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24, September 2023

Niger bans Air France and aircrafts chartered by France from its airspace ⁰

Niger’s military rulers have banned “French aircraft” from flying over the country’s airspace, according to the Agency for the Safety of Air Navigation in Africa and Madagascar (ASECNA) website.

Niger’s airspace is “open to all national and international commercial flights except for French aircraft or aircraft chartered by France including those of the airline Air France,” it said in the statement dated late Saturday.

The air space would remain closed for “all military, operational and other special flights”, unless receiving prior authorisation, the message said.

Air France told AFP simply that it was “not flying over Niger airspace”.

Niger had reopened its airspace on September 4 for commercial flights after having been closed for nearly a month.

The West African nation then announced on August 6 it was closing its airspace due to the “threat of intervention from neighbouring countries”, as the Economic Community of West African States threatened military action to restore the elected President Mohamed Bazoum who had been overthrown in a coup on July 26.

France has repeatedly supported the West African bloc, and relations between Paris and Niamey have been at an all-time low since the coup.

Source: AFP

22, September 2023

Far North Region: Army kills three Boko Haram militants ⁰

The Cameroonian army said Thursday that its troops had killed three militants from the Boko Haram terrorist group in the country’s Far North region.

Militants from the terror group raided Galdala, a village in the Mayo-Tsanaga division of the region on Wednesday night and were subsequently ambushed by the army while returning with the looted goods to their base, said an army official in the region who spoke to Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Local media had reported that villagers were starting to evacuate the area due to deadly attacks in recent weeks.

Boko Haram, a terrorist group originating in Nigeria, has been operating in the Far North region since 2014, posing a significant security threat to Cameroon.

Source: Xinhuanet

22, September 2023

Data base of Atrocities Releases Eight Verifications of Explosions, Burnings, Arbitrary Arrests against Civilians in Cameroon ⁰

Both the Cameroon security services and separatist insurgents are implicated in atrocities in the long-running Anglophone conflict, according to reports released today, International Day of Peace. The reports have been compiled and verified using geolocation, based on videos, photos, satellite imagery, eyewitness accounts, social media posts, and news items.

The Cameroon Database of Atrocities works with the Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa (CHRDA) to confirm each atrocity took place at a specific location and date. The eight new reports join a further 40 reports already compiled by the Database. It is hoped that the existence of the reports may discourage further acts of violence, end the impunity with which the perpetrators act, and one day be used in bringing these actors to justice.

The eight new reports confirm the following:

–Cameroon government forces arbitrarily burned multiple civilian homes in a village;

–Government forces arbitrarily arrested no fewer than 42 to 85 youths in a village, who are still detained months later;

–An elite government soldier violently harassed young men at several locations over several years;

–Anglophone separatist fighters burned several trucks of civilian foodstuffs;

–Separatist fighters detonated explosives at an outdoor market and at a race, killing one mother and injuring 19, including athletes running the race;

–Separatist fighters burned a school, a mayor’s house, and a church, while also taking hostages for ransom at the church, who were released one month later.

Cameroon’s so-called “Anglophone Crisis” began more than six years ago with peaceful protests, which became violent after the government responded with excessive force and arrested moderate protest leaders.

This led to a separatist movement calling for independence of Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions. The separatists’ 2017 unilateral independence declaration provoked brutal crackdowns from Cameroon government forces. Soon the crisis escalated into an armed conflict, with the Cameroon military fighting armed separatist groups, and civilians caught in the middle.

Since then, the Anglophone regions have witnessed widespread atrocities by both sides, causing over 6,000 deaths, 1.5 million displaced, and leaving 700,000 children out of school for years. Both sides have behaved with impunity.

Pope Francis has repeatedly urged the Cameroon government to act to stop the violence, but there has been little interest in diplomatic activity. Earlier this year, the government backed away from potential peace talks facilitated by Canada.

Commenting on the reports, CHRDA’s president, Barrister Felix ‘AgborBalla’Nkongho said: There is a need for accountability and an end to this culture of impunity. It can only be done when we monitor, document and report these gross and egregious crimes.

Dr. Christopher Fomunyoh, Senior Associate and Regional Director forAfrica at National Democratic Institute in Washington, D.C., stated:

These data reports confirm that six years on, deaths and destruction are still a regular occurrence in the Anglophone conflict zones. The vicious cycle of violence and retaliation with impunity continues to foster suffering and deprivation, especially among civilian populations.

They’re yet another warning to those with guns that their actions are being fully documented and, ultimately, individuals and their sponsors and accomplices will be held to account someday. We hope that day comes soon so this well-documented evidence of atrocities can serve its purpose.

This release on the international peace day also coincides with the General Assembly of the United Nations currently holding in New York as world leaders lament the flurry of global crises and insecurity. One very significant takeaway from these reports is to put friends of Cameroon and the international community on notice that human life is not safe anywhere if it is not safe everywhere: underreported crises and conflicts such as is the case in Anglophone Cameroon deserve as much condemnation and efforts to find resolution through third-party-led mediation or negotiations, as more well-known conflicts.

Source: www.CameroonPeaceJustice.ca

21, September 2023

Prof Anyangwe: Bullying tactics against Southern Cameroonians will go nowhere ⁰

A prominent Southern Cameroons academic Professor Carlson Anyangwe says the Biya French Cameroun policy of implementing bullying tactics against the suffering peoples of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia in the form of military deployments, assassinations and burning down of towns and villages has failed to produce any results.

In a telephone conversation with Cameroon Concord News London Bureau Chief Isong Asu, Professor Carlson Anyangwe stated that using the bullying language in the form of raids, detentions, rape, torture and killing of innocent Southern Cameroonians is no longer a useful instrument.

Elaborating on his remarks, Carlson Anyangwe said La Republique should start talking to the jailed Anglophone leaders in the Kondengui Maximum Security Prison.

Professor Anyangwe pointed out that after AAC I and AAC II, the French Cameroun motto was that “What is mine is mine and what in Anglophone is negotiable. That won’t work anymore in Southern Cameroons” Anyangwe said.

“Southern Cameroonians will continue to judge the leadership in French Cameroun based on its practical steps and not its rhetoric on the so-called one and indivisible Cameroon” Professor Anyangwe added.

“The Ambazonia Interim Government is not interested in what the French Cameroun head of state Paul Biya wants to do with the situation in Southern Cameroons, the IG is interested in what Biya must do” Anyangwe furthered.

“As we speak, Yaounde’s behavior has failed to win even the trust of Southern Cameroonians like Dion Ngute, Philemon Yang and Mafany Musonge,” Anyangwe concluded.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files

21, September 2023

Ambazonia Interim Gov’t meeting with Ground Zero commanders sent shivers down Yaoundé spine ⁰

A recent meeting between representatives of the Ambazonia Interim Government(IG) and commanders of Southern Cameroons Self Defense Groups in Ground Zero reportedly sent shivers down the French Cameroun regime’s spine, Cameroon Intelligence Report has learned from a well-placed source in the nation’s capital.

Speaking about the secret meeting, an aide to Vice President Dabney Yerima told a South African radio host that the reassuring smiles of the Ground Zero commanders during the meeting was a positive indication that Amba fighters were more than ready to respond decisively to the numerous deployment of Francophone army soldiers to Southern Cameroons.

The meeting that was organized under the direct supervision of the IG’s Department for Strategic Planning revealed the depth of coordination between the Dabney Yerima-led Interim Government and