Monthly Archives: November 2018

25, November 2018

Nigerian President Breaks Silence on Military Base Attack ⁰

Nigeria’s president has finally broken his silence about the deaths of dozens of soldiers killed by Islamist militants a week ago in the northeastern state of Borno.

President Muhammadu Buhari’s office issued a statement Saturday, saying that he had “expressed deep shock over the killing of military personnel.”

“Immediate measures are being taken to ensure that the loopholes which led to the fatalities are blocked once and for all,” according to the statement.

The president said he will meet with military and intelligence chiefs “in the coming days” to plan their “next steps.”

At least 40 soldiers were reported to have been killed Nov. 18 at a military base in the village of Metele.

Security sources, however, told Reuters that around 100 Nigerian soldiers were killed in the attack that they say was carried out by the Islamic State in West Africa.

The Nigerian Army did not acknowledge the attack until Friday and has not provided information about casualties.

Source: VOA

25, November 2018

Southern Cameroons War: What Father Omboto said minutes to his death in Kembong ⁰

Father Cosmas Omboto shouted at few catechists and church members to hide behind the church before meeting the bullet, it has been revealed.

An emotional Bishop Andrew Nkea of Mamfe Diocese says Omboto, a Kisii priest working in St Martin Tours Parish in Kembong was shot dead by government soldiers who were shooting at the church.

“It’s painful that we lost him while at service. Soldiers started shooting indiscriminately and Father Omboto moved around asking those presenter to hide behind the church.

“The bullet met him in front of the church when asking catechists and worshippers to hide behind the church on Wednesday 3pm,” Nkea told BBC Radio.

The youthful priest who was ordained in 2017 March by Bishop Joseph Mairura, is said to have returned to volatile Kembong in April this year, four months after running away to Mamfe Diocese.

And back at Gusii home, a section of priests have joined his family in mourning with some calling for stability in South West part of Cameroon.

“It’s sad that the Mill Hill priest, our son was killed in a foreign country. We call for enhanced security in Cameroon for the sake of poor people. We shall organise for his burial,” said Father Lawrence Nyaanga.

Separatists anglophones are engaged in running battles with government forces after their agitation to break away from francophone dominance failed.

Source: Hivisasa.com

24, November 2018

Battle for Ambazonia: “The situation in Nkambe, Bali, Kembong, Ekok and Wum is very volatile” ⁰

The French and the United States governments including the Roman Catholic Church should pressure President Biya and his small group of Francophone political elites to stop the war in Southern Cameroons, says an academic and chairman of the Manyu Global Forum Seseskou Dr. Peter Ako adding that the situation in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia is now deplorable.

In a telephone conversation with our senior political man, Soter Agbaw-Ebai late yesterday, Sesekou Dr Ako Peter revealed that the Ambazonian Interim Government (IG) and the Ambazonia Security Council (ASC) were developing a new self defense strategy that will be implemented on Ground Zero soon. He showered praises on the Lebialem Dragons and hinted that there was an urgent need for the IG to order a tactical withdrawal of Restoration Forces in Bali, Batibo including parts of Menchum and Mezam until the new ASC policy goes operational.

“The situation in Nkambe, Bali, Kembong, Ekok and Wum is very volatile. This is nothing new. The French Cameroun government is carrying out raids in these localities in a very brutal manner. I think there is an urgent need for a kind of tactical withdrawal of Restoration Forces. I have endorsed that already in Eyumojock and Akwaya sub constituencies in the Manyu County,” said Sesekou Dr Ako Peter.

“I am not allowed to comment on self defense issues particularly with people of the press. But I want to assure Southern Cameroonians that an inquiry took place on the happenings in Nkambe that was ordered by Acting President Ikome Sako which established the use of helicopters and machine guns by French Cameroun security forces,” Sesekou Dr Ako Peter told Cameroon Concord News Group.

The former MECA USA Chairman also observed that “Whilst the French Cameroun regime is calling these genocidal campaigns a war against separatists, the killing of innocent Southern Cameroons civilians including Christian Missionaries should be condemned internationally and there should be pressure put on the French Cameroun regime to dialogue with the Ambazonian Interim Government.”

