Monthly Archives: February 2018

6, February 2018

Tensions Flare in Ambazonia ⁰

Tensions continue to climb in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon as separatist groups demand the release of their leader and 46 other prisoners extradited last month from Nigeria. The government has sought to reassure the population.

A woman and her husband cry at the Baptist Hospital mortuary in the English-speaking town of Mbingo, in northwestern Cameroon. The woman has just discovered the lifeless bodies of her younger brother and three others. She said they were arrested last Wednesday and accused of killing two gendarmes. She refused to grant an interview, but workers of the hospital told VOA the bodies were brought there by unidentified men.

The so-called Anglophone crisis began in Cameroon over a year ago, sparking bouts of deadly unrest and more recently, clashes between alleged separatist militants and security forces. The Anglophone community in Cameroon is protesting political and economic discrimination in the majority French-speaking country.

Joseph Banadzem, lawmaker from the northwest region, said the military is responding by violently cracking down on the population.

“The army who are supposed to maintain law and order, to protect property, to protect lives, [they] go on the rampage in villages, burning houses, burning food stuff, people’s stores and so. All ransacked. It is unbelievable. It is inacceptable. It is inhuman,” he said.

Colonel Didier Badjeck is a spokesperson for Cameroon’s military. He said the military is committed to preserving Cameroon’s territorial integrity.

He said the armed separatists are using mercenaries and carrying out abuses on the population, whom he said will very soon understand that they have to trust only the country’s military.

Violence has escalated since January when Nigeria detained and then extradited separatist leader Ayuk Tabe Julius and the 46 other alleged separatists to Cameroon.

The separatist groups are demanding their leaders be released. At least four schools have been burned as of last Friday and at least 12 people have been killed, according to local media, which report unconfirmed casualties among both armed separatists and soldiers.

Many businesses remain closed in the two English-speaking regions amid fears of more violence.

The 47 detainees extradited from Nigeria have not been seen in public. International human rights groups warned against the extradition, saying the detainees could face torture or worse.

Nigeria is now also facing criticism from the U.N refugee agency, which said that most of those handed over to Cameroon had applied for asylum in Nigeria and their “forcible return” violated Nigeria’s international obligations.

On Friday, Cameroon government spokesperson Issa Tchiroma issued a press release saying the detainees are safe and would be appearing in front of the law courts soon. He did not comment on the charges they would answer.

Source: VOA

5, February 2018

Calls for Nigerian High Military Command to stop Biya’s gangsterism and lawlessness ⁰

Camerounian soldiers, penultimate Monday, invaded a Nigerian community in Cross River State, the second time in two months, leaving in its wake tears and blood. According to reports, the soldiers shot sporadically in search of separatists, who fled from Cameroun into Danare Community in Boki Local Government Area of Cross River State, apparently to take refuge.

The Tide recalls that the Camerounian soldiers last December invaded the same community, without authorisation and in the process, killed two residents of the community. The soldiers stormed the community, demanding the release of insurgents who took refuge there.

The Tide is worried that in spite of Nigeria’s sovereignty, Camerounian soldiers could brazenly invade Nigerian communities without any form of resistance from the country’s security architecture. Indeed, we frown at such incursions into Nigerian territory by Cameroun gendarmes without following due process or exploring administrative and diplomatic channels.

Such invasions do not only constitute a violation of international law and conventions, they also tantamount to flagrant breach of the country’s sovereignty and national security, and clearly pose a grave danger to the country’s citizens.

We strongly feel that this resort to gangsterism and lawlessness by our neighbours must be stopped by our military high command. We say so because there seems to be a deliberate policy by Cameroun to undermine and subvert Nigeria’s national security and territorial integrity. This, to say the least, constitutes a clear disrespect to the Nigerian Government.

Suffice it to say that such attacks and invasions are an insult to the collective sensibilities of Nigerians. It is even more worrisome when the country’s security agencies helplessly watch such oddities take place without a resistance.
Indeed, the recent invasion of Danare Community by Camerounian soldiers is one too many. The Tide thinks that Nigeria’s big brother posture towards her neighbours is being taken for granted, to the extent that smaller nations now exploit Nigeria’s good neighbourliness to unleash mayhem on Nigerians. This is unacceptable!
We, however, note that the primary responsibility of any responsible government is to protect the lives and property of the citizens. The Federal Government should live up to this responsibility and in fact, take practical steps to put an end to this reckless impunity by the Camerounian invaders.

