Monthly Archives: April 2019

30, April 2019

Ambazonia Interim Gov’t: Looming Cabinet reshuffle a Sako-Irene Ngwa affair ⁰

Ambazonia Acting President Samuel Ikome Sako ’s forthcoming Cabinet shakeup has been described as a “CPDM Coup” meant to stifle the Southern Cameroons revolution and prepare him for a takeover from Sisiku Ayuk Tabe by axing those opposed to his failed leadership.

The Southern Cameroons European bloc says that instead of a Cabinet reshuffle, the disgraced Ambazonia leader should just step aside and save the Southern Cameroons resistance and quest for independence. Southern Cameroons leaders in France, Belgium, Holland, the UK and Germany have unanimously opined that the Sako reshuffle is a joke that isn’t funny.

While prominent Southern Cameroons voices have called for calm observing that for our struggle to succeed, we must be committed to the principle, which is the Southern Cameroons and not individuals. And that much time was needed for the governing IG structures to correct discernible errors based on forensic evidence, Cameroon Concord News Group can now reveal that Dr Samuel Ikome Sako is no longer the man to lead us to Buea.

The general opinion is that Sako is simply the biggest stumbling block to the Ambazonia revolution. To be sure, the Ambazonian Interim Government under Sako is pack with lazy, corrupt and incompetent people. It is abundantly clear that Sako’s reshuffle is meant to crush those opposed to him and Irene Ngwa and has nothing to do with the performance but more to do with factional wars in the Interim Government.

This shudder and cockiness is reverberating around the whole nation. Cameroon Concord News Group is trying to make sense of this absurdity. The fact that Sako hasn’t got the decency or respect to consult the pillars of the struggle some of whom are in Kondengui speaks volumes of his intent. This looks like a coup. Come to think of it, it is a coup. He has arrived. He has made himself President by Executive Order.

We now understand that the jailed leaders in Kondengui were reportedly informed of the so-called reshuffle by a third party. This utter disregard for the institution and structure of government must be condemned in the strongest terms. The question now is if the Restoration Council can have a pair of brass balls to block this madness. If Chairman Kometa and his team don’t block this psychosis, they will be confined to the dustbin of Ambazonia history and every indictment that comes their way will be deserved.

This so-called new cabinet is a Chris Anu-Irene Ngwa affair!! And it is intended to hide the truth that Sako and his gang misappropriated the proceeds of MTTB. He then hired a friend of his to prepare an audit report. No cabinet reshuffle will mend this. The buck stops with the leader. No amount of cover-up will make this go away. Southern Cameroonians have elected to vote with their wallets. The IG as we speak has no finances. The LGAs are in charge and no competent and rightful thinking County head will authorize payment to this clowns.

In his new cabinet, Acting Interim President is expected to appoint Presidential Security and a Webmaster. IG sources have hinted that Professor Martin Ayim has moved from a nurse to a PhD in Physical Education and has just been made Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. Prof Ayim is Sako’s political hit man. After a trip to South Africa last year, Ayim returned and made up a story that Milan Atam had met Issa Tchiroma, he was rewarded with the position of Chief of Staff. After a personal attack on Chris Anu last week, his boss was so impressed with his skills and rewarded him with Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.

For failing to raise $100,000 in Berlin for Sako , Dr Elad has been sacked and given an insignificant role in the cabinet. Sako and Chris Anu are strange bed fellows but Chris will carry on as Secretary of Communication. The esteemed Barrister Ndeh has been demoted for failing to find legal grounds to make Sako the Ambazonian Head of State.

Acting Interim President Sako has also appointed members into the Ethics Commission including a General Manager of the Ambazonia National TV station, ABC. Sako’s new cabinet has more than six Pastors with congregations in several basements in the USA.

Chairman Kometa and the Restoration Council have an easy decision to make. They can be accomplices in this madness or attack the problem. They can stand up for the constitution and institutions of Ambazonia or participate in ripping them apart. One thing is for sure, the people of Ambazonia will hold them collectively accountable. They have to know that the Nuclear Option of an alternative Government is now inevitable and imminent if they fail in their constitutional responsibilities.

By Haggai Fung Achuo

Cameroon Concord News Group

30, April 2019

“The Southern Cameroons Interim Government is now a thing of the past” ⁰

The much publicised ASSC Berlin Conference took place some two weeks ago. Millions of Southern Cameroonians waited in joyful hope for this event. It was attended by some of the best brains in Africa’s newest nation-The Federal Republic of Ambazonia. The one million dollar question is: Were they served a delicious menu of hope and liberation or was it another symposium that promised more than it delivered? Cameroon Concord News Group was represented by a cream of very experienced news reporters including its London Bureau Chief.

