Monthly Archives: September 2018

Ambazonia National Day: Biya regime declares 48-hour curfew in Southern Cameroons

30, September 2018

Ambazonia National Day: Biya regime declares 48-hour curfew in Southern Cameroons 0

Government officials in Cameroon’s strife-torn Anglophone Southwest and Northwest regions on Saturday declared a 48-hour curfew ahead of planned “independence” celebrations by armed separatist forces.

“Movement of persons from one sub-division to another within the Northwest region is hereby prohibited for a period of 48 hours from Sept. 30 to Monday Oct. 1, 2018” said Adolph Lele Lafrique, governor of the Northwest region, adding that public gatherings and assembly of more than four persons shall be strictly forbidden.

“All off-licenses, snack bars and night clubs shall not operate. Motor parks shall remain closed and the circulation of motorbikes completely suspended,” Lafrique said in a statement that was released on Saturday.

In Buea, chief town of Southwest region, local authorities also announced a curfew from Sept 30 to Oct. 1.

“During the period there shall be systematic closure of all business and drinking places, suspension of leisure activities, be it cultural, social or sporting, prohibition of all forms of transport, both public and private, and closure of motor parks,” said Kouam Wokam Paul, divisional officer for Buea sub-division.

Authorities in the restive regions had earlier imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew indefinitely but extended the measure to a 48-hour one after armed separatists’ announcement that they will be celebrating the “independence” of Anglophone regions on Oct. 1.

On Oct. 1, 1961, Francophone and Anglophone Cameroon officially reunited to form one country, after Anglophone Cameroonians voted to join Francophone Cameroon in a plebiscite that was organized by the United Nations on Feb. 11, 1961.

However, separatists now want the two Anglophone regions to secede from French-majority Cameroon to form a new nation called “Ambazionia,” complaining that they have been marginalized since unification.

In the midst of a presidential campaign, fighting is escalating in the two Anglophone regions, displacing over 180,000 people internally, according to the United Nations.

By Haggai Fung Achuo


Grand Prix Chantal Biya: Things fall apart as 17 injured in International Cycling Tour

30, September 2018

Grand Prix Chantal Biya: Things fall apart as 17 injured in International Cycling Tour 0

Seventeen people including 15 cyclists, one driver and one race commissioner were injured after a coaster bus transporting international cyclists, Honore Yossi, president of Cameroon Cycling Federation said on Saturday.

The accident occurred early Saturday at a place called “Memiam” on the Mbalmayo-Zoetele highway, Yossi said.

“The 17 victims were immediately transported by ambulances of the caravan to Mbalmayo District Hospital where they were placed under the care of doctors and nurses. No one died. The victims sustained minor injuries,” Yossi said.

He said, the incident will not interrupt the competition.

“The teams from Rwanda and Burkina Faso have left the hospital and are now observing in Yaounde. The Ivoirians have decided to continue the race. The competition continues for the other runners,” Yossi said.

The 18th edition of the International Cycling Tour of Cameroon dubbed Grand Prix Chantal Biya started on Wednesday. 10 teams from Europe and Africa are taking part in the competition that ends on September 30.

The tour is organized by Cameroon Cycling Federation under the supervision of International Cycling Union.

Source: Xinhuanet


Southern Cameroons War: Cameroon faces being dropped as African Cup host

30, September 2018

Southern Cameroons War: Cameroon faces being dropped as African Cup host 0

Fighting between separatists and government forces, along with concerns its stadiums won’t be ready, have left Cameroon facing the possibility Saturday of being stripped of its hosting of next year’s African Cup of Nations soccer tournament.

Tournament organizer the Confederation of African Football declined to back the country as host after a two-day meeting of its executive committee in Egypt. Instead, CAF said it was delaying a decision on Cameroon’s staging of the continent’s top soccer event until the end of November, and after two more inspection visits.

That will be just over six months before the African Cup kicks off. Morocco is a possible replacement host for the tournament in June and July if Cameroon, which was chosen in 2014, is dropped. The first inspection visit next month will be by a joint CAF-FIFA delegation to assess the security situation in the western part of Cameroon, where bloody fighting between the government and English-speaking separatists started in late 2016 and has escalated this year.

