Monthly Archives: June 2020

15, June 2020

Southern Cameroons War: Heavy gunfire in the heart of Bamenda ⁰

Heavy gun fire was heard yesterday for over an hour in Bamenda, the chief city in the Northern Zone of Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia.

Our correspondent revealed that there was confusion in the city as the exchange between armed Ambazonia Restoration Forces and elements of the Rapid Intervention Battalion lasted for more than an hour in the city.

Cameroon Concord News learnt that resident barricaded themselves in their homes and three explosions were also heard.

The Francophone administrators of the region have still not commented on the incident.

However, people in the know have opined that serious shooting started at Mile 7 Mankon where a contingent of Cameroon government military entered yesterday Sunday the 14^th of June and moved towards the Bamenda airport.

The airport deployment had support from another patrol group of 5 armored cars.

By Fon Lawrence in Bamenda

15, June 2020

Yaounde puts Southern Cameroons journalist in solitary confinement after reporting on rape of his cousin ⁰

Cameroon government authorities have reportedly placed Daniel Ashu Tando in solitary confinement at the Central Prison in Buea for reporting and detailing how three government army soldiers raped his cousin by name Fanny Eda who died in Mutengene.

Daniel Ashu Tando who according to Cameroon Intelligence Report sources has been in detention for over sixteen months, was arrested in Mabonji on his way to Kumba in his car and ever since, the commander of the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR) has been pushing for charges of belonging to a separatist Southern Cameroons group against him.

The Buea prison administrator moved him to solitary confinement immediately after he met with his lawyer Barrister Peter Nkea Atabong last week. We understand, the journalist will be appearing before a French Cameroun judge at the Buea Military Tribunal on the 17^th of June.

Prisons remain overcrowded both in Southern Cameroons and in French Cameroun and the Biya regime authorities have not undertaken health and sanitation measures in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Hundreds of Southern Cameroons inmates are afraid of contracting the virus due to the lack of access to medical care and protective gear inside detention facilities, as well as overcrowding and unsanitary conditions.

Last week, the Vice President of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government, Dabney Yerima wrote an open letter to Ambazonians all over the world urging them to immediately contact their local representatives and clamour for an end to the genocidal campaign going on in Southern Cameroons and the release of all Ambazonia prisoners of conscience including journalists behind bars, as freedom has become a matter of life and death amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Daniel Ashu Tando had a short spell at CRTV under Olivia Tamanjong and thereafter Kolle George and Kedia Basebang. At the time of his arrest he was reporting for Word Empowerment Radio.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

14, June 2020

People at the presidency want to assassinate me – Brenda Biya ⁰

She didn’t only say this, according to the gorgeous lady, they want to assassinate her at the presidency.

After having taken numerous videos previously of her section of the house scattered with TV and a couple of stuff broken, Bree posts a message on Sc she sent to somebody revealing that they want to assassinate her at the presidency.

She even sent those videos as a proof to back up her statement. According to Bree, she wishes to change her environment.

Culled from afriblinks

14, June 2020

Chief Inoni in France playing his old CPDM French Cameroun tricks ⁰

Chief Ephraim Inoni, former prime minister and an ex- President Biya acolyte detained since 2012 and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for embezzlement of public funds has refused to return to his prison cell in Yaoundé from a Paris Hospital.

The Southern Cameroonian who was top in those days in the CPDM crime syndicate was evacuated in October 2019 from the Yaoundé Kondengui Central Prison to France for medical reasons. The Biya regime VIP prisoner has recovered and moved instead to an apartment located in the 16^th district in Paris, France.

Cameroon Intelligence Report gathered from Jeune Afrique that Chief Inoni is currently living in a small apartment furnished by the Cameroon government and does not intend to return to Cameroon. His friends in the government have even made an application to French immigration authorities to extend his stay in France.

Inoni was severely beaten on the 22^nd of July 2019 by fellow inmates who had mutinied at Kondengui Central Prison and was rushed to the Yaoundé Central Hospital before Biya authorized his evacuation to France in October 2019.

By Chi Prudence Asong

14, June 2020

Queen of Makossa Love is dead ⁰

The Queen of Makossa Love, Nguea Laroute is no more!! Mama Nguéa died today Sunday, June 14, 2020 in the city of Douala after a long illness. She had been diabetic for several years and the author of several hit songs including “Soleil de décembre” had lost both legs amputated following complications due to her illness.