On day 1 of the conference, Cameroon Concord News and its sister publication, Cameroon Intelligence Report published a report on the Southern Cameroons demonstration outside the Nigerian Embassy in Berlin, Germany. However, coverage of the Ambazonia Berlin Conference ended there. The protest at the Nigerian embassy was a commendable initiative by the organizers and every Ambazonian who attended the conference. Any action that takes the Southern Cameroons plight to the international stage is worthy to be praised. It was also the first time that the Acting President of the Interim Government of Ambazonia, Dr Sako Ikome visited Southern Cameroonians outside the United States of America.

Thousands of our Southern Cameroons readers have wondered aloud why we of the Cameroon Concord News Group did not produce more write-ups about the event after the first report. The truth is we watched the spectacle that was put together by the Ambazonia Interim Government in Berlin like many of our readers with anticipation. Hardworking and mission driven Southern Cameroonians in Germany did their best to welcome all Ambazonian comrades who made the trip. In this soul-searching conversation our Chairman who also moonlights as editor-in-chief, Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai says the IG is now a thing of the past.

Cameroon Concord News: You were in Germany but blatantly refused to make the trip to Berlin

Soter Agbaw-Ebai: We had a very intensive and productive debate with my reporters and contributing editors in the UK, Germany and Belgium on whether we had to cover the conference. I gave the green light for them to travel to Berlin but stayed me in Mulheim because I felt we should have received an official invitation from Sako and his cabinet to cover the said conference.

Cameroon Concord News: We understand, you were constantly being briefed about the happenings in Berlin. Is this true?

Soter Agbaw-Ebai: Yes it is true! The first document that was sent to me via Whatsapp was the event flyer designed with the headline ‘the syncretizing conference’. Either the IG didn’t understand the meaning of the word or it was deliberately employed to deceive Ambazonians. The conference was anything but syncretizing. It was so poorly executed that there was no written program to follow. Every member of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government that was present in the hall was also a Master of Ceremony. The fight for the microphone to speak gibberish was preposterous. Considering that many delegates sponsored themselves, this was a colossal waste of money for little or no benefit. The money would have been well spent in Ground Zero which was the aim of the conference

Cameroon Concord News: You reportedly ordered Chi Prudence to leave the venue. What prompted you to make such a decision?

Soter Agbaw-Ebai: Prudence and other members of the Concord team complained that they had never seen so many security clowns around one individual. Sako flew in from the US with security guards and Prudence told me they were too many. What a joke! What a waste of money. He has been caught up by the trappings of power long before he has had any. She reported to me that Sako spoke with unbelievable sluggishness, his audience was always asleep. No energy, direction or drive. One County head was unequivocal that he won’t trust Sako with a dime as he had no clue and charisma. Sako looked and acted robotic with no engagement with the audience. The disrespect he endured from his cabinet was there for all present to see. Chris Anu and other so-called cabinet ministers walked in after Sako was already in the hall. None of them showed any respect or interest whilst he was talking. It was a shame and embarrassing for all present. I had to ask Prudence to jet back to London.

Cameroon Concord News: Mister Chairman, what is your take on the Berlin Conference situation?

Soter Agbaw-Ebai: I personally believe that Berlin was a missed opportunity for Dr Sako and his team. Consequently, the IG is now a thing of the past. Ever since one cabinet Secretary publicly alleged corruption by another, Ambazonian donors have elected to stop all financial donations to the Interim Government. Berlin was a failed attempt by Sako and his acolytes to raise funds. The target was to raise $ 100,000 and claim it was for ‘Ground Zero’. But Southern Cameroonian elites who have the power of the purse knew that it was donating to fund Sako’s lavish and corrupt lifestyle. Most of the County Coordinators had other plans! He only managed to raise$62,500 with $17,500 paid and $45,000 in pledges.

Permit me add here that hardworking Ambazonians in Germany had to pay out from their pockets for the venues, catering and hotels as the Interim Government had no money. They had to wait for the money that came in on the first day of the conference to get reimbursed. This is not what our leader Sisiku Ayuk Tabe wished for our people.