Meanwhile, the frequent invasions of Nigerian communities by neighbouring countries call for overhaul or review of the country’s security system to ensure that nobody crosses the borders or buffer zones without authorisation.
We also feel that it is high time the Nigerian military upgraded its communication system to ensure quick intervention in case of emergencies.

To put an end to the sordid activities of these marauding foreign intruders, we suggest that the Federal Government must, without further delay, lodge an official complaint with the Camerounian authorities and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) over the sundry security breaches by Cameroun gendarmes. We believe that this is the only way to nip in the bud future occurrences.

Source: The Tide

5, February 2018

Social shutdown in Bamenda as Cameroon forces kill civilians ⁰

Security forces in Cameroon have killed at least five civilians in the country’s restive Anglophone region from late last week through the weekend, multiple sources have disclosed. On Friday, two people were reportedly shot dead on a road linking Bamenda (capital of the northwest region) to a neighbouring town of Bafut.

A security source said the security officials opened fire on occupants of a vehicle after they delayed in stepping out after they were stopped. We were going back home when the gendarmes arrested us. They opened fire at our vehicle because some of us were slow to get out.

Another person was killed in the Belo region at a time when armed officials invaded private homes ostensibly in reprisals after two officers were killed in the area. Authorities blamed the deadly attacks on armed separatists.

The other death was in Bamenda late Saturday when a young man enjoying time out with relations was shot death. His father confirmed the death after seeing his son’s body at the morgue.

“We were going back home when the gendarmes arrested us. They opened fire at our vehicle because some of us were slow to get out,” the victim’s brother said.

“My brother died after being shot. There were four of us in the car, I managed to escape and the other two were arrested,” he said on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, the streets of Bamenda are said to have been deserted following the gunfire and deaths that resulted over the weekend.

Violence has flared in the past week, with armed separatist factions clashing against Cameroon security forces in several towns and villages in the two English-speaking regions after Nigeria deported the leader of the self-declared state and 46 others.

The United Nations refugee agency condemned the handing over of the 47 people, saying most of them had submitted asylum claims and their forced return was in violation of international refugee law.

More than 43,000 Cameroonians have fled as refugees to Nigeria to escape the government crackdown on the separatists, say local aid officials. The majority are in Nigeria’s Cross River state, which borders southwest Cameroon.

Source: Africa News

5, February 2018

Kenya: US investigator into illegal ivory trade killed ⁰

A leading American investigator into the illegal ivory and rhino horn trade has been found stabbed to death in his home, Kenyan police and officials said Monday.

A family member went to Esmond Bradley Martin’s house on Sunday to check on him after he did not respond to phone calls and found the body on a bed with a stab wound to the neck, said Nicolas Kamwende, head of criminal investigations in the capital, Nairobi.

Conservationist Paula Kahumbu said Martin led investigations into the illegal trade of elephant ivory and rhino horn that threatens the two species with extinction. He was at the forefront of exposing ivory traffickers in the US, Congo, Vietnam, Nigeria, Angola, China and recently Myanmar, Kahumbu said.

“A passionate and committed man who made a big difference to our planet. May he rest in peace,” British High Commissioner to Kenya Nic Hailey said in a Twitter post.

Conservation group Save the Elephants described Martin as “a longtime ally,” a passionate champion of wildlife and meticulous researcher.

Illicit demand for elephant ivory has led to devastating losses from illegal poaching as the natural habitat available for the animals to roam has also dwindled by more than half. As a result, the number of African elephants has shrunk from about 5 million a century ago to about 400,000 remaining. And that number continues to decline each year.

Less than 30,000 rhinos are estimated to remain in the wild due to poaching.

The price of rhino horn skyrocketed as demand has grown in Asian countries, mainly China and Vietnam, where consumers wrongly believe that the horn made of the same substance as fingernails has powerful healing properties. Syndicates from Vietnam, China, South Korea and Thailand have been identified as being involved in the trafficking.

(Source: AP)

5, February 2018

France: Macron’s party loses in two by-elections ⁰

The centrist party of French President Emmanuel Macron has lost two by-elections for parliamentary seats, its first losses since a landslide victory last year.