That visit by CAF and security experts from world body FIFA will come after Cameroon’s Oct. 7 presidential election, when the violence could come to a head.

“We have to wait (to see) what is going to happen with the elections,” CAF deputy secretary general Anthony Baffoe said in an interview with the BBC. “That is why also we said after the elections we do the next inspection visit.

“Then I think you can have a bit more feeling about the political situation and what is going on.”

There has been “horrific escalation of violence” in Cameroon’s southwest and northwest, Amnesty International said this month, citing a graphic video of a beheaded security officer.

Two cities due to host African Cup games, Limbe and Bafoussam, are deep in those regions where the fighting is.

Claiming they are being marginalized in the largely French-speaking country, the English-speaking, or Anglophone, separatists have vowed to disrupt the presidential election and also the African Cup if it goes ahead in Cameroon next summer.

In a thinly-veiled threat, they said soccer players, officials and fans may not be safe.

“We shall not be able to guarantee the security of football players, technical staffs, members of official delegations and thousands of soccer lovers from across the world,” some separatist groups said in a letter they claim to have sent to CAF in August.

If Cameroon is retained as host, it’s possible that some of Africa’s biggest soccer stars who feature for top European clubs would decline to go and play in a region where people are being shot and killed, bridges are being blown up and buildings torched. Up to 400 civilians have died in the violence, Amnesty said, and the killing, looting and burning has sent nearly 200,000 fleeing.

The security concern has now overtaken serious delays with stadiums and related tournament infrastructure as Cameroon’s No. 1 problem.

The readiness of the country’s six stadiums had already been a major headache for CAF before the upsurge in deadly violence.

Cameroon’s team is the African champion and was hoping to defend its title at home.

The country’s tournament preparations were also complicated when CAF expanded the tournament from 16 to 24 teams after the country was chosen as host. That increased pressure on the struggling infrastructure, requiring six stadiums and not just four like the previous two versions of the African Cup in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

“Definitely six venues is not easy in Africa,” Baffoe said in the BBC interview.

CAF said its most recent report on Cameroon’s preparations “revealed a significant delay as far as the delivery of infrastructures is concerned.”

The Cup of Nations is Africa’s showcase soccer tournament — probably its biggest sports event — but it’s also been highly problematic for CAF in recent years.

South Africa took on the 2013 version after war-torn Libya admitted it couldn’t host. Morocco was stripped as the 2015 host because of plans it was proposing to stop fans traveling from regions affected by that year’s Ebola outbreak. Libya again withdrew as host two years ago, sending the African Cup back to Gabon for the second time in five years.

Held every two years, the African Cup in Ivory Coast in 2021 is also already a cause for concern, CAF said Saturday.

“Of the six stadiums required for the competition, four are to be built and two are undergoing major renovations,” CAF said. “For accommodation, three out of five cities do not have the required infrastructure.”

Source: Fox News


Southern Cameroons crisis: Cameroon Concord News Group journalists targeted

30, September 2018

Southern Cameroons crisis: Cameroon Concord News Group journalists targeted 0

The Southern Cameroons crisis has entered a very critical phase, with journalists now being targeted as a means of hiding crimes against humanity committed in Cameroon’s English-speaking cities and towns. As the government seeks to wrap up things very fast, it is now targeting young male adults and it has, over the last month, ordered its troops to shoot and kill.

This order is in force in the two English-speaking regions and journalists are not exempt, especially those who are under cover. Two weeks ago, Kingsley Betek almost lost his life in Muyuka as he was under cover to investigate the killings in Fako Division. While trying to check out a timber truck that was being escorted to Douala, Kingsley Betek missed the bullets of a trigger happy soldier.

He missed death by the skin of his teeth as the bullet scraped his hair before finding accommodation in a nearby tree. Luckily for him, the soldiers just continued their journey as the timber was more important than human beings.

