Claims of responsibility for attacks by the ADF of Cho Ayaba were once seen as credible at the very beginning of the Southern Cameroons crisis, but after the revelations by the Lebialem Dragons and the disclaimer that came from Amba fighters in Batibo including the recent communiqué made public  by the Ambazonia Recognition and Collaborative Council, ARCC stating that it lobbied the US Congress into accepting a hearing on the Ambazonian crisis, Cameroon Intelligence Report experts are now stressing that the Cho Ayaba and Boh Herbert gang are increasingly spreading fake news.

In a document dated Saturday the 19^th of May 2018, the ARCC announced to Southern Cameroonians that it had gotten the US Congress to hold a discussion on the crisis situation in Southern Cameroons and presented evidence of the atrocities being committed by French Cameroun forces. While Southern Cameroonians are still scrambling to understand the motive for the creation of the so-called Ambazonia Recognition and Collaborative Council, our correspondent in Washington has so far found no connection between the US Congress and the Ambazonian Recognition and Collaborative Council.

“The Ambazonian Recognition and Collaborative Council have made a number of demonstrably false claims of diplomatic push and incidents that had no traces of the group’s DNA,” our US bureau chief said. We understand the members of the ARCC face defeat on the prominent positions they once held in the beginning of the struggle and they are now seeking to generate publicity to show they are still a force.

A senior Southern Cameroonian citizen who contributed to our investigation opined that “The Ambazonian Recognition and Collaborative Council are desperate for attention and will claim just about anything these days knowing that the war has push Ambazonians into believing everything.”  The group is claiming every breakthrough by the Interim Government in order to maintain a presence in the Southern Cameroons struggle.

We can now reveal that the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia with the support of Prof. Patrice Nganang was ultimately responsible for the decision made by the US Congress.  The resolution is yet to be brought to the floor of the Congress for debate and it is mainly on the arrest of Patrice Nganang and the hundreds of Anglophones in French Cameroun detention centers.  The IG members accompanied by the much respected US-based French Cameroun University don who was recently detained in Cameroon presented both situations to US Congressmen and took a family photo which we have attached to this report.

IG with Patrice Nganang

The members of the Ambazonian Recognition and Collaborative Council were seemingly inspired to produce the said press release from leakages on social media but without necessarily having been in contact with the IG.  The statement by the Ambazonian Recognition and Collaborative Council published below has no substance, no photo or any mention of Congressmen they met to substantiate their claim.

Below is the ARCC Statement

AMBAZONIA RECOGNITION AND COLLABORATIVE COUNCIL

Saturday, 19 May 2018

United States Congress to Hold Hearing on Ambazonia

WASHINGTON, DC, 19 MAY 2018 – The Congress of the United States of America will hold a hearing on the genocidal violence unfolding in the former British United Nations Trusteeship Territory of Southern Cameroons which was renamed Republic of Ambazonia on “Restoration of Independence Day” – 1^st October 2017.

A date will be announced in the coming weeks for the hearing expected to touch on other hot topics such as the fight against Boko Haram, rights violations and upcoming elections.

This is the main outcome can be reported at the end of several weeks of aggressive diplomatic outreach by the Ambazonia Recognition Collaborative Council (ARCC).

On Friday, 18 May 2018, ARCC delegates met all day on Capital Hill with the congressional staff of several U.S. senators and representatives, as well as with staffers from the House Sub­Committee on Africa and the U.S. Department of State.

Along with a detailed report which highlights rights violations and targeted killings by the colonial Republic of Cameroon in Ambazonia, ARCC made oral presentations and submitted a petition Friday to several key members of the Congress of the United States, calling on the Congress, the People and Government of the USA to, among others:

• Call for an immediate end to the genocidal violence and scorched earth policy unleashed on Ambazonia by the colonial regime of President Paul Biya and its main sponsor, France – back in the shameful role it held ahead of the 1994 Rwanda Genocide;
• End training, partnership on counterterrorism as well as any and all funding (technical or military) by American taxpayers to the terrorist forces of Mr. Biya, notably the regime’s killer squad, BIR, whose abominable acts in Ambazonia bring America into disrepute;
• The setting up of Sub-Committees by Congress, the United Nations and the International Criminal Court to investigate war crimes, atrocity crimes, and acts bordering on genocide as well as end the downplaying of the violence by UN spokespersons;
• Revoke visas and freeze resources belonging to Mr. Biya, members and supporters of his regime, including senior officials of his armed and security forces;
• Grant Temporary Protective Status to visiting Ambazonians, making it possible for them to stay on temporarily in the USA to escape the life-threatening dangers they would face if they were to return or be forced to return to their Homeland.

