Monthly Archives: July 2019

Football: South Sudan appoints Southern Cameroonian as new coach

2, July 2019

Football: South Sudan appoints Southern Cameroonian as new coach 0

South Sudan Football Association (SSFA) on Monday appointed Cameroonian Ashu Cyprian Besong as head coach of the country’s national football team.

Besong, who was Cameroon’s U-20 head coach, will replace caretaker coach Ramzi Sebit, the SSFA said.

“Ashu Cyprian Besong of Cameroon will be appointed as the coach for South Sudan national team coach. He is confirmed to arrive Juba, tomorrow (Tuesday) to take up his new assignment,” the SSFA said on its official Facebook page.

The coaching position has been vacant since September 2018, following the resignation of Algeria’s Ahcene Ait-Abdelmalek just seven months after his appointment.

Besong becomes South Sudan’s fifth foreign coach following the departure of Ait-Abdelmalek, South Korea’s Lee Sung-Jea, Serbian Zoran Dordevic and Uganda’s Leo Adraa.

The world’s youngest nation failed to qualify for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Egypt, losing all qualifier games in Group C.

Source: Xinhuanet

Yaounde denounces diaspora’s hostility towards Biya and wife in Switzerland

2, July 2019

Yaounde denounces diaspora’s hostility towards Biya and wife in Switzerland 0

Cameroon’s minister of communications (Mincom), published a communique. According to the document, On June 25, 2019, individuals claiming to belong to an organisation named “Brigade Antisardinards” decided to ransack a hotel in Geneva, Switzerland, to disturb the private visit of Paul and Chantal Biya. On June 29, the group protested in a street in the capital city.

“Due to the recurrence of these baffling and inappropriate acts perpetrated by a part of the Cameroonian diaspora, the government expressed the nation’s indignation and strongly condemned such unacceptable acts that damage Cameroon’s reputation,” M. Sadi wrote.

The ministry reveals that the protesters have been called to order by Switzerland’s public force and are being questioned on the motives that drive Cameroonians “to show the whole world their unpatriotic feelings and prejudice to the country.”

On January 26, 2019, the “Brigade Antisardinards” claimed responsibility for the attacks on Cameroon’s embassies in Paris, France and Berlin, Germany. During those violent acts in Paris, some of them removed Paul Biya’s picture from the wall, destroyed and replaced it with Maurice Kamto’s. The latter is the leader of an opposition party named Mouvement pour la Renaissance du Cameroun (MRC). MRC, on the other hand, rejected any links to the acts perpetrated by the so-called “Brigade Antisardinards.”

Maurice Kamto is currently being detained and prosecuted for organizing an unauthorized protest in Cameroon on January 26, 2019. He organized this protest to claim victory in the October 7, 2018, presidential election despite the results published by the constitutional council. This institution, last resort in such cases, declared Paul Biya the winner with 71.28% votes against 14.23% for the MRC’s leader.

Source: Business in Cameroon

Biya and Swiss Diabolic Harsh Ploy To Stifle The Ambazonia Resistance

2, July 2019

Biya and Swiss Diabolic Harsh Ploy To Stifle The Ambazonia Resistance 0

It has now been revealed that the Swiss initiative in resolving the crisis in Southern Cameroons was a scam. However, the Ambazonia Interim Government and its Vice President Dabney Yerima are yet to establish if the Swiss government was involved in the dodgy process of getting some corrupt Ambazonian leaders in the US to travel to Switzerland for a so-called preparatory peace conference.

Switzerland reportedly appointed itself as a facilitator indicating that there are elements deep within the Swiss government having leverage over French Cameroun. As a facilitator, the Swiss were expected to build some kind of confidence with the people of Southern Cameroons.

Our chief political man observed that the first and obvious confidence measure the Swiss should have built would have been to procure the release of the Ambazonia leader, President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe et al to lead whatever the Swiss say they have offered to facilitate.

