Seven Cameroon government soldiers have been killed in a suspected Boko Haram attack in the Far North region.

It has been more than a week since there were clashes with the Nigerian Islamic sect who have regained ground for several months.

Our correspondent in Maroua who confirmed today’s early morning attack said Boko Haram fighters raided the Mechanized Infantry Division at Bim in Sagmé, Fotokol district at around 4:00 a.m. local time (5:00 a.m. GMT).

Cameroon Concord News gathered that the assailants came in large numbers with vehicles and motorcycles.

This deadly attack comes after a week of calm. On July 15, Boko Haram elements attacked a school and an army outpost in Talla-Katchi.

Between July 19 and 20, approximately 50 Boko Haram members laid down their arms and surrendered in two waves to the Kolofata vigilance committee in the Mayo-Sava department, of which Mora is the main town.

By Rita Akana with files

There is total demoralization and confusion among soldiers and politicians in Yaoundé as Amba fighters continue to chop down Cameroon’s defense forces.

Over the last month, the Ambazonian Defense Forces have proven that they can strike the country’s soldiers wherever and whenever they want.

Thousands of soldiers have been killed by Ambazonian Defense Forces who are fighting for the total liberation of their homeland.

The fighters have even started going beyond their territory to attack army soldiers in East Cameroon.

The fighters have grown in both confidence and experience and many of them now hold that Cameroon’s army soldiers are as good as boy’s scouts.

Given the brazen attacks  and the killing of many soldiers, the Ministry of Defense has decided to organize a one-week defense seminar in Dschang, chaired by the minister of Defense, Joseph Beti Assomo, who smuggled himself into Dschang for fear of being attacked by Ambazonian Defense Forces.

The meeting, which is also attended by senior military officials, will enable participants to take a long and hard look at the military’s strategy which has not delivered any meaningful results.

By Rita Akana

The Southern Cameroons Secretary of the Economy Hon. Tabenyang Brado has said that all Francophone civil administrators and Francophone army soldiers are considered by Ambazonia Restoration Forces as occupiers and therefore must leave the Ambazonian homeland.  Tabenyang Brado stressed that the French Cameroun regime in Yaoundé should pull out all its military and civil administrators from Southern Cameroons except Roman Catholic clerics.

Comrade Tabenyang Brado made the remarks in an interview with Cameroon Concord News on Tuesday, alleging that soon and very soon Vice President Dabney Yerima and French Cameroun’s Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh will agreed on the matter.

“Yaoundé will accept very soon that all its army soldiers and administrators except Roman Catholic clerics will have to leave Southern Cameroons and this issue has long been stated by President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe” Tabenyang furthered.

For over four years now, Cameroon government troops, its police force and its gendarmerie have been incapable of providing Southern Cameroons with security.

“Had the so-called armee du Cameroun and BIR been capable of securing Ambaland, they would have done so over their 59-year-long occupation of the country” Tabenyang Brado said.

By Chi Prudence Asong

The news from Switzerland is not good for Cameroon in general and the ruling crime syndicate in particular. Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya, is currently fighting for his life in a Swiss clinic where he had a delicate surgery to remove blood clots in his brain.

According to a source in Geneva, though the surgery went smoothly, the president and his medical team say the surgeons are worried, as the 88-year-old is still trapped in a long unsettling coma days after the operation was conducted.

The president’s entourage has been warned not to deliver any information on the president’s health and these instructions are seemingly being followed to the letter. However, keeping a secret is the most challenging thing and some members of the president’s encourage are already singing like magpies.

They are already briefing members of their political group to whom they owe allegiances. To get more information on the drama unfolding in Geneva, the Cameroon Concord News Group has moved its Paris correspondent to Geneva to work some of the Group’s sources.

It should be recalled that Mr. Biya has been home to multiple debilitating illnesses and at his age anything can happen. Biya has been playing host to diabetes, hypertension and a heart problem that have been huge concerns to his family and the ruling party.

While Swiss medical experts are worried about the dictator’s health, in Yaoundé the concerns are different.

The officials of the ruling party, the CPDM, are more concerned than Mr. Biya’s family. Many of them have been involved in many political and financial crimes and if the worst were to happen, they might not have the same protection that the Biya regime is affording them.

Various political groups have been meeting in Yaoundé to discuss in private about the president’s deteriorating health and the potential of chaos playing out in Cameroon if Mr. Biya were to kick the bucket.

Constitutionally, it is the Senate president, Marcel Niat Njifenji, who is supposed to take over in the event of a vacancy, but he himself is in worse shape than Biya,  as his own multiple illnesses are already agreeing on when to put him out of his misery.