By Chi Prudence Asong with files from Soter Agbaw-Ebai

24, November 2018

Southern Cameroons leader, 9 others charged with terrorism!! Trial to begin Dec.6 ⁰

A pro Biya Francophone Attorney General on Thursday November the 22nd charged the leader of the Ambazonian republic and nine others with terrorism. The Yaoundé Military Tribunal held a secret hearing with what is now known as the Nera 10 in the absence of the abductees’ lawyers and the Southern Cameroons leaders were transferred afterwards to the Yaoundé Principal Prison, in Kondengui.

The Southern Cameroons Interim Government’s spokesman, Hon. Chris Anu reported that eyewitnesses saw nine of them as they went through protocol at the Kondengui high security prison. Chris Anu added that “If anything, the event is a clear indication that Yaoundé has no intentions to release the leaders of our revolution in spite of the calls for their immediate and unconditional release.”

The French Cameroun judge who earlier met with the 85 year old Biya privately at the Unity Palace leveled the charge against President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe the interim head of state of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia including nine of his top aides. Cameroon Intelligence Report understands that several detained Ambazonian activists are facing the same charge. A well-placed source in Yaoundé hinted this reporter that President Biya has ordered another Francophone judge to begin the trial on December the 6^th.

No human rights activist or legal representations were allowed outside or inside the Yaoundé Military Tribunal where the so-called preliminary hearing took place. The International Crisis Group including many humanitarian organizations has criticized the abduction and illegal extradition of the Southern Cameroons leaders from Abuja, Nigeria.

The Southern Cameroons Acting President Dr Samuel Ikome Sako has also been quoted as saying that President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe is not a terrorist but a great leader who has fought for years against French Cameroun colonial rule in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

Elsewhere, Cameroon military said on Friday that it has killed at least 43 armed Ambazonia separatists’ fighters. The Biya regime army spokesperson also observed that troops destroyed at least three camps in several operations since Thursday in Bali village in the Mezam administrative area and Abu village in the Fundong administrative area in the North West region. The military reportedly seized a huge consignment of guns, ammunition, machetes, motorcycles and drugs.

The military added that they found the separatist hideouts after tracking one of the gunmen suspected of kidnapping 79 students and three staff members from a school on Nov. 4. La Republique du Cameroun and Southern Cameroons are both experiencing deadliest-ever socio-political crisis and the worst since the war to crush the UPC uprising, when the two territories were governed by the late President Ahmadou Ahidjo. More than 4000 Southern Cameroonian civilians have died in the ongoing violence including some 1600 Cameroon government army soldiers. The Southern Cameroons war has also claimed the lives of a sea of foreign and local missionaries.

The protests against French Cameroun dominance were triggered by a proposed system overhaul by Anglophone teachers and lawyers. Recently, former United States Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Affairs, Herman Jay Cohen again noted that the ongoing war for territorial control between French Cameroun and the Federal Republic of Ambazonia is unwinnable by either side, and therefore recommended that the protagonists should approach the current Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Affairs, Ambassador Tibor Nagy, to begin a mediation process to end the imbroglio. The former diplomat and scholar who brokered a peace deal to end the Eritrean versus Ethiopia war in 1991, among others, made the statement in a recent tweet on his official Twitter handle @CohenOnAfrica.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files

24, November 2018

Time for France to give back looted African art ⁰

African artworks held in French museums – richly carved thrones, doors to a royal kingdom, wooden statues imbued with spiritual meaning – may be heading back home to Africa at last.

French President Emmanuel Macron, trying to turn the page on France’s colonial past , received a report Friday on returning art looted from African lands.

From Senegal to Ethiopia, artists, governments and museums eagerly awaited the report by French art historian Benedicte Savoy and Senegalese economist Felwine Sarr, and commissioned by Macron himself.

It recommends that French museums give back works that were taken without consent, if African countries request them – and could increase pressure on museums elsewhere in Europe to follow suit.