He has been stopped on many occasions in Buea and Limbe while seeking to cover some events. Many soldiers have stopped him, but have never really linked him to the famous news group that is providing a balanced report of the crisis.

But it is Irene Nanyongo who is having a tough time plying her trade in the region. She is permanently harassed and she has already received many death threats from some unknown individuals.

It is becoming dangerous to practice this profession today in Cameroon. Other journalists such as Mimi Mefo and Nfor Prince of other media groups are permanently in fear of their lives.

With the passing of each day, the regime is becoming more desperate and it does not want its atrocities in the region to be reported.  The international community is breathing down its neck and this is causing it to be erratic in its efforts to hide the crimes against humanity that its soldiers are committing.

By Asu Vera Eyere


US Calls Cameroon To Hold Soldiers Accountable

30, September 2018

US Calls Cameroon To Hold Soldiers Accountable 0

The US has implored the government of Cameroon to hold its soldiers to account. The call follows a recent investigation by BBC’s Africa Eye, which revealed Cameroonian soldiers are behind atrocities against civilians in the country.

Pentagon spokeswoman Maj Sheryll Klinkel said the US military was working with the State Department to “ensure the government of Cameroon holds accountable any individuals found to be responsible”.

BBC Africa Eye’s investigation showed two women and two young children being led away at gunpoint by a group of Cameroonian soldiers. The captives were blindfolded, forced to the ground, and shot 22 times.

The investigation revealed where the incident happened, when it happened, and who is responsible for the killing.

The government of Cameroon initially dismissed the video as “fake news” but subsequently arrested some of the soldiers captured in the video.

According to reports by VOA, the US has about 300 military personnel in Cameroon as part of an international effort to stop the spread of violent extremism in West Africa.

Source: tv360



Yaounde holds its breath as Ambazonian anniversary looms

30, September 2018

Yaounde holds its breath as Ambazonian anniversary looms 0

Cameroon is nervously awaiting the first anniversary on Monday of a declaration of independence by its English-speaking minority less than a week before the country plunges into presidential elections.

Attacks are occurring daily in the two regions that are home to this French-speaking country’s anglophones, and many say they are afraid.

In the worst-affected areas, some people have fled with whatever possessions they can carry. Others say they rarely venture out of their homes, fearing separatists as well as the security forces.

On October 1 2017, radicals declared the creation of the “Republic of Ambazonia,” covering two English-speaking regions incorporated into francophone Cameroon in 1961.

The declaration went largely unnoticed outside Cameroon, and “Ambazonia” — named after a bay at the mouth of the Douala River — has been recognised by no-one.

But the move marked the start of a crisis that has cast a shadow over the October 7 elections, in which 85-year-old president Paul Biya, who has ruled the country for 35 years, is seeking a seventh straight term in office.

“The army killed lots of people on October 1,” Monsignor Emmanuel Bushu, bishop of the Buea, capital of Southwest Region, said at the time.

“For nearly two weeks, they shot at people like you shoot at birds.”

Mounting toll

Biya’s crackdown coincided with a surge of bloody attacks by the separatists, gunning down troops and police and burning schools and other perceived symbols of the Cameroonian state.

At least 400 civilians have been killed this year, according to the International Crisis Group think-tank. The government says 109 members of the security forces have been killed since the end of 2017.

Atrocities have been committed on both sides, according to watchdogs.

“The brutal attacks against ordinary people and security forces are further proof of the horrific escalation of violence,” Amnesty International said on September 19.

According to UN figures, 246,000 people in the Southwest Region have fled their homes, and 25,000 have sought shelter in neighbouring Nigeria, many of them living from hand-to-mouth in the forests.

Estimates of displaced people in the neighbouring Northwest Region — the other restive anglophone region — are not available.

Map of Cameroon locating English-speaking regions and their capitals, Bamenda and Buea.. By Valentina BRESCHI (AFP)Map of Cameroon locating English-speaking regions and their capitals, Bamenda and Buea.

The government has imposed tight controls, including over the mainstream media, and both sides are fighting for public opinion in the domain of social media.