The Speaker of the National Assembly, Cavaye Yegue Djibril, is therefore likely to take over in case Niat exits unceremoniously, although he too is suffering from a serious respiratory track problem and a heart problem due to decades of smoking and alcoholism.

The fear in Yaoundé is that Mr. Cavaye is from the north and the Betis who have run the economy and country aground are all trembling, fearing that if power goes back to the north, a lot of things will go awry for them.

Northerners have yet to forget about the genocide that visited them in 1984 after the April 6 coup and the northerners are really serious about having their pound of flesh.

A source at the Presidency of the Republic has said that there is panic all over the place. Even the Secretary General, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh is not given a minute-by-minute update on the president’s health and this is concerning to those loyal to the Secretary General whom they think should take the reins once things swing in the wrong direction for Mr. Biya.

The battle lines are becoming very visible. Ngoh Ngoh is leading a group of people who clearly want the constitution to be circumvented, while Mr. Niat, though a dying man, is carefully playing his cards.

He does not want those close to Biya to see him as being very ambitious, but he really wants to lay his hands on power. Many say he has a few bones to pick with some Betis who have challenged his authority and do not really consider him as the constitutional heir.

Meanwhile, another group is pushing Frank Biya to the fore to ensure that he takes power once he father dies. But this is not going down well with Chantal Biya, the country’s first lady, who has no regard for Frank.

Even the Secretary General at the Presidency of the Republic is against Frank Biya but he is holding his cards so close to his chest. He knows politics is a dangerous game and tides could turn at anytime.

Ngoh Ngoh is Chantal Biya’s favorite but she is hamstrung by the constitution and the political awareness of the people of Cameroon. She understands that even France might not help to impose a president on Cameroonians as that might trigger massive political chaos in the country.

Cameroon’s future is as bleak as Mr. Biya’s chances of staging a spectacular recovery. The world is just watching and many observers fear that Cameroon might implode if Mr. Biya dies.

The clouds gathering over Cameroon are really dark. The Anglophone crisis has left the country on the brink of an implosion. Corruption and tribalism have pitted many tribes against the Betis who have dominated other tribes for 40 years and ruined the country’s once buoyant economy.

The days ahead could bring bad news to the country’s shores if Mr. Biya does not beat the odds. He must return to Yaoundé sooner rather than later if his Beti clan must continue to enjoy the protection he has offered them for the massive corruption they have orchestrated over the last four decades.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

There is total panic at the Unity Palace as Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya, also known as the monarch, sinks into a long disturbing coma following a delicate brain surgery in a Geneva clinic.

A source close to the government has hinted Cameroon Concord News that Mr. Biya, 88, was diagnosed with a blood clot in the brain a few weeks ago, but could not have emergency surgery in Cameroon where he was on a long lockdown because for the 40 years he has been in power, he has not built a single world-class medical facility that can handle such a complicated surgical operation.

Given his age, the doctors attending to the 88-year-old dictator are concerned that he might not emerge from his long coma, and this is really bad news for his family and political supporters who view him as the only person who can rule the country.

Mr. Biya’s situation is all the more disturbing because of other conditions he has been living with. The ailing Biya is reported to have high blood pressure, a heart condition, and diabetes which are all threatening to cut short his life anytime soon.

Over the years, he has become a colony of diseases due to political stress and despicable lifestyle choices. In recent weeks, the Cameroonian strong man and one of the longest serving presidents on the continent has been losing weight uncontrollably and this is a huge concern to his doctors.

Though still in power, the senile president’s collaborators have been fighting for prominence as many think they can replace him in case he passes away.

But none of those fighting has openly demonstrated his ambitions. They all know the consequences. Many before them are languishing in jail and many have died just because they dreamt that they could be the country’s next president.

The Lion Man, as he is known by many Cameroonians, does not forgive anybody who thinks of replacing him while he is still alive. The penalty for such misplaced ambition is a long torturing jail term that usually results in death in one of the country’s terrible maximum security jails.

Meanwhile, while the dying president was being wheeled into an operating room, his young and vibrant wife, Chantal Biya, was spotted in France attending the Cannes Film Festival.

Spotting her signature  flaming red hair and a red dress to match, Cameroon’s first lady seemed relax and calm as if her husband’s declining health was of no concern to her.

She seemed to have accepted that the man, who conquered her heart a quarter of a century ago, could join his ancestors anytime soon.

Cameroonians are all monitoring things from a distance. They know Mr. Biya’s death will trigger a deadly fratricidal war in the country as various political and ethnic groups seek to take control of power in Cameroon.

More will be yours as we   get the information.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai