Monthly Archives: November 2021

Battle for Southern Cameroons: Explosions hit Molyko, University of Buea, at least 200 students injured

10, November 2021

Battle for Southern Cameroons: Explosions hit Molyko, University of Buea, at least 200 students injured 0

Palpable fear has reportedly gripped residents of Buea, the chief city in the South West region as a taxi driver was  killed by the first blast, with some 200 hundred Buea University students left injured by the second explosion.

According to Cameroon Concord News sources,the explosions rocked Buea today, with the attacks occurring in the Molyko neighborhoods predominantly inhabited by students.

Footage circulating online shows one of the injured students completely engulfed in blood, surrounded by debris. It was not immediately clear whether the Amphi 600 was hit by a bomb or if the explosive device was inside the building.

The gruesome attack has not been claimed by any Ambazonia Restoration group, with the main adversary of the Cameroon government, the Southern Cameroons Interim Government, strongly denying involvement and condemning the attack on university students.

Fingers are all pointing to the Southern Cameroons minority group in Maryland in the USA known for its hardline views and particular hatred displayed towards children going back to school.

This item is still developing

By Fon Lawrence in Buea

Biden to host Canada, Mexico leaders at White House Nov 18

10, November 2021

Biden to host Canada, Mexico leaders at White House Nov 18 0

President Joe Biden will meet at the White House next week with the leaders of Canada and Mexico, his office said Wednesday, as the US administration seeks to shore up alliances that came under strain under Donald Trump.

At the November 18 meeting, Biden, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will discuss efforts to fight the pandemic, as well as climate change and immigration, the White House said.

Biden is relaunching a gathering known as the North American Leaders’ Summit, the last of which was held in 2016 before being abandoned by Trump.

“During the summit, the United States, Mexico, and Canada will reaffirm their strong ties and integration while also charting a new path for collaboration,” the statement said.

It said the talks will also address “a regional vision for migration,” a touchy issue for the US and Mexico, which regularly sees thousands of mainly Central American migrants arrive at its southern border hoping to reach the United States as they flee poverty and violence at home.

“With respect for each other’s sovereignty and in a true spirit of partnership, we affirm our unwavering vision that North America is the most competitive and dynamic region in the world,” the White House said.

In addition to the three-way talks, Biden will also participate in bilateral meetings with Trudeau and Lopez Obrador.

The US statement noted that Biden held his first foreign bilateral meetings as president with the leaders of Canada and Mexico.

“Since day one of the Biden-Harris administration, the United States has reaffirmed the importance of our regional partnerships to realize a more equal, prosperous, greener, democratic future for all our hemisphere’s citizens,” said Biden’s senior director for western hemisphere affairs, Juan Gonzalez.

The change of tone from the Trump era is stark.

Trump renegotiated a major North American trade deal with the two US neighbors but he also triggered conflicts with them.

His project to build a wall along the southern US border weighed on ties with Mexico.

He also had tense relations with Trudeau, calling him “dishonest” and “weak” at the height of a spat over US tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada, the European Union and Mexico.

Source: AFP

Southern Cameroons: Vice President Yerima calls on Britain and the Commonwealth to recognize State of Ambazonia

10, November 2021

Southern Cameroons: Vice President Yerima calls on Britain and the Commonwealth to recognize State of Ambazonia 0

The Vice President of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government Dabney Yerima has called on the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth of Nations to recognize an independent Southern Cameroons state with Buea as its capital, urging the Commonwealth to enact laws and regulations that target the French Cameroun regime under President Paul Biya as well as senior military officials of the Yaoundé government.

During a zoom meeting with members of the Ambazonia Interim Government war cabinet on Monday, Dabney Yerima discussed the recent Toronto Southern Cameroons Retreat and the position of the Interim Government with La Republique du Cameroun and the exiled Southern Cameroons leader sounded a note of caution to Southern Cameroonians that the French Cameroun regime is involved in several diabolic harsh ploy to wreck prospects for the two-Cameroons solution through the atrocities of its occupational army and violation of Southern Cameroons rights.

