Cameroon’s Anglophone separatists have attacked towns and villages in protest after a military tribunal gave their leader and 9 supporters life sentences. Cameroon’s military says at least two people were killed in Bamenda and six wounded in a shoot-out with separatists.

Food seller Donatus Ngwa, 24, fled fighting Wednesday in the northwestern English-speaking town of Bamenda to French-speaking Mbouda.

He says separatist fighters started chasing people off Bamenda’s streets on Tuesday night. Wednesday, they were shooting indiscriminately in the air, Ngwa says, assaulting those who disobeyed them and ordering everyone to leave the streets.

Nearly 100 Cameroonians have fled to Mbouda since Tuesday, when a Yaounde military tribunal found separatist leader Julius Ayuk Tabe and nine supporters guilty of secession, terrorism and hostility against Cameroon. All 10 were given lifetime prison sentences and ordered to pay a fine of $50 million.

Rights groups and other critics condemned the court’s ruling, saying it would impede efforts to end the conflict, which has left 2,000 people dead in the past three years. 

Activist Edward Nfor says the sentences risk inflaming further violence.

“I would not be surprised if the violence this time will be very disastrous and might stretch a little bit further into the other parts of the country,” he said. “Let the head of state do something about this. The time is now to think on another strategy to calm down tensions.”

Separatists on social media ordered everyone in Cameroon’s English-speaking western regions to stay at home as a sign of protest over the sentences. They also vowed to step up their fight to make Cameroon’s English-speaking regions independent of the French majority. 

The governor of the English-speaking northwest region, Deben Tchoffo, called on the population to be calm and work with the military.

“They can be assured of the availability of the administrative authorities and the security services to help them,” he said. “I am asking the population of the northwest region to remobilize themselves to shun out of the region those who are terrorizing the population, threatening them.”

Violence erupted in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions in 2016, when teachers and lawyers protested alleged discrimination at the hands of the French-speaking majority.  
 
The government responded with a crackdown that sparked an armed movement for an independent, English-speaking state.

Source: VOA

Tensions are mounting in many cities and towns in the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon after a military tribunal slammed a life sentence on Southern Cameroonian leaders.

On Wednesday, gunmen chased local business people in Bamenda, Northwest region, from their business locations as they argued that there would be no business given that their leaders had been unjustifiably sent to prison in East Cameroon.

The gunmen fired in the air to advise the population that they were serious to disrupt business and that they were prepared to face up to the army soldiers who have been deployed across the two English-speaking regions of the country prior to the announcement of the life sentences in the early hours of Wednesday.

Many civilians are already packing out of Bamenda where there has been violent clashes between government troops and Southern Cameroonian
Fighters who are hellbent on challenging the soldiers.

In Limbe, Buea, and Kumba, the tensions are palpable. On Thursday, many people could be seen leaving the Southwest region’s largest city, Kumba, following the announcement of a long merciless lockdown designed to cripple government operations in the region.

Meanwhile, on Thursday in Muyuka, a notorious hotspot in the Southwest region, Southern Cameroonian fighters clashed with army soldiers and several casualties were reported on both sides.

The sentencing of the Southern Cameroonian president, Julius Ayuk Tabe, and nine of his associates seem to be a death sentence on any chances of dialogue that many hoped could help defuse tensions in the country

It should be recalled that Cameroon has been facing a tough political situation ever since the country English-speaking minority decided to revolt against the government which it said had an elaborate plan to marginalize Southern Cameroonians and crush their culture.

The demonstrations, which were designed to be peaceful, turned violent when the Yaounde government sent army soldiers into the two regions to crush any opposition to its rule.

The conflict has ruined the country’s economy and huge corporations which accounted for most of the jobs in the two regions have gone under, leaving many families desperate and the government in acute financial hardship, as many of its revenue streams have been ruined.

Despite calls from the international community for an inclusive dialogue, the Yaounde government has been indifferent to these calls.

From its actions, it has demonstrated that it will pursue its military option to a conclusive end, an option that has resulted in the death of thousands of Cameroonians – both civilians and soldiers.

As a result of its unpopular decision, the government seems to be very isolated. Its traditional allies are walking away from it.

The United States, Canada and the European Union have all urged the beleaguered government to embrace dialogue so as to spare the country the disaster that is hanger over it like the Sword of Damocles.

Even African organizations and countries have been urging the government to see dialogue as the best possible way out of the impasse.

Early last year, Equatorial Guinea through its representative at the UN security council, called on the Yaounde government to dialogue with Southern Cameroonians as a means of stemming the tide of refugees that have been leaving the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon to the small oil-rich Central African country.

Also, the African Union has been mounting pressure on Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya, to embrace dialogue.

The continental organization has mandated some former presidents and prime ministers to engage the Yaounde government in a dialogue that could result in the resolution of the conflict.

But Mr. Biya seems to be ignoring the leaders and has ordered the deployment of more troops in the two regions.

An action that is very likely to make school resumption impossible in September.

Many observers are really concerned by the situation in Cameroon and people around the world are questioning the wisdom behind Mr. Biya’s brutal military crackdown in the two English-speaking regions of the country.

Many observers even argue that the 87-year-old president might not be in total possession of his mental faculties to make some of those decisions that have only made the conflict to escalate.

Many observers are also accusing his wife and a few of his tribesmen who are now running the show in Yaounde.

The world is watching the drama as it plays out, but not many are happy, as a beautiful country is being ruined by the greed and corruption of a few.

By Kingsley Betek in Yaounde.

