Monthly Archives: July 2021

13, July 2021

Southern Cameroons Interim Gov’t committed to a political solution ⁰

The Vice President of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government, Dabney Yerima has stressed that the people of Southern Cameroons are committed to a political solution aimed at preserving Southern Cameroon’s unity and territorial integrity.

During an Ambazonian town hall in South Africa dedicated to discussing the recent killing of Southern Cameroons academics by the Cameroon government military, Vice President Dabney Yerima emphasized that there was an urgent need for the two Cameroons to meet in a neutral country and discuss the terms of separation. Yerima added that Southern Cameroons firm principles cannot be compromised.

Vice President Dabney Yerima further stressed that the insistence of certain world powers to not listen to the voice of Southern Cameroonians and their Interim Government and to not change their governments’ wrong Southern Cameroons policies is bringing nothing but terror, chaos, instability and looting of Southern Cameroons resources by the criminal gangs running the political affairs in French Cameroun.

Dabney Yerima also referred to the on-going ghost town operation known popularly as “Kontry Sunday” saying that such mass public participation confirms Ambazonians commitment to their country’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and independent national choices.

The War in Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia has already claimed at least 40 000 lives, almost all of them civilian children, men and women, murdered by Cameroun troops in a series of targeted killings, organized massacres, and killings by fire in over 400 villages burnt down to ashes across Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia. Over half a million people have been forcibly displaced as refugees living in various countries and especially in refugee camps in Nigeria. Over another half a million people have become IDPs hiding in forests, caves and hills due to forced displacement. Additionally, over 1.5 million people are facing a humanitarian disaster.

Republique du Cameroun uses not only arson and the destruction of food, livestock, and crops in the fields as weapons of war. It also uses rape. Rape of Ambazonian women and girls by Cameroun troops is systematic and widespread. This agonizing situation is compounded by the fact that a high percentage of French Cameroun troops are HIV positive and also has other STDs. When they rape they infect the women and girls. This appears to be part of the genocide agenda of Cameroun. Reports are now emerging of scores of school girls raped, impregnated and infected by La Republique du Cameroun’s troops. This poses a nightmare not only of the HIV and STD infections but also of rampant teenage pregnancies. Cameroun troops have burnt down health facilities and killed health workers in rural and semi-urban areas. Accessing health facilities or health practitioners is a huge challenge for rural and semi-urban folks.

By Isong Asu

13, July 2021

Bamenda Killings: Cameroon military spokesman offers new lies, excuses to avoid liability ⁰

Cameroon government army spokesman Captain Cyrille Atonfack Nguemo has resorted to new falsehoods and fabrications to avoid accountability about the recent killings in Southern Cameroons.

Southern Cameroons has been in the throes of a military conflict for more than four years now and the violence has continued to claim both civilian and military lives.

In Bamenda last week, a young man was killed by soldiers in a neighborhood known as “Below Foncha” and the killing revolted young people in the city, sending thousands of them to the streets.

The latest killing including that of a physics teacher has resuscitated old demons, with many young people calling on the military to pack and leave their land.

The military check-point where the young man was gunned down has been dismantled by angry youths who say they were sick and tired of the military brutality that the country’s arrogant government has unleashed on the Southern Cameroonian population.

The killings will surely not be ending anytime soon.

Yaoundé and its military spokesperson are now blaming Ambazonia Self Defense Groups for the killings in Bamenda and Kumba, an allegation rejected by the Southern Cameroons Interim Government.

The Biya Francophone regime has erected a stone wall against international human rights groups pushing for a fact finding mission to Southern Cameroons and the Cameroon government military is censoring all internal media outlets and it is involved in a multi-stage cover-up trying to conceal evidence of its genocidal campaign in Southern Cameroons.

By Rita Akana

12, July 2021

CPDM Crime Syndicate: Biya ratifies continental treaty for establishment of African Medicines Agency ⁰

Cameroonian president Paul Biya has signed the treaty for the establishment of the African Medicines Agency (AMA), a specialized organ of the African Union (AU), state broadcaster CRTV reported on Sunday.