The experts estimate that up to 90 percent of African art is outside the continent, including statues, thrones and manuscripts. Thousands of works are held by just one museum, the Quai Branly Museum in Paris, opened in 2006 to showcase non-European art – much of it from former French colonies. The museum wouldn’t immediately comment on the report.

Among disputed treasures in the Quai Branly are several works from the Dahomey kingdom, in today’s West African country of Benin: the metal-and-wood throne of 19th-century King Ghezo, the doors to the palace of Kign Gele, and imposing, wooden statues.

The head of Ethiopia’s Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage, Yonas Desta, said the report shows “a new era of thought” in Europe’s relations with Africa.

Senegal’s culture minister, Abdou Latif Coulibaly, told The Associated Press: “It’s entirely logical that Africans should get back their artworks. … These works were taken in conditions that were perhaps legitimate at the time, but illegitimate today.”

The report is just a first step. Challenges ahead include enforcing the report’s recommendations, especially if museums resist, and determining how objects were obtained and whom to give them to.

The report is part of broader promises by Macron to turn the page on France’s troubled relationship with Africa. In a groundbreaking meeting with students in Burkina Faso last year, Macron stressed the “undeniable crimes of European colonization” and said he wants pieces of African cultural heritage to return to Africa “temporarily or definitively.”

“I cannot accept that a large part of African heritage is in France,” he said at the time.

The French report could have broader repercussions. In Cameroon, professor Verkijika Fanso, historian at the University of Yaounde One, said: “France is feeling the heat of what others will face. Let their decision to bring back what is ours motivate others.”

Germany has worked to return art seized by the Nazis, and in May the organization that coordinates that effort, the German Lost Art Foundation, said it was starting a program to research the provenance of cultural objects collected during the country’s colonial past.

Britain is also under pressure to return art taken from its former colonies. In recent months, Ethiopian officials have increased efforts to secure the return of looted artifacts and manuscripts from museums, personal collections and government institutions across Britain, including valuable items taken in the 1860s after battles in northern Ethiopia, Yonas said.

In Nigeria, a group of bronze casters over the years has strongly supported calls for the return of artifacts taken from the Palace of the Oba of Benin in 1897 when the British raided it. The group still uses their forefathers’ centuries-old skills to produce bronze works in Igun Street, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Eric Osamudiamen Ogbemudia, secretary of the Igun Bronze Casters Union in Benin City, said: “It was never the intention of our fathers to give these works to the British. It is important that we get them back so as to see what our ancestors left behind.”

Ogbemudia warned the new French report should not remain just a “recommendation merely to make Africans to calm down.

“Let us see the action.”

Source: AP

24, November 2018

Nigeria: Army confirms Boko Haram rampage, mute on casualty figures ⁰

The Nigerian Army has confirmed one of the the deadliest attacks by Boko Haram on its troops with the known casualty figures rising as high as a hundred slain soldiers.

The Army in a statement on Friday said the attack on 157 Task Force Battalion at Matele indeed took place.

“Whilst it is true that there was an attack on the location on 18 November 2018, it has however, become necessary to correct several misinformation being circulated with regards to this unfortunate event,” the statement read in part.

The army explained that its delay in relaying the incident was because of procedural issues on having to inform the next of kin of affected troops before going public with such information.

Whiles claiming there was misinformation in figures and videos currently circulating on social media, the army failed to provide a casualty figure. They also urged against spread of Boko Haram propaganda materials.

“Furthermore, it suffices to observe that several social media, print and online publications have been brandishing false casualty figures as well as circulating various footages of old and inaccurate BHT propaganda videos and alluding same to be the attack on 157 Task Force Battalion.

“Whilst it is understandable how such misinformation can spread in this era of social media frenzy, the spurious circulation of some of these videos only contribute to further propagate the propaganda intent of the terrorists; to misinform the populace and portray themselves as what they are not.

“So far, the situation is that the location is under control as reinforcing units have been able to repel the terrorists and stabilize the situation,” the statement added.