The economic damage, too, has been severe. The state-run palm oil company Pamol has deserted some of its plantations, and cocoa and coffee production has stopped because villages have abandoned their crops, the Cameroon NGO Human Is Right said in July.

The government has set up an emergency aid fund for the two regions, to which many Cameroonians have given generously.

Legacy of history

Around a fifth of Cameroon’s 22 million people are English-speaking. The legacy dates back to the colonial period.

Cameroon, once a German colony, was divided between Britain and France after World War I. The French colony gained independence in 1960, becoming Cameroon. The following year, the British-ruled Southern Cameroons was amalgamated into it, giving rise to the Northwest and Southwest regions.

But resentment at perceived discrimination at the hands of the francophone majority, especially in education and the judiciary, began to build.

Demands for greater autonomy grew but were always rebuffed by Biya, culminating in the October 1 declaration.

Shadow over elections

President Paul Biya, 85, has been head of state for 35 years. He has sternly rejected independence or a federal status for the two anglophone regions. By LUDOVIC MARIN (AFP)President Paul Biya, 85, has been head of state for 35 years. He has sternly rejected independence or a federal status for the two anglophone regions.

The upcoming elections, a symbol of national sovereignty, have placed the separatists and the authorities in a toe-to-toe fight over who controls the two restive regions.

Attacks on schools rose in September after the return of classes following the summer break. A 12-hour night-time curfew has been declared in the Northwest Region.

The separatists — known as the “Ambazonians” or “Amba Boys” — have vowed to prevent the elections from taking place.

“I’m afraid. I won’t turn out to vote,” said Elizabeth, who lives in the holiday resort of Limbe in the Southwest Region, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“I’m afraid of the Ambazonians but also of the police and military who kill… things could go very badly on polling day.”

Another voter, who gave her name as Ruth, said, “I won’t vote, and many people I know won’t be voting either, because of the threats of the Ambazonians.”

The government has declared that the poll will take place in all of the country’s 360 districts, although some ballot stations will be “relocated” to reduce the risk of attacks.

“I’m sure the elections will go ahead… but the turnout is likely to be low,” said a worker with an NGO which will be monitoring the ballot.

Culled from ModernGhana.Com


The world’s major powers must not ignore Cameroon’s Anglophone crisis

30, September 2018

The world’s major powers must not ignore Cameroon’s Anglophone crisis 0

Cameroon’s Anglophone region is rapidly becoming a no-go zone. Thousands of residents fled to the country’s French speaking cities of Douala, Yaoundé, and Bafoussam, during August and September, anticipating more blood shed before the country’s October presidential elections.

English-speaking Cameroon makes up roughly 20% of the country’s 24.8 million people. It has been nearly three years since the Anglophone crisis began. It started when English-speaking teachers and lawyers went on strike demanding fair working conditions. They and other Anglophone residents complain that their language and culture are marginalised by Cameroon’s French-speaking government and legislators.

The government responded with force. The conflict that followed has been vicious; unprecedented in the nation’s history. It’s a reminder of older, brutal wars elsewhere in Africa: in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Rwanda.

During these wars, the world’s major powers did little as millions were slaughtered. Some later apologised for their inaction. And yet it seems no lessons have been learned. Countries like France, the US and China have issued carefully worded statements calling for an end to hostilities – and done nothing more.

Lip service is not enough. It’s time for these major powers to act. Great nation status comes with great responsibilities, and particularly in an interconnected global environment there must be a moral imperative in the conduct of foreign policy. These powers must also recognise that Cameroon’s ongoing crisis threatens the wider West African region’s long and short term stability.

Business as usual

There’s no doubt that global powers know exactly what’s happening in Cameroon. In June 2018, the US Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organisations in Washington D.C heard witness testimonies about the graphic nature of hostilities in Cameroon.

And yet, as a cursory glance at the US embassy website in Yaoundé reveals, it’s mostly business as usual for the two countries. American citizens are warned to avoid travelling to Cameroon’s English speaking regions – but that’s the extent of it.

On its official embassy website, meanwhile, France refers to Cameroon as a “friend” and a “partner”. It calls for “restraint.” Considering how vital the country is to its strategic interests in the West African region, one might expect France to say – or do – more.