Yerima also appealed to the Department of Foreign Affairs to concentrate on the onerous task ahead and not be distracted by detractors of the Toronto meeting.

Vice President Dabney Yerima then called upon the Commonwealth and other Western countries to stop La Republique du Cameroun from jeopardizing Southern Cameroon’s future by insisting on its French colonial policies and violations of human rights.

Since the Southern Cameroons crisis hit the global stage some five years ago, some 10,000 Cameroonians have been killed, with army soldiers accounting for close to 35% of the deaths.

Thousands of civilians and soldiers have been maimed and scarred for life in a conflict that could have been addressed through negotiations and genuine dialogue.

By Chi Prudence Asong and Isong Asu

US: Cameroon basketball star ‘struggling’ with Covid

9, November 2021

US: Cameroon basketball star ‘struggling’ with Covid 0

Cameroonian basketball star Joel Embiid is struggling after testing positive for Covid-19, according to Philadelphia 76ers head coach Doc Rivers.

The 27-year-old was set to be rested for Monday’s 103-96 loss to the New York Knicks but is now likely to miss more games in line with the NBA’s health and safety protocols.

One of the games Embiid will miss is Tuesday’s showdown against defending champions the Milwaukee Bucks.

“He’s not doing great – he’s struggling,” Rivers said before the loss to the Knicks.

Embiid has been a key figure in the Sixers’ impressive start to the season, with an average of 21.4 points and 9.4 rebounds per game so far.

Power forward Embiid is the latest member of the 76ers team to test positive for coronavirus.

“It’s a concern, obviously, because what is it – four guys now? And a staff member. It clearly is a concern,” Rivers added.

“We have to just keep trying to find ways to play to win to score and do whatever we have to and we’ve done that this far. We’re going to play. We’re going to compete.”

The 76ers’ defeat by the Knicks on Monday was just their third of the season, with eight wins so far in the Eastern Conference which they currently lead.

Source: BBC

Cameroon Football: Shame on Eto’o for appointing an anti Anglophone journalist to run his campaign

9, November 2021

Cameroon Football: Shame on Eto’o for appointing an anti Anglophone journalist to run his campaign 0

Earlier this week, Samuel Eto’o, the controversial Cameroonian football legend with strong ties to the corrupt regime in Yaoundé declared that Ernest Obama will be responsible for the media coverage of his campaign to become president of the Cameroon Football Federation (FECAFOOT).

Ernest Obama, former Director of Vision 4 Network and current general manager of BNews TV have a track record of being an anti Anglophone journalist and had called several times via Vision 4 for the complete destruction of Southern Cameroons.

The absurdity of this Samuel Eto’o appointment of Ernest Obama has shocked many Southern Cameroonians worldwide, but is perhaps most insulting to the English speaking Cameroonians who have supported Eto’o throughout his brilliant career as a footballer many of whom now have firsthand experience of the atrocities of the Biya Francophone radical Beti Ewondo regime in its five year-old war in Southern Cameroons.

The vast majority of Southern Cameroonians know all too well that the regime in Yaoundé not only has a deep-rooted hatred for English speaking Cameroonians, but has advanced an on-going genocidal campaign against Southern Cameroonians and with the support of French speaking journalists such as Ernest Obama promoted the military campaign that has claimed the lives of some 10,000 Cameroonians with army soldiers accounting for close to 35% of the deaths.  Shame on Samuel Eto’o and other Cameroon football heroes for turning a blind eye to the Biya regime’s deep-rooted anti Anglophone policies in order to advance their own financial interest.

The list of Ernest Obama’s  anti Anglophone actions  on Vision 4 TV are too voluminous, but perhaps his call for the total and complete annihilation of all Anglophones  gave Southern Cameroonians the signal that they were no longer welcome to live freely in the so-called one and indivisible Cameroon.

And indeed, Mr. Ernest Obama’s declarations caused a massive wave of Southern Cameroonians to flee their homeland to Nigeria and either leave their assets behind or sell them at bargain prices. The Biya Francophone regime in Yaoundé has still not stopped the killings of innocent English speaking Cameroonians. Cameroon government army soldiers deployed to Southern Cameroons continue to arrest and torture thousands of Anglophones and confiscating millions of FCFA in Southern Cameroons businesses and assets.

Moreover, Southern Cameroons minority population has fled the country during these five year-old-war to the point where most of Southern Cameroons settlements are now ghost towns and villages.

Apart from Ernest Obama, Eto’o has been mentored for years by Bell Joseph-Antoine, another legendary Cameroonian footballer with well-documented anti Anglophone sentiments which also raise urgent questions about Samuel Eto’o’s intention. During a friendly football encounter with Egypt, Bell demonstrated absolute disrespect for the late Tataw Eta Stephen who was the captain by rushing to the referee with a flag he had in his pocket and performing the kickoff ritual with the Egyptian captain. When Stephen Tataw finished with the group photo business and went to the referee, he was told Bell Joseph had already conducted the process. In USA 94, Bell again continued with his anti Anglophone policy and rallied all the players from his Bassa Francophone extraction to have a vote on who to captain the team.  

“Yaoundé should not be giving positions to people with anti Anglophone sentiments, end of story,” a senior official of the Biya regime who spoke to Cameroon Concord News at the time of writing this report said.

 “Under the leadership of the Biya regime, Yaoundé has repeatedly demonstrated a willingness to work with anti Anglophone cabinet ministers and political figures, and they appear willing to do so until the bitter end of the Biya presidency” a Southern Cameroonian living in Yaoundé told Camcordnews.

Eto’o reportedly met Mr. Samuel Mvondo Ayolo, Director of the Civil Cabinet at the Presidency of the Republic, another anti Anglophone CPDM baron.   So far, nothing has filtered out of the exchanges between the two French Cameroun personalities.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

France formally returns looted Benin artworks at Élysée ceremony

9, November 2021

France formally returns looted Benin artworks at Élysée ceremony 0

French President Emmanuel Macron hosted his counterpart from Benin, President Patrice Talon, on Tuesday to formally seal an agreement to return 26 artworks taken from the former French colony’s Palace of Abomey – today a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The 26 pieces, from a trove of objects snatched by French forces in 1892, were exhibited at the Quai Branly museum in Paris in the run-up to Tuesday’s ceremony. They will be shipped to the West African country in the coming days.

The decision to return them follows growing calls in Africa for European countries to return the colonial spoils from museums.

It is part of a drive by French President Emmanuel Macron to improve his country’s image in Africa, especially among young people.

The treasures are from the kingdom of Dahomey in the south of present-day Benin and include the throne of Dahomey’s last king, Behanzin, as well as three totemic statues, four palace doors, several portable altars and three warrior dance staffs.

The Élysée said Macron’s commitment for Africans to be able see their cultural wealth at home and not just in European museums “marks an important step in building a new relationship between France and Africa”.

Last month, Macron announced that a “talking drum” cherished by Ivory Coast’s Ebrie people, also at the Quai Branly, would be handed back as well.

Some museum directors have criticised the move to return works they deem of “universal” interest.

But Quai Branly president Emmanuel Kasarherou said he welcomed the “soul-searching” that those calls had triggered about the provenance of artworks.

‘Ripped from their cultures’ 

The Quai Branly, which has a vast trove of African artefacts, has begun a sweeping review of its collection of 300,000 objects.

The aim is “to identify works believed to have been taken through violence, without the owners’ consent, or as war booty or through the coercion of the colonial administration”, Kasarherou told AFP.

“Not all objects that are in European collections have been stolen,” he emphasised, but “what proportion were? Our objective is to find out.”

Since his election in 2017, Macron has gone further than his predecessors in admitting to past French abuses in Africa.

In a speech to students in Burkina Faso soon after taking office, he vowed to facilitate the return of African cultural heritage within five years.

