Monthly Archives: March 2021

4, March 2021

Death is announced of the Vicar for Clergy Bamenda Archdiocese ⁰

The death has occurred, after a brief illness, of the Vicar for clergy in the Bamenda Archdiocese, Rev Fr. Patrick Nyuydini Lafon, who also moonlighted as lecturer at the Catholic University of Bamenda.

Archbishop Andrew Nkea expressed his sympathy to the family and friends of the Vicar and said priests of the metropolitan Archdiocese were saddened by the news of his passing as he held, over many years, several roles of leadership and responsibility in the Archdiocese of Bamenda and nationally.

Fr. Patrick Lafon was ordained a priest 43 yrs ago and was among the last outstanding academic batch of Cameroonian priests trained in Bigard seminary that celebrated their forty years in priesthood in 2017.

Cameroon Concord News Group understands that his final alumni celebration included Fr John Bosco Ambe, Fr William Neba, Fr Polycarp Fonjock (RIP) and Fr Martin Kima.

Fr. Lafon was National Catholic Education Secretary, and Secretary General of the National Episcopal Conference.

He spent 15 years in the nation’s capital and facilitated the growth and solid establishment of the English speaking Catholic Communities in Yaoundé from Etougebe to Nsimeyong.

He mastered the modus operandi of the Cameroon Catholic Church hierarchy, and gained a reputation for speaking truth to power, in very difficult times such as the tragic death of Fr Patrick Adeso at the Catholic University, unexplained till date.

At the end of his tenure in French Cameroun, Fr. Lafon pursued a doctoral studies at the Catholic University of America, CUA (Washington DC) in Metaphysics under the direct supervision of renowned John Wippel, a leading scholar on Thomistic Metaphysics, and wrote a thesis on “Virtue in Politics” according to Yves Simon.

Upon return he was made principal of St Paul’s College, Nkwen, and lecturer in Metaphysics & Epistemology at STAMS Bambui. When the Catholic University in Bamenda opened the Department of Philosophy, he became a part of the CATUC family and rose to the rank of Dean of Faculty replacing Prof Paul Nkwi.

Fr. Lafon’s last public appearance was his coordination of the encounter between the Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Palorin with the clergy of the Archdiocese of Bamenda. He was frank, candid and he provided a thoughtful key to understanding the Southern Cameroons Crisis.

He will be greatly missed by his students at St John Paul II Major Seminary, Bachuo Ntai in Manyu Division, where he lectured Metaphysics & Epistemology and also those of CATUC, where he recently launched the Doctoral Program in Philosophy.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

4, March 2021

Corrupt France: Judge convicts ex-defence minister, acquits ex-PM Balladur in Karachi corruption trial ⁰

A French court on Thursday acquitted former prime minister Edouard Balladur on corruption charges after he was accused of using kickbacks from an arms deal but handed a suspended jail term to his former defence minister.

The verdict by the Law Court of the Republic (CJR), which sits to try serving and former ministers for alleged violations committed in office, came just days after ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy was convicted for corruption.

Balladur, 91, had been accused of funnelling illicit commissions from arms deals to his unsuccessful presidential campaign in 1995.

His former defence minister Francois Leotard, 78, was however convicted of complicity in the misuse of assets and handed a suspended two-year prison term and a fine of 100,000 euros ($120,000).

Neither was present in court for the verdict.

Balladur and Leotard, both right-wingers, were charged in 2017 with “complicity in the misuse of corporate assets” over the sale of submarines to Pakistan and frigates to Saudi Arabia between 1993 and 1995.

The verdicts came hot on the heels of a corruption conviction for former president Sarkozy on Monday which stunned France and has led to a debate about the extent of political corruption.

That judgement meant that both of the last heads of states from France’s right-wing party now called The Republicans (LR) — Jacques Chirac and Sarkozy — have criminal convictions.

Sarkozy has vowed to appeal and clear his name.

Swiss cash

The allegations against Balladur and Leotard came to light during an investigation into a 2002 bombing in Karachi, Pakistan, that targeted a bus transporting French engineers.

Fifteen people were killed in the attack, including 11 engineers working on the submarine contract, with the Al-Qaeda terror network initially suspected of carrying out the assault.

But the focus shifted and French investigators began to consider whether the bombing had been carried out as revenge for a halt in commission payments for the arms deals.

Balladur lost his 1995 presidential bid to rival Chirac who allegedly cut off the payments negotiated by the previous government.