Cameroon Concord News: Some have opined that you are against Sako and the IG

Soter Agbaw-Ebai: Those who maintain that view are just being deliberately stupid. I am however familiar with such things. Let me open up to you a little!! There was a lady in Berlin now being referred to as the Grace Mugabe of Ambazonia. Her real name is Irene Ngwa. I have evidence that she runs the IG with an iron fist. She personally made a telephone call to the organizers in Berlin and instructed them on what size hotel room to book for Sako and the distance between her room and that of Sako. This is shameful. Hundreds of fighters are dying daily and our people are sleeping in the forest and the IG and its official are obsessed about hotel rooms. You should also remember that part of my interview with President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe in the presence of Prof Carlson Anyangwe in London was done inside the Sisiku’s hotel room where he shared a bed with Prof Anyangwe. It was indeed a Bread and Breakfast accommodation!! That to me was sacrifice that President Ayuk Tabe and Prof Anyangwe were showing to the people of Southern Cameroons.

Cameroon Concord News: For the first time in this conversation, you have made some disturbing revelations. Our readers would love to know more about the Grace Mugabe of Southern Cameroons.

Soter Agbaw-Ebai: I discuss issues with facts blackmailing not being part of my heritage. Irene Ngwa is the Director of Resource Mobilization at the Ambazonia Presidency, Director of My Trip to Buea Fund, Board Member of Ambazonia Treasury Board, Director and Coordinator of Amba Peace Plan, LGA by LGA. Even President Robert Mugabe didn’t have the audacity to appoint Grace to so many top ranking positions.

My Trip to Buea raised over $807,000. Just last week, the ASC published irrefutable evidence that they only received $120,000 of that fund. Sako and his gang spent all in hotels, restaurant and renting cars. They are running out of cash and like gamblers and drug addicts they wrongfully thought Berlin was going to give them a platform to raise more money to fund their Made-in-Calabar corrupt habits.

Cameroon Concord News: Southern Cameroonians are of the opinion that Sako is in constant consultation with President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe

Soter Agbaw-Ebai: Are you kidding me? Are you for real? Are you part of this news group? You are an important person in the Concord News structure and you should be aware that Sako hasn’t had the decency to call President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and the other leaders in jail since February 2019. For your information, Sako travelled to Berlin with the intention of getting that assembly to endorse him as President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. He sees himself as Head of State forgetting that he is acting for someone who is accessible by phone. Over the last few weeks his surrogates have disseminated the falsehood that the meeting in Berlin had given him a mandate to reshuffle his cabinet and create new departments. I have been informed that he has already announced his new cabinet pushing out all of Sisisku Ayuk’s men. I have not seen the so-called decree but my team in the USA is working on it.

The decision to bring in Sako was a grave error of judgment and a costly mistake by members of the Ambazonian Interim Government. I think Sako should step aside for Southern Cameroonians of goodwill to reboot this revolution. If not, serious decisions will have to be made against him.

Cameroon Concord News: Thank you very much for your time and a very Happy Birthday to you Mister Chairman

Soter Agbaw-Ebai: You are welcome

This interview was conducted by Diamond Esoh for the Cameroon Concord News Group

30, April 2019

France: Experts warn Macron against rushing to rebuild Notre-Dame ⁰

More than a thousand architects, conservationists and academics from around the world urged French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday to exercise caution as he moves forward with plans to rapidly rebuild Paris’s Notre-Dame cathedral.

Macron pledged to rebuild the cathedral within five years, after a devastating fire destroyed its spire and reduced much of the roof to cinders on April 15.

In the weeks that followed, a special bill was drafted, that – if approved – would allow the government to speed the project along by bypassing public procurement legislation and laws on cultural heritage.

Yet Macron’s apparent determination to rebuild Notre-Dame as quickly as possible has left many experts worried. In an open letter published on Monday by French daily Le Figaro, 1,170 architects, conservationists and academics from around the world called on the French president not to rush into reconstruction.

“Paris’s Notre-Dame is not just a cathedral, nor just one of Europe’s major architectural monuments. It is a landmark that has, for nearly the past 200 years, been at the centre of French and international protections and ethics on historic monuments,” the letter said.

The cathedral has been safeguarded by cultural heritage laws in France since 1862. In 1991, UNESCO added the banks of the River Seine – and along with them Notre-Dame – to its World Heritage List.

The letter’s authors warned that barreling ahead with reconstruction plans by removing some of the red tape that protects the 850-year-old building could have untold consequences.