The treaty for the establishment of the AMA was adopted by the AU in February 2019. Last week, Cameroon Senate approved a bill that authorized the country’s president to ratify the treaty.

The AMA should serve as the continental body that will govern the regulation of medicines and medical products on the African continent. It will regulate the access to safe, effective, good quality and affordable essential medicines and health technologies.

Source: Xinhuanet

12, July 2021

UK agonises after racial abuse of England football stars ⁰

Political leaders and footballing chiefs in Britain expressed disgust on Monday at racial abuse targeting England stars, including three black players who missed penalties in the Euro 2020 final against Italy.

But as Facebook vowed yet again to look into abuse on its Instagram platform, Prime Minister Boris Johnson himself came under stinging criticism for earlier refusing to condemn fans who had booed English players’ campaign against racism.

England manager Gareth Southgate said the online invective was “unforgivable”.

“Some of it has come from abroad, we have been told this, but some of it is from this country,” he told reporters.

“We have been a beacon of light to bring people together and the national team stands for everybody.”

Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka, the three players whose penalty shootout misses handed victory to Italy at Wembley, were the victims of a stream of abuse on Instagram and Twitter — many apparently from foreign trolls and bots.

“This England team deserve to be lauded as heroes, not racially abused on social media,” Johnson wrote on Twitter.

“Those responsible for this appalling abuse should be ashamed of themselves.”

While some people identifying as England fans used racial slurs in blaming the trio for the defeat, other offensive messages were accompanied with “forza italia” hashtags.

England’s players have made a strong stand against racism at the tournament, taking a knee before their games including Sunday’s final.

Johnson and others in the Conservatives’ “anti-woke” government had initially defended the freedom of speech of England fans who booed the players, before backing the team later in the tournament.

Former Manchester United player Gary Neville accused the prime minister of having “promoted” racism, noting one notorious past comment by Johnson likening Muslim women who wear the veil to “letter-boxes”.

“It starts at the top. What do you think is going to happen underneath in life? The parents do something, the children follow,” the pundit told Sky News.

Neville joined others such as Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat who demanded tougher action from social media companies.

“Those who write are pathetic and deserve to be identified and face the public consequences, those who publish it are profiting from hate,” Tugendhat said.

– Prince William ‘sickened’ –

In a statement, Facebook said it had “quickly removed comments and accounts directing abuse at England’s footballers last night and we’ll continue to take action against those that break our rules”.

“No one thing will fix this challenge overnight, but we’re committed to keeping our community safe from abuse,” it said.

London’s police force said it was aware of “a number of offensive and racist social media comments” being directed towards the footballers.

“This abuse is totally unacceptable, it will not be tolerated and it will be investigated,” said the Metropolitan Police, who were also probing scenes of mayhem after some ticketless fans forced their way into Wembley Stadium.

England player Raheem Sterling also received a stream of racial abuse after social media users accused him of cheating to win a penalty in England’s semi-final win over Denmark.

“We’re disgusted that some of our squad –- who have given everything for the shirt this summer –- have been subjected to discriminatory abuse online after tonight’s game,” the English Football Association tweeted.

“We stand with our players.”

Prince William, the FA’s president who attended the final with his wife Kate and son George, said he was “sickened” by the abuse.

“It is totally unacceptable that players have to endure this abhorrent behaviour. It must stop now and all those involved should be held accountable,” he tweeted.

Despite the abuse, the overwhelming majority of messages were in support of the players, who have been praised throughout the tournament for helping bring together a nation hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

Source: AFP

12, July 2021

Football: Italy explodes in joy upon winning Euro 2021 ⁰

Italians celebrated the European Championship football title as a new beginning not only for their youthful national team but for a country that’s been yearning to return to normalcy after being hit hard and long by the coronavirus pandemic.