ARCC used the outing to Capitol Hill to reiterate the following solemn reminders:

• That Ambazonia’s Restoration of Independence on 1st October 2017 was inspired and remains justified by America’s own Proclamation of Independence in 1776;
• That America’s rejection of King George of England continues to inspire Ambazonia’s rejection of King Biya of Cameroon;
• That Ambazonians will never be persuaded to believe that United Nations Resolution 1608(XV) granting independence to Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia has no less force in International Law than UN Resolution 181 granting independence to Israel;
• That the collapse of over 1,000 years of a colonial union between Ukraine and Russia inspires Ambazonians, who in this generation and no matter the cost, are determined to end the over 160-year-old experiment of using Ambazonia as a colonial guinea pig, under domination by England (beginning in 1858), followed by Germany (from 1888), by England and later Nigeria (1914-1953) and by Cameroon and France (since 1953).

At all meetings on Friday, the ARCC delegation invited the U.S. Congress to speak up boldly in defense of the Second Amendment of the American Constitution on the right of the people to keep and bear arms. The delegation argued that the legality and constitutionality of the principle apply not only to Americans but also to Ambazonians who seek to “maintain a status of independence” by defeating attempts by Cameroon, France and others to take away their freedom and independence.

Mrs. Jennifer Ngeniform T., ARCC Chair Dr. Cho Ayaba, Chair, AGC Ntumfoyn Boh Herbert, MoRISC Mr. Edwin Ngang, Representative, APERM
To close a full day of activism on Capitol Hill, ARCC delegates assembled on the third floor of the Senate Russell Building to be photographed (in a group picture) mingling in the midst of an exhibit of bird and animal species that are in danger of extinction. The Ambazonians declared themselves a part of the exhibit, using their picture to highlight the new reality of all citizens of Ambazonia, who have become an endangered specie under colonial domination by Cameroon.

By Chi Prudence Asong

French Cameroun army commanders have started ordering the execution of some internally displaced persons arrested in Belo, Muyenge and Lebialem. The UN says some 160,000 Southern Cameroonians displaced as a result of the crisis are stranded in the bushes and along the border with Nigeria. Reports by the United Nations Office in Yaoundé said last week that human rights groups have not been able to assess the situation in Belo, Lebialem, Kwa Kwa and Muyenge.

Francophone administrative officials in Southern Cameroons are using state radio and television to make repeated announcements that Southern Cameroonians should move somewhere else or face a military onslaught.  Some 40,000 Southern Cameroonians, mostly women and children, have fled widespread violence in the territory now known as the Federal Republic of Ambazonia and taken shelter in Nigeria.

The French Cameroun military has not come under any intense criticism since its commander-in-chief President Biya launched a deadly crackdown against the English speaking minority in West Cameroon. Hundreds of Southern Cameroonians have been killed in the ongoing crackdown.

Thousands who have fled to Nigeria have brought with them horrifying accounts of massacres, rape, and arson by Cameroon government’s military forces and armed groups created by the Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji. The US ambassador to Cameroon, Peter Barlerin has described the violence against Southern Cameroonians as targeted killings and possibly genocide.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from Sama Ernest

British authorities have not issued a new visa to the Russian oligarch and Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich and it is not clear whether one will be granted, according to Russian media reports and people who know the businessman.

Abramovich, who is the 13^th richest man in Britain with a net worth of £9.3bn, according to the Sunday Times, held an entrepreneurial visa to the UK that expired several weeks ago. He has filed for a new visa, but has not yet been granted one.

He was not seen at Saturday’s FA Cup final at Wembley, which ended in a 1-0 victory for Chelsea over Manchester United.

A person who knows Abramovich said he had not been denied a visa, but that it was taking longer than usual to renew and it was unclear why.

A representative for Abramovich declined to comment on the reports, calling it a “personal matter”.

The delay was first reported by the Russian news agency the Bell, which wrote on Sunday that Abramovich’s visa had expired three weeks ago and that his private Boeing 767 last travelled to London on 1 April. The report cited three people who know Abramovich.

Abramovich bought Chelsea in 2003 and has helped bankroll the club during a period of unprecedented success, including five league titles.

Culled from the Guardian

Cameroon’s national day Sunday was marked by violence in its troubled English-speaking region, with two policemen killed, soldiers wounded and a mayor kidnapped by suspected armed separatists.

In the capital, Yaounde, in central Cameroon, President Paul Biya, who has ruled since 1982, presided over a public show of the country’s military might.

But in the English-speaking town of Bangem in southwest Cameroon, the mayor, Ekuh Simon, was kidnapped. In a video shared by suspected armed separatists Simon said he and his deputy were kidnapped by separatists for planning independence celebrations. He said he is being held hostage by the Ambazonia Restoration Forces that had said the national day should not be celebrated. Ambazonia is the name separatists have given to the English-speaking area they want to become independent from French-speaking Cameroon.

Fighting was also reported in the English-speaking towns of Konye, Batibo, Ekona and several villages of Kupe Muanenguba, an administrative area in southwestern Cameroon.

At least two policemen and several people were killed, according to the governor of the south west region Bernard Okalia Bilai. In the towns that were attacked, many escaped to the bushes and safer neighboring towns.

In the northwestern city of Bamenda, there was a strong show of force to prevent any violence, but only a few residents turned up for the celebrations, saying that they feared retaliation from the separatists. Some students at the University of Bamenda showed up for the parade, saying they were forced by officials to come under the penalty of expulsion. Government officials also said they were also forced to come.

The Cameroon government had asked the population to come out in numbers and celebrate the national day as a sign of national unity adding that the military will protect the people from armed separatists who had vowed the day will not be celebrated in the English-speaking regions.

Cameron again imposed a curfew on its English-speaking regions. In spite of the curfew and heavy presence of the military, the armed separatists were able to chase out some public officials and close some schools.

Both the government and separatists have committed abuses, according to the U.S. ambassador. Ambassador Peter Henry Barlerin last week met with Biya and urged the president to initiate dialogue to lead the way out of violence.

“On the side of the government, there have been targeted killings, detentions without access to legal support, family, or the Red Cross, and burning and looting of villages. On the side of the separatists, there have been murders of gendarmes, kidnapping of government officials, and burning of schools,” said Barlerin in a statement issued after he met with Biya. “People on both sides of the conflict have engaged in speech that dehumanizes the opposite side.”

International humanitarian organizations and rights groups have accused the government of harsh measures in its crackdown and the indiscriminate arrests of suspects.

Unrest in Cameroon began in November 2016, when English-speaking teachers and lawyers in the northwest and southwest regions took to the streets, calling for reforms and greater autonomy. They expressed frustration by the dominance of the French-speaking parts of the country and with what they charged is the marginalization of Cameroon’s Anglophone population. Cameroon’s English-speaking community accounts for about one-fifth of the country’s 25 million people.

The protests were followed by a harsh government crackdown, including arrests and a shutdown of the internet.

The crisis intensified when Ayuk Tabe, who declared himself the president of the English-speaking Republic of Ambazonia, was arrested in December with 48 others in Nigeria and extradited to Cameroon. They have not been seen in public since. The separatists are demanding his immediate release.

The separatists have chased many government workers and forced the closure of man schools, timber and palm oil processing factories. They vowed on social media to paralyze the country until they Ayuk Tabe and his colleagues are released.

Parts of southwest Cameroon remain under a curfew because the separatists continue to commit atrocities, said Bernard Okalia Bilai, governor of the Southwest Region

“The gunmen are hiding in the bushes, in the forests and usually they would appear on the roads to try to kidnap some passengers,” said Bilai. He said security information indicates most of the armed separatists are hiding in the bush along Cameroon’s southwestern border with Nigeria, especially in the Manyu and Lebialem administrative areas.

Source: News wpxi.com