Two lower house seats were won by the conservative Republican Party on Sunday.

One of the conservatives was re-elected in the Belfort 1 constituency in the east of the country with 58.93 percent of the votes, against 41.07 percent for the candidate supported by Macron’s party, the Republic on the Move.

The second seat was lost by Macron’s candidate in the Val d’Oise area north of Paris.

Macron’s pro-Europe, pro-business party still controls 309 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly.

Other parties, including the far-right National Front, had been eliminated in the first round of elections last Sunday.

The new leader of the conservative Republican Party, Laurent Wauquiez, who is also a hard-hitting critic of the president, described the results of the by-elections as “a blow which severely punishes the government’s policies.”

Wauquiez said that the impact of the government’s policies “on the ground is being judged harshly by our fellow citizens: tax rises for the middle class and pensioners and an unprecedented explosion in immigration and crime.”

He also accused Macron of being out of touch with rural France. Macron has formerly dismissed the accusations.

Macron won the presidency last year, and his party subsequently won a commanding majority in parliamentary elections.

Source: Presstv

5, February 2018

Mali: 4 civilians killed in militant attack ⁰

At least four civilians have been killed in a suspected militant attack in northern Mali over the weekend, local officials said Sunday.

An unknown number of the attackers were also killed in fighting as the “suspected militants killed at least four civilians around Talataye,” a northeastern town of around 14,000 people, regional officials told AFP.

Mali’s deteriorating security situation is of growing concern as al-Qaeda-linked groups mount increasingly deadly attacks on domestic and foreign forces.

In the Talataye area the militants often target an Azawad group, the traditionally nomadic Tuareg people of the desert, who they consider too close to a pro-governmental armed group, another elected local official said.

Civilians considered too close to the Azawad group are, in turn, considered legitimate targets, he added.

According to a Mali security source, the assailants took hostages during Friday’s attacks, and killed at least one of them on Saturday.

On Sunday tension remained high in and around Talataye, a foreign security source told AFP.

Friday’s attack came after Mali’s army decided to ban the use of scooters and pick-up trucks in some areas to boost their fight against armed militant groups.

Such vehicles are often used by extremist fighters, in the north and the center of the country.

The ban applies to a dozen “circles” in the central regions of Segou and Mopti and northwest Timbuktu region.

“Humanitarian convoys, and all other convoys, must receive authorization from the local military command in order to receive an escort,” the army said, adding that anyone failing to do so would be considered a “military target”.

In late January, 14 soldiers were killed and 18 more wounded in an attack on their camp in Mali’s restive north.

That attack in Soumpi, in the Timbuktu region, came two days after 26 civilians including mothers and babies were killed when their vehicle ran over a landmine in Boni, central Mali, according to a UN death toll.

Extremists linked to al-Qaeda took control of the desert north of Mali in early 2012, but were largely driven out in a French-led military operation launched in January 2013.

In June 2015, Mali’s government signed a peace agreement with coalitions of non-militant armed groups. But extremist insurgents remain active, and large tracts of the country are lawless.

(Source: AFP)

5, February 2018

Southern Cameroons: Interim Government picks a tactful leader ⁰

The Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia has elected Dr. Sacko Ikome to replace Sisiku Ayuk Tabe. A spokesperson for the Southern Cameroons government said that Dr. Sacko “considers the journey to Buea as urgent.”

The Ambazonia’s newly-elected leader is also expected to get possible replacements for the top aides abducted alongside President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe in Abuja Nigeria. “Dr. Sacko is a political leader and that’s why he is going to continue with the march to Buea” noted the Ambazonia Secretary of the Economy, Hon. Tabenyang

Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, who was handed over to La Republique du Cameroun by the President Buhari administration had been due to be reelected as the president in a leadership vote in the conclave. However, after very intensive and productive discussions, the Ambazonia Interim Government voted in favour of a mechanism for continued presidency.

