Cameroon’s defence ministry said Monday it would prosecute seven soldiers suspected of summarily killing two women and their two children, a video of which was distributed on the internet to widespread outrage.

“Seven soldiers arrested on suspicion of extrajudicial executions in the Far North region will be brought before a military court in Yaounde… where they will be tried in line with the law,” communications official Cyrille Serge Atonfack Guemo told AFP.

The charges are for joint participation in murder, breach of regulations and conspiracy to commit these crimes, he said.

The date of the trial has yet to be set.

“Cameroon does not compromise over behaviour that is incompatible with law relating to war, human law and the protection of people and their belongings,” he said

The killings occurred last July in a region plagued by cross-border raids by Boko Haram fighters from neighbouring Nigeria.

The assailants in the video accuse the four of being members of the jihadist group.

The Cameroonian government initially branded the video “fake news” and a “horrible montage” but said it would investigate. It made seven arrests the following month.

Amnesty International for its part said it had “credible evidence” that the men in the video were Cameroonian soldiers.

The United States and Britain were among those which called for a probe and to hold those responsible to account.

Cameroon’s armed forces have also been accused of abuses in two western regions where anglophone separatists have launched an armed campaign against the predominantly French-speaking state.

Acts of violence there have been committed by both sides, say monitors.

According to the International Crisis Group think tank, 1,850 people have been killed, while more than 530,000 people have been forced from their homes, according to UN figures.

Source: AFP

President Paul Biya left Cameroon on Sunday for “a brief stay” in Europe amidst growing global indignation over human rights abuses in the country.

The crisis in the English speaking western part of the country is causing outrage from the United Nations to the sports fields and movie theatres as social influencers also demand intervention.

“This is genocide and we are acting like it does not matter. African leaders keep acting like the presidency is the birthright or inheritance,” Nollywood Stella Damasus tweeted on June 18, in an attempt to raise awareness on the civil war in Cameroon that appears to be passing under the international radar.

Under the hashtag #helpcameroon Ms Damasus pleaded with “everyone who has social media and can type a message” to spread the word.

“People are dying, babies are being killed please. We can put a post on our pages and condemn this,” she wrote, asking people with connections with the UN or any agency to “reach out to them and speak out.”

The actress’ was not a lone voice.

Source: The East African

On the 4th of June 2019, a joint Cameroon Concord News and Cameroon Intelligence Report investigation revealed that Sako Ikome, the disgraced former Acting Interim President of Ambazonia had moved to a cheaper accommodation. This forced relocation, to a smaller apartment in a cheaper area of town, was as a result of the Interim Government not being able to afford his rents and utility bills.

A close acolyte of his, who elected anonymity, allowed our cream of reporters in the United States the information that his financial situation is very dire. To alleviate his financial woes, all the members of his bogus 75 man cabinet have been levied a sum of $500 each. This latest attempt at fundraising is due to the fact that despite all the noise on social media by some pro Sako comedians referring to him as their President, they still aren’t giving him their hard-earned money.

Our reporters were showed hard evidence that the bank accounts of the Sako crime syndicate are empty. A great portion of the funds he intends to raise are intended to guarantee his rents and bills for the foreseeable future.

At a time when G0 and G1 are in grave need of maximum financial support, it defies logic that this failed leader is most concerned about his rents and immediate well being. In an attempt to divert attention and scrutiny from his criminality, Dr Sako released bogus information over the weekend that he was in negotiations with La Republique du Cameroun in Switzerland.

The fake story once again went viral on social media. In a new twist, our chief correspondent in Geneva debunked the story of Sako being invited to Switzerland and alleged that Sako is a con man.

By Asu Isong in London

Southern Cameroons is Africa’s biggest humanitarian crisis. Millions of dollars in international aid are needed to support people caught up in the conflict that has rocked the Federal Republic of Ambazonia-Africa’s newest nation.