It is important to mention here that President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and what is now being referred to as the Nera 10 were abducted from a foreign country and are being illegally held in captivity in the French Cameroun capital, Yaoundé.

The shouting silence on the part of the Swiss including the European Union about their continued illegal imprisonment is tantamount to rewarding Biya and his criminal regime for their unlawful conduct.  Vice President Dabney Yerima who made the trip to Geneva but did not take part in the deliberations after very intensive and productive discussions with members of the Ambazonia Interim Government hinted Cameroon Concord News Group’s London Bureau Chief Asu Isong that calling off the unjust and illegal war and release of the Nera 10 must precede any engagement with whoever.

“These are not preconditions. They are a call for French Cameroun to respect international law. How does one engage with a country that has graduated from a police state to a terrorist state?”  Vice President Yerima was quoted as saying during a recent trip to London.

We now have intelligence that the Swiss peace initiative was a diabolic harsh ploy pushed by interest groups with strong ties to the consortium of CPDM criminal syndicates in Yaounde. Three Swiss Traders control 50% of the sale of Cameroonian oil.

The Glencore trader owns 70% of the Rio Del Rey oil in Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia, an area bordering the Bakassi peninsula, exploitable for 20 years. Contract signed in January 2019. This Glencore has just sold its shares, 75% he held in Matanda gas.

Furthermore, we gathered that Swiss chocolate which is one of the symbols of Switzerland which holds the first place in the world ranking for chocolate consumption ahead of Germany and the United Kingdom with an average annual consumption of 11.9 kilograms per capita in 2011 was also part of this failed Southern Cameroons peace process. French Cameroun President Paul Biya received the Swiss chocolate industry boss a few weeks ago in Yaounde.

By Sama Ernest and Rita Akana

African Development Bank President Meets Cameroon Minister For Loan Arrangement

2, July 2019

African Development Bank President Meets Cameroon Minister For Loan Arrangement 0

The Cameroon minister of plan, Louis Paul Motaze, has met with the African Development Bank Group’s President and discussions focused on the possibility of the continent’s leading development finance institution extending a loan from its soft arm window for the rebuilding of the country’s oil refinery that went up in flames last month.

The AfDB is capable of granting Cameroon up to USD 1 billion as an emergency loan given the country’s mounting economic and financial woes.

The cash-strapped Yaounde government is looking for resources as the Southern Cameroons crisis has robbed it of its ATMs.

CDC, PAMOL and SONARA have all gone under and this has left the government with very few avenues to raise revenue.

It is becoming clear that the country is running out of foreign currency and civil servant will soon be facing salary challenges.

Our reporter, Kingsley Betek, is on the ground to provide details of the meeting between the AfDB president and the Cameroon government official.

The Francophone Beti-Ewondo trial of Ambazonia leaders and the Swiss Connection

1, July 2019

The Francophone Beti-Ewondo trial of Ambazonia leaders and the Swiss Connection 0

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and his top aides have been notified with a decision of the President of the Court of Appeal in the Centre Region of French Cameroun dismissing the NERA 10 Recusal against Magistrate Lt Colonel Misse Njone Jacques Baudouin. Interestingly, the French Cameroun court also ordered the Southern Cameroons leaders to pay Colonel Misse Njone a symbolic franc as damages for Moral Prejudice suffered.

Cameroon Intelligence Report chief political correspondent covering the trial noted that when the Ambazonian leaders filed this Recusal which is a very serious application challenging a Magistrate for being bias, they had a very serious problem notifying the concerned Respondent by Bailiff because all the Bailiffs contacted declined service for security reasons. Our intelligence services in Yaoundé hinted that all French Cameroun Bailiffs have been threatened with either detention or being messed up by undercover security operatives. Some were economically victimized by Magistrates refusing to endorse their bills for payment.