Vice President Dabney Yerima has said that the massive deployment of French Cameroun soldiers in civilian dressing to Kumba and Bamenda is a move that clearly shows the Biya Francophone regime is offering generous support to militias operating deep inside the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

Speaking to Cameroon Concord News immediately after the Yaounde Military Tribunal slammed Ambazonia leaders with a life sentence on Tuesday the 19^th of August 2019; Comrade Yerima said the recent development indicates that there will be tough days ahead.

He added that contrary to the lock down some former members of the Ambazonia Interim Government announced on social media, he and his team are consulting with Ground Zero commanders in order to provide a crushing response to Yaoundé.

Dabney Yerima stressed that the continues deployment of French Cameroun troops to Ambazonia is prove of  the determination of the Ambazonia nation and its restoration forces to continue fighting French Cameroun terrorism until Southern Cameroonians get to Buea.

Vice President Yerima expressed confidence that the new strategy being planned in consultation with commanders in Ground Zero will eventually manage to restore the independence of Southern Cameroons including its security and stability.

Dabney Yerima further pointed out that Southern Cameroons Self-Defense Forces will keep hunting the French Cameroun terrorists’ army soldiers everywhere in Ambazonia.

By Chi Prudence Asong

A series of deadly attacks and shootings all over the major towns and cities of Southern Cameroons has claimed at least 12 civilians in the two days since the Ambazonia leader President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and his top aides were sentenced to life in prison by the Yaoundé Military Tribunal, raising insecurity to a new intensity.

Southern Cameroons Restoration Forces have issued very serious warnings that have prompted hundreds of Ambazonian civilians to be heading out of Bamenda the chief city in the Northern Zone. The separatist fighters have declared tough days ahead following the life sentence slammed on the Southern Cameroons leadership.

Cameroon Concord News understands Nigeria army soldiers have closed the borders with Cameroon at Ekok in the Manyu County.  The grisly spectacle by the Yaoundé Military Tribunal verdict has generated fresh anxiety and an upsurge in violence.

Ambazonia Self Defense Forces have also announced that attacks on French Cameroun army positions and administrative officers who work with the Biya regime will dramatically increased. The Francophone army commanders have also said they are expecting a rise in indiscriminate attacks throughout Southern Cameroons.

The politically motivated life sentences slammed on Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and nine Ambazonian leaders by a Court-martial in Cameroun with the complicity of the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is one more unfortunate example of the militarisation of justice, civil and political rights in African through inter-state terror.

The ten victims, who were in Nigeria under the protection of international law, were abducted from a hotel in Abuja Nigeria in a coordinated operation carried out by Nigeria and Cameroun intelligence and paramilitary operatives. A Federal High Court in Abuja, Nigeria has since decided that the abduction and rendition of these victims was illegal and violated the Nigerian constitution and international law and ordered the return to Nigeria of the abductees; a decision, the Nigerian government has so far ignored.

Some witnesses reported seeing French Cameroun soldiers invading the Eyumojock sub constituency in Manyu in an attempt to secure the area for the late General James Tataw’s funeral rites.  The Government Delegate to the Bamenda City Council, Vincent Ndumu has fled into French Cameroun due to ongoing security concerns.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from Sama Ernest, Rita Akana and Chief Charles A. Taku

A military tribunal in Cameroon has sentenced 10 leaders of the country’s Anglophone separatist movement to life in prison, which critics say will hurt efforts to end the separatist crisis through dialogue.

Julius Ayuk Tabe, president of the self-declared Republic of Ambazonia, and nine of his collaborators were sentenced Tuesday by Colonel Misse Njone Jacques after a heated court session in Yaounde that was boycotted by defense lawyers.

Jacques found the defendants guilty of secession, terrorism and hostility against the state of Cameroon, and ordered them to pay a $50 million fine.

Immediately, observers voiced concern the ruling will derail efforts to end the crisis in the North West and South West regions. Armed groups in the two mostly English-speaking regions want to break away from Cameroon’s French-speaking majority and form a separate nation.

Nelson Tawe, a computer engineer, says the sentences could ruin plans to send children back to school after three years of unrest.

“At a time when we are preaching back to school, at a time when we are preaching unity, at a time we are preaching reconciliation, I think it is stupid for the prison to sentence them to life imprisonment. The government should rethink its strategy,” Tawe said.

Prince Ekosso, chairman of the opposition United Socialist Democratic Party, believes the sentences will lead to more violence.

“It is actually a disgrace to democracy,” he said. “This decision would intensify tension in the North West and the South West. It would intensify killings and it would intensify the destruction of properties.”

Defense counsel Edwin Fongo says the judge was biased and behaved as though he received instructions from the military. In a telephone interview with VOA, he called the sentencing scandalous, and said lawyers will file an appeal.

“They have denied justice to those people,” Fongo said. “We are going to take necessary steps to make sure we go on appeal. You do not judge people in such circumstances without a lawyer. All the lawyers withdrew from the court, they went ahead and passed a judgment.”

However, government lawyer Emmanuel Essim says the prison sentences do not stop any talks to solve the crisis. In addition, he says it is not the duty of the military tribunal to grant mercy to people who defied state authority and who carry weapons against their own people.

The 10 defendants were arrested in Nigeria and extradited to Cameroon in January 2018.

Along with Tabe, they include Cornelius Kwanga, Egbe Orock, Eyambe Ebai, Fidelis Nde Che, Kimeng Henry, Nfor Ngala Nfor, Augustine Awasum, Shufai Blaise and Tassang Wilfred.

Source: VOA