Monthly Archives: July 2018

21, July 2018

Rev. Fr. Alexander Sob Nougi: A Priest of Joy of the Gospel ⁰

We of the Cameroon Concord News Group give thanks to God for the man and the priest that we have known and with whom we have worked and prayed over the years. His sudden and untimely death leaves a huge void in all of our lives. In this soul-searching tribute Rev. Fr. Constant Leke, Pastor of St. Mariae Rosenkranz Mülheim an der Ruhr Germany speaks of the late Father Sob-the man and the priest.

The Bible declares in 1 Thessalonians 5:2 “For you are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.” The death of Rev. Fr. Alexander Sob yesterday the 20^th of July in Muyuka made me contemplate a lot and finally compelled me to write this reflection. The Bible says death comes like a thief; which often makes us ponder over this aspect of death. Death is sudden, inevitable and we have to accept this well-known and universal fact. But how death comes is a question that we human beings need to ponder over, especially when we come across instances of sudden or untimely deaths. Unexpected or unseen deaths cause inconceivable misery and pain to family members, close relatives and near and dear ones, many of who are unable to come to terms with such sudden loss and rebuild their lives.

When death enfolds us in the form of accidents, I am sure, no one is prepared for it. But almost everyday we come across instances of precious lives being loss in accidents. People perish due to their own mistakes or pay with their lives for the mistakes of others. a small mistake or error of judgment may prove costly for self and for the lives of others.

Father Sob and Father Constant

At this moment, I recall the sudden and unexpected death of Rev. Alexander Sob who was in his mid 40’s. In the context of the Anglophone Crisis or the Ambazonian War in the English Speaking region of Cameroon which started in November 2016 till present, many innocent people have lost their lives in mysterious, inexplicable and very fearful circumstances. As of now there is no end in sight for a quick resolution to this crisis or war. It is in this context that Rev. Fr. Alexander Sob died. As it was reported all over the social media yesterday evening, it is said he was killed by a stray bullet around Muyuka. What ever may be the true circumstances of his death we may never fully know due to the frightening situation at present in this region. His demise has become a subject of discussion and many still keep wondering what could be the cause of his death. One can only term his unexpected death as “a call from God” and here too death came like a thief. It is a hard fact that he will not be with us anymore.

I am unable to come to terms with his death as I still have vivid memories of him for many years. I first met Rev. Fr. Alexander Sob in 1990 when I was admitted in Form One in bishop Rogan College, Small Soppo Buea. He was in High School at the time. Even though as a Form One Student, I had very little contact with him, but I could remark at that time that he was very intelligent and spoke very refined and articulated English Language. After I completed my Secondary School education in Bishop Rogan College and went to the University and later preceded to the Major Seminary Bambui in 2001, I met Fr. Alexander Sob who was already an Acolyte waiting to be ordained a Deacon. During the two years I spent with him in the Major Seminary I noticed that he was a very good singer and interested in Music. I noticed that he was a very assiduous student, self-effacing sociable and friendly. But what shocked me vividly was when the candidates for Diaconal ordination were on the line preparing to enter the Chapel to begin the Mass of Admission into Candidacy in June 2001 and he was removed from the line. That was the clear message that he was not to be ordained as Deacon that year. He was later on asked to discontinue formation. He then went to teach for some time n St. Joseph’s College Sasse where Fr. George Nkeze was Principal at the time. Then he later went and joined the Diocese of Obala where he was ordained as Deacon and later as Priest in the year 2003 and 2004 respectively. After serving as a Priest in the Diocese of Obala for about 5 years he then returned to the Diocese of Buea. He was appointed as Principal of Regina Pacis College in Mutengene. Later he served as Education Secretary of Buea Diocese after Rev. Fr. George Nkeze, Fr. Joseph Awoh and Fr. Willibroad Sakwe. He served in this capacity with all his energy until last year 2017 when he was appointed as the Parish Priest of the Sacred Heart Parish Bomaka.

