Monthly Archives: October 2021

31, October 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: General Cross And Die among six killed in Bamenda ⁰

Troops loyal to the Francophone regime in Yaounde have killed six Ambazonia Revolutionary Guards in the Northwest, a senior Cameroon government military official said on Saturday.

Among those killed was a renowned Amba commander identified as “General Cross And Die”, Brigadier General Valere Nka, commander of the Francophone dominated army’s 5th Joint Military Region with command post in Bamenda, chief town of the Northwest region told reporters in Bamenda.

He said, the commander and five other Ambazonia Restoration fighters were killed in separate Cameroon government military operations on Friday in the localities of Bali and Mankon.

“The military is intensifying operations in the region to bring peace,” Nka said and added that the separatist commander was responsible for several attacks on civilians and military positions in the region.

In 2017, the people of Southern Cameroons under their leader President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe proclaimed their “independence” from the majority French-speaking La Republique du Cameroun.

Ambazonia Revolutionary Guards have been clashing with government forces since then.

By Fon Lawrence with files from Xinhuanet

31, October 2021

Revealed: Roger Milla’s son plays football in Dubai ⁰

Football fans were treated to a throwback to a bygone era at Expo 2020 with the visit of Cameroon legend Roger Milla to the country’s pavilion.

The former striker, named the best African footballer of the previous 50 years in 2007 by the Confederation of African Football, shot to worldwide fame at the age of 38 when he scored four goals for Cameroon at the 1990 Fifa World Cup in Italy, marking each one with his trademark celebratory dance at the corner flag.

Aged 42, Mr Milla came out of retirement to play in the 1994 World Cup in the USA and broke his own record for being the oldest goalscorer in a World Cup by netting against Russia.

Mr Milla, now a Roving Ambassador of Cameroon, visited his country’s pavilion in the Opportunity District, where he met officials from the pavilion and a number of fans.

In an interview with the media team at Expo, Mr Milla revealed that this 15-year-old son plays in Dubai and is enrolled with the Fursan Hispania Academy, which was founded by former Spain and Real Madrid star Michel Salgado.

“I hope that by the next year or two, he will be like his father and will be able to play for his country,” Mr Milla said.

Source: The National news

31, October 2021

Biya regime frustrated over lack of progress on Southern Cameroons Crisis ⁰

New violence has wracked northwestern Cameroon, where the military said it killed some 40 separatist fighters over the past two weeks. The Catholic Church said some of those killed were civilians, and witnesses said many houses were burned to the ground.

Cameroon’s government is expressing frustration with the separatists but vows it will not allow the breakup of the country.

External Relations Minister Lejeune Mbella Mbella summoned ambassadors to a meeting Thursday where he laid out the government’s position on the separatist crisis.

Cameroon External Relations Minister Lejeune Mbella Mbella. (Moki Edwin Kindzeka/VOA) — Cameroon External Relations Minister Lejeune Mbella Mbella.

Mbella Mbella said the separatists are again causing untold suffering in the English-speaking western towns and villages of the majority French-speaking nation.

He said Cameroon is surprised fighters continue to commit atrocities when much has been done to satisfy the needs of the minority English speakers who feel marginalized.

“The government of Cameroon has undertaken the most expensive and extensive structural and administrative reforms in its recent history,” Mbella Mbella said. “As a key recommendation of the major national dialogue, the government tabled the bill to institute the special status. His excellency Paul Biya has also granted a general full amnesty to combatants who voluntarily drop their weapons.”

None of the heads of diplomatic missions invited to the meeting would comment when contacted by VOA.

By “special status,” the minister is referring to political reforms that gave the largely English-speaking northwest and southwestern regions greater autonomy. The reforms were passed after Cameroon organized what it called a major national dialogue to solve the separatist crisis in 2019.

Heads of diplomatic missions in Yaounde attend a meeting with Cameroon External Relations Minister Lejeune Mbella Mbella. (Moki Edwin Kindzeka/VOA) — Heads of diplomatic missions in Yaounde attend a meeting with Cameroon External Relations Minister Lejeune Mbella Mbella.