A cacophony of honking cars, fireworks and singing fans filled the night in Rome as thousands of people took to the streets after Italy beat England in a penalty shootout Sunday to win its first major football trophy since the 2006 World Cup.

“We are coming out of a difficult year and a half which has left us exhausted, like other countries in the world,” said Fabrizio Galliano, a 29-year-old from Naples who watched the match on a big screen in downtown Rome. “This means so much. Sports is one of the things that unites us, among all the things that separate us. But to finally be able to feel that joy that we’ve been missing, it goes beyond sports.”

Many Italians saw the European Championship as a relaunch for a country that spent much of the past 16 months in various stages of lockdown. Italy was the first country outside Asia to get hit by the Covid-19 pandemic and suffered immensely, particularly in the spring of 2020 when hospitals in northern Italy were overwhelmed with patients and the death toll soared. Italy has recorded more than 127,000 Covid-19 deaths, the highest in the 27-nation European Union.

“It’s been a complicated year for everyone but especially for us who were one of the first countries hit. This is a signal of a new beginning,” said Michela Solfanelli, a 30-year-old event producer based in Milan.

Most virus restrictions have been lifted since the spring and those that remain were largely ignored by the mass of Italy fans who danced in the streets of the capital chanting “we are champions of Europe.”

David Bellomo, a 23-year-old from the southern city of Bari, pointed out that this was Italy’s second big victory this year, after Italian band Maneskin won the Eurovision Song Contest in May.

“Thanks to Eurovision and thanks to this game and (football) we’ve managed to come back this year,” he said. “We almost got a triple,” he added, referring to Matteo Berrettini, the Italian tennis player who lost the Wimbledon final to Novak Djokovic earlier in the day.

Shoulder to shoulder, fans nervously watched the penalty shootout on two big screens set up on Piazza del Popolo, an ellipitcal cobblestone square at the edge of Rome’s historic center. A deafening roar rose to the sky as Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma saved England’s last penalty.

Among the sea of blue Italy shirts was an immigrant family from Senegal, who came from the town of Zagarolo, an hour outside Rome, to experience the final with the crowd in the piazza.

“I am not Italian, but I can feel the emotions. I feel it, as if I were Italian,” said Falilou Ndao, 42. “We really love this country.”

His 13-year-old son Yankho, an Italy fan and football player, was impressed by the team.

“They showed courage. They never gave up, even when they were down by a goal,” he said. “It is so well-deserved. They have been playing great the entire tournament. Go Italy!”

Though people are still required to wear masks in crowded situations, police made no attempts to intervene as throngs of barefaced fans poured out of the piazza, singing the national anthem and lighting flares. Fireworks cracked overhead as fans cruised through the city waving Italian flags from their cars.

Dr. Annamaria Altomare, a 39-year-old gastroenterologist, watched the spectacle with a friend from a safe distance. They were among the few wearing masks.

“We want to avoid the delta variant in this mess,” she said, laughing.

(FRANCE 24 with AP)

12, July 2021

Six killed, scores arrested in S.Africa protests after Zuma jailing ⁰

A South African government intelligence body said on Monday that six people had been killed in violent protests in the KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng provinces since last week, following the jailing of former president Jacob Zuma.

The unrest erupted shortly after Zuma started serving a 15-month sentence for contempt of court on Wednesday night.

11, July 2021

Biya Goes Back Home ⁰

For two years, Paul Biya, the consultant who rules Cameroon remotely has been stuck in Yaoundé because of the deadly Coronavirus which has a bone to pick with old people who do not want to bow out.

Mr. Biya finally left Cameroon today accompanied by his wife who was spotting her signature flaming red hair.

Mr. Biya’s office released a statement this morning announcing that the 88-year-old monarch, who has put Cameroon on auto pilot, will be spending some time somewhere in Europe.

His exact location was not released for fear that the Cameroon Diaspora that has been making his stay in Europe miserable could disrupt his stay.