File 20180925 149964 1qh6evw.jpg?ixlib=rb 1.1Cameroon is in crisis. It needs an intervention. Shutterstock

China’s actions in this saga have also been extremely frustrating. At the recent Forum of China-African Cooperation in Beijing, President Paul Biya was given the red carpet treatment. No Chinese leaders, and none from the rest of Africa, made any public statements about the Anglophone crisis.

Strategic importance

All of this is extremely vexing given Cameroon’s strategic importance. For many years the US monitored its interest in Equatorial Guinea from Yaoundé. Cameroon and the US are partners in coordinating efforts against Boko Haram and other global terrorist groups.

Cameroon is vital to France’s interest in the West African region. The Anglophone crisis could destabilise the region by snowballing into neighbouring countries. And other former French colonies will be watching with interest, noting the European power’s hands off approach.

China’s policy of non-intervention in another country’s domestic affairs has only strengthened the resolve of tyrants like Biya. He remains one of China’s key allies in the region. Publicly, China’s Premier Li Keqiang has said little about the ongoing Anglophone Crisis. Instead he’s given more money to Biya’s government and enjoys cordial relations with the long time leader.

Perhaps as long as the crisis doesn’t interfere with China’s receipt of timber, rubber and other raw materials from Cameroon, there won’t be a shift in Beijing’s attitude any time soon.

Agitating for change

It seems unlikely, though, that the world’s major powers will totally change their approach to what are viewed as sovereign issues.

But there are things that can be done, and some are quite basic. Biya can be forced to do the right thing. For instance, he spends a significant amount of vacation time in Switzerland.

There is absolutely no reason why European nations and journalists shouldn’t speak out about the leader’s spending of his country’s resources in Switzerland, France, and other places.

Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, must turn his verbal threats into actions. Sanctions, for instance, will force Cameroon to address the Anglophone problem. France could also stop the supply of military hardware and intelligence to Biya’s regime.

China can also do more. Its policy of non-intervention doesn’t apply when its interests are threatened: it intervened in Zambia’s elections to safeguard its interests there.

Finally, the African Union has a role to play while it awaits more concerted efforts from European powers. For instance, the continental body could threaten to withdraw the hosting of next year’s African Nations Cup if Biya doesn’t offer a clear timeline for solving the Anglophone crisis. This threat to a major money spinner and point of prestige could shock Biya into action.The Conversation

Source: News 24


Presidentials 2018: Shrink your egos

30, September 2018

Presidentials 2018: Shrink your egos 0

The 2018 presidential election campaigns have just a week to go and the signs are not good for Cameroonians who have been struggling to stop their government that appears to be made up of ‘foreign’ mercenaries.

Over the last 26 years, there have been many elections in Cameroon and the ruling party, considered by an overwhelming majority of Cameroonians as a crime syndicate, has won most, if not all of the elections. The 2018 campaigns were launched a week ago, but the candidate of the ruling party, Paul Biya, only came out on September 29, 2018 to start campaigning.

The opposition candidates have been all over the country to seek votes that may take them to the Unity Palace, but what they are oblivious of is the fact that presidential elections have never been won in Cameroon via the ballot boxes.

In 1992, the SDF candidate, John Fru Ndi, proved that an incumbent could be defeated. He pulled crowds and told the right stories. His stories were music to many ears, but he and his party failed to figure out that the Supreme Court which was acting for the constitutional council, had other plans.

The results were released in favor of Mr. Biya who was popularly unpopular across the country. The country’s Supreme Court judges were Mr. Biya’s protégés and given their loyalty to such a brutal dictator, they could not publish the real results which were in favor of the SDF candidate.

In 1992, there was a small coalition, but other major parties had refused to join the Union for Change that was supposed to represent the opposition. Bouba Bello and Adamou Ndam Njoya felt they had more governance experience than Mr. Fru Ndi. They therefore decided to betray the people of Cameroon.