Mbella Mbella also declared the government will not allow any part of the country to secede.

The separatists have a different point of view. This week, an official from what the separatists call the Ambazonia Interim Government said on Facebook that their forces will never surrender, and that the English speakers will fight until freedom is achieved.

They also accuse government forces of being responsible for many killings and much of the destruction in the western regions.

Separatists blame the government for torching houses during recent operations in the northwestern town of Kumbo and areas nearby. The government said separatist forces were to blame.

The military also said about 40 fighters have been killed in raids on separatist camps in the past two weeks.

However, the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon’s Catholic Bishops — a neutral party in the conflict — said some of those killed were civilians.

Kumbo Mayor Venatius Mborong said several hundred civilians had fled the renewed fighting.

“They left Kumbo because they have been kidnapped a couple of times and they have paid ransom and now they are frankless [poor],” Mborong said. “People have sold houses, they have sold their lands, and so they cannot continue staying there.”

The United Nations says the separatist war has forced more than 500,000 people to flee their homes since the conflict erupted in late 2017.

Source: VOA

31, October 2021

Southern Cameroons leaders meet in Toronto, Canada ⁰

In a bit to find common ground through dialogue, Southern Cameroonian leaders are meeting in Toronto, Canada, to work out the details of such collaboration.

The event, which effectively went underway yesterday October 30, brought together, leaders of various Southern Cameroonian factions, including Barrister Felix Nkongho Agbor-Balla, Prof. Carson Ayangwe, Vice President Dabney Yerima and others who are determined to bring about peace in Southern Cameroons.

Southern Cameroonian leaders must talk with each other irrespective of their political views if peace and security must return to Southern Cameroons.

Sharing perspectives with different factions is at the core of collaboration and genuine peace will remain illusory if various factions do not engage with each other.

The Cameroon Concord News Group’s cream of reporters including the Group’s editorial chair Dr Joachim Arrey are in Toronto, and they will be filing reports on this important meeting that might help change things on Ground Zero.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

30, October 2021

Malians protest French military presence, call for troops withdrawal ⁰

Hundreds of Malian protesters have taken to the streets in the capital, Bamako, to demonstrate against the French military presence in the West African country.

The protesters gathered in central Bamako on Friday, chanting anti-France slogans and calling for the total withdrawal of French troops from their country.

“We are here for Mali, we are here to demonstrate our national sovereignty. To remind the whole world that sovereignty belongs to the people and that those who have not understood this must get up to speed today,” said Mohamed Ousmane Mohamedoun, a member of Mali’s National Transition Council and a protest organizer.

“Because the transition for us today is the result of decades of mismanagement, misgovernance of our country and bad partnerships,” he added.

Mali has become increasingly engulfed in violence since a Tuareg uprising in 2012 was hijacked by extremist militants, who perpetrated ethnic killings and attacks on government forces and civilians despite the presence of French and UN troops.

Earlier in the month, Mali’s Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga said there is evidence that France has been training “terrorist” groups operating in the West African country.

A French mission began operating in Mali in 2013 to allegedly counter militants that Paris claims are linked to the al-Qaeda and Daesh terrorist groups.

This summer, French President Emmanuel Macron announced a gradual drawdown of France’s military presence in the Sahel and the end of the French military operation known as Barkhane.

Mali accused France of abandoning the conflict-ravaged country with the “unilateral” decision to withdraw troops. Mali’s military-dominated government then asked private Russian security companies for help in its fight against terrorism.

Ever since, tensions have been high between France and its former colony.

The French Barkhane force, operating in Mali, Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mauritania, currently has 5,000 troops in the region.

Source: Presstv

30, October 2021

PM Modi invites Pope Francis to India ⁰

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday asked Pope Francis to visit India, a significant opening towards the head of the Catholic Church who has long sought an official invitation to the Hindu-majority country.ADVERTISING

Modi, 71, invited Francis during a meeting at the Vatican on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Rome.

“Had a very warm meeting with Pope Francis. I had the opportunity to discuss a wide range of issues with him and also invited him to visit India,” Modi said on Twitter after the talks.

The pope, 84, has been on record saying that he wants to visit India. The Vatican had even drafted a schedule for a papal trip several years ago, according to religious news website Crux.ADVERTISING

“Thank you very much for your visit. I’m happy, I’m very happy,” a smiling Francis said as he grasped Modi’s hand at the end of the visit, according to footage released by the Vatican.

Modi replied: “I would like to see you in India.”

Francis, leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics, is hoping to push the defence of religious freedom in the world’s second most populous country.

Activists say that religious minorities in India have faced increased levels of discrimination and violence since Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014.

While Muslims, who make up around 14 percent of the population, have borne the brunt, Christians, who account for just over two percent, have also suffered a rise in reported violent attacks.

The last papal visit to India was made by Pope John Paul II in 1999.

‘Cordial’

Saturday’s Vatican visit was Francis and Modi’s first meeting. A senior official in the prime minister’s office told AFP the “very warm” talks — scheduled to last 20 minutes — went on for nearly an hour.

In an unusually short note, the Vatican described it as “a brief conversation” in which “the cordial relations between the Holy See and India were discussed”.

Modi’s office said the leaders discussed “fighting climate change and removing poverty”. There was no mention of the red-button issue of religious freedom.

Under the pretext that Christians are seeking forcibly to convert Hindus, more than 300 violent incidents have been recorded this year, according to a report by a group of NGOs released this month.

This included a reported attack on a prayer house by around 200 members of the BJP and Hindu groups in the northern state of Uttarakhand in early October.

The local head of the BJP said the prayer house held “suspicious gatherings”.

At least three states run by the BJP have passed legislation aimed at preventing “forced conversion” and dozens of people have been arrested.

Others plan to follow suit including Karnataka, where priests have come out in protest.

Modi’s government denies having a Hindu agenda and insists that people of all religions have equal rights.

Source: AFP

29, October 2021

Biden lands in Rome for G20 with domestic agenda still up in the air ⁰

President Joe Biden promised to show the world that democracies can work to meet the challenges of the 21st century. As he prepares to push that message at a pair of global summits, his case could hinge on what’s happening in Washington, where he was struggling to finalize a major domestic legislative package.

After a fitful day of talks over the fate of twin infrastructure and social spending bills that he cast as a choice between “leading the world, or letting the world pass us by,” Biden landed in Rome aboard Air Force One in the dark early Friday with the answer still undetermined.

Headed first to a Group of 20 summit in Rome and then to Glasgow, Scotland, for a UN climate summit, Biden will be pressed to deliver concrete ideas for stopping a global pandemic, boosting economic growth and halting the acceleration of climate change. Those stakes might seem a bit high for a pair of two-day gatherings attended by the global elite and their entourages. But it’s written right into the slogan for the meeting in Rome: “People, Planet, Prosperity.”

It was a reflection of his promise to align US diplomacy with the interests of the middle class. This has tied any success abroad to his efforts to get Congress to advance his environmental, tax, infrastructure and social policies. It could be harder to get the world to commit to his stated goals if Americans refuse to fully embrace them, one of the risks of Biden’s choice to knit together his domestic and foreign policies.

Before leaving Washington, Biden pitched House Democrats to get behind a scaled-back $1.75 trillion “framework” that he believes could pass the 50-50 Senate. It remained to be seen whether lawmakers would embrace the package or send Biden back to the negotiating table, as some key priorities like paid family leave and steps to lower prescription drug costs were excised from the bill, which will be paid for with hiked taxes on the nation’s wealthiest and corporations.

“The rest of the world wonders whether we can function,” Biden told the lawmakers, according to a source familiar with his remarks.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi invoked the trip as she tried to rally Democratic votes around the separate $1 trillion infrastructure package, attempting, unsuccessfully, to build support for a vote on Thursday before Biden arrived in Rome.

“When the president gets off that plane we want him to have a vote of confidence from this Congress,” she said. “In order for us to have success, we must succeed today.”

While Biden was in the air, Pelosi, facing opposition from progressives who also want assurances that the scaled-back social spending plan will pass, pulled the plug on a Thursday vote and instead set out to pass yet another stop-gap funding measure for a range of transportation initiatives.