A conference has been announced in Munich, Germany to support Southern Cameroons. The Munich Conference is expected to bring together accomplished Southern Cameroons women from all the nooks and crannies of Europe and even beyond to rise to the challenge of raising the money needed to help millions of Southern Cameroonians whose lives have been torn apart by the devastating war of independence.

The organizers of the Southern Cameroons European Women Conference (SCEW) also intend to raise significant funding to meet the immediate and longer-term needs of those affected.

SCEW was born after the Brussels European Conference of 31st March – 2nd April, 2017.

It is an association that is made up women across the European Continent, whose origin is Southern Cameroons / Ambazonia. The association was born out of need.

Since the wake of the crisis in October 2016, the French Cameroon government has been persecuting the people of Southern Cameroons. Many have sought for refuge in neighbouring Nigeria, while thousands have fled into the forest within the territory.

The French Cameroun military has set homes and villages in flames. Thousands have also been wounded, others arrested and thrown into prisons and many have been killed in the course of fighting to restore the sovereignty of the homeland.

SCEW welcomes all initiatives that work positively to the liberation of homeland. The upcoming SCEW Conference, is the first ever women’s conference since the wake of the crisis. This will take place on Saturday 13th July 2019 in Munich Germany. This conference will be crowned by a fundraising Gala.

Some of the objectives are to identify the potentials of the Southern Cameroons woman and empower the women so that they can play key roles in the quest for self-determination. We understand that the Munich conference will inter alia diagnose and analyze the challenges in the Ambazonia Revolution and make recommendations.

The women are also planning to build a collaborative platform with other stakeholders in the Revolution so as to create greater impact on GZ and G1. This conference is just the beginning of greater things to come.

By Asu Isong and Chi Prudence Asong

More than 80 per cent of schools in the English-speaking North-West and South-West regions of Cameroon are closed, as the security situation and living conditions continue to deteriorate due to the three-year conflict between the Government and armed groups, the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, reported on Friday.

Speaking to journalists at the UN offices in Geneva, UNICEF Spokesperson Toby Fricker said that some 1.3 million people, including around 650,000 children, are now in need of some form of humanitarian assistance. Around 450,000 of these people, half of whom are children, are internally displaced.

Thousands of people do not have access to essential basic services, such as healthcare and safe drinking water, and livelihoods have been destroyed, the spokesperson told reporters. The ability of humanitarian organizations such as UNICEF to deliver aid, is being hamstrung by the conflict, he added.

Children and their families are suffering from the effects of armed violence; attacks on their homes and schools; abduction, sexual violence and recruitment into armed groups; and imposed lockdowns, or “ghost-town” days, set in place by non-State armed groups.

Future of an ‘entire generation’ at risk

The school closures are the result of a ban on education imposed by militia groups, which has affected more than 600,000 children, seen at least 74 schools destroyed, and exposed students, teachers and school personnel to violence, abduction and intimidation.

Mr. Fricker said that targeting education is “putting the future of an entire generation of children at risk, children who with the right support and opportunities can build a more stable and prosperous future.”

He pointed out that, when children are out of school, they face a higher risk of recruitment by armed groups and are more likely to be exposed to child marriage, early pregnancy, and the accompanying trauma and long-lasting emotional distress that these experiences bring.

UNICEF has helped some 15,000 displaced children attend formal schools in host communities outside the affected region, and trained teachers to provide psychosocial support for children dealing with the effects of conflict and displacement, said Mr. Fricker, adding that UNICEF is working with religious and community leaders to attempt to re-open schools

The three-year crisis in Cameroon escalated out of protests in the Anglophone region, calling for greater autonomy. Following a visit to the country in May, UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet warned that the situation risks spiralling “completely out of control, if measures are not taken to reduce tension and restore trust”.

UNICEF has called on the parties to the conflict to protect all children and their families; allow humanitarian access to all people in need, according to international humanitarian law; and to protect and re-open schools, and ensure safe learning spaces for children, without conditions.

Source: UN News