Leotard was accused of having created an “opaque network” of intermediaries who took commissions on contracts signed with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and then paid back some of the money with illicit cash transfers.

Prosecutors alleged that the commissions totalled 550 million francs, or 117 million euros in today’s money, some of which was funnelled back to Balladur’s campaign.

At the centre of the case was a deposit of 10.25 million francs in cash made into Balladur’s campaign account three days after his electoral defeat in 1995.

Balladur claimed the money came from donations from supporters and merchandise sales, but prosecutors linked the money to cash withdrawals in Switzerland made by a Lebanese-French intermediary who took commissions on the arms deals.

Ziad Takieddine, long active in French right-wing circles, fled to Lebanon last June after a Paris court sentenced him and another middleman, Abdul Rahman El-Assir, to five years in prison over their role in the “Karachi” kickbacks.

Three others were also convicted but have announced appeals.

“I have a completely free conscience,” Balladur told the court during his interrogation.

Takieddine has also made — and retracted — claims that he delivered suitcases stuffed with cash from Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi to Sarkozy’s chief of staff to help with the ex-president’s 2007 presidential campaign.

Those claims are the subject of a separate investigation into Sarkozy.

Combative Sarkozy

On Monday, the 66-year-old ex-president was found to have formed a “corruption pact” with his lawyer Thierry Herzog to convince a judge to obtain and share information about yet another inquiry into his campaign financing.

Sarkozy, who has been dogged with investigations since leaving office in 2007, denies the charges and has vowed to clear his name with an appeal.

In two interviews Wednesday, he lambasted the verdict and said he was mulling filing a complaint with Europe’s top rights court.

“I never betrayed the trust of the French people,” France’s president from 2007 to 2012 told TF1 channel in a primetime interview on Wednesday evening.

(AFP)

4, March 2021

Ivory Coast enters final day of campaigning as all eyes on distant Gbagbo ⁰

Legislative elections take place in Ivory Coast on Saturday overshadowed by a figure in distant Europe – former president Laurent Gbagbo.

Nearly a decade has passed since Gbagbo was forced out of office by today’s president Alassane Ouattara before being flown to The Hague to face war crimes charges.

Acquitted since then but living in Brussels pending an appeal, Gbagbo plans to come home, thanks to an olive branch offered by his erstwhile rival.

His Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) party has ended a years-long electoral boycott, becoming the engine behind an alliance battling for seats in the National Assembly.

The elections “mark the return of Laurent Gbagbo and his political organisation in institutional politics,” said Gbagbo’s eldest son, Michel, a university academic running in a constituency in Abidjan.

“It has to be seen as the return to calmer democratic life and lasting peace,” he said optimistically.

Ouattara overture

Ouattara, 79, ignited political unrest last year when he announced he would seek a third term in office – a scheme that critics said sidestepped constitutional limits.

Clashes claimed 87 lives and left nearly 500 people injured, while most of the opposition snubbed the October 31 ballot.

Ouattara won by a landslide – but to his critics, the victory had scant credibility and the country remained deep in crisis.

Seeking a way forward, Ouattara reached out to Gbagbo, signalling his assent for his return home and issuing him with a diplomatic passport.

The runup to Saturday’s vote has seen a jolt run through Ivorian politics as the well-organised FPI strives to get out the vote.

Thousands of supporters wearing T-shirts with Gbagbo’s face took part in a campaign launch rally in Yopougon last Saturday.

“Gbagbo yesterday, Gbagbo today, Gbagbo tomorrow – Gbagbo forever, or else nothing,” were the words on a poster.

The pro-Gbagbo alliance, Together for Democracy and Sovereignty (EDS), is fielding candidates across most of the country.

The left-leaning coalition has forged an unprecedented electoral deal with the biggest centre-right party – the Democratic Party of the Ivory Coast (PDCI) headed by Henri Konan Bedie, a former president and former Ouattara ally.

The self-described goal is to win enough legislative seats to prevent Ouattara and his RHDP party from “consolidating (their) absolute power.”

The RHDP won a thumping majority in the December 2016 legislative elections with 167 out of 255 seats.

“We don’t share the same ideology” with the EDS, said Djedri N’Goran, a senior PDCI official.

“But whether you like it or not, Gbagbo has an aura – there are whole areas, including Abidjan, where it’s ‘Gbagbo or nothing’.”

Outsider

Gbagbo was president from 2000 to 2010, a time of turmoil, division and economic destruction in this major cocoa and coffee producer.