Meanwhile the local news portal, The Nation Nigeria quotes an unnamed soldier that escaped the attack as saying an advanced team of the insurgents came into the based as friendly forces and went into the office of the commander where they fired at him and five other soldiers that were with him in his office.

The Army command in Maiduguri have evacuated bodies of soldiers killed by Boko Haram insurgents on Sunday at Metele village in Guzamala Local Government Area of North Borno State, the portal added.

Source: Africa News

23, November 2018

Cameroon and Mali reach the Women’s Afcon semi-finals as hosts Ghana go out ⁰

Cameroon and Mali qualified for the 2018 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations semi-finals from Group A on Friday as hosts Ghana were eliminated along with Algeria.

Ghana drew 1-1 with Cameroon in Accra but the point was not enough for the home favourites as Mali beat Algeria 3-2 in Cape Coast.

It means that both Cameroon and Mali have a chance to represent Africa at next year’s World Cup with the top three finishers in Ghana all qualifying for France 2019.

In Accra, Ghana played like the team that needed the win against Cameroon, keeping a lot of the possession – but the early chances were long range efforts that either went wide or over the bar.

Captain Elizabeth Addo, restored to the starting line-up, had a free-kick saved and then saw a decent strike from a narrow angle hit the post and go for a corner.

On the half-hour mark the hosts took the lead when a Portia Boakye free-kick from the left floated high into the area and Anette Ngo Ndom misjudged the flight of the ball which dropped behind her into an empty net.

Cameroon equalised shortly before half-time when Aboudi Onguene was fouled running down the left wing for a blatant penalty.

Captain Christine Manie rolled the ball to the left with Asantewaa, who replaced previous first choice Patricia Mantey, diving the other way.

With the score level at 1-1 in Accra, Ghana looked as though they would progress at the expense of Mali, but the Malians staged a dramatic fight-back after twice going behind to Algeria in Cape Coast.

Mali could have taken the lead themselves after 19 minutes when they were awarded a penalty but Bassira Toure’s effort was saved by Kahina Takenint.

Lydia Belkacemi then put Algeria ahead after 37 minutes, with Fatoumata Diarra hitting an equaliser for Mali in the second half.

Imene Merrouche restored Algeria’s lead from the penalty spot in the 62nd minute to make it 2-1 with Mali seemingly down and out.

But a dramatic goal from Aissatou Diadhiou seven minutes from time made it 2-2 to Mali – which meant Ghana needed to score again to avoid elimination.

Mali made sure of their place in the semi-finals with an injury-time winner, again from the spot, from Fatoumata Diarra – her second of the game.

On Saturday, the focus will be on Group B as holders Nigeria face former champions Equatorial Guinea, with Zambia up against South Africa in the other match.

All four sides have a chance to reach the semi-finals.

23, November 2018

UN Praises Nigerian Governor For Taking Care Of Southern Cameroons Refugees ⁰

Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, has been lauded by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees for hosting and taking care of the Cameroonian refugees in the state. The state government over some months now has been taking care of over 10,000 refugees who escaped from Cameroon as a result of the ongoing crisis in the country and are taking refuge in Kwande Local Government Area of Benue State.

The Representative of UNHCR in West Africa Region, Louis Ahua, gave the commendation, on Thursday, when she paid the Governor a courtesy visit at the State Government House, in Makurdi.

Mrs. Ahua, who was accompanied on the visit by the agency’s representative in Nigeria, Mr. Antonio Kanhandula, said the governor’s support had in no small way complemented the agency’s humanitarian work of providing the welfare of refugees, many of whom were being camped in Kwande Local Government Area of the state.

She commiserated with Governor Ortom over the attacks in the state which have resulted in the killing of many lives and displacement of thousands of people even as she assured of the agency’s support for his administration to do more.

Governor Ortom, while reacting to their commendation, thanked the UNHCR for donating vehicles to his government to better cater for the refugees, noted that the little challenge of the refugees with the immediate community was being addressed by the Tor Tiv.

He added that if after the intervention of the Tor Tiv, the matter was still not resolved, he would personally step in so that the refugees would have a peaceful stay in Benue State.

Source: Naijanews

23, November 2018

Southern Cameroons War: Kenyan priest ‘was shot dead as he preached’ ⁰

A sombre mood has engulfed Sengera area in Kisii, the home village of Father Cosmas Ondari Thursday who was killed by suspected Cameroon soldiers on Wednesday evening.

Family members and relatives of the slain priest said they received news of his death with utmost shock.

SHOOTING

Fr Omboto was holding an evening church mass when a soldier shot him in the head killing him on the spot, according to reports the family received from Cameroon.

The country has been experiencing a surge in conflicts in volatile English-speaking Southwest region where a group is vouching for separation from Yaoundé.

His father Charles Omboto said his son was on a missionary mission when he was killed.

“The news we have is that he was holding a mass but the congregants upon seeing the soldiers scampered leaving him alone and that is the time he was shot dead,” Mr Omboto said.

His body was discovered by a group of worshippers who had returned to the church compound shortly after the soldiers left.

SPIRITUAL

“He had remained alone because he had not known that people there always run away when the see the military and that is how he got killed,” Mr Omboto told the Nation at his Sengera home in Bomachoge Borabu.

Relatives and church members on Thursday flocked to the home to offer condolences.

Family members of the deceased and the church on Friday condemned the incident terming it uncalled for.

Most parishioners described the late cleric as “very spiritual” and a man fired by the missionary spirit.

“He grew amongst us and was concerned with spiritual things and that is how he ended up in serving the church as a missionary,” said Sister Mary Naitumbi.

Family members said they may not be able to travel to bury the body in Cameroon and requested the Mill Hill Society to make arrangements so that the body can be brought to Kenya.

“We are not compelling them but if they can bring him back home, it will be better for us,” Mr Omboto said.

Fr Ondari’s brother Bonface Omboto said they had learnt of the death of his brother with a heavy heart.

CONDOLENSES

He was away in Uganda when he got a phone call breaking the news of his brother’s death on Thursday.

Kisii Parish Bishop John Mairura described the late priest as one who was dedicated to the work of the Catholic Church.

“He was a young priest fired with missionary spirit but death has snubbed him at a time we knew he had much still left to do in reaching out to lost souls,” Fr Mairura told the Nation by phone.

Kisii University Catholic Chaplain Lawrence Nyaanga condemned the attack and the killing of the Kenyan priest by Cameroon soldiers.

“Priests are in a different war frontline, to save souls not to fight. Fr Ondari was not armed, he was preaching the word and healing a society wracked by conflicts and that is why we condemn the incident in the strongest terms possible,” he said.

Similar sentiments were shared by sisters and priests from Sengera Parish where the late cleric was laid on hands before he set off in the missionary work.

Until his death, Fr Omboto was a Mill Hill priest serving in the Diocese of Mamfe.

He was ordained in Kisii alongside two other priests and appointed to the Diocese of Mamfe, according to the St Joseph Missionary Society.

On Thursday, his father said Fr Omboto had recently returned home to renew his passports before he went back to Cameroon only to meet his death months later.

OTHERS

Fr Omboto’s death has shone the light on the rising number of religious leaders killed amid a conflict that has lasted two-years and gripped the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon.

The priest had been working with people displaced by the conflict.

An American Catholic missionary was killed at the beginning of November in the Northeast region. The government blamed separatists but Washington said he died in cross-fire.

Last October, US Baptist Missionary Charles Truman Wesco was killed in the Northwestern town of Bambui near Bamenda.

A Roman Catholic priest, Fr Alexander Nougi Sob, was killed in the South western town of Muyuka in July.

THE CONFLICT

The Cameroonian conflict began as an industrial strike by lawyers and teachers in 2016 and snowballed into an internal armed conflict last year, when separatists joined in and symbolically declared the independence of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

At least 400 “ordinary people” and more than 175 members of the security forces have been killed, according to statistics by local and international groups that have been documenting abuses in the escalating violence. They include Amnesty International.

More than 300,000 people have fled the violence and now live from hand-to-mouth, in forests and across the border into Nigeria, where they are exposed to various dangers.

Source: Daily Nation

23, November 2018

Pro CPDM Archbishop pledges to alleviate hardship in Southern Cameroons ⁰

Archbishop Jean Mbarga of Yaoundé says the Catholic Church can play a big role in helping Cameroonians affected by the secessionist uprising in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions, as well as the millions of Cameroonians affected by poverty and other hardships.

During an event to launch a fund-raising to benefit the poor and destitute of Cameroon, the archbishop talked about charity as a major part of the Christian faith, and the role the Church’s aid agency Caritas has to play.

“The Caritas Foundation-Cameroon is the voice of the bishops at the service of the poor,” Mbarga told journalists during a press conference in Yaoundé on Nov. 12.

“The bishops have decided to not remain indifferent, vis-à-vis the growth of misery. That is why we put in place the Caritas Foundation. That means that henceforth, we have a reliable instrument to sensitize the population on the need for generosity, mobilize for the African hospitality and above all mobilize for Christian charity,” he said.

The archbishop pointed out Cameroon was host to hundreds of thousands of refugees who need “to find a home among us. The needy should find help.”

Most of the refugees in Cameroon are fleeing internal conflicts in Chad and the Central African Republic.

Mbarga said the poor and destitute require access to water and healthcare, young people need support to set up enterprises, and projects of community interest need to be carried out.

“Remember that Caritas is an institution for aid and development,” the archbishop said.

Of great concern to the archbishop is the ongoing Anglophone Crisis in Cameroon, where government forces have been fighting separatists in Cameroon’s English-speaking North West and South West regions for nearly two years now.

Teachers’ and lawyers’ strikes in 2016 over perceived attempts by the francophone-dominated administration to destroy the Anglo-Saxon-educational and legal systems practiced in Anglophone Cameroon mutated into political demands for independence by the Anglophone minority, who make up around 20 percent of the population.

Now separatists wish to establish a new country, called Ambazonia.

According to the spokesman for the Cameroon military, Col. Didier Badjeck, at least 1,000 people -mostly separatist fighters – have been killed in the fighting. The military has lost 200 soldiers – exceeding the number of soldiers killed in Cameroon’s four-year war against Boko Haram.

The crisis has led to the displacement of at least 437,000 people, according to the UNHCR, most of them in dire need of humanitarian assistance. In addition, 58 schools have been destroyed and 3.3 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance.

“This year’s fund-raising naturally targets those in need and in emergency situations,” Mbarga said.

“Last year, we were living in relative peace. This year, we are faced with very heavy humanitarian needs. How do we take part in that reconstruction work as Christians and how do we come to the help of the affected families, who have lost loved ones? How do we help in rebuilding schools and hospitals that have been burnt? All these require of us, generosity,” the archbishop said.

While the Anglophone crisis has dominated the news from the country, Cameroon’s rates of poverty remain disheartening: At least 30 percent of the population lives below the poverty line and 70 percent of the country’s over 25 million people still don’t have access to potable water.

The Director of Caritas Foundation Cameroon, Father Kisito Mballa Onana, said Cameroon was also suffering from a refugee crisis as a result of the fighting in the Anglophone regions.

“They live under precarious conditions,” he said.

“The Church wants to do something in terms of improving their living conditions, education, training and healthcare.”

Cameroon was governed under a federal system of government between 1961-1972, giving English-speakers a large degree of autonomy from the French-speaking majority.

The Catholic Church has been opposed to secession, calling on the authorities to initiate an inclusive dialogue with the various stakeholders.

In a May 16 letter, the bishops called for an end to the fighting.

“Let’s stop all forms of violence, and let’s stop killing each other. We are all brothers and sisters; let’s engage in dialogue, reconciliation, justice and peace.”

But the situation has continued to get worse.

“These last days, the number of deaths and people kidnapped has continued to rise…the secessionists are gaining ground. They too are violent and kill people,” Onana told Crux.

Source: Crux