In December 2017 I travelled to Buea-Cameroon for My mother’s 60^th Birthday anniversary and the wedding of my younger brother from Canada. I was happily surprised to meet Fr. Alexander Sob in the Sacred Heart Parish Bomaka. He quickly recognized me when I came to the Parish to greet him and Rev. Fr. Wilson Mesue. He was so friendly and invited me to the dinning table. He immediately asked me to help in the Parish during my stay at our Family home in Bomaka. So I used to help to celebrate morning Masses and Sunday Masses both at the main Parish Station and Mission Station at Mile 18. During my stay there I discovered that he was a very simple Priest, so jovial, social, friendly, and very pastorally orientated. His intelligence was manifested even in his common of the English language and his results at his Masters Degree and was presently undertaking a Doctorate program. Concerning his pastoral work I also noticed that he used to visit homes of the old and sick to administer the Sacrament of the anointing of the sick to them. He even visited my Grand mum twice during my stay in Buea. My mother also told me he used to come regularly to pray and anoint my grand mother. I discovered that he had activated the Small Christian communities in the Parish and he even asked me to attend one of them and celebrate Mass with the Christians which I did. He invited me severally to visit with him and I noticed that while in the car he will stop everywhere to greet Christians and non-Christians alike. I also listened to a radio program he was doing. It is then I knew how he was loved in the Parish and how he was so popular in Buea and in the South West Region as a whole. To my greatest surprise when I was about to leave Cameroon I informed him and he decided himself to go and see me off at the Douala airport himself with his own car. This act of his touched me so much.

I returned to Cameroon in April 2018 to attend the funeral of my Aunt in Douala and to witness to the marriage of my uncle’s daughter. During my stay in Bomaka I was very much well received by Rev. Fr. Alexander Sob. He was just the same as I had met him in December. He asked me to help in the Parish during my two weeks stay. I remember the visit of Bishop Immanuel Bushu to the Parish to administer the Sacrament of Confirmation and the crowd he pulled. Fr. Alexander Sob was a real crowd puller. He could pull even ministers, seasoned Journalists and politicians to an event. He was a good organizer. That I witness first hand.

Father Sob and Father Constant(Douala airport)

After my meeting Rev. Fr. Alexander in December 2017 and April 2018, I had to wipe out from my mind all the prejudices I had I heard from his many detractors. It taught me the lesson of never drawing conclusions about people whom I have no personal experience about. From my personal convictions I can say Rev. Fr. Alexander Sob was a good man and a good Priest. He will be greatly missed by his family members, friends, parishioners and his fellow Priests. There is an unsettling challenge to my understanding of what is meant by “a good Priest” as I pass that gentle assessment on most of our deceased Priests. It reminds me of personal unworthiness and how each of us can only do his best in ministry and leave all judgment to God.

Though none of us is permanent in this world, (Hebrews 13:14-16, “We have here no lasting city, but we look for one in the life to come”) it is not easy to accept the sudden death of such a person, especially the family members. None can understand the pain and the trauma of the close family members and friends. We can only console the family saying that though Rev. Fr. Alexander is dead and gone we will live with the fond memories of the little time he spent on this earth. In the case of Rev. Fr. Alexander Sob too death comes like a thief.

Oh how I wish you could proclaim with Saint Paul: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7). My prayer is that you hear these words, “well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:23) from the lips of our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ.

I pray that may his soul find Eternal Rest in Jesus Christ his Saviour

Rev. Fr. Constant Leke

Pastor of St. Mariae Rosenkranz

Mülheim an der Ruhr

Germany

21, July 2018

Revealed: 34,000 Southern Cameroonian refugees in Cross River State ⁰

The Cross River State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) on Friday said that over 34,000 Cameroonians, were currently taking refuge in six local government areas of the state.

Mr John Inaku, the Director General of SEMA in the state, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Calabar.

Inaku said that the inflow was as the result of the crisis in Cameroon over the demand for Ambazonia Republic by the Southern Cameroonians.

Inaku told NAN that the asylum seekers were currently taking refuge in Obudu, Boki, Ikom, Etung, Akamkpa and Obanliku Local Government Areas of the state.

“So far, we have 34,000 Cameroonian asylum seekers spread across six local government areas in Cross River.

“About 21,000 of them have been documented by the United Nations High Commission on Refugees and the National Commission for Refugees.

“As an agency, we go into the interior areas that have not been accessed by these organisations and holistically, we have 34,000 of them already on ground,’’ he said.

The director general told NAN that the state government was doing its best in providing succour to the refugees, adding that the increasing number was too heavy for the state government alone to handle.