But sources close to the Cameroon Diaspora in Europe have informed the Cameroon Concord News Group office in London that the notorious Brigade Anti-Sardinard (BAS) is aware of Mr. Biya’s reckless movement and has already taken necessary measures to ensure that Mr. Biya’s trip to Europe ends in confusion.

Mr. Biya who has been living in fear of death, especially when the virus attacked him, is leaving the country at a time when great leadership is required to steer the country to safer shores.

The country is currently dealing with a tough insurgency that might result in the division of the country and only great, realistic and determined leadership can bring about peace.

The English-speaking minority is determined to walk away from a hastily stitched union and if it succeeds, it will be walking away with 60% of the country’s wealth.

For now, the country is on edge. Southern Cameroonian fighters who started off with machetes now carry very sophisticated weapons which have greatly demoralized the country’s military.

The fighters have stepped up their game and pressure on the military and this has resulted in the death of some 2,000 soldiers since the war started some four years ago.

It is normal today to see explosives in the two English-speaking regions of the country and the primary victims have been the soldiers who are not only poorly trained, but poorly paid.

The Southern Cameroons crisis has already consumed more than 10,000 Cameroonians, with thousands of soldiers disabled and maimed because they do not know the terrain.

Mr. Biya’s trip to Europe will help take his mind off another issue – corruption – that has been robbing him of a good night’s sleep.

Cameroon has become a haven for corrupt officials and this is discouraging investors. The latest scandal is how the government has misused COVID-19 funds provided by the IMF for the containment of this deadly virus that has killed millions across the globe.

Despite this real threat from the virus, Cameroon government officials still place their personal interest above national interest and they have been stealing the money like rats dropped in a bag of peanuts.

Corruption has given Cameroon a bad name for more than three decades, but for years, many people have been thinking that this cankerworm will not reach certain institutions of the country like the Presidency of the Republic.

A country’s presidency is supposed to be a well respected institution and those who work there are supposed to be seen as reincarnations of decency and discipline.

But this image associated with the country’s highest institution has been slowing crumbling, especially as the country’s president, Paul Biya, and his wife, Chantal Biya who is noted for her flaming red hair, have engaged in many acts of corruption and dishonesty on many occasions.

Embezzling money is not an act of decency. Misusing taxpayers’ money cannot be considered as an act of responsibility even among lower animals. Rigging elections will never give anybody a good name and Biya has been charged with this crime on many occasions and he is guilty as charged.

If a leader sees corruption as the only means for him to sustain himself in power, then he has simply institutionalized this cancer and it will spread like wildfire.

And financial and moral cancer can affect anybody, especially when the victim lacks a will and discipline of steel and is financially insecure.

This explains why corruption has taken over the Presidency of the Republic. Poverty, especially moral poverty, can disarm even the strongest military in the world and this explains why workers at the Unity Palace have clearly lost their moral compass.

Sometimes, financial poverty might be to blame, but in many cases, moral recklessness and indiscipline may be the drivers.

Cameroon really needs help but there is no help on the way. When the core is rotten, the body polity will slowly crumble and this is the disease that has affected many if not all the employees of the Presidency of the Republic who are using indecent and irresponsible methods to line their pockets.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

10, July 2021

Yerima says Amba fighters have many powerful cards to play against La Republique ⁰

Vice President Dabney Yerima has said that Southern Cameroons Self Defense Groups have many strong options they can use to chase away the Biya French Cameroun army soldiers from the Ambazonian homeland.

Dabney Yerima made the remarks on Thursday in South Africa, where he arrived from Namibia at the head of a powerful Southern Cameroons delegation, Southern Cameroons Broadcasting Cooperation (SCBC) news agency reported. The Southern Cameroons’ official has taken the trip to hold meetings with senior Ambazonian officials and activists in Southern Africa.

Southern Cameroons Self Defense Forces have many powerful cards at their disposal that can create deterrence and send the occupying army packing out of Ambaland, Yerima said while meeting with the representatives of various Ambazonian groups in South Africa.