“You have said, Mr. President, that you want to restore Notre-Dame. It’s our desire too, but in doing so, let’s not do away with the complex thought that must go into this (project) for the appearance of efficiency,” it said. “Let’s take time to evaluate. The executive branch has to listen to the experts. France is home to some of the world’s best experts in this area.”

‘We must take time to assess, but not act’

One of the letter’s signatories, Étienne Hamon, a professor of Medieval Art History at the University of Lille, in the north of France, questioned the necessity of drafting a special bill to speed up work on the cathedral.

“We’ve been through similar catastrophes several times in history and we have never before needed a special law. There are already well-established procedures that can be applied to situations like this one,” he told FRANCE 24.

Hamon said that rushing to rebuild Notre-Dame posed a number of major risks. The first is that experts will not have enough time to fully gauge the long-term damage caused by the inferno in the months and years to come. The second is that overseers will struggle to coordinate all the various experts needed to restore and reconstruct the cathedral.

“Surveying a medieval monument is the work of a dozen different specialists. You have to get these people together to understand what they can bring, because an edifice like this one is so complex that no single person has all the expertise necessary,” he said.

Another concern is quality. “From an archaeological point of view… one of the risks of rushing in is that you can’t guarantee the sustainability of the work,” Hamon said. “Building a monument is something that can be done rapidly. Restoring a monument is infinitely more complex.”

Yet not all experts agree that Macron’s five-year deadline is a bad idea.

“This kind of open letter threatens to slow down the system and make things go in circles. I agree in principle: the time needed to evaluate will be long and shouldn’t be neglected. On the other hand, that doesn’t mean that political decisions can’t be made at the same time,” Hervé Cazelles, a French cultural heritage architect, told FRANCE 24.

Cazelles, who has restored more than 20 historical sites, said that the underlying concern is that the government will alter Notre-Dame’s appearance by making it more modern.

“The fear is that they build something contemporary. That is what is being said between the lines in this letter,” he said. “We must take time to assess, but not necessarily to act,” he added.

Source: France 24

30, April 2019

Japan: A look back at Emperor Akihito’s three-decade reign ⁰

Japan’s 85-year-old Emperor Akihito ends his three-decade reign on Tuesday when he abdicates to his son Crown Prince Naruhito. FRANCE 24 takes a look back at his 30 years as head of state.

Akihito will announce his abdication in a palace ritual on Tuesday evening, but technically he remains the emperor until midnight, when his era of “Heisei”, or “achieving peace,” ends and his son Naruhito takes over, starting a new “Reiwa” era of “beautiful harmony”.

The succession has been marked by festivities across Japan, though the rituals are off-limits to the public and traffic will be tightly controlled outside the palace. A more elaborate enthronement ceremony for Naruhito will be held in October, when he will proclaim his ascension before officials and guests from inside and outside the country.

France 24

30, April 2019

US Secretary of State says Russia will be meddling in American elections for decades ⁰

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has claimed that Russia would seek to interfere in American elections for decades to come, after allegedly meddling in the 2016 presidential elections.

In an interview with The Hill newspaper on Monday, Pompeo waned that Washington would try to thwart Moscow’s efforts to influence future elections in the US.

“It goes without saying, they were a threat to our elections in 1974, too, and they interfered in our elections in the ’80s,” Pompeo said.

“And we should expect in 2050, the Russians will be at it still,” he added.

The top US diplomat said that Trump “has directed us all to be incredibly focused” on countering meddling by Russia as well as other adversaries.

The investigation by US Special Counsel Robert Mueller, which had cast a shadow over Trump since he took office, claims that Russia attempted to influence the 2016 US election but did not find that the Trump election campaign colluded with Moscow.

PressTV-Mike Pompeo: ‘We lie, cheat, and steal’

US intelligence agencies claim Moscow meddled in the election with a campaign of email hacking and online propaganda aimed at sowing discord in the United States, hurting Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and helping Trump.

Russia denies election interference and accuses the US of illegal interference of its own in the domestic affairs of countries such as Venezuela.

Source: Presstv

30, April 2019

Video purportedly shows Daesh ringleader after 5 years ⁰

The Takfiri terror group of Daesh has released a propaganda video purporting to show its ringleader Ibrahim al-Samarrai, aka Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, for the first time in five years.

The group released the 18-minute footage via one of its media networks on Monday allegedly showing him addressing a gathering of three. The authenticity of the footage could not be independently verified.