We understand the former leader and senior figures of the Southern Cameroons independence movement are currently being held at the Secretariat for Defense in Yaoundé on charges of rebellion and sedition. Some Southern Cameroons political barons had suggested Sisiku Ayuk Tabe could rule Ambazonia from his detention cell, something that many in the Diaspora fiercely opposed.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

4, February 2018

Falana To Buhari: Bring Back Nigerians Illegally Deported To Cameroon ⁰

Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana SAN has sent an open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari asking him to “bring back naturalized Nigerians, Refugees and Asylum Seekers who were illegally arrested, detained and deported from to Cameroon on Friday, January 26, 2018 by the National Security Adviser, Major-General Babagana Monguno (retd).”

In the open letter today Falana said “We write this protest letter on behalf of our clients whose names and status are set out in the List of Deportees attached to this letter.”

According to Falana, “Our clients are not illegal immigrants in Nigeria. Three of them are naturalized Nigerian citizens while others are recognized refugees and political asylum seekers in Nigeria.”

The letter read in part: “Twelve of our clients who are the leaders of the people of Southern Cameroon and who have been living in Nigeria for several years were assembled for a meeting at Nera Hotel, Abuja on Saturday, January 6, 2018 to discuss the challenges faced by the over 10,000 Cameroonians who have sought political asylum in Nigeria due to persecution and repression under the Paul Biya regime in Cameroon.”

“But before the commencement of the meeting a team of armed security personnel invaded the venue, abducted our clients and took them away to an undisclosed place. The said abduction was reported by the Premium Times edition of Sunday, January 7, 2018.”

“In spite of the detailed report of the credible online news medium the Police and the security agencies denied knowledge of the abduction of our clients. Consequently, all efforts made by the lawyers, doctors and family members of our clients to visit them in custody were frustrated without any legal justification. Even Mrs. Nalowa Bih who is pregnant was denied medical attention by the National Security Adviser.”

“However, a representative of the Office of the United Nations Commissioner for Refugees in Nigeria was allowed to visit our clients at the request of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During the visit, the United Nations representative found that our clients were held in an underground cell at the headquarters of the Defence Intelligence Agency on the orders of the National Security Adviser.”

“On account of the refusal of the National Security Adviser to allow access to our clients by their lawyers, relatives and doctors we filed an application at the Abuja Judicial Division of the Federal High Court on Thursday, January 25, 2018 for the purpose of securing their fundamental rights to personal liberty and freedom of movement.”

“Notwithstanding the pending suit and the intervention of the Office of the United Nations Commissioner for Refugees, the National Security Adviser expelled our clients from Nigeria and deported them to Cameroon on Friday, January 26, 2018.”

“Although the National Security Adviser was ashamed to disclose the deportation of our clients from Nigeria the Government of Cameroon has celebrated the deportation and threatened to prosecute our clients for unspecified crimes. Thus, with the connivance of the National Security Adviser the Government of Cameroon has since held our clients in an undisclosed military custody in Cameroon.”

“Out of the 52 people who were expelled from Nigeria the Government of Cameroon has maintained that the National Security Adviser handed over to it 47 deportees. Up till now, the National Security Adviser has not accounted for the whereabouts of the remaining 5 detainees!”

“The National Security Adviser knew that two of our clients are naturalized Nigerians, six are refugees while 37 others are political asylum seekers who are entitled to be protected by the Federal Government of Nigeria. For the avoidance of doubt, the Office of the United Nations Commissioner for Refugees in Nigeria drew the attention of the National Security Adviser to the legal obligations of Nigeria to respect the rights of our clients.”

“Under the National Security Agencies Act (Cap N74) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 and the Immigration Act 2015 the National Security Adviser is not competent to arrest, detain and deport any alien or immigrant from Nigeria to any other country.”

“Since the Government of Nigeria has never violated the provisions of the United Nations Convention Relating to Refugees and the OAU Convention on Refugees by deporting refugees and asylum seekers to any country where they might be persecuted we are compelled to urge Your Excellency to grant the following requests: Order the National Security Adviser to produce the missing 5 deportees and bring back to Nigeria our clients who have been illegally deported to Cameroon without any further delay.”

“If the National Security Adviser is unable to bring back our clients to Nigeria he should be removed from office for such brazen impunity which has exposed Nigeria to ridicule before the comity of law abiding nations. The Federal Government should prevail on the Government of Cameroon not to persecute our clients to prevent the United Nations from sanctioning Nigeria for violating the provisions of the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to Refugees.”