Biden’s trip abroad comes as he faces an increasingly pessimistic nation at home, and souring views of his handling of the nation’s economy. According to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, just 41% of Americans now approve of Biden’s economic stewardship, down from 49% in August and a sharp reversal since March, when 60% approved.

Americans are split on Biden overall, with 48% approving and 51% disapproving of his handling of his job as president. Only about a third of Americans say the country is headed in the right direction, also a significant decline since earlier this year when about half said so.

Domestic politics, global implications

One consequence of Biden’s decision to so closely link up his domestic and foreign policies is that both are now at the mercy of West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin and Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, whose votes are essential in a Senate evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. Biden aides have hoped for, among other things, a more than $500 billion investment to combat climate change in the United States, which would help efforts to persuade China and other nations to make investments of their own in renewable energy.

“It’d be very, very positive to get it done before the trip,” Biden said Monday.

But as talks slogged on, administration officials began to play down the significance of Biden’s spending plan still hovering in limbo. White House press secretary Jen Psaki stressed that the president can still work the phones from Rome, the city that gave birth to the word “Senate.” She suggested that foreign leaders can see beyond ongoing backroom talks with US lawmakers in order to judge Biden’s commitment.

“They don’t look at it through the prism of whether there is a vote in one body of the legislative body before he gets on an airplane,” Psaki said.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan, though, has framed the bills as vital to the nation’s security. “Making these investments in American strength will be very important to our national security going forward,” he said.

Reaching for a deal that has had a perilous journey thus far, the president is beginning his trip abroad with an expert in the power of prayer. Biden, the nation’s second Catholic president, will meet Friday with Pope Francis at the Vatican in a visit that is part personal for the intensely religious commander in chief and part policy, particularly around matters of climate and confronting autocracies.

Delicate diplomacy

Biden will also pay a visit to the Italian hosts of the G-20 summit before he sits down with French President Emmanuel Macron. Biden is trying to close a rift with France created when the US and UK agreed to provide nuclear-powered submarines to Australia, supplanting a French contract in the process.

Biden is also expected to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who backed down just days ago from threats to expel Western diplomats and whose purchase of Russian surface-to-air missiles has upended his country’s participation in the F-35 fighter program.

In those and other meetings, Biden is expected to address the Iranian nuclear threat, and Iran’s announcement that it could return to talks next month in Vienna.

He is also set to continue to press wealthier US allies to step up their commitments to share Covid-19 vaccines with lower- and middle-income countries. Some nations have been slow to deliver on ambitious pledges and others have largely stayed on the sidelines. Biden will argue that the pandemic can’t be ended until vaccines are available widely, and that democracies can’t let Chinese and Russian vaccine diplomacy — which often comes with strings attached — take root globally.

Biden will have little interaction with those two most significant of American rivals, as China’s Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin participate in the summits only virtually because of the pandemic threat. Those two leaders are critical for broader climate issues at a time of rising energy prices. China has committed to increase coal mining ahead of winter, while Russia’s natural gas reserves give it a degree of political power over parts of Europe.

Beyond the policies and personalities that will be prominent in Biden’s trip, the president will be trying to make the case for democracy itself, arguing that essential aspects — fair elections and representative government — are superior to autocracies in good times and bad.

Heading to Scotland on Sunday night for the climate summit, Biden will lead a large US delegation that he hopes will showcase America’s plans to address the threat of climate change. It’s a sharp reversal from former President Donald Trump, who withdrew the US from the Paris climate accord.

Biden is set to deliver a significant address on climate change and attempt to reclaim the mantle of American leadership. One of the key objections to shifting away from oil and other fossil fuels has been the costs, but the president has been making the claim that nature is already exacting a price with extreme weather from climate change.

Source: FRANCE 24 with AP

29, October 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Biya regime torturing Ambazonian detainees in systemic way ⁰

The Biya Francophone regime in Yaoundé has been torturing Southern Cameroons detainees in a methodical and systemic way since it jailed the leader of the Ambazonia Interim Government President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and other senior Southern Cameroons leaders following their abduction in Abuja, Nigeria.