He addressed the issue of the Big Rubbergun Project launched for defensive campaign by the Southern Cameroons Interim Government.

Upwards of 70 explosive devices were denoted towards the occupied Cameroon government military convoys killing dozens and causing millions of FCFA in damage to the occupying French Cameroun regime’s various military vehicles.

Dabney Yerima said the Operation Big Rubbergun and “Kontry Sunday” have united the entire Ambazonian nation whether inside or outside Southern Cameroons territory.

He added that Southern Cameroons would eventually recover from the damage that the Francophone military has afflicted on it during this war of liberation.

The Southern Cameroons official, meanwhile, underlined, “The right of Southern Cameroons to exist as an independent state.

By Isong Asu

10, July 2021

Taliban says it controls ’85 percent’ of Afghanistan’s territory ⁰

The Taliban claimed Friday to be in control of 85 percent of Afghanistan after seizing key border crossings with Iran and Turkmenistan, part of a sweeping offensive launched as US troops pull out of the war-torn nation.

Hours after President Joe Biden issued a staunch defence of the US withdrawal, the Taliban said its fighters had seized the two vital crossings in western Afghanistan – completing an arc of territory from the Iranian border to the frontier with China.

In Moscow, a delegation of Taliban officials said they controlled about 250 of Afghanistan’s nearly 400 districts – a claim impossible to independently verify and disputed by the government.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid separately told AFP their fighters had captured the border town of Islam Qala on the Iranian frontier and the Torghundi crossing with Turkmenistan.

Afghanistan’s interior ministry spokesman Tareq Arian said efforts were under way to dislodge the insurgents from their positions.

The Afghan government has repeatedly dismissed the Taliban’s gains as having little strategic value, but the seizure of multiple border crossings along with mineral-rich areas will likely fill the group’s coffers with several sources of new revenue.

Hours earlier, Biden said the US military mission would end on August 31 – nearly 20 years after it began – having “achieved” its goals.

But he admitted it was “highly unlikely” Kabul would be able to control the entire country.

“The status quo is not an option,” Biden said of staying in the country. “I will not send another generation of Americans to war in Afghanistan.”

With the Taliban having routed much of northern Afghanistan in recent weeks, the government holds little more than a constellation of provincial capitals that must largely be reinforced and resupplied by air.

The air force was under severe strain even before the Taliban’s lightning offensive overwhelmed the government’s northern and western positions, putting further pressure on the country’s limited aircraft and pilots.

Biden said the Afghan people alone should determine their future, but he acknowledged the uncertainty about what that would look like.

Asked if a Taliban takeover was inevitable, the president said: “No, it is not.”

But, he admitted, “the likelihood there is going to be one unified government in Afghanistan controlling the whole country is highly unlikely”.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday called for international pressure to force a deal between Kabul and the Taliban to end the conflict in the country.

“The security situation in Afghanistan only argues more for international pressure to have a negotiated political settlement to end this conflict, and give the Afghan people [the] government they want and they deserve,” Austin said in a tweet.

“The entire world can help by continuing this push,” Austin added.

US exit ‘positive step’

The Taliban, for their part, welcomed Biden’s statement.

“Any day or hour that US and foreign troops leave earlier is a positive step,” spokesperson Suhail Shaheen told AFP.

Afghan commandos clashed with the insurgents this week in a provincial capital, with thousands of people fleeing Qala-i-Naw in northwest Badghis province.

On Friday the Afghan defence ministry said government forces had “full control” of the city.

“They have retreated from the city and the fighting has stopped inside for now,” Badghis provincial council chief Abdul Aziz Bek told AFP.

Hours later a group of Taliban fighters attacked a prison on the edge of Kandahar city, the capital of their former bastion of Kandahar province.

“The Taliban … tried to get to the prison there. Fighting continues and we have deployed reinforcements including special forces to clear the area,” said Kandahar police spokesman Jamal Naser Barekza.

President Ashraf Ghani said the government could handle the situation, but admitted difficulties lay ahead.