“You will therefore agree with us that the arrest, detention and deportation of our clients from Nigeria to Cameroon by the National Security Adviser cannot be justified on the following grounds: Based on the appeal by Nigeria for a peaceful resolution of the political crisis in Cameroon the people of Southern Cameroon filed a suit at the Federal High Court to determine whether the people of Southern Cameroon are not entitled to self-determination within their clearly defined territory separate from La Republique Du Cameroun.”

“By a consent judgment delivered by the Court on March 5, 2002, the Federal Government was directed to file a suit at the International Court of Justice to have a judicial confirmation of the human right of the people of Southern Cameroon to self determination. Attached herewith and marked annexure A is a certified true copy of the judgment.”

“The Federal Government also undertook to take other measures as may be necessary to place the case of the people of Southern Cameroon for self determination before the United Nations General Assembly and other international organizations.”

“Even though the suit has not been filed at the International Court of Justice the Federal Government has continued to recognize the human rights of our clients and other people of Southern Cameroon to self determination.”

Source: PMNEWS

4, February 2018

The Abuja abduction and identifying the traitors: Cameroon Concord News revised position ⁰

Since our last publication, Cameroon Concord News has received further information which if believed may incriminate many people in the conspiracy in the abduction of President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and members of the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. Cameroon Concord News is pleased that persons who have been adversely mentioned in the betrayal of the President and members of the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia have taken to the social media and other communication channels to explain themselves or to clear their names. Cameroon Concord News encourages them to pursue this course. Cameroon Concord News similarly encourages Ambazonians to continue to pursue this matter until answers are found and solutions to this matter found.

Cameroon Concord News drew a tentative conclusion relating to the allegations made against Mr Milan Atam but has since received more information that raises more concerns on information posted by him in attempts to clear his name. Due to public scrutiny this matter should not be swept under the carpet. No lead that may help in piecing together the pieces of the puzzle be ignored. Cameroon Concord News is aware of the treachery and corruption that facilitated the abduction and rendition of our leaders. The alleged involvement of persons who professed their commitment to the freedom of the Republic of Ambazonia; and relied on that to gain and abuse our trust cannot be a subject of a cursory investigation. Cameroon Concord News therefore, revises and updates its tentative conclusion relating to Mr Milan Atam and others who have been adversely mention.

Like others who have been adversely mentioned, Mr Milan Atam benefits from the presumption of innocence. Like others, he on his volition put out evidence to support his public statements in attempts to push back on suspicions cast on his conduct prior to, during and after the abductions. Like in the case of others who have been adversely mentioned, there are critical matters he will have to clarify in relation to his role in the betrayal of the President, members of our Interim Government and the Ambazonia revolution.

Mr Milan Atam provided boarding passes to demonstrate his travel Itinerary from Kigali to Lagos and to Abuja. These boarding passes only establish that he travelled to Lagos and then to Abuja, nothing else. He needs to factor the information on these boarding passes to the timeline of his activities once he arrived in Abuja vis a vis the timeline of the Abductions. Mr Milan Atam needs to provide the name of the hotel in which he lodged while in Abuja, the day of the abductions and a record of the persons he contacted by phone or email or other means of communication and the timeline of the said communication contact.

Cameroon Concord News has not ruled out the possibility that some of individuals adversely mentioned might have been brought into the conspiracy to satisfy distinct interests, some in search of power, others for pecuniary motives, informants and others in a more coordinating role. The enemy might have recruited them separately with each playing a distinct role. Once the crime was consummated they discovered themselves in their respective roles and realized the extensive web of conspiracy and the faces behind it.

Cameroon Concord News has it on good authority that had the captives been executed immediately after abduction as was preplanned, some of actors who had infiltrated the Interim Government and other layers of the Ambazonia revolutionary struggle would have been eliminated as well. The intention of the principal perpetrators of the crimes was to conceal all traces of incriminating evidence pointing to the corrupt cartel of government officials and members of the intelligence units involved. It is the fear of this possibility of eliminating the conspirators in and out of the IG that probably scared some participants in the joint criminal enterprise to raise an alarm that prompted a change of plan and the rendition of our leaders to French Cameroon instead. Cameroon Concord News is interested to know if any of the persons adversely mentioned established contact with person(s) within the corridors of power or the intelligence services in French Cameroons, before, during and after the abduction of our leaders.