As if this was not enough impediment to justice and fundamental right to fair hearing protected by both international legal instruments like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and even the Preamble of the French Cameroun Constitution as read with Article 65; … The Applicants/Petitioners were never notified with the Statement of Defense of the Respondent Magistrate nor even given opportunity to attend court or given a hearing as would be the practice in any regular or normal Anglo-Saxon judicial system. The Petitioners were only notified with a decision or judgment of the Court of Appeals which in Cameroun sits in first and last resort in matters of Recusals. This should be the more reason why the court ought to have notified the Petitioners with the statement of Defense of the Respondent so that they may have opportunity to bring further evidence arguments to backup their allegations against the Magistrate.

“Nowhere in the world is known to us where someone brings an action to court of this magnitude or importance and it is heard without him seeing the defense challenging his allegations” an adviser to the Ambazonia Vice President Dabney Yerima noted.  “One would expect pleadings and further pleadings to be exchanged and oral arguments of the parties taken before the court decides … especially in a situation like this one where the court sits in first and last resort meaning that there is no appeal against its decisions” the Yerima aide further pointed out.

This tells the story of the nature of the judiciary in French Cameroun and justifies why Ambazonians think they must go back home, restore their autonomy and enforce the truly adversarial judicial system Southern Cameroonians had known before the ill-fated & illegal unification of 1961.

Correspondingly, it was premature for any Ambazonian organization or grouping to go into any form of discussion or dialogue with any Swiss mediator without certain preliminary issues and conditions being settled. It is evidently clear that the so-called Swiss mediator is the mediator of the adversary.

It is shameful and disgraceful for Southern Cameroons groups to go for any form of negotiation while the war ensues and their people are still being killed, villages torched and many more arrested and incarcerated.

To be sure any talks whatsoever must be preceded by a Declaration of Ceasefire by the party who declared the war, release of all detainees Incarcerated as a result of the war and a demilitarization of the Ambazonia territory.

These are confidence building measures which ought to be agreed upon and the process of implementation of all decision clearly put in place with the Ambazonia Interim Government and with the consent of Vice President Dabney Yerima.

Given the severe breach of trust between the parties to the conflict, we of the Cameroon Concord News Group would have expected the so called Ambazonian negotiators in Switzerland to insist on the presence of a strong intermediary nation like the USA who has the capability to ensure the implementation of all decisions brokered by the talks.

In the absence of the above, we of Cameroon Concord News Group see clearly that the Swiss are merely helping French Cameroun to use its numerical and political strength against Ambazonia thereby taking us back to where we began in 1961.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Vice President Yerima, Hon. Wirba come out for SCNC rally in London

1, July 2019

Vice President Yerima, Hon. Wirba come out for SCNC rally in London 0

London was decorated in the blue and white colours of Southern Cameroons. It was the Southern Cameroon National Council convention that held on Saturday the 29th of June 2019. The SCNC Convention in London moved from a very successful Conference earlier in East London to a fundraiser in the Northof town. The sense of pride on the faces of the organisers and attendees was valiant. The chairman of SCNC UK, Mr Robert Tamanji, gave a strong welcome talk honouring Pah Njoh Litumbe, Fon Gorji Dinka and Nfor Ngala Nfor. These greats of the SCNC will never be forgotten he said. For his part, Dabney Yerima, the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia who is also moonlighting as the acting Secretary General of SCNC spoke of the SCNC’s role in Southern Cameroon’s quest for freedom and independence through peaceful nonviolence action.

Also at the London SCNC event, was the much respected Hon Wirba Joseph of the Social Democratic Front. Wirba recounted his first meeting with some great SCNC pioneers over thirty years ago. He called on Ambazonians to pay respect to the true and brave heroes of Africa’s newest nation who have shed and continue to shed their blood for the freedom of the homeland. Wirba tempered undue excitement and cautioned that for the Ambazonia struggle to succeed; its foundation has to be based on the truth. Wirba referred to La Republique du Cameroun as the Evil Republic and explained that the actions of La Republique in their brutality over the last three years has left Southern Cameroonians with no choice but to make sure that Ambazonia becomes a reality. He observed that, the statement from French Cameroun President Paul Biya and his gang that Cameroun is one and indivisible remains an inaccurate stereotype.