He was ousted by force of arms in April 2011 after a months-long conflict that claimed several thousand lives, sparked by his refusal to accept electoral defeat at Ouattara’s hands.

His long trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague was over charges that he abetted the post-electoral violence.

Despite Gbagbo’s turbulent record, he remains for many Ivorians a plucky and inspirational figure, said political analyst Rodrigue Kone.

He likened Gbagbo’s odyssey to that of “a poor child fighting the bourgeois system represented by leaders from aristocratic families.”

Reconciliation Minister Kouadio Konan Bertin last month paid tribute to Gbagbo, 75, as “a major player” in national politics, “whose views should be taken into account.”

Exactly when Gbagbo will make his return is unclear.

The ICC has authorised him to make foreign trips if the host country accepts him, pending the outcome of the appeal, which is due by March 31.

He previously said he hoped to return in December, but his increasingly frustrated supporters now say it will be in mid-March and have set up a committee to prepare a spectacular welcome.

(AFP)

4, March 2021

Football: Leeds United keen to land Nicolas Nkoulou ⁰

The Whites need to strengthen their defense this summer. Reports in the British and Italian media claim Leeds United are keen to land Nicolas Nkoulou. The 30-year-old has been subject to interest from various European clubs.

The centre-back has banged in one goal in 13 matches for Torino this term on all fronts. The 30-year-old is considered to be one of the best centre-backs in Cameroon.

Nkoulou has also left his mark at the international stage after netting one goal in 72 senior appearances for the Cameroon national team.

The centre-back’s contract at Torino is about to expire and a number of clubs are said to be monitoring his situation, with Leeds showing the most concrete interest in an attempt to lure the player to their team.

Marcelo Bielsa wants to sign a new centre-back and Nkoulou is one of the names at the top of his wishlist.

The report claims that Leeds manager has extensively scouted Nkoulou and is considering a move for the centre-back.

The Whites are desperate to make an impact in the summer transfer window.

Nicolas Nkoulou is a very comfortable defender and has qualities which would improve the Leeds United’s backline. His arrival would give Leeds some much needed tactical flexibility.

According to the report, “Leeds United are eager to sign Torino defender Nicolas Nkoulou. The Whites are looking to establish themselves as a top half club in the Premier League next term. According to CalcioMercato, Nkoulou is interesting Marcelo Bielsa and his coaching staff. The 30-year-old is out of contract in the summer and could arrive on a free. Bielsa coached Nkoulou at Marseille a few years ago.”

Leeds United will have to come up with the right proposal to convince Nkoulou to join the club.

Good signing for Leeds United?

The 30-year-old is a good centre-back, and on a free transfer, he would not be a bad signing for Leeds.

The Cameroon international could be a very good squad player for Marcelo Bielsa over the next few years. He is at the peak of his career right now and Bielsa could bring out the best in him.

Stylistically, he would be a great fit in Leeds.

It will be interesting to see where the player ends up this summer.

Source: Eurofootballrumours

4, March 2021

Pope Francis appoints Cameroonian as new bishop of US Virgin Islands ⁰

Pope Francis appointed Mgsr. Jerome Feudjio on Tuesday to lead the Diocese of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Originally from Cameroon, Feudjio has served as a priest of the U.S. Virgin Islands’ diocese for more than 30 years.

Commenting on Feudjio’s March 2 appointment, Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the apostolic administrator of St. Thomas diocese, said: “Bishop-Elect Jerome is no stranger to the people of the diocese. His long history of service and pastoral dedication to the people of this community of faith are well known and widely respected,”

Feudjio, 65, currently serves as the vicar general of the Diocese of St. Thomas and rector of its Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul.

The Diocese of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands was established in 1977 and is the sole suffragan see of the Archdiocese of Washington. The diocese is made up of 30,000 Catholics across the islands of St. Croix, St. John, St. Thomas, and Water Island.

Feudjio first arrived in the U.S. Virgin Islands in 1988 after Cardinal Seán O’Malley, who at the time was a coadjutor bishop of St. Thomas, invited him to work as a campus minister in the Saints Peter and Paul School.

Two years later, he was ordained a priest of the Diocese of St. Thomas and appointed as parochial vicar of the cathedral. He taught French and religion at the Catholic school and went on to serve in multiple positions within the diocese, including as director of vocations, finance officer, administrator, and chancellor.