He however, appealed to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), corporate organisations and other humanitarian agencies to offer their support to the refugees.

Source: Daily Trust

21, July 2018

Southern Cameroons Crisis: GTTC Ndop ravaged by fire ⁰

Government Teachers Training College, GTTC Ndop has reportedly been burnt down by a group of unknown Southern Cameroons militants in the early hours of Saturday the 21^st of July. The Francophone dominated police service revealed that locals sounded the fire alarm at 9 am.

A resident noted that the fire consumed the administrative department of the school including the principal’s office and the staff room. The French Cameroun administrators have blamed the incident on Ambazonian separatists operating in the area.

We understand the school premise has been used by the hierarchy of the ruling CPDM party for political meetings the most recent being that of Honorable Njinguh Musa, CPDM MP for Ngoketunjia North Constituency.

Source: Journal du Cameroun

21, July 2018

Anglophone Journalism: Gideon Taka, Epie’Ngome: Model-mentors ⁰

Younger journalists seeing these two veterans on the same platform would take or mistake them for peers. Right and wrong! Ok, they are both veterans, from (an)other generation(s) of Radio Cameroon, now CRTV, the state-run broadcaster. At least, they both belong to a past – a distant past to some – hardly known by most of the generation now manning our media landscape. They are both veterans. But who appears to be some veteran’s peer could actually be their own veteran. Nearly as much as Victor Epie’Ngome is babying many of the younger generation of journalists, Gideon Taka babied Epie’Ngome and co into the profession.

“He recruited me into Radio Cameroon,” says Epie’Ngome as Taka, 81, walks into the room for a meeting of judges for the Courage In Journalism Awards (CIJA). They both chatter over memories of the good old days. They recall the recruitment tests in those days when mastery of the English language (written and oral), general knowledge and voice quality were conditions sine-qua-non for becoming a broadcaster. They reminisce over the rigours of on-the-job training of yore, a far-cry from today, when kids in a hurry are on the air “starring” before they have learned the ropes of the tricky profession or before they have written a correct sentence. Many being one-eyed men in the country of the blind or lame ducks “winning by forfeiture”, they become resource persons in broadcasting even before they have known the difference between uni-, bi- and omni-directional microphones. That is if they ever get to know.

NO COMPROMISE ON VALUES

The gloom that beclouds the countenance of the two vets, suggests they are nostalgic of the good-old-days, regretting the present-day open-door policy or “let-my-people-go” that has opened the floodgates to all-comers and compromised the quality of journalism, especially broadcasting. They seem to be bemoaning a new order that raises a platform for a new breed who are neither groomed nor mentored except, perhaps by godfathers who offer undeserved favours, not professional nurturing. They are glorified in their lapses – not to say their mediocrity – and pampered by another kind of mentors who go soft with their kind of mentees for purposes other than for journalism. Not Taka, not Epie’Ngome!

The two vets talk about how Taka, a pioneer of bilingual Radio Yaounde (later National Station of Radio Cameroon, now the radio arm of CRTV) was on the panel that recruited the young Epie’Ngome alongside among others, MeumaMeombo (RIP), NgyetikoMusi and Willy Chindo in 1976, over a decade after Taka’s own debut there in 1963-64. Taka was among the first crop of former Southern Cameroonians recruited “en mass” to give the hitherto all-French Radio Yaounde a reflection of bilingual Cameroon, those early years after the Reunification of 1961. His batch-mates included Francis Wete, former CRTV deputy GM, who was also his classmate in CPC Bali like Peter Esoka who joined them at the radio years later. Taka often points out they were only classmates, not age-mates. The man who is arguably doyen of the Anglophone press corps says he was much older than his classmates.

Nor have he and Epie’Ngome been a two-some of any kind. But they both became the breed of journalists who found the best of Radio Cameroon practice was in Cameroon Report, now CRTV’s Cameroon Calling (CC). They each anchored the programme and were among a handful of iconic journalists emeritus invited by CRTV last year to showcase its golden age. Answering the call, Epie’Ngome reenacted his personal trademark satirical radio slot The Rambler and Taka stunned listeners with his masterly presentation of the news, two-and-a-half decades since he last did.