Joseph Wirba indicted the Southern Cameroons diaspora for the disconnect with Ground Zero. As his audience celebrated his words and energy, he moved another gear into re-counting a series of conversations he had with the disgraced chairman of the Imaginary Restoration Council, Elvis Kometa. “Elvis Kometa called me to say he was under pressure to impeach President Sissiku Ayuk Tabe” he revealed. “I counselled Kometa against the decision and I told him that if the pressure becomes unbearable, he should resign as chairman of this ‘Imaginary Restoration Council’.

Wirba castigated the diaspora for creating imaginary political offices and attaching importance to positions thereby disremembering the reasons for the struggle. He said, in a revolution ‘if the enemy takes a brother or a sister, that person becomes a Saint’. The SCNC delegates were unanimous in their decision that rallying behind the ‘Saints in Kondengui’ as the focal point of the revolution is the only way forward. Calls for Hon Wirba to play a more active role in piloting the revolution were loud and clear. His next move in this struggle is eagerly anticipated.

Asu Isong London

Africa Should Not Fail Cameroon

1, July 2019

Africa Should Not Fail Cameroon 0

The United Nations Security Council, after more than two years of neglect, is finally giving some attention to Cameroon’s deteriorating human rights situation. The three African members of the global body – Côte d’Ivoire, South Africa and Equatorial Guinea – shouldn’t miss the chance to add Cameroon’s worsening crisis to the Council’s agenda.

Over the past three years, Cameroon has been embroiled in a cycle of civil protest, followed by government repression, and violence that threatens to escalate into an all-out human rights catastrophe. A wider conflict could destabilize an already volatile region – Cameroon, which has been waging a war against Boko Haram insurgents in its Far North region, borders the Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, Chad, Nigeria, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

Cameroon’s separatist crisis began in October 2016, when students, teachers and lawyers from the minority English-speaking regions took to the streets to demand greater recognition of their cultural and political rights. The ruthless response of the security forces, who killed and arbitrarily arrested peaceful protesters, as well as of the government, which banned civil society groups and shut down the internet, escalated the crisis.

Since then, numerous separatist groups have emerged and taken up arms calling for the independence of the Anglophone regions, which they call “Ambazonia.” These groups have killed, kidnapped, and tortured perceived opponents, while enforcing a boycott of education, which has kept children and their teachers out of school for over two years in the Northwest and Southwest regions.

The government has responded with violence, burning hundreds of homes, killing civilians, and detaining and torturing alleged separatists in a gendarme-run prison in the capital, Yaoundé. The crisis has displaced half a million Cameroonians, many of whom desperately need protection and humanitarian assistance.

As Cameroon has spiraled into violence, the African Union, the continent-wide body that aspires to promote “African Solutions to African Problems,” has refused to confront or acknowledge the problem.

The UN Security Council hasn’t done much better, failing to issue any statement about the serious human rights abuses by both the government forces and the armed separatists, or to warn both sides about the consequences.

There are signs, however, that the UN might take more robust action. Last month, the United States, with the support of Germany, the Dominican Republic and the United Kingdom, organized an informal session of the Security Council to help put the situation in Cameroon on its members’ radar.

This was a worthy effort, but the event was an informal side event and only focused on the humanitarian situation. Fierce resistance from the Council’s African members, wary of Western-led interventions on the continent, almost derailed the effort. The African Union’s permanent representative to the Security Council didn’t even attend the session.

Non-Western states uncomfortable about Western countries taking the lead on an African crisis should join forces to get Cameroon on the Council’s agenda. There is no better way to mobilize the fractious Security Council to address the crisis in Cameroon than for its African members to demonstrate leadership and demand vigorous action.

Equatorial Guinea is unlikely to rise to the challenge. As a country knee-deep in human rights violations, it has ample reason to defend the self-serving idea that what happens inside the border of a state, no matter how egregious for rights or threatening to security, is its own business.

South Africa’s long struggle against apartheid was helped by international solidarity, including the active support of the UN Security Council. In recent years, however, successive South African presidents have pushed back against international pressure seeking to address serious and widespread human rights abuses in countries such as Zimbabwe, Sudan, and, until recently, Myanmar. The newly elected president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has promised to promote, “democracy, justice, human rights, and good governance” at the UN, and the Cameroon crisis would be a good place to start.

The best hope, though, may be Côte d’Ivoire, whose brutal 2010-11 post-election crisis was resolved with AU and Security Council support. President Alassane Ouattara, when campaigning in 2016 for his country to join the UN Security Council, said that it, “must be the principal organ in which courageous decisions are taken, to save people and states from conflicts and wars, with the suffering and distress that they bring.”

Côte d’Ivoire finishes its term on the UN Security Council at the end of 2019. Although its voting record is far from perfect, President Ouattara’s government has shown some leadership on human rights issues. Côte d’Ivoire broke with other African states to initiate an arms embargo on South Sudan, although on May 30 it abstained on a resolution reauthorizing the ban.

Supporting action on Cameroon, by formally placing the Anglophone crisis on the Council’s agenda and addressing the serious human rights abuses, would strengthen Côte d’Ivoire’s legacy as a supporter of human rights defenders and conflict resolution. It would also demonstrate that African governments can have the courage and conviction to address pressing crises on the continent.

Source: Human Rights Watch

Cameroon, Ghana share spoils in epic battle

1, July 2019

Cameroon, Ghana share spoils in epic battle 0

Defending champions Cameroon played out to a barren draw with Ghana in a hotly contested West African clash of the titans in a Total Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) Egypt 2019 Group F clash in Ismailia on Saturday.

Substitute Kwabena Owusu should have won all three for the Black Stars barely a minute after coming on for Andre Ayew but his cracking shot from the edge of the box came off the crossbar. Andrew Yiadom had a chance five yards from goal a minute later, but saw it saved by Andre Onana.

With the result, Cameroon have moved to four points while Ghana are on two points after back to back draws. The Ghanaians have to beat Guinea Bissau on Tuesday to be certain of a place at the next round.

On the balance of chances, Cameroon should have gone to the break at least one up. A massive save by Richard Ofori four minutes from time and a timely tackle from Jonathan Mensah earlier on ensured the scores were 0-0 after the opening 45 minutes.

View image on Twitter

Ofori made a brilliant full stretched-save to punch out a shot from Christian Bassogog from inside the box. Ghana were caught in possession with Baba Rahman losing the ball on the left. Karl Toko Ekambi picked up and cut back a cross for Bassogog which was well saved.

Ghana had dodged another bullet on the half hour mark when Mensah, coming in for the suspended John Boye, made a timely tackle to poke the ball off Ekambi’s feet after he was sent through with a delightful backheel flick by Zambo Anguissa.

Ghana were forced to an early sub after 14 minutes when Christian Atsu limped off injured with a hamstring problem after taking an aim at goal off a counter with a low shot from the edge of the area. He was replaced by Samuel Owusu.

Atsu had Ghana’s second chance just after Nuhu Kassim’s shot from a Thomas Partey cut back went over in the eighth minute. In the 28th minute, Mubarak Wakaso swung in a brilliant cross from the left, but Jordan Ayew could not get a vital touch from the edge of the six yard box as he came flying in.

View image on Twitter

Ghana pressed more in the second half as they looked to earn a first ever win over Cameroon in the Africa Cup of Nations.

Cameroon coach Clarence Seerdof made an attacking change, pulling out defender Gaetan Bong for striker Eric Choupo-Moting while his opposite number Kwesi Appiah responded by throwing in Asamoah Gyan for Kwadwo.

It was Ghana who would finish the game brighter, but nothing to show of in terms of goals.