Born in Cameroon in 1955, Feudjio entered religious life at the age of 17 as a postulant for the Congregation of the Fathers of the Sacred Heart (SCJ). He attended their Saint Apostles Seminary in Otele, Cameroon, from 1972 to 1975, as well as the major seminary in the capital city of Yaoundé from 1975 to 1979.

While still in formation in 1980, Feudjio traveled to the United States, where he met the then Fr. Seán O’Malley, who invited him to stay and study in Washington, D.C.

Feudjio completed his studies in philosophy and theology in the Archdiocese of Washington at Oblate College, and in 1987 joined the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, making a temporary religious profession.

During his time in the U.S., Feudjio completed a graduate program at Southern Illinois University in the Administration of Justice Program, through which he interned at a local transitional house that helped former inmates readjust to society.

In 2004, Bishop George V. Murry, S.J., who served as bishop of St. Thomas from 1999 to 2007, asked Feudjio to return to Southern Illinois University to pursue further graduate studies in Rehabilitation Administration.

Feudjio has served as rector of the Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral in the U.S. Virgin Islands since 2008.

As bishop of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Feudjio will succeed Bishop Herbert Bevard, who retired in September after he was hospitalized and airlifted to the U.S. mainland for medical treatment.

“Regrettably, I have experienced some new and unanticipated medical conditions that unfortunately preclude my ability to continue to maintain my position in the Diocese of St. Thomas,” Bevard wrote in a letter to the diocese on Sept. 18.

“I have loved serving the People of God; the clergy, religious, laity, and the entire Virgin Islands community in the Diocese of St. Thomas and will treasure the fond memories that we share together. It is this same love and concern for them, recognizing my own limitations, that now compel me to make this request,” he said.

Bevard, 75, has remained in North Carolina for ongoing medical treatment. He led the Diocese of St. Thomas for 12 years.

Pope Francis appointed the then Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Washington to serve as the apostolic administrator of the Diocese of St. Thomas until the new bishop is installed.

“I readily join the clergy, religious, and faithful of the Diocese of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands today in warmly welcoming Pope Francis’ appointment of Msgr. Jerome Feudjio as the sixth Bishop of this local Church,” Cardinal Gregory said.

“He now begins a new chapter in his own life and in all of your lives as well. Please keep him in your prayers as he transitions into his new office as I am certain he will hold all of you securely in his daily prayers from this day forward.”

Source: Angelusnews

4, March 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Calls for Vatican to join mediation efforts ⁰

Civil society groups in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon are urging the Vatican to join a Swiss-led peace process, as the security situation in the central African nation deteriorates further. Local activists believe that Pope Francis has more influence over the Cameroon leadership than any other leader or country. Their plea follows a recent visit by the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin to Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya, and the Anglophone North West and South West.

The International Crisis Group estimates that the Anglophone conflict has claimed 4,000 lives, while local NGOs believe as many as 12,000 civilians have been killed. Attacks by Cameroon armed forces, including the burning of villages, has forcibly displaced an estimated 700,000 people out of an Anglophone population of six million. The violence and a school boycott have kept more than a million children from school for years. The Norwegian Refugee Council has described it as the world’s most neglected conflict for the second year in a row.

Cardinal Parolin met President Biya on January 29th, followed by a visit to the Anglophone region. The Papal envoy celebrated Mass with Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya in the mainly Anglophone Bamenda archdiocese in the North West and South West.

The Cardinal also attended a meeting at which local people described the atrocities being endured by unarmed civilians. He told the audience, “How can the body of Christ be neutral in the midst of injustice?” He conveyed Pope Francis’s concern, offering to mediate negotiations.

Anglophone journalist Mimi Mefo writes, “By this very act, the Holy See has departed from the condemnations made by the international community for the last four years, to take concrete action on the ground.”

The Swiss NGO, Humanitarian Dialogue (Swiss HD), is trying to bring the Yaounde authorities and Anglophone representatives together in peace talks. Initially, Yaounde denied the country was in crisis. More recently, the government has refused to negotiate with armed groups which it labels terrorists. Africa Intelligence reports that officials around Biya continue to believe their military strategy will prevail. Consequently, the government is transferring weapons from the Far North, where Cameroon is fighting Boko Haram, to the Anglophone regions (as reported in Foreign Policy). This policy leaves civilians in the Far North vulnerable to attack by Islamist militants.