Based on interviews with several Southern Cameroons prisoners of conscience, Barrister Amungwa Tanyi leading advocate for the NERA 10 recently described grim conditions and abuse. His revelations have been backed with testimony from four Cameroon government army soldiers who recently defected and fled the country to Dubai.

The Barrister Amungwa Tanyi Nicodemus investigation provides the most comprehensive look ever since the 88-year-old President Biya declared a war against the English speaking minority in Southern Cameroons.

Cameroon Intelligence Report understands that Barrister Amungwa has withheld the names of most of the Southern Cameroons detainees to protect them from retaliation by members of the Francophone dominated Cameroonian Secret Service.

Some of the Southern Cameroons prisoners contacted in Buea and in Douala-New Bell, said the torture often begins immediately they were arrested on the street or in their houses, and some die even before reaching a detention facility.

The Cameroon government army soldiers from the ruling Beti-Ewondo tribes torture Southern Cameroons detainees, first for revenge and then for information, a spokesperson for Barrister Amungwa Tanyi hinted Cameroon Intelligence Report adding that the Cameroon government military has become even more brutal against Southern Cameroonians.

“They would torture Southern Cameroonians until they got the answers they wanted. They speak in French, abuse us, saying we are slaves from Nigeria and in most of the times they tell us here at the New Bell, we do not have any laws. We have guns, and we can just kill you and make you disappear if we want to,” an Ambazonian detainee in Douala told this reporter.

A former army captain confirmed to Cameroon Intelligence Report that Cameroon government military’s use of torture against English speaking Cameroonians has been rampant since the war started.

“In Cameroon today, after arresting an Anglophone unfairly, there is torture, violence and sexual assaults happening constantly against them,” he said. “Even a war captive needs to be treated and taken care of by law. All of that is gone with this Biya regime.”

An aide to a high-ranking army official in the South West region also told our undercover reporter in Buea that Francophone soldiers covered up the deaths of two tortured Southern Cameroons journalists, forcing a military doctor to falsify their autopsy reports.

The Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime has a long history of torture against English speaking Cameroonians and the methods include deprivation of sleep, food, water and relentless beatings with batons.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

29, October 2021

Africa Cup Of Nations-Ambazonia Crisis: Cameroon military gets IAEA radiation training ⁰

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) began training Cameroonian security personnel on Monday to respond to any radiological attack during the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).

“This workshop supports prescription to provide the upcoming AFCON competition with maximum security conditions. Nuclear security is recommended by CAF and FIFA within the respective safety regulations,” said Augustin Simo, director-general of Cameroon’s National Radiation Protection Agency which is organizing the training in partnership with IAEA.

“So our country by implementing nuclear security measures during the AFCON is respectful of the safety regulations. Cameroon uses radioactive sources in medical applications, industrial applications, research activities and so on,” Simo said at the start of the workshop in the capital, Yaounde.

He said there was no specific intelligence pointing to a threat to AFCON and stressed that it was incumbent on the Central African nation “to be ready in case of any mishaps” during the game.

The AFCON will take place in Cameroon from January 9 to February 6 next year. The biennial competition has been moved twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Source: Xinhuanet

29, October 2021

CPDM Crime Syndicate and the Africa Cup of Nations : Postponement or cancellation are a big possibility ⁰

There is a real possibility that the 2021 African Cup of Nations could well be postponed or even cancelled due to problems in the host country of Cameroon, it is claimed.

The 33rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations is scheduled to take place from 9 January to 6 February 2022 after it was originally due to be played in June and July 2021 before the CAF announced that it would be postponed due to ‘unfavourable climatic conditions’ and then because of the effects of Covid-19.

The dates of the competition mean that Milan would be without the likes of Fode Ballo-Toure, Franck Kessie and Ismael Bennacer for a few games including some important fixtures in January.

However, journalist Eduardo Hagn is reporting that AFCON is at risk for 2022 as ‘there have been legal fights between the bodies responsible for making the tournament happen’. The main problem is that the President of FECAFOOT is in his role illegally and that is why ‘postponement or cancellation are a big possibility’.

Source: Sempremilan.com