An expert report commissioned by Macron counted some 90,000 African works in French museums, 70,000 of them at the Quai Branly alone.

The restitution calls culminated last year in a vote in the French parliament, where lawmakers overwhelmingly backed returning a group of artefacts to Benin and Senegal, another former French colony.

Macron has predicted that the 26 objects taken from the Abomey palace will be “the pride of Benin” when they are returned.

They will be exhibited at various sites in Benin, including a former Portuguese fort in the city of Ouidah, once a slave-trading hub, while awaiting the completion of a museum in Abomey to house them.

Benin’s Talon has previously said he was “not satisfied” with the “small steps” taken by France and called on Macron to go further.

Source:  AFP

Southern Cameroons Crisis:  Troops loyal to Biya receives C-Astral Slovenian drones as war escalates

9, November 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis:  Troops loyal to Biya receives C-Astral Slovenian drones as war escalates 0

Amid escalating tensions in the Anglophone regions, the Cameroonian army has quietly received its first batch of Bramor observation drones from Slovenian manufacturer C-Astral to boost its ISR capacities, Africa Intelligence Reported last week.

While Southern Cameroonians across the globe have been scanning the horizon for five good years in search of ways of ending the war in Southern Cameroons, the Francophone dominated regime has been busy splashing out cash on weapons and ignoring international calls for a peaceful resolution of the conflict.

Since the Southern Cameroons crisis hit the global stage some five years ago, some 10,000 Cameroonians have been killed, with army soldiers accounting for close to 35% of the deaths.

Thousands of civilians and soldiers have been maimed and scarred for life in a conflict that could have been addressed through negotiations and genuine dialogue.

Some one million Southern Cameroonians are either  internally displaced or are seeking refuge in a neighboring country due to a conflict many observers say was avoidable.

Thousands of army soldiers whose consciences could not allow them to kill innocent civilians have left the country to escape the harsh punishment the government inflicts on soldiers who do not want to implement the decisions of the top military brass.

By Rita Akana in Yaounde

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Swiss mediators relaunch stalled peace talks with Amba groups

9, November 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Swiss mediators relaunch stalled peace talks with Amba groups 0

The Swiss Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue and the Swiss government are trying to relaunch their stalled mediation efforts for the English-speaking regions of Cameroon, as fighting intensifies there.

The Swiss were part of the Southern Cameroons Retreat that recently held in Toronto, Canada to examine the possiblity of bringing to an end the Southern Cameroons crisis that is in its fifth year and has been spreading death and destruction among the people of Southern Cameroons.

The Toronto meeting organizers included the U.S. State Department, the Vatican, Canada, Ireland, Britain, Switzerland, Norway, the United Nations, and Greenclee which negotiated the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland.

Cameroon Concord News understands that the quality of those who attended the meeting inspired hope to Southern Cameroonians all over the globe including those in Ground Zero and Ground 1.

Since the Southern Cameroons crisis hit the global stage some five years ago, some 10,000 Cameroonians have been killed, with army soldiers accounting for close to 35% of the deaths.

Thousands of civilians and soldiers have been maimed and scarred for life in a conflict that could have been addressed through negotiations and genuine dialogue.

As of today, some one million Southern Cameroonians are either  internally displaced or are seeking refuge in a neighboring country due to a conflict many observers say was avoidable.

Thousands of army soldiers whose consciences could not allow them to kill innocent civilians have left the country to escape the harsh punishment the government inflicts on soldiers who do not want to implement the decisions of the top military brass.

By Isong Asu in London

Inside the Presidency:  Biya’s fragmented family and the fall and fall of Brenda

8, November 2021

Inside the Presidency:  Biya’s fragmented family and the fall and fall of Brenda 0

It was supposed to be a very good week for Cameroon’s first family as the 88-year-old President Paul Biya celebrated his 39 years in office on November 6. Biya, who has been Cameroon’s president since 1982, is rarely seen in public these days. However, it has turned out to be a terrible week for the Cameroonian president. Brenda Biya, the first daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Biya is at war with her parents, presidential aides and has reportedly disowned her parents in a video she posted on social media.