If authentic, however, the video would be the first one to be released of the terror mastermind since 2014. That year, he was filmed delivering a speech at a mosque in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul and claiming that the outfit had formed a so-called territory in the Arab country and neighboring Syria.

Al-Samarrai appeared in the first video only months after the group took on the countries and overran swathes of territory before enacting a rule, characterized with summary executions and other instances of brutal intolerance.

The new footage could not be dated either, but the person appearing to be al-Samarrai makes reference to bombings that left hundreds of people dead in Sri Lanka last week.

The speaker claims the coordinated attacks were Daesh’s revenge for the defeat it suffered recently in the eastern Syrian village of Baghouz.

“The battle for Baghouz is over,” he says, adding that the group is engaged in a “battle of attrition” and would seek revenge for its jailed and killed terrorists. He also urges its elements based in East Africa to ratchet up their acts of terror.

Although, taking Baghdad and Damascus by surprise at first, the group began to suffer one defeat after another after the countries enlisted the assistance of their allies.

Russia began lending aerial support to Syria’s ground operations against the group in 2015. Iran has also been providing the Syrian and Iraqi militaries with advisory support.

The combined push led to Daesh’s defeat in late 2017.

PressTV-Syrian forces fully retake last Daesh stronghold

Around the same time, the US and the militants backed by it waged a massive onslaught against the northern Syrian city of Raqqah, which the outfit had called its capital, in a push suspected of being aimed at claiming victory for Daesh’s defeat, and heavily criticized for its indiscrimination.

Source: Presstv

29, April 2019

US: One dead, seven injured in Baltimore shooting ⁰

An unknown gunman has opened fire onto a crowd in the city of Baltimore, Maryland in northeastern United States, killing one person and injuring seven more.

The assailant took on the targets on Edmondson and Whitmore avenues in West Baltimore at around 05:00 p.m. local time on Sunday, the Associated Press reported, citing Baltimore Police Department Commissioner Michael Harrison.

The fatality was identified as a male, who collapsed behind a Baptist church. The wounded have been transferred to hospitals.

Two cookouts were in progress on opposite ends of the street and shell casings were found in two different locations, Harrison noted. He called the incident “a very tragic, very cowardly shooting.”

The incident appeared to be “extremely targeted,” he said without elaborating.

Acting Mayor Jack Young emphasized that the shooting did not involve the church.

He, however, insisted that those with knowledge about the incident share their information.

“Someone knows something,” Young said, and added, “These things … they don’t happen by happenstance. People know who’s doing these shootings.”

The agency said the city, which has chronically been inflicted with high crime rates, witnessed more than 300 homicides last year and the same number in the previous one.

Also on Sunday, a shooting at a synagogue near the southern California city of San Diego left one person dead and three others wounded, local reports said, adding that a 19-year-old male suspect was caught by police. Describing the attacker, San Diego Sheriff Bill Gore said, “This individual was with an AR-type assault weapon and opened fire on the people inside the synagogue.”

The US’s gun laws have staunch supporters among the country’s far-right politicians and activists, most of whom are either members of or associated with the Republican Party.

PressTV-NY Attorney General launches probe into NRA finances

Resistance to change in the governing legislation has either nipped in the bud or subverted efforts at enforcement of stricter gun control across the country.

Source: Presstv

29, April 2019

AFCON U-17: Cameroon Crowned Africa Champions ⁰

Guinea’s national under-17 male football team on Sunday lost 3-5 after penalty kicks to their Cameroonian counterparts in a pulsating final match at the Africa Under-17 Nations Cup competition.

In the final match played at the Benjamin Mkapa National Stadium in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania both sides drew goalless after 90 minutes of intense action.

Both sides failed to score any goal for the game to go on to penalty kicks directly.

They scored their first five kicks each for an advance into the sudden death shots.

It continued as a ding-dong affair, with both sides scoring, until Guinea’s Mohamed Youssouf Sacko missed the fourth kick.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the result means Cameroon takes the AFCON U-17 Cup, while Guinea finished second.

Third place has gone to Angola who, on Saturday, beat Nigeria 2-1 at the same venue in the third-place match.

All four teams have advanced to the 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup billed for later in the year in Brazil.

(NAN)

29, April 2019

Boko Haram kills 3 civilians, a soldier in attack on Cameroon ⁰

Assailants from the jihadist group Boko Haram killed at least four people, one soldier and three civilians, and seriously injured four others during an attack on Kofia, a Cameroonian island on Lake Chad.