BACKGROUND

An accomplished, medal winning athlete in his school days, Taka retired from CRTV in the mid-1990s after serving as Station Manager in Buea and Provincial Delegate for Information and Culture in Bamenda. His innovation when he anchored Cameroon Report was, he modified it from an initial one-man show as conceived by its founder Boniface Forbin with one long Editorial often on international issues. Taka began Cameroon Report’s drift to its present format with an opening Editorial (now My Take as coined by its present anchor Ebenezer WinnyanwokoMotale), and several contributions.

Epie’Ngome, an agric officer before journalism, took his retirement in the last decade from the Ministry of Communication after serving Radio Cameroon/CRTV in Yaounde, Douala and back in Yaounde, where he became Editor-in-Chief and Cameroon Calling anchor in 1990. In between, he honed his journalism trade asBBC stringer and later BBC producer at its Bush House headquarters in London. In his break from journalism in the early 1980s he did corporate communication for Cameroon Shipping Lines (CamShip). On CC, he was among those detained for producing the “rebellious” pro-multipartyism edition of May 6, 1990.

In his lifelong obsession for fine language and choice words, Epie’Ngome also ran the TV word game show Tel-a-Word. He has used his extraordinary language finesse outside journalism in writing poems and plays, most notably What God Has Put Asunder that depicts the incompatibilities between former French Cameroun and former British Southern Cameroon. He also has an unequalled knack and flare for music and an unusual mastery of information technologies for someone of his generation.

RETIRED BUT NOT TIRED

Can the dictum “retired but not tired” be truer of anyone than of Gideon Taka and Victor Epie’Ngome? Even as you read this, they both are most probably at work, preparing or executing a professional or related duty. A quarter of a century into retirement, Taka could be more busy and multi-tasking than mid-career journalists. He is Manager of Radio Hot Cocoa in Bamenda and, armed with a Master’s degree obtained in Canada in the 1960s, he lectures Journalism at three higher education institutions in Bamenda – Higher Institute for Business and Management Studies (HIBUMS) where he is Head of Department, Cameroon Christian University and the University of Bamenda. He was Journalism HOD at the National Polytechnic earlier. Overly committed to things journalism, he is the oldest active member of the Cameroon Association of English Speaking Journalists (CAMASEJ) North West chapter. He attends meetings and mingles easily with baby journalists in ways that give a feel of unassuming Methusela among Benjamins.

Epie’Ngome has taught Journalism both at ASMAC where he trained in 1977-80 and the University of Buea and continues to train journalists. Only months ago, he and Professor Daniel Anicet Noah, also a former CRTV editor, were invited by CRTV management to go around the country drilling its regional station reporters.

Both Taka and Epie’Ngome are most disposed to volunteer their wealth of knowledge, skills and experiences in ventures that promote the extra-curricular development of younger talents. When feminist journalist CommyMussa launched her Sisterspeak writing competition a couple of years back, Gideon Taka was handy to midwife it.

He and Epie’Ngome have also readily been available in peer review initiatives by MEDIApeople newspaper and CReAM to arbitrate in media conflicts (professional tribunals of honour) like the one that erupted after Father George Nkeze disclaimed his comments about the Kumba Diocese bishop appointment reported in The Sun newspaper and called the newspaper and its reporter names. They are as disposed in judging the performance of journalists for the Courage In Journalism Awards (CIJA). They do so with rare rigour, meticulousness, integrity and dedication though only as volunteers. Not as if this listing is exhaustive.

It may not be said with any certainty that other veterans are not being useful to journalism and usefully mentoring younger colleagues, yet, can one pretend not to notice that these two are a breed apart? Who cannot tell that they are around for calls higher than to recruit unsuspecting younger colleagues for ventures that benefit only the vested interests of Monster-Mentors? You don’t hear their names mentioned in petty gossips that poison the ranks of younger colleagues who ought to be striving for excellence, not doing dirty jobs. They do not act like they own oxygen and can only lend a bit, in measured doses (as a dirty job fee), to younger colleagues. Talk of professional advancement, you see Taka and Epie’Ngome around.

A journalist keeping the company of these two is receiving two layers of rich mentorship – mentorship of mentorship, so to say. They receive from Epie’Ngome fruits of the mentorship he received from Taka. That can’t be nothing, can it? And if such mentees have any personal qualities of their own, tell me what can beat well-groomed inherent qualities? Well, if such younger journalists are in journalism for journalism’s sake, that is.

The author, Franklin Sone Bayen, can be reached at: frankbayen@gmail.com or (237) 677-897-167 / 693-693-881. He is publisher of MEDIApeople newspaper, founder of CReAM, and conceiver and administrative secretary of the Courage In Journalism Awards (CIJA)

21, July 2018

UK: Former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson refusing to hand over taxpayer funded mansion ⁰

Members of Parliament in Britain say former foreign secretary Boris Johnson should be evicted for from a tax-payer funded mansion belonging to the UK Foreign Office, saying he is making profit by renting out his own property.

Labor Party MP Stephen Doughty said Saturday that it was the duty of Prime Minister Theresa May’s government to make Johnson leave the multi-million pound mansion known as the Carlton Gardens

“It’s high time the Government take back control of this property from this failed former Foreign Secretary,” said Doughty, adding, “It is extraordinary that Boris is still living it up in a grace-and-favor residence while profiting from renting out his own property.”

Johnson is believed to be netting thousands of pounds renting out his own house in London.

Doughty said it was the time for Johnson to “pack his bags and move on” and “If not, maybe we need to order a big red bus to evict him.”

The Foreign Office has leased Number 1 Carlton Gardens from the Crown Estate for a rent said to be 482,341 pounds a year in 2015. That means that Johnson has wasted around 13,000 pounds of the taxpayer money by staying in the property since he quit as foreign minister earlier this month.

A controversial figure known for his colorful language, Johnson once described his salary of 250,000 pounds as a chicken feed. He is expected to receive another 17,000 pounds as a payoff at the end of his career as foreign minister.

Johnson resigned from the cabinet after May announced his white paper for the final phases of Britain’s negotiations for leaving the European Union.

Johnson and David Davis, the former Brexit minister, said May’s plans for leaving the EU was a blow to public aspirations for a genuine Brexit and could make Britain a future colony of the EU.

Source: Presstv

21, July 2018

Organizational Change within Ambazonia Self-Defense Council ⁰

July 21, 2018

********** Revolutionary greetings to the great people of Ambazonia

The focus of my statement today is organizational change within the ASC. My brief statement is in three parts. I am going to start with a significant announcement in the context of which the council exist. Secondly, I will offer appreciation to restoration forces and the general population of Ambazonia for your solidarity and determination in this liberation war. Finally, I will share one fact that underpins our collective determination, cross partnership, and unity of purpose in the defense council.

The leading goal of my statement today is to announce to the national and international audience a major organizational change within the Ambazonia Self-Defense Council toward fighting the war that was officially declared on the unarmed, hospitable, and peace-loving citizens of Ambazonia on 30 November 2017 by President Paul Biya of la Republique du Cameroun. At the time, President Biya expected a victory within 24 hours during which his usual military autocracy and crooked government machinery would overrun our territory, crush our will, capture us, and subject us to perpetual bondage and slavery under a non-legally binding union since 1961.

On behalf of the people of Ambazonia, the ASC sends this clear message to the government of LRC – Ambazonians are not push overs on our soil within our international recognized boundary. The gruesome and inhumane atrocities of LRC soldiers on Ambazonia soil have crossed ASC redline and the actual liberation war for Ambazonia is yet to begin. This relates directly to why there is organizational change within the ASC. To that end, I am excited to announce today that the Council has tasked me another assignment and greater responsibilities. Therefore, I am stepping down as the ASC spokesperson to take up my new responsibilities. Simultaneously, the Council has appointed a new spokesperson to continue to provide defense related information to the national and international audience.

In the spirit of one fight one goal and one purpose, I am honored to introduce Comrade Jude Mbiydzenyuy as the new ASC Spokesperson. Thank you, Comrade Jude Mbiydzenyuy for your commitment to serve the people of Ambazonia by accepting to fill this important position. You have my full support. My country people, I plead that you give Comrade Jude Mbiydzenyuy even greater support than you gave me to facilitate our journey to Buea, the historic capital of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

A second goal of my statement today is to thank you for your commitment and loyalty to the liberation war. Beloved brothers and sisters, the bible says everything that has a beginning also has an end. It has been a pleasure serving you as the pioneer Spokesperson for the Ambazonia Self Defense Council (ASC).

I want to sincerely thank our professional commanders and gallant restoration forces in ground zero for putting their lives on the line to defend our country and our citizens. Thank you for protecting our women, sisters, mothers, wives, sons, and daughters against the existential threat they face daily from the barbaric soldiers and security forces of LRC. I salute all the courage and sacrifice of our fallen soldiers. You are the true heroes of Ambazonia. Your contributions to this liberation struggle will forever be appreciated. Your blood will not go in vain.

Finally, I will like to share assessment of our challenges and progress. My dear country people, it has not been easy. But thanks to God Almighty, our sole source of strength and wisdom, the Restoration Forces of the Ambazonia Self-Defense Council continue to uproot conventional and heavily armed LRC soldiers in an unprecedented manner. In your heart, know that a free Ambazonia is a few miles away. Strategically and tactically, all defense forces remain focused to weaken, defeat, and repel the forces loyal to the annexing government of la Republique du Cameroun.

My dear citizens, I like you to note that by dint of the hard work and unparalleled resilience of our restoration forces, we have partially contained the incursion of mercenaries hired by LRC government to fight alongside LRC soldiers to kills, maim, and abduct our citizens as well as to torch our homes, and in some cases with our disabled seniors inside. I would like to point out that this determination to fight until victory is achieved is motivated by our love for our God given fatherland Ambazonia and our quest to live free and in dignity in our preferred economic, political and social system consistent with international norms.

In conclusion, I will like to thank the ASC, IG and people of Ambazonia for giving me the opportunity to serve Ambazonians in the capacity of the ASC Spokesperson. Together we shall get to Buea. God Bless Ambazonia.

Thank you. SIGNED: Nso N. Foncha

21, July 2018

Biya regime says Ambazonia fighters have killed over 100 security forces ⁰

The Cameroonian government has disclosed that over 100 members of the Defense and Security Forces (DSF) have been lost to the activities of separatists in the Anglophone regions.

In giving figures on the impact of secessionist activities on the DSF and the general population, government said 109 DSF were killed whiles 200 were wounded.

The figures which were valid at at mid-July 2018 also revealed that:

82 civilians kidnapped, many of whom are missing;
120 schools burnt down;
14 attacks against traditional rulers;
170 attacks against the structures, personnel and convoys of * the Defence and Security Forces;
25 vehicles of the Defence and Security Forces destroyed;

Yaounde was responding to queries by Human Rights Watch (HRW) ahead of the group’s publication of its latest report on the Anglophone crisis.

HRW maintained in the report that violence on the part of both the government and secessionists was adversely affecting life in the northwest and southwest regions. They called on both parties and other interested parties to intervene to stop the crisis.

The government, however, stressed that it was working relentlessly to resolve this crisis in order to return to lasting peace, and reiterates its commitment to preserving the country’s unity and territorial integrity, in strict compliance with the international legal instruments to which it is signatory and its domestic legislation.

Source: Africa News

21, July 2018

Battle for Southern Cameroons: Roman Catholic Priest killed in Muyuka ⁰

The Catholic Education Secretary in the Buea Diocese in Southern Cameroons Alexandre Sob Nougi has been shot dead along the Buea-Muyuka road by Cameroon government forces. Revered Father Alexander Sob Nougi also moonlighted as the parish priest in Bomaka in the outskirts of Buea.

Local media sources confirmed that the man of God was caught by a stray bullet in Muyuka as the Francophone dominated army battled separatist fighters in the area. His body was ferried to the Buea Hospital mortuary.

The Roman Catholic Church in Southern Cameroons is yet to react to the news.

This item is still developing

21, July 2018

Disunity in Cameroon: Mediation unlikely as Anglophone crisis escalates ⁰

The violence in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions has reached unprecedented levels in recent months and shows no signs of stopping in the run up to presidential elections on 7 October. Neither side is inclined to negotiate as increasingly brazen separatist attacks are met with increasingly brutal responses from security forces.

On 12 July, at least 10 people were killed when suspected separatists attacked the defence minister’s convoy travelling between Kumba and Mbonge in the south-west region. A few days later on 17 July, security forces engaged separatist militants in a gun battle in Bamenda, capital of the north-west region.

These are but two examples of the acts of violence that are occurring on a weekly basis in Cameroon’s north-west and south-west regions. As usual it is the citizens who bear the brunt of the fighting.

In a June report, the International Crisis Group estimates that 163 people have been killed to date in the conflict – the majority of whom were civilians. The UNHCR estimates that at least 160,000 people have been displaced by the fighting and a further 20,000 have sought refuge in neighbouring Nigeria.

The current crisis in the Anglophone regions began in October 2016 with widespread protests against the central government’s continued marginalisation of Cameroon’s English-speaking community. The violence escalated a year later after secessionists declared the symbolic independence of the two western regions.

The government responded swiftly with mass arrests, bans on public gatherings, and the use of deadly force against civilians. Armed separatist groups proliferated as the security forces continued to militarise the Anglophone regions.

Although the current flare-up began in 2016, Cameroon’s “Anglophone problem” has its roots in the country’s colonial history. The north-west and south-west regions – previously administered by Britain – joined an independent federated Cameroon in 1961. A snap 1972 referendum abolished most the of the western regions’ autonomy and implemented centralised state control from Yaoundé.

In a way, the government’s response to the current Anglophone agitation is not surprising. It is the same tactic employed in the country’s Far North region where the state has been battling Boko Haram since 2014. Government forces have been repeatedly accused of arbitrarily killing or detaining citizens suspected of complicity with extremists.

Despite facing two insurgencies, President Paul Biya – in power since 1982 – retains a strong grip on power. On 13 July, the 85-year-old Biya announced his intention to run for re-election in October.

Holding elections in the north-west and south-west regions will be virtually impossible in the current climate of insecurity. This would significantly disadvantage the country’s largest opposition party whose support base is in the Anglophone regions.

The AU and Cameroon’s Western partners have repeatedly called for negotiations. Though the government agrees to the need for talks, it rejects any form of outside mediation.

The Catholic Church is the only local institution that could act as an independent mediator – it represents about one third of all Cameroonians and is present in all of the country’s 10 regions. Unfortunately the church seems to be riven by the same divisions as the rest of the country. Its inability to present a unified front thoroughly undermines its capacity as a facilitator of potential peace talks.

A more fundamental issue relates to what a successful resolution of the crisis would look like. The government will not except any form of succession. Moreover, it is not clear to what extent residents of the western regions actually support succession. What is clear, however, is that a majority of Anglophone Cameroonians support a peaceful resolution.

To this extent, the more moderate opposition leaders have been pushing for a political solution – calling either for a return to the power-sharing of federalism or for the devolution of power to regional leaders through decentralisation.

Despite some conciliatory noises and mostly hollow gestures, the government seems unlikely to grant any major concessions to Anglophone leaders. For their part, opposition leaders have not done enough to condemn separatist violence and encourage peaceful resistance.

A negotiated settlement is the only hope for a peaceful resolution of the current crisis. Unfortunately, given the entrenched positions of both the state and separatist militants, it is a rather slim hope at the moment.

Source: Daily Maverick

20, July 2018

Cameroon Lost Kylian Mbappe To France Due To Corruption ⁰

Cameroonian father of the World Cup sensation Kylian Mbappe says that he wanted his son to play for the Central African nation but the dream was crushed due to corruption.

In a widely circulated statement, Wilfried Mbappe is quoted saying “someone” at the Cameroon FA charged a sum of money he could not part with for his son to be called up to the Indomitable Lions.

“At first, I wanted my son to play for Cameroon but, someone at the Cameroon Football Federation charged a sum of money that I didn’t have to make him play.

The French didn’t charge anything,” the senior Mbappe reportedly said. Kylian, 19, was among the shining lights for France in the recently concluded FIFA World Cup in Russia, scoring four goals including one in the 4-2 win against Croatia in the Final last Sunday.

He became the second teenager to score in a World Cup Final after the legendary Pele. Cash for national team call-ups is rampant in Africa where corruption and patronage supersedes merit.

Kylian believes that players should not be paid to turnout for their national teams because it is a big honor to serve your country.

The former Monaco forward, who recently moved to Paris Saint Germain (PSG) in the French Ligue 1, disclosed that he would donate his World Cup earnings to charity.