By some strange happenstance, both the Biya family and the communications department at the presidency of the republic are not denying any of the details made public by Brenda Biya and they are also not saying whether the president and Brenda’s mum Chantal Biya are now directly threatened.

The president’s daughter has in the past made disturbing revelations about her parents but this time around she invoked some nasty aspects of her upbringing by parents who are only interested in political power and how to enhance their political image and concluded her story with the crisis in Southern Cameroons blaming all the atrocities on her dad.

Ordinarily, this was supposed to be a family affair but it is now connected to president Biya under whom the ruling CPDM crime syndicate keeping him in power is also in disarray. In her recent outing, Brenda Biya presented herself to the public as a young Cameroonian woman more sinned against than sinning. But her involvement in drugs and alcohol has now escaped the boundaries of personal or family affair to the public domain.

There is no way the Brenda Biya factor would not be used as evidence against President Biya as someone who has always had problems managing every other spaces of leadership. Frankly speaking, the Brenda Biya tragedy demonstrates how Biya’s leadership is leading to the breaking-up of the country. The party level is worse and Biya is the chairman. Today, they tell you the ruling party wants his eldest son Franck Biya to succeed the father and by morning of the following day, they same party tells you the CPDM is appealing for a national consensus for Biya to seek a new term in 2025.

The Francophone Beti Ewondo patriarch is now contending with disarray at both the domestic and international fronts. We of the Cameroon Concord News Group feel sorry for Mr. Paul Biya and we are aware that even the most sympathetic Biya followers know that this is no ordinary crisis.

It is shocking and difficult to understand how all these might be happening to the president’s daughter until she is now being moved to a psychiatric home and the president is totally unable to address the situation.

Very early in the life of the Biya regime, the late First Lady Jeanne Irene Biya made pronouncements that struck the chord with the Cameroonian people. The idea of her husband hijacked by a vicious cabal has since become the staple of the public sphere in Cameroon. Ever since her untimely death, nothing has been done to demonstrate anything to the contrary. The Biya family is crumbling at catastrophic rapidity at a time of grave, generalized insecurity across the Cameroonian nation.

For a leader who spends all his time abroad precisely at the InterContinental Hotel in Geneva to end up like this, is indeed shameful, disgusting and disgraceful. This begs the question:  what is that other thing that takes the little time President Biya has left for governance that disable him from keeping these sorts of creases from spilling over beyond his control to the public square?

To answer this question, you must first of all get an understanding of the mindset of the man on top. Biya enjoys conflict particularly those escalating to the proportion they do under him.

However, mindful of the fact that president Biya has nearly unlimited resources for managing fissures at whatever level, this whole Brenda Biya saga paints a picture of a man who has led himself down. Maybe he thinks history is too distant for him to worry about.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Brexit: Northern Irish bus hijacked and torched

8, November 2021

Brexit: Northern Irish bus hijacked and torched 0

Four men hijacked and set fire to a bus in a pro-British unionist community in Northern Ireland on Sunday evening, authorities said.

Police said they received a report of a hijacking incident in the Church Road area of Newtownabbey, a Belfast suburb, around 7:45 p.m.

“It was reported that four men got onto the bus and ordered passengers off before the bus was then set alight. Church Road is currently closed and diversions are in place and police would ask members of the public to avoid the area,” the Police Service of Northern Ireland said in a statement.

Bus operator Translink said the driver and a small number of passengers safely disembarked.

“Our driver is badly shaken and is currently being supported by colleagues,” the company said in a statement.

“We are very disappointed by this intimidating attack on our member of staff and public transport services in the area. We utterly condemn this behaviour and will be working closely with the PSNI to investigate this incident,” the statement said.

Last week, two masked and armed men hijacked and set fire to another bus in an attack that local media said was linked to tensions over post-Brexit trade barriers.

(Source: Reuters)

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