Mr. Bouba Bello has since then been an ally of the ruling party to the detriment of the people who are still under the yoke of an incompetent dictator whose penchant for waste is legendary. It should be recalled that Mr. Bouba Bello was directly involved in the 1984 coup d’état that almost resulted in the overthrow of Mr. Biya.

Mr. Bouba Bello had fled to Nigeria after the coup. He only came back when a general amnesty was granted to those who had been implicated in the coup. And all of this came about when Cameroonians fought tooth and nail to bring about multiparty politics in Cameroon.

The failure of the opposition in 1992 to engineer a strong coalition in the presidential elections of that year was the opposition’s greatest undoing. But has today’s opposition learned any lessons? From every indication, thunder might be striking twice in the same place. The opposition is yet to learn the lessons of the past.

The faces might have changed, but the mentality us still the same. While new faces have jumped into the political arena, the mentality of the past seems to be at work. The new faces in Cameroon’s political landscape may be different, but the thinking of those on the opposition has not changed that much.

Every Cameroonian erroneously thinks that he is presidential material. He selfishly holds that he is more intelligent than his compatriots. And this thinking is standing in the way of efforts aimed at unseating a dictator who is only counting on his rigging ability.

Part of the election rigging process is for the ruling party to argue that if the opposition was not divided, it could win the election.  But deep in the minds of ruling party supporters, they know that the opposition does not need to unite in order to win Mr. Biya who has been in power for 36 years and has nothing to show for his long stay in power.

The country’s economy is on its knees. The unemployment rate is unprecedented in this country that is endowed with enormous human and natural resources.  Corruption has become the government’s hallmark and it has indeed been institutionalized. Mr. Biya is the main engineer of this corruption and he has been using the country’s treasury as his personal ATM.

For 36 years, Mr. Biya and his government have failed to live up to the glorious expectations of the population. The country is bereft of basic infrastructure. Its roads are among the worst in the world. The railway network has collapsed and the country’s clinics are nothing more than consultation clinics.

Politically, Mr. Biya is considered as the worst catastrophe that ever visited the country. Cameroon is more divided today than it has ever been. Nepotism is the order of the day and people from the president’s ethic group are those who are running the show.

Though his ethic group accounts for less than 10% of the country’s population, they account for more than 70% of the country’s government. This has created a feeling of frustration among other ethnic groups which some allege are already talking about revenge once Mr. Biya leaves office.

With such a dismal economic and political performance, there is no way Mr. Biya could win the 2018 presidential election if it was free, fair and transparent. Today, Cameroon is on the brink of a civil war. The government has unleashed its militia and untrained soldiers on Southern Cameroonians who have been complaining of marginalization for more than five decades.

More than 4,000 people have been killed in less than two years as a result of the conflict pitting Southern Cameroonians against the government. Over the last month, government militia and soldiers, most of which are constituted of young Betis who are mad that power is slipping through their fingers, have been killing young male adults in the English-speaking region indiscriminately.

More than 200 villages have been burnt and children and old people have been burnt in their homes by government troops who enjoy using collective punishment as a tool to intimidate the population.  Over the last two weeks, more than half a million Southern Cameroonians have fled to East Cameroon in search of a safe haven.

More than a million have fled to Nigeria where they are living rough. Those who escaped to East Cameroon are still in trouble as the government has systematically and continuously arrested many of them who are seeking refuge in Yaounde or Douala.

As a justification for their arrest, the country’s defense minister, Joseph Beti Assomo, last week released a press statement indicating that there were separatists among English-speaking Cameroonians who had escaped the government’s military brutality to Yaounde.  Ever since that release was published, more than 2,000 Southern Cameroonians have already disappeared in Yaounde and thousands are concerned about their safety.

Meanwhile, those who do not have the means to travel to East Cameroon are being mowed down by government troops who have been given a license to shoot and kill. Last week alone, more than 500 innocent civilians were gunned down by army soldiers.  Yesterday night in Buea, a lady was pulled out of her home and shot in the leg by a Beti soldier.