In the attack that occurred in the night from Saturday to Sunday the assailants also destroyed part of a military post and vandalized businesses, according to an official source.

Kofia Island is located in Lake Chad, in Northern Cameroon, not far from Chad.

Cameroonian and Chadian forces launched a pursuit operation immediately after the attack, the source said.

The jihadists of Boko Haram have recently increased deadly attacks in Cameroon and neighboring countries. In mid-April, eleven civilians were killed in an attack in Charkamari, also in northern Cameroon.

Since the beginning of the month, at least seven Cameroonian soldiers were killed in attacks by the terror group and in the explosion of a mine at the passage of a military vehicle.

Boko Haram group is active in all the countries of the Lake Chad zone (Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Niger), where it commits deadly attacks against security forces and civilians.

More than 27,000 people have died since the start of the Boko Haram uprising in northeastern Nigeria in 2009, and another 1.8 million are still unable to return to their homes.

Source: The North Africa Post

29, April 2019

“Military not the solution to Cameroon’s Anglophone crisis” ⁰

A military response will not solve the ongoing Anglophone crisis in Cameroon, says a spokesman for the local Catholic Church.

About 80 percent of Cameroon is French-speaking. However, the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon are majority English-speaking.

In October 2016, strikes by lawyers and teachers over perceived attempts by the Francophone administration to assimilate the legal and educational systems practiced in the two English-speaking regions turned violent, and morphed into rising demands by Anglophone Cameroonians for independence.

The government has been accused of razing entire villages and extrajudicial killings in their hunt for separatists, who are calling on the English-speaking areas to form a new country, called ‘Ambazonia.’

“Anywhere on Planet Earth, military response has never ever solved a problem. So let us not dream that we would be the first people to start on Planet Earth. Nowhere!” Father Humphrey Tata Mbuy told Crux.

Mbuy is the director of communications for the Archdiocese of Bamenda, the capital of the Northwest region of the country.

In its 2019 Report, Human Rights Watch accused the Cameroon military of committing extrajudicial executions, burning property, carrying out arbitrary arrests, and torturing detainees. The group claims over 500 people have been killed in the country.

The United Nations estimates nearly 500,000 refugees and internally displaced persons have fled their homes in the region due to the conflict.

The Cameroonian government has refuted reports of abuse by its military, calling them “reckless.”

However, Mbuy said the number of people killed is staggering, noting that 358 people have been killed in the Kumbo diocese in the last 6 months. He also said the diocese saw more than 800 homes burnt to the ground.

“It would take another generation for people to establish confidence in their military. This is the worst thing that can happen to a country where the population itself starts being afraid of the people who should be protecting them,” the priest said. He recounted that during Holy Week, the Cameroonians created a “harrowing” experience for the local population.

“We were coming out of Church on Holy Thursday and Good Friday in the Cathedral when there was just rampant shooting and there were military people around the Church premises. People were coming out and people ran back. Who provoked it? What was the problem? What was happening?” Mbuy said.

“So if you have these kind of things repeatedly happening, where you see clearly, houses burnt, villages burnt and people can identify who is burning them; when you see property being looted and people can identify who is looting them, it’s not things that are done in the dark. When a priest is shot and we can see the people who have shot, why do you expect people to still have trust when all these things have repeatedly gone on? When people are molested for no reason, some who don’t even know what is happening,” he continued.

Mbuy reaffirmed what the English-speaking bishops asserted in 2017: The situation in the Anglophone region is becoming like a genocide.

“What is genocide? A genocide is somebody is killed, even if it’s just one person, precisely for not doing anything because he belongs either to this group or because he belongs to this region. That is what a genocide is. Why are people being killed? When soldiers go into a village in Wum and are shooting everywhere. Is that everybody in Wum has suddenly become a terrorist? I would ask anybody to define a genocide and look at what is happening and tell me whether we have genocide or not,” the priest told Crux.

Cameroon’s bilingualism is a legacy of its colonial history. The country was originally German, but after World War I the defeated country transferred it to the Allies, and it was divided between France and Britain.

At independence, the two parts were reunited, and currently about 20 percent of the country’s nearly 25 million people is Anglophone. The Catholic Church is the largest religious group in the country, representing about 40 percent of all Cameroonians.

Last year, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group issued a report saying the Church is the only institution with the moral authority to broker a peace deal.

Source: Crux