Local civil society groups (who must remain anonymous for their own safety) are calling on the Vatican to join and actively support Swiss HD in offering to mediate inclusive peace negotiations. In addition, the Ambazonian Coalition Team has written to the Vatican, urging The Holy See to engage fully with the Swiss HD mediation process.

In 2019, Catholic bishops from around the world lobbied Biya to stop the bloodshed and enter talks. The government has previously declined an offer by local bishops to mediate. According to Anglophone media sources, Christians are no longer free to attend Mass in some mission stations, and all sides are accused of harassing the church and priests. Anglophone priests have been kidnapped, and several have been killed.

Judith Nwana, co-chair of the Coalition for Dialogue and Negotiations, comments, “The Cameroon government has never committed in good faith the willingness to negotiate. They will only accept international mediation and negotiations if pressured by the international community. The Vatican can leverage its influence within the international, political and diplomatic arena to make that happen because the atrocities being committed on Southern Cameroonians is no other than a genocide. The Coalition for Dialogue and Negotiations is hopeful that Southern Cameroonians and armed leaders would accept a multilateral mediation initiative led by the Vatican, the United States, and other allies for a negotiated settlement to be reached, one that is credible, without any pre-conditions and addresses the root cause(s) of the civil war.”

Background to the conflict

The Anglophone area is also known as the former British Southern Cameroons, because of the UK’s colonial legacy. The unrest began in 2016 when the Francophone government tried to impose French law on Anglophone courts practicing English common law. Yaounde officials also sent French-speakers to teach a French curriculum in Anglophone schools which traditionally teach a UK curriculum.

However, Anglophone grievances stretch back to independence, when it is alleged that promises to ensure the British Southern Cameroons remained a separate entity were broken. In a subsequent referendum, English speakers were not given the option of forming a sovereign country. In the 1970s, the Francophone government dissolved the federal system, leaving the Anglophone regions (20% of the population) marginalised.

Research by impartial human rights groups confirms that the Cameroon armed forces are implicated in atrocities, including destroying villages, and killing and torturing civilians, while Anglophone militia are accused of intimidating and killing civilians who defy them. Evidence of the mass rape of twenty women in Ebam by government troops has just been published by Human Rights Watch. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) reports that state security forces killed nine people, including children and the elderly, in Mautu in SW, and shot dead four teenagers in Meta Bamenda, in January.

The Biya government’s refusal to engage with moderate English-speaking civil society is thought to have contributed to increasingly violent tactics by Anglophone militias fighting for international recognition of a sovereign nation called Ambazonia. UNOCHA reports allegations that a school principal was killed by non-state armed groups in January, and that schools and teachers continue to be attacked and threatened.

In January, the US Senate passed an unprecedented bipartisan resolution condemning the violence and empowering the Biden administration to apply individually-targeted smart sanctions such as asset freezes and travel bans on those on all side who are implicated in human rights abuses. Despite pressure from Lord Alton, among others, the UK has resisted calls to follow the US Senate lead.

Source: Independent Catholic News

3, March 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Yerima seeks to raise awareness of rape by French Cameroun soldiers ⁰

Systematic Rape as a means of French Cameroun warfare in Ambazonia

The Human Rights Watch report on Cameroon dated 26 February 2021 titled “Survivors of Military Assault Await Justice” was unambiguous and uncomplimentary on the actions and conduct of the Cameroon army. The report detailed the rape and abuse of more than 20 women by the Cameroon army in the village of Ebam in the South West Region of the country during raids carried out last year. The United States Embassy to Cameroon today released the following message: “The United States is deeply disturbed to learn of reports of a military raid in Ebam, Southwest Region, on March 1 of last year that resulted in violence against civilians. We condemn all violence in which civilians are targeted. We call for an immediate investigation into the alleged incident and for perpetrators to be held accountable. That this attack, if found to be true, could go unacknowledged for a year speaks to the important role civil society and media organizations play in helping governments meet their obligations to their people.”

Statistics of actual mass or gang rape of Ambazonian women and girls are difficult to come by for obvious reasons. But there is no doubt, based on concurrent first-hand accounts, that what HRW reports is only the tip of the iceberg. The wartime rape cases reported by HRW points to systematic rape aimed at destroying the identity of the people of the Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia). It is indistinguishable from the same crime that was perpetrated in Rwanda by Hutu soldiers against Tutsi women and girls, and in Bosnia by Serbian soldiers against Bosnian Muslims. Incidents of rape by French Cameroun troops in Ambazonia are more frequent than people are aware of or than is generally known. These cases go unreported because surviving victims internalize the occurrences and do not talk about them. Many surviving rape victims do not come forward to tell their traumatic experience because of the shame and stigma associated with the deed. They suffer in silence and bear for years their severely traumatic experience. There are no available local trauma centres providing counselling in private.

Massacres and other murders as well as systematic rape of women and girls are the well-attested shameless methods by which the ‘professional’ and ‘elite’ troops of French Cameroun conduct their colonial war in the Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia). That colonial war claims deaths in tens of thousands. It inflicts suffering, wholesale destruction, refugee flows and other forcible displacement of large numbers of people. It causes gross human rights violations. It creates thousands of orphans, widows, widowers and breaks up family ties. People are systematically subjected to indignity, and to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. The world seems inert. The people appear to have resigned themselves to an attitude of fatalistic cynicism.

Women and girls are forced into sexual relationships by their torturers holding them captives. This results in forced impregnation and contamination with HIV and other sexually transmissible diseases. Women and girls are sometimes gang-raped to death or murdered after being raped to destroy evidence of the deed. Survivors go through emotional and psychological trauma. Rape and defilement are systematically used as a weapon and tactic of war by French Cameroun barbarian troops. They are used explicitly in efforts: to destroy population, to dislocate bonds within families and communities, to maximize humiliation and shame, to break resistance by instilling fear and terror in communities or in freedom fighters, to torture and inflict injury, to extract information, to degrade, to punish the rape victim for some alleged acts by their families, and to vent anger on the people of Ambazonia and humiliate them.

Rape always entails direct physical harm, trauma, and social ostracism for the victim. In many instances, it is also a health death sentence for the victims since they are deliberately infected with HIV and other sexually transmissible infections. Furthermore, gang rape invariably leads to vaginal destruction and traumatic fistula of the vaginal tract, bladder and rectum. Vaginal destruction is now classified as a war crime. Long term medical complication of such rape includes uterine prolapse, serious injury to the reproductive system like infertility or complications associated with miscarriages and self-induced abortions. The central element of rape is power. Rape is thus used to punish, intimidate, coerce, humiliate and degrade Ambazonian female victims and by extension Ambazonian men. As if this is not enough evil, French Cameroun troops enforce a war policy prohibiting treatment for women and girls suffering from war-related rape or other injuries. They violently eject them out of any health facility. The result is fear by affected women and girls to seek medical help. Their condition becomes irremediable. They eventually die in silence.

Rape most often occurs during search operations, during which those troops frequently engage in collective punishment against the civilian population, most often by beating or otherwise assaulting residents, and burning their homes. Rape also occurs frequently during reprisal attacks on civilians following ambushes by freedom fighters. In some cases, the victims are accused of providing food or shelter to freedom fighters or are ordered to identify or disclose the location of their male relatives as freedom fighters. In some attacks the selection of victims is apparently opportunistic and the women, like murdered civilians, are raped simply because they happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The French Cameroun regime is scared to death of its military and never credibly investigates any rapes or even massacres committed by them. The silence of the regime and its unwillingness to prosecute and punish those responsible leads to the inevitable conclusion that this form of torture is sanctioned as a matter of government policy. At least, the government of that country signals that the practice of rape is tolerated, if not condoned, and encouraged. The regime is in the habit of dismissing reports of massacres, and a fortiori, of rapes. It peddles the lie that its troops act ‘professionally’. The troops themselves habitually eliminate witnesses likely to provide evidence of rapes and massacres. The rape and killing of women and girls are a common occurrence though extremely difficult to document on account of the secrecy of the incidents, lack of pathologist evidence, and difficulty of evidence gathering for rape prosecution.

Wartime rape is a criminal offence under the international law of war, which also applies to Cameroun. The criminalization of rape under that law is meant to safeguard human dignity. The rape of women and girls is prohibited in armed conflict. It is deemed a war crime under the provisions of international humanitarian law. The jurisprudence of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda characterizes wartime rape as a crime of genocide because of the intent to destroy in whole or in part a particular population group. Furthermore, the systematic mass rape of Ambazonian women and girls meets the statutory definition of systematic harm to a population or ethnical group within the meaning of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Persons who commit or order the commission of grave breaches of international humanitarian law are individually responsible in respect of such breaches.