Total Man of the Match: Andre Franck Zambo Anguissa (Cameroon)

Source: CAFonline

Fru Ndi released after abduction in Southern Cameroons

1, July 2019

Fru Ndi released after abduction in Southern Cameroons 0

The leader of one of Cameroon’s main opposition parties was released by his captors on Saturday after being abducted by unidentified gunmen in the country’s restive Anglophone region a day earlier, his party said.

Separatist rebels have been battling government forces for nearly two years over perceived marginalization of English speakers by the central African country’s Francophone-dominated government.

John Fru Ndi, who heads the Social Democratic Front (SDF) and finished runner-up to President Paul Biya in the 2011 election, was taken from his home in the city of Bamenda on Friday, the second time in two months he had been kidnapped.

Jean Robert Wafo, an SDF official, said in a statement that Fru Ndi had been released on Saturday evening. He provided no details about who had taken him or where he had been held.

The SDF blamed his previous abduction in April, which lasted a few hours, on Anglophone secessionist rebels. The SDF has criticized Biya, who has served as president since 1982, for his handling of the crisis, but has not endorsed separatist demands for an independent English-speaking state.

The United Nations estimates the conflict has killed about 1,800 people and displaced over 500,000 since 2017.

Reuters

Geneva: Swiss police fire water cannon, stun grenades at Cameroon protesters

1, July 2019

Geneva: Swiss police fire water cannon, stun grenades at Cameroon protesters 0

Swiss police fired water cannon, tear gas and stun grenades at Cameroonian protesters outside UN headquarters in Geneva Saturday as the crowd surged towards a luxury hotel hosting Cameroon’s president.

About 250 demonstrators demanding an end to President Paul Biya’s rule squared off with dozens of police, many in riot gear, backed up by armoured vehicles.

The standoff turned violent when the crowd, many draped in Cameroon flags, started making its way towards Biya’s hotel, about 500 metres (1,600 feet) from a square outside the UN where they had gathered.

An AFP reporter witnessed police beating and kicking a protester on the ground.

Biya, 86, “has run his dictatorship for nearly half a century,” said rally co-organiser Robert Wanto, a Cameroonian national who has lived in exile for three decades.

“We are here to demand that Cameroon be allowed to enter the modern democratic era,” he told AFP outside of the UN’s European headquarters ahead of the protest.

Several hours before the rally started, about 30 protestors set up a stage with banners and graphic pictures of dead bodies apparently mangled by torture, with the message: “The people say no to Paul Biya”.

Cameroon’s embassy in Bern warned earlier this week that Cameroonian nationals living in various European countries were planning a “violent” protest against Biya on Saturday.

Geneva police told AFP it was expecting a “large” demonstration. Authorisation was granted but limited to the square outside the UN.

  • ‘Ultimatum’ –

They were not granted permission to march to the five-star Intercontinental Hotel where Biya is believed to have been staying since Sunday.

But Wanto told AFP the demonstrators had given Biya an “ultimatum” to leave and if he remained at the hotel when the protest began, “we will march there”.

He pointed out that Biya had made it a habit to stay at the pricy Intercontinental during long visits to Switzerland, where he reportedly comes for medical treatment.

“He thinks it is OK to come here and spend billions of our money when our country is economically sick,” Wanto said.

Early Saturday, dozens of suit-clad men believed to be part of the president’s security detail stood around the hotel.

Several police vans were also parked outside the hotel and groups of officers had been stationed at regular intervals between the tall glass building and the UN square.

Over the past week, there have already been several scuffles with small numbers of demonstrators outside the hotel and even inside the lobby.

An attack on a Swiss journalist covering the events by men believed to be Biya’s security staff sparked a diplomatic incident, prompting the Swiss government to summon Cameroon’s ambassador in Bern on Thursday.

“The dictator must be senile to want to transport the violence he unleashes on his country on a daily basis to the soil of a democratic country,” Wanto said.

Cameroon, a former French colony, has faced a succession of crises and is wracked by a deadly conflict between separatists and government forces in its English-speaking west.

Opposition leaders have faced mass arrests, and rights groups claim detainees are tortured and many disappear.

AFP

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