Cameroon Concord News is aware of public a statement revealing the prospective abduction of the president prior to the holding of the reboot conference intended to delegitimate him and the Interim Government. The maker of that statement Ebenezar Akwanga has been vilified as an accomplice in the abduction and rendition, Cameroon Concord News. It may well be that he was privy to the information or the intelligence about the prospective abduction from accomplices who were seeking to secure his support to delegitimate the President and Interim Government.

The enormity of the crime committed jointly by Nigeria and French Cameroon requires that Mr Akwanga clarifies his statement on this matter. Because the preplanned decision to execute the President and members of the Interim Government did not materialize, the possibility of the participants in this international crime being investigated and prosecuted at some point in time by any one of the several countries interested in the investigation became apparent. The elaborate corruption scheme and huge amount of money laundered must elicit legitimate concerns and enquiry from international investigation organs. This is a potential nightmare to each of the coconspirators who hence will never know peace. After the rendition of our leaders to French Cameroon, therefore the coconspirators seriously considered the possibility of reviving the idea of executing our leaders as opposed to putting to them to trial. They feared that a trial will be publicly watched by the international press, members of the diplomatic community and international human rights organizations. They feared that a court-martial which they may likely face will be strenuously opposed by the international community because it violates International law. A court-martial will offer a tribune for the captives to lay out the restoration of the independence of the Ambazonia case. The corrupt crime cartel in Nigeria and French Cameroun will come under scrutiny and the very ebullient Nigerian Press will bring the news to the attention of Nigerians and the world. This option failed due to the mass demonstrations by Ambazonias at Nigeria Embassies worldwide. That prompted Nigeria to seek and obtain guarantees from French Cameroun that the execution option was off the table. Nevertheless, the energetic reaction of Southern Cameroons against Nigeria has exposed the hypocrisy of the Buhari/Osibanjo government who touted themselves are anti-corruption warriors and champions of human rights. Osibanjo on occasion flashed his credentials as a Pastor in support of his alleged intolerance to corruption. Prior to this case, those credentials had been called to question. The huge amount of money involved in this criminal deal, possibly the highest single corruption deal in Nigerian history in which he and Buhari and their intelligence chiefs are involved, will not go down without a thorough investigation as soon as they leave power. Buhari set the tone by investigating the Jonathan administration including his national intelligence adviser who is held in jail despite several court orders for his release. Our prayer was that Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and members of the Interim Government remain alive. If they are, then it is not by the will of their abductors. It will be a victory for the people of Ambazonia ordained by God and God alone.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman and Editor-in-Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group

4, February 2018

Cameroon: Fear grips government officials as Biya sinks into a deep coma ⁰

Cameroon’s President, Paul Biya, has finally succumbed to the inevitable, a source at the country’s presidency has revealed. The source at the Unity Palace, which elected unanimity, has informed Cameroon Concord News Group that everything points to the demise of the 85-year-old dictator who has ruled the Central African country for 35 years with an iron fist.

The source adds that given the way in which government officials have been visiting the Unity Palace over the last twelve hours, it is clear that Mr.Biya is no more. The atmosphere at the presidential palace is tense and government officials have been holding meetings to come up with a common response so as to keep the population in check.

Our source adds that members of the Cameroon strong man’s entourage are working hard to keep the information from the public square in the pious belief that they can change things to suit their intention. He stressed that the Secretary General at the presidency has been holding a series of meetings with some of his collaborators who have been advising him to issue decrees that will usher in constitutional changes on Mr. Biya’s behalf.

But the Secretary General and some of his collaborators are reluctant to undertake such an action as it may create a backlash and attract strong criticism from the international community that is intent on seeing meaningful political change in Cameroon.

Under the country’s current constitution, the constitutional successor is the president of the senate, Marcel Nyat Njifenji, himself 83years old and a collapsing figure who has been involved in the corruption and mismanagement that have become the country’s hallmark. Many Cameroonians hold that if the country has to change significantly, figures like the senate president and national assembly speaker have to disappear from the political scene.

It should be pointed out that Mr.Biya has been out of the spotlight for more than two weeks now and this has fueled rumor that his health situation has deteriorated. Our source, a member of the presidential guard, says he has seen some of the dictator’s closest collaborators leave Unity Palace in tears, while others have been pensive ever since they visited the 85-year-old dictator.

He has been suffering from prostrate cancer and a failing heart over the last decades and this has been exacerbated over the last year by the escalating Anglophone crisis that is threatening to tear the country apart.

It should be recalled that over the last two weeks, there have been rumors that Mr. Biya’s health had deteriorated and that he had been secretly taken out of the country for emergency treatment. However, our source at the presidency had intimated that Mr. Biya could not sit on an airplane for long hours and instead of flying him abroad, a team of cancer experts had been rushed from Switzerland to come and attend to the ailing dictator.

According to our source, ever since the experts arrived in Cameroon, Mr. Biya’s health has been a huge concern. The 85-year old has not been responding to cancer treatment and his failing heart has made it impossible for the experts to properly do their job. This has been compounded by the political situation in the country which has clearly wiped out the dictator’s shaky legacy and demonstrated how ineffective he has been in 35 years.

It is worth recalling that Cameroon Concord News had announced in October 21, 2017, that the ailing dictator who had been hospitalized in Switzerland for many weeks was simply coming home to bid farewell to friends and family based on intelligence obtained from sources in Switzerland.

The government of Mr. Biya, it should be noted, is full of octogenarians who have been in the corridors of power for more than sixty years and are prepared to ruin the country before leaving the world. The country’s economy is on its knees and the unemployment rate is concerning.

But the most challenging issue is the Anglophone problem that has put the country in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Following the declaration of independence on October 1, 2017, by the two Anglophone regions, many Anglophones have been killed at the behest of the country’s president whose methods of governance of choice have been intimidation and corruption. This has caused almost all Anglophones to see secession as the only option that can bring them the peace they need.

Even on October 21, 2017, when Mr. Biya had landed in Yaounde, there were serious concerns about his health. Behind the scenes and numerous cameras that were on hand to welcome the president at the Nsimalen International airport, was the fear that anything might happen anytime as Mr. Biya’s collaborators were aware of his deteriorating health and were scared that he might be back home just to bid farewell to them and his family.

Many analysts knew that the Anglophone problem was a nightmare that would not go away anytime soon and they knew that it would take a toll on the old president’s health. Even before heading to New York in October 2017 where he delivered a speech to an empty hall at the United Nations, Mr. Biya had to stop over in Geneva for him to get a medical boost from his doctors, but the long trip to New York was so demanding on him that he had to return to Switzerland for more medical support that has been costing the country an arm and a leg.

Our source in Geneva had advised at the time that Mr. Biya had been receiving treatment for a malignant cancer that was robbing the dictator of his strength and happiness. The source had added that besides cancer, Mr. Biya was also dealing with high blood pressure and a failing heart that might give up anytime.

In October 2017, Cameroon Concord News had reported that Mr. Biya had hard time alighting from the chartered aircraft that brought him back to the country. Mr. Biya whose real age is not known, has,over the last months, had a hard time sleeping, our source at the presidency said, adding that the “Monarch” has, over the last month, been chewing sedatives like candy, a situation that is concerning to his entourage, especially his wife. It was rumored at that time that the “Monarch” had headed home with an entire pharmacy, with sedatives accounting for about 60% of all the medicines that had been put on the chartered flight.

Other sources close to the government stress that Mr. Biya’shealth had been a problem for many years, but it took a turn for the worse when Anglophones decided to challenge his authority. He had declared in January 2017 that the form of the state was non-negotiable and since January 2017, Anglophones at home and abroad have been working hard to make the Anglophone crisis a millstone around his neck. The government has since tried to take a few cosmetic measures to appease Anglophones, but the English-speaking minority has been resolute and determined to walk away from a union whose foundation is, at best, shaky.

Over the last months, the situation has deteriorated, with armed groups engaging the country’s military in running battles which have resulted in more than 300 army soldiers and more than 400 civilians dying.

Mr. Biya’s death is very likely to lead to some political chaos. For years, he has been working hard to ensure that other leaders do not emerge. While his collaborators continue to seek ways to keep Cameroonians in the dark with the intention of changing the constitution, Cameroonians and the international community are closely watching as things play out.

By Rita Akana in Yaounde with files from Sama Ernest