The renowned Cameroonian artist had a hip disarticulation operation, meaning they removed her left leg up to and including the hip joint on October 4, 2019. She again had another amputation on her right leg in an operation that took place at the Douala General Hospital on Wednesday, January 15, 2020.

Nguea La Route had repeated long sessions in intensive care units in two Douala hospitals and things however took a dramatic u turn for the worse today.

By Oke Akombi Ayukepi Akap in Glasgow

14, June 2020

Bundes: Berliners form socially-distanced human chain against racism ⁰

Thousands demonstrated in Berlin against racism and for broader fairness, including sharing the coronavirus burden, as they stretched a human chain through the German capital Sunday while keeping safe distances.

Hundreds also turned out in other cities like Leipzig and Hamburg, although some faced rainstorms in the tail-end of a weekend of harsh weather across Germany.

A spokesman for progressive movement Unteilbar (Indivisible) told AFP “more than 20,000 people” had participated in the event in Berlin, while police estimated around 8,000.

The route of the human chain — stretching from the world-famous Brandenburg Gate past the landmark Communist-era TV tower at Alexanderplatz and down into the ethnically diverse Neukoelln district — had to be extended to accommodate the numbers.

“The coronavirus is worsening existing inequalities. Many people are threatened with being left behind. We will not allow that,” said Unteilbar spokesman Georg Wissmeier in a statement.

“Human rights, social justice and climate justice belong together indivisibly.”

Over 10,000 people gathered in Berlin under the banner of Black Lives Matter last weekend in response to the May 25 killing of African-American George Floyd in Minneapolis, and the slogan was also in evidence on banners and T-shirts Sunday.

But the organisers of the latest demonstration posted a broader set of aims on their website.

– Coal mines to migrant camps –

Their demands include better working conditions and pay for all including migrants, affordable housing, upholding asylum rights, relaunching the economy along green lines and allowing workers more say in how companies are run.

“Who bears the costs of the global crisis, who will be stronger afterwards and who weaker — that’s being decided now,” Unteilbar organisers wrote.

Different groups ran individual stretches of the human chain, ranging from political parties like the Greens and Left party to civil society organisations like “Grannies against the far right” and the Fridays for Future youth climate movement.

And appearances by musicians and campaigners along the demonstration route were broadcast by organisers in a live stream of the event.

Messages from the “Ende Gelaende” group that has staged sit-ins at open-cast coal mines and fossil power plants appeared alongside an appeal from an Afghan filmmaker who lived in Greece’s overcrowded Moria refugee camp for six months.

“Everything is getting worse on the island” of Lesbos, where many people fleeing the Middle East via Turkey first reach European soil, Ahmad Ebrahimi told viewers.

“Please do anything you can” to help, he urged.

– Virus fears –

Ahead of Sunday’s demonstration, some had warned that the gatherings could provoke new transmission of the coronavirus.

“People not maintaining distance, shouting and chanting when packed close together — those are ideal conditions” for infection, Social Democratic Party (SPD) MP and epidemiologist Karl Lauterbach told the Tagesspiegel newspaper.

On their website, Unteilbar organisers urged sticking to “a responsible form of protest in times of pandemic and crisis”, telling participants to remain three metres (yards) apart to minimise the risk of coronavirus transmission.

As the human chain got under way, stewards handed out strips of brightly coloured tape cut to the right length as a guide.

Participants’ infection control precautions had been “exemplary”, a police spokesman told AFP, adding that people had kept their distance and worn facemasks.

Source: AFP

14, June 2020

Ambazonia: IG’s secret briefing reveal pro-Biya militias operating in Southern Cameroons ⁰

Interim Gov’t of Ambazonia Statement on French Cameroun Militias Operating in Ambazonia

Fellow Ambazonians,

On Monday, 8th of June 2020, the residents of Eshobi village in Manyu County woke up to the shock and awe of a brutal attack by militia loyal to the neo-colonial regime in Yaoundé. Local residents reported witnessing a militia with guns and machetes supported by heavily armed French Cameroun soldiers attacking the village indiscriminately. Five innocent young men who had their lives in front of them were brutally murdered at their family homes. Our hearts go out to their families and loved ones.

Yesterday, the Interim Government of Ambazonia intelligence sources confirmed that French Cameroun militia under the banner of vigilante groups are operating in Victoria, Fako County. Our intelligence sources confirmed many attacks on our citizens and their property. These heavily armed men are backed in their atrocities by the French Cameroun neo-colonial military.

