at peaceful protesters and cutting off the internet etc haven’t yielded any positive result for Yaoundé. The results of these poorly advised and unlawful actions are violence and more violence.

Sessekou Asu Isong in London


Where French Cameroun stands on Biya’s war in Ambazonia

19, January 2018

Where French Cameroun stands on Biya’s war in Ambazonia 0

The military wheels are already in motion and according to Cameroon Intelligence Report sources ‘coup plans have been laid out for a complete annihilation of the Biya regime using the Southern Cameroons crises as a justification. Anti Biya movements are gaining support from a majority of the French Cameroun population, shown in an 8 region survey in this January. A Cameroon Concord News Group poll showed 92 per cent of interviewees favoured taking military action to end President Paul Biya’s rule.

Far North region

The Biya regime had used the current Vice Prime Minister Amadou Ali to control the politics of the Far North region over the last 35 years. Amadou Ali has stifled any resistance against Biya in the Far North with an iron fist. The dilemma for President Biya is that the patriarch of the Far North is no longer in charge. To be sure, his ancestors are calling and things are falling apart from Maroua via Mora to Fotokol.

West Region

The Bamilekes and the people of Foumban were adamant that Southern Cameroons and La Republique abide by Foumban resolutions. Although the Bamilekes made a mockery of Ambazonians at the very beginning of the crisis and called for more punitive measures from the Biya Francophone regime, ultimately the West region is backing a military action against the Biya regime.  A coup they say will normalize relations with Southern Cameroons and business will start to flow again. Recently the Bamileke media houses have been clamoring for genuine dialogue.

Littoral region

Except for their CPDM leader Justice Minister Laurent Esso, the Sawas including those who militate with the ruling CPDM party have taken a stand in favour of a military action against the Biya regime. Some influential Sawa political elites who participated in our survey said any government installed in Yaoundé via a military coup will not last long.  The Littoral soldiers in the army are among those who have killed hundreds of Southern Cameroonians ever since the Anglophone uprising started more than a year ago.

South Region

The Francophone Defence Minister Joseph Beti Assomo has ordered troops to remain committed and loyal to the 84 year old commander-in-chief President Paul Biya. Assomo and a cream of French Cameroun political elites from the South have affirmed support for La Republique-led war against Southern Cameroonians. But majorities of the people of the South have said Biya should be forced out of office and that the sons and daughters of the South region should be ‘militarily involved’.

Central Region

The Yaoundé political elites are ‘approaching the point of a decision’ on participating in ending Biya’s 35 years in power. But many said that the Central region will wait until signs of collapse become imminent before they will make a commitment to join the anti Biya movement.

North region

The North is historically suspicious of any anti Biya movement in Cameroon that does not speak of a possible replacement coming from Garoua. They have always sought to improve relations with the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime and are showing support for the ruling CPDM crime syndicate. They privately back a military intervention to end Biya’s rule, but would reluctantly support the move.

East region

While publicly the people are against a military action in Yaoundé, many of them have said that a coup action against Biya would be legitimate provided it has the support of all the sectors of the armed forces. Interestingly, the situation in the Central African Republic has greatly affected the East region, lessening the sympathy vote for Mr. Biya.

Adamawa

The traditional and spiritual leaders of the Adamawa region have been calling for a peaceful transfer of power to the younger generation.  They appear to be preparing their indigents for a possible conflict in Yaoundé in the 2018 presidential elections and recently cautioned military leaders to be prepared for all eventualities. Our survey indicated the people of Adamawa oppose any coup in Yaoundé.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai


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