We call for international condemnation of this crime as a violation of international human rights and humanitarian law and appeal to:

• the international community to make vigorous and repeated representations to French Cameroun government, both bilaterally and multilaterally, in connection with these rapes and other grave human rights violations,

• all States, organizations and programmes of the UN system, specialized agencies and other international organizations to urgently provide humanitarian assistance to all in need of it in Ambazonia,

• the UN to urgently take practical measures to assist and counsel the girls and women concerned ,and to mandate investigations into the facts of each individual case, and

• the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Womento devote particular attention to the issue of rape by French Cameroun troops in the Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia).

We urge community groups on the ground to continue to ascertain and record the magnitude and extent of rape by the French Cameroun occupying forces in the Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia).

Dabney Yerima

Vice President

Pro-independent Leadership Government

3, March 2021

Pope Francis Iraq Visit: Rockets slam base hosting US troops ⁰

At least 10 rockets targeted a military base in western Iraq that hosts US-led coalition troops on Wednesday, the coalition and the Iraqi military said. The attack came two days before Pope Francis makes a historic visit to Iraq, which the pope said would go ahead as planned.

The rockets struck Ain al-Asad airbase in Anbar province at 7.20am local time, said spokesman Colonel Wayne Marotto.

Later, the Iraqi military released a statement saying the attack did not cause significant losses and that security forces had found the launch pad used for the missiles.

It was the first attack since the US struck Iran-aligned militia targets along the Iraq-Syria border last week that killed one militiaman, stoking fears of a possible repeat of a series of tit-for-tat attacks that escalated last year, culminating in the US-directed drone strike that killed Iran’s top security commander, Qassem Soleimani outside the Baghdad airport.

Wednesday’s attack targeted the same base where Iran struck with a barrage of missiles in January last year in retaliation for the killing of Soleimani. Dozens of US service members were injured, suffering concussions in that strike.

Pope reiterates he will go to Iraq

The attack came two days before Pope Francis is scheduled to visit Iraq in a much anticipated trip that will include Baghdad, southern Iraq and the northern city of Erbil.

In his weekly prayer address Wednesday, the pope asked for prayers for the trip, the first ever by a Roman Catholic pontiff to Iraq.

“The day after tomorrow, God willing, I will go to Iraq for a three-day pilgrimage. For a long time I have wanted to meet these people who have suffered so much,” said the 84-year-old pope.

The pope added that he would be going to Iraq, where his predecessor John Paul II was not allowed to go in 2000, because “the people cannot be let down for a second time”.

“The Iraqi people are waiting for us, they were waiting for Saint John Paul II, who was forbidden to go. One cannot disappoint a people for the second time. Let us pray that this journey will be successful,” he said.

He made no mention of Wednesday’s attack on the Ain al-Asad airbase.

Domestic, regional tensions

Wednesday’s attack came amid rising domestic and regional tensions.

Hardline Iraqi groups have an interest in ramping up the pressure on Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi following his pledges to rein in rogue militias.

They may also carry a message from Tehran to Washington, which under US President Joe Biden is offering to revive the Iran nuclear deal abandoned by his predecessor Donald Trump in 2018.

Iran is demanding the US lift sanctions immediately, while the US wants Iran to move first by returning to previous nuclear commitments.

Denmark, which also has troops at the base, condemned the attack, saying that coalition forces at Ain al-Asad are there at the invitation of the Iraqi government, helping to bring stability and security to the country.

“Despicable attacks against Ain al-Asad base in #Iraq are completely unacceptable,” Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod tweeted. The Danish armed forces said two Danes, who were in the camp at the time of the attack, are unharmed.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and AP)

3, March 2021

Covid-19: Biden says US will have enough supply to vaccinate all adults by end of May ⁰

President Joe Biden said Tuesday the United States would have sufficient vaccine supply by the end of May to inoculate the entire US adult population.

“We’re now on track to have enough vaccine supply for every adult in America by the end of May,” said Biden — who had previously forecast it would take until the end of July to amass that many doses.

“That’s progress. Important progress. But it is not enough to have the vaccine supply,” Biden said, stressing the work still ahead to administer the vaccines once acquired.

“We need vaccinators, people who put the shots in people’s arms, millions of Americans’ arms.”

“Great news, but stay vigilant,” Biden said. “It’s not over yet.”

Biden made the announcement during a short speech in which he confirmed a deal for pharma giant Merck to produce rival Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose Covid-19 vaccine to boost supply nationwide.

“This is the type of collaboration between companies we saw in World War II,” Biden said.

The US leader said that Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine manufacturing facilities “will now begin to operate 24/7.”

The J&J vaccine is the third to receive US regulatory approval for emergency use.

Unlike the two-dose Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, the J&J vaccine requires just one dose, and is stored at fridge temperatures, offering logistical and practical advantages.

Johnson & Johnson has so far said it aims to deliver 100 million doses to the United States by June.

(AFP)

3, March 2021

Joshua Osih-US Congress Affair: The President Biya Connection ⁰

The Southern Cameroons crisis which started in 2016 was a strike by teachers and lawyers, in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon. The professionals, supported by citizens of their areas, protested the unfair use of the French language and unjustified appointments of Francophone elites in their territories.

Cameroon has been passing for a bilingual country. By 2017, the situation had spiralled out of control and developed into a fully-fledged separatist war. Both government forces and separatists are now bogged down in a conflict that observers say, can only be resolved through dialogue.

Not long ago, Hon. Joshua Osih of the Social Democratic Front could travel the entire South West and North West with Southern Cameroonians rushing to shake his hand and thank him for the responsible leadership he was providing for the SDF party with many wishing that he could take over from Chairman Ni John Fru Ndi.

This was a man whose steady response to the sufferings of the Southern Cameroons people transcended partisan politics in Yaoundé and transformed him into an Ambazonian hero. Like Fru Ndi whose emergence prompted the making of an Achidi Achu, Joshua Osih’s meteoric rise heralded the coming of a Dion Ngute into the Star Building.

Just four years into the crisis in Southern Cameroons, Joshua Osih is in free fall. The past few days on the national stage have left his reputation in tatters, already marked in history for his participation in the recent French Cameroun MPs letter to US President Biden. He now seems unstable and incoherent, contradicting both himself and the SDF party.

Several prominent members of the consortium of crime syndicates in Yaoundé including senior military officials have become millionaires overnight from the fighting in Southern Cameroons among them is this chartered member of the Social Democratic Front party who also moonlights as a Member of Parliament and presidential candidate.

Joshua Nambangi Osih (to use his three names) is the son of Mami Therese and Reuben Osih. The SDF MP’s father died some two years ago and for him to have him buried in his native Ndian Division, he had to pay huge sums of money to Southern Cameroons Restoration Forces, as the Francophone dominated government could not provide the much- needed security in that part of the country.

Mr. Osih’s recent decision to turn his back on the people of Southern Cameroons has triggered a backlash! But there are reasons why he embarked on his last journey of many dangers.

Cameroon Intelligence Report understands that the SDF politician recently cornered President Biya via his blood relation Prime Minister Dion Ngute to legalize his security company Camport PLC. A Cameroon Presidential Decree No. 2021/074 of 01/04/2021 authorized the company to operate as a private security company with head office in Douala.

Hon. Joshua Osih’s interest in operating a private security company at these challenging times in the nation’s history cannot be termed accidental!! It is indeed deliberate. The timing of the presidential decree too is key as Southern Cameroons and the entire Far North region is host to multiple armed groups and the security challenges facing the country are growing at catastrophic rapidity.

We have reliable information linking Camport PLC to huge Cameroon government military contracts to provide covert security operations in the Southern Cameroons and potentially carryout undercover missions in the Far North to target regime opponents and Southern Cameroon front line members. The company’s objectives are bold and it plans to be merciless on executing them.

Joshua Osih was quoted as saying that “I’d love to become the person that comes up with a solution to the security situation in South West and North West” shortly after he collected a copy of the signed presidential decree. However, the Oroko politician could not adequately secure himself and other members of his family during his own dad’s funeral.

Osih is said to know little about the modus operandi of a private security company. The pot belly SDF MP has, among other things, locked himself out of his own mobile phone after forgetting the password and failing to get it right more than 20 times and now he is using his office and contacts with the ex-convict Minister Paul Atanga Nji to discuss overseas arm deals and a need to raise some few millions of dollars.

Countless reputations name them: Inoni Ephraim, Mendo Ze, Marafa, Amadou Vamouke, have been sacrificed in the fires of Biya worship, but Joshua Oshii’s decline is remarkable given his once-towering stature in Southern Cameroons. So what happened to Osih? What was he thinking? How did this successful businessman land so far on the wrong side of Southern Cameroons public opinion, history, and possibly Southern Cameroons law? How did he become so completely irrelevant?

The answer is simple: He forgot about Southern Cameroons main political ingredient which is integrity.

By Asu Vera Eyere in London