The intention of these militias is to sabotage our revolution and we condemn this strongly.

As a government, the employment of militia in our country is strictly forbidden. We come to reassure the people of Ambazonia that we are now engaged with our self-defence forces on how to counter this new approach from the enemy. The safety and security of our citizens is of utmost importance and all necessary measures are being taken from the Interim Government of Ambazonia to keep its citizens safe.

For four years now, French Cameroun forces have brutalised, raped and murdered our people with impunity. The approach of using local militia as in the case of Ngarbuh and now Eshobi and Victoria is an attempt to set our communities against each other. We are urging all communities to be vigilant and look out for one another.

This war was declared on us by the French Cameroun regime. More than ten thousand of our people have been killed. Our villages have been burned down and hundreds of thousands of our people are living in the forests and as refugees in Nigeria. We picked up arms as a last resort to defend ourselves and property.

Let us continue our fight for self-defence, freedom and independence with integrity and decency. Only through these values would we attain freedom and independence.

Thank You

Dabney Yerima

Vice President, Federal Republic of Ambazonia

14, June 2020

Angry protest in Atlanta over police killing of another black man ⁰

A video shows a restaurant in the US city of Atlanta in flames as protests escalate following the police killing of a 27-year-old African American there.

Protests erupted in Atlanta in the state of Georgia on Saturday after a video emerged showing the fatal police shooting of Rayshard Brooks who had fallen asleep in his car at a Wendy’s fast-food restaurant drive-thru line and who the officers wanted to take a sobriety test because he was suspected of being intoxicated.

Brooks was shot in the restaurant’s parking lot on Friday night after he allegedly scuffled with police officers. The incident was caught on tape.

The Wendy’s surveillance video didn’t show the scuffle, but showed the victim running away from where police cars were parked.

Police said he resisted arrest and fled while grabbing a taser from one of the officers and was therefore shot to death.

14, June 2020

Messi on target as Barcelona return to action with thumping 4-0 win ⁰

Lionel Messi scored and grabbed two assists as La Liga leaders Barcelona eased to a 4-0 win away to struggling Real Mallorca on Saturday, making the perfect return to action after Spanish football’s three-month hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The champions got off to a flying start when Chilean midfielder Arturo Vidal scored with a diving header in the second minute, while Danish international Martin Braithwaite scored his first goal for Barca later in the first half.

Jordi Alba then added a third goal for Barca in the 79th minute after latching on to a through ball from Messi, who had also set up Braithwaite’s goal with a header.

The Argentine then completed the scoring with a deflected strike in stoppage time, netting 20 league goals for the 12th season in a row.

The win takes Barca on to 61 points after 28 games, five clear of nearest challengers Real Madrid, who host Eibar on Sunday in their first game back.

“We controlled the game and it was a great performance after not competing for three months,” goalscorer Alba said.

“We now have 10 must-win games to go and we are really looking forward to them.”

The game was played behind closed doors to prevent further spread of the novel coronavirus, but a fan wearing an Argentina shirt somehow made it on to the pitch, only to be swiftly taken away by security guards.

Luis Suarez made his first appearance since injuring his knee six months ago, coming off the bench in the second half, while his fellow Uruguayan Ronald Araujo hit the post shortly before Alba struck.

Mallorca occupy the final relegation spot in La Liga but despite the heavy loss they gave a decent account of themselves, with 19-year-old Japanese playmaker Takefusa Kubo pulling the strings.

Kubo tested Barca keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen in the first half while Ante Budimir, Lago Junior and Abdon Prats all flashed shots just wide of the target after the interval.

(REUTERS)

14, June 2020

6 pirates killed in raid off Cameroon ⁰

The Cameroon army said Saturday evening that its rapid intervention battalion and navy have shot dead six armed pirates off the southern Cameroonian town of Idabato.

The pirates were aboard a flying boat Friday night in the Gulf of Guinea located in the northeastern most part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean when Cameroonian forces on patrol opened fire at them.

Weapons, marijuana and money in Nigerian and Cameroonian currencies were recovered from the pirates, the army said.

It said that the “elimination” of the pirates was a significant step in fighting piracy that has become rampant in the Gulf of Guinea.

Cameroonian businessmen sailing to Nigeria to buy goods are “regularly” attacked by pirates in the international waters, according to security reports.

Source: Xinhuanet