“What we are witnessing is one of the most complicated stages of the transition,” he said in a speech in Kabul on Thursday.

Ismail Khan, a veteran warlord whose militia helped US forces topple the Taliban in 2001, vowed to back government forces in fighting against the insurgents.

“We will soon go to the front lines and with the help of God change the situation,” Khan told reporters in the western city of Herat.

As the Afghan military struggled to hold its ground against the Taliban, the country’s leadership also appeared to be enveloped in chaos.

In a leaked audio call published on social media, Vice President Amrullah Saleh could be heard issuing a death threat to a parliamentarian after accusing the official of encouraging security forces to surrender to the Taliban in Badghis.

The Taliban have been emboldened by the troop withdrawal and – with peace talks in Doha deadlocked – appear to be pressing for a full military victory.

Still, on Thursday, Shaheen, who is also a member of the Taliban negotiating team in Doha, insisted the insurgents were seeking a “negotiated settlement”.

In Moscow, a Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman said the Taliban controlled about two-thirds of the Afghan-Tajik border as a delegation from the insurgents wound up a visit.

About “85 percent of Afghanistan’s territory” was under the group’s control, said Taliban delegate Shahabuddin Delawar, who added that the group was committed to preventing other jihadists from using Afghanistan as a base for their operations.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

10, July 2021

Biya regime dangerous than Boko Haram ⁰

The Vice President of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government Dabney Yerima says the Biya French Cameroun regime is a crime syndicate and a rogue entity that poses grave threats to peace and security in Sub Saharan Africa adding that the regime is danger than the Nigerian Islamic sect Boko Haram.

Vice President Yerima made the remarks during a press briefing on his recent tour of Namibia. The exiled leader warned about the threats posed by French Cameroun and its invading army against Southern Cameroons and called for international action.

“International civil servants deep within the African Union and the United Nations are all aware of the fact that the French Cameroun regime under Biya is a crime syndicate and a rogue entity for the Sub Saharan region, and it poses threats to peace as well as security, and it is dangerous than Boko Haram” Dabney Yerima highlighted.

Yerima urged the Southern African nations and the Commonwealth to shoulder their responsibilities within the framework of the UN Charter to oblige La Republique du Cameroun to fully respect the right of Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia to exist as an independent nation and to hold to account all Francophone army soldiers responsible for the genocide currently going on in Southern Cameroons.

The Ambazonian Vice President reiterated again that the French Cameroun regime’s repeated military attacks against Southern Cameroons which have escalated especially with the recent killing of a physics teacher in Kumba and innocent civilians in Bamenda, would have been impossible without support and protection of the French government of President Emmanuel Macron.

The War in Southern Cameroons has already claimed at least 40 000 lives, almost all of them civilian children, men and women, murdered by Cameroun troops in a series of targeted killings, organized massacres, and killings by fire in over 400 villages burnt down to ashes across Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia. Over half a million people have been forcibly displaced as refugees living in various countries and especially in refugee camps in Nigeria. Over another half a million people have become IDPs hiding in forests, caves and hills due to forced displacement. Additionally, over 1.5 million people are facing a humanitarian disaster.

La Republique du Cameroun uses not only arson and the destruction of food, livestock, and crops in the fields as weapons of war. It also uses rape. Rape of Ambazonian women and girls by Cameroun troops is systematic and widespread. This agonizing situation is compounded by the fact that a high percentage of Cameroun troops are HIV positive and also has other STDs. When they rape they infect the women and girls. This appears to be part of the genocide agenda of Cameroun. Reports are now emerging of scores of school girls raped, impregnated and infected by La Republique du Cameroun’s troops. This poses a nightmare not only of the HIV and STD infections but also of rampant teenage pregnancies. Cameroun troops have burnt down health facilities and killed health workers in rural and semi-urban areas. Accessing health facilities or health practitioners is a huge challenge for rural and semi-urban folks.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai on special assignment in Windhoek