In Bachou Ntai, many residents were slaughtered on Saturday, September 29 by army soldiers who were angry that pictures of Mr. Biya had been torn down by angry youths who held that the ruling party must not hold its campaign in their town.

Among those killed is the nephew of the Senate vice-president, Chief George Tabetando, who has been in favor of the killing of Southern Cameroonians.  With such a picture, there is no way the ruling party, that is being accused of having mismanaged a strike by teachers and lawyers, can win an election in Cameroon.

But if opposition parties have to make hay of the government’s incompetence, they must realize that making common cause will help them achieve their goal – unseating Mr. Biya and his ruling crime syndicate.

The major opposition parties must come together to give the people a chance at making their dream come true. Cameroonians are sick and tired of the government they have; a government that has been conducting itself as a bunch of mercenaries.

There is a huge need for a coalition. This will not be necessary in a transparent system, but since Cameroon is a country soaked in corruption and abnormalities, the ruling party must be denied that argument that will justify its rigging of the election.

Opposition leaders must shrink their egos. They must understand that they are operating in a system that has been designed to favor Mr. Biya.  They have to enhance their chances and this can only be achieved through a solid coalition that will render the ruling party’s rigging machinery ineffective and inefficient.

By Kingsley Betek


CPDM: Protective gear for criminals

29, September 2018

CPDM: Protective gear for criminals 0

Campaigns for the upcoming presidential elections are well underway and the CPDM presidential candidate who has not been campaigning travelled to Maroua to urge the northern population to grant him their votes.

While other presidential candidates have been all over the place highlighting what they will do if they are given power, Paul Biya, the man who has led the country for 36 years is counting more on a rigging machinery he has deployed.

The constitutional council, the body the publishes election results is replete with people loyal to him. ELECAM, the body that organizes elections, has already done its job and it has made sure that fewer opposition supporters have actually received their voter’s cards. While Mr. Biya was absent in the field, his surrogates have been doing their best to convince an electorate that is already aware of the ruling party’s dismal economic and political performance.

As the campaign progresses, it is clear that the English-speaking regions will not be part of the process. The heat is particularly on the CPDM, but hard core CPDM criminals are not backing off despite the threats from Southern Cameroonian fighters. They have huge skeletons in their cupboards and those skeletons may be exposed if they stop working for their party even in war-torn areas.

Like most people have said, the CPDM is a crime syndicate and its militants are using it for personal purposes.  Chief Moses Obenofunde and Mr Abey Napoleon Ntui seen here wearing military protective gear to campaign in Mamfe have once served as PAMOL’s general manager and Principal of Sar Ndekwai respectively. During their time at the various institutions, huge chunks of money cannot be accounted for.  Internal audits have been conducted and there is evidence that Chief. Obenofunde and Mr. Abey Napoleon Ntui are honest men when money is not involved.

To avoid jail time, they are using party loyalty as a shield against the law, but some party insiders who are not happy seeing these two men around the party are working underground for their arrest. It is obvious that after the election, they might be among those who would be appointed to a high position at the Kondengui Maximum Security Prison.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai


Pentagon stands by Biya regime-Despite forensic analysis showing its soldiers executed women and children

29, September 2018

Pentagon stands by Biya regime-Despite forensic analysis showing its soldiers executed women and children 0

THE WOMEN WERE slapped and shoved down a dusty road. They were blindfolded and forced to the ground. Then they, and two young children, were gunned down — 22 shots from assault rifles fired at close range — by men in military uniforms.

In July, The Intercept was the first media outlet to publish the complete, unedited footage of this murder of four civilians by members of the Cameroonian armed forces — a key U.S. military ally in the region — drawing on extensive investigative work by experts at Amnesty International. The government of Cameroon quickly dismissed reports that its soldiers were involved in the atrocity, calling it “fake news.”

A newly released digital forensic investigation by Amnesty and the BBC offers overwhelming evidence that pinpoints the location of the killings, the make and model of one of the weapons used, and even the identity of the perpetrators, not only demonstrating that they are members of the Cameroonian military, but even providing names of some of the alleged killers. The massacre took place between March 20 and April 5, 2015, not far from the town of Zelevet, in the Far North region of Cameroon, according to the findings.

A “vital” U.S. counterterrorism partner in the Lake Chad Basin, according to the Pentagon, Cameroon has been authorized to receive roughly $200 million in American security aid since 2015. For years, the United States has also provided intelligence and training in counterterrorism skills, such as urban assault operations, to Cameroon’s armed forces. The U.S. military utilizes an outpost in the north of the country, known as Contingency Location Garoua, to fly drone missions. Members of the Army’s Task Force Darby, a military unit that includes soldiers and airmen, also serve at the base to support Cameroonian forces fighting the terrorist group Boko Haram.

“We are aware of the video. At this time, we cannot confirm the authenticity of the video, nor can we confirm any possible military affiliation of those shown in this troubling video,” Maj. Sheryll Klinkel, a Pentagon spokesperson, told The Intercept after the massacre footage surfaced online in July.

The Pentagon appeared to be unswayed by the new BBC/Amnesty investigation. “I don’t have much more to provide you beyond what I have previously, nothing has changed recently,” Klinkel told The Intercept when asked about the new analysis.

“This is not an isolated incident,” Ilaria Allegrozzi, Amnesty International’s Lake Chad researcher, said of the atrocity footage. “This is part of an inherently abusive system put in place by the Cameroonian security forces to address security threats. Cameroonian security forces have a long track record of abusive conduct both in the Far North region, where they fight Boko Haram, and in the Anglophone regions, where they are deployed to confront the armed separatists.”

Last month, The Intercept published another video showing the massacre of civilians by Cameroonian soldiers. That mass killing likely took place in the village of Achigachiya, also in the Far North region, in January 2015.

In 2017, Amnesty, the London-based research firm Forensic Architecture, and The Intercept exposed illegal imprisonment, torture, and killings by Cameroonian troops at a remote military base known as Salak, which is also used by U.S. personnel and private contractors for training missions and drone surveillance. U.S. Africa Command launched an investigation, but never publicly announced details about its aims and has not released the results. AFRICOM has not responded to repeated requests from The Intercept seeking comment about the parameters, scope, and findings of its probe, which was headed by Brig. Gen. Timothy McAteer and concluded in November 2017.

“We urge the U.S. to make the findings of the AFRICOM investigation public to ascertain whether there was any knowledge of incommunicado detention, torture, and death in custody at the military outpost where U.S. military personnel were based — Salak — and to show that they take human rights issues seriously when it comes to their military cooperation,” Amnesty’s Allegrozzi told The Intercept.

The BBC identified the three men shown shooting women and children in the spring 2015 video as Cyriaque Bityala, Barnabas Donossou, and Lance Corporal Tsanga. All three appear on a list of troops arrested by the Cameroonian government in connection with the massacre. “Seven soldiers were arrested,” Issa Tchiroma Bakary, a Cameroonian government spokesperson, told the BBC. “They are under investigation right now.”

“The Cameroonian government is taking some steps to address allegations of human rights abuses. This includes the arrest of seven individuals linked to the first video, and President [Paul] Biya ordering official investigations into all videos purportedly depicting Cameroonian security forces engaging in extrajudicial killings,” Nick Sadoski, deputy spokesperson of the State Department’s Africa Bureau, told The Intercept. “The Cameroonian government has made some efforts toward transparency and reached out to the international community for assistance. This includes the Ministry of Defense undertaking a U.S. government-funded program to train and establish 40 military legal advisers to advance human rights principles and promote security force accountability in the field commands around Cameroon.”

Cameroon’s embassy in Washington, D.C. did not respond to repeated requests for an interview. Nor has Cameroon’s government released any further information in regard to its investigation of the massacre of the women and children, according to the U.S. State Department.

“The next step is for the Cameroonian government to reveal more information about those arrested, where they are being held, whether they have a lawyer, the charges against them, and when or if a trial will start,” said Amnesty’s Allegrozzi. “They also need to provide information on who was in command of those soldiers. We are calling for an independent and impartial investigation into these heinous crimes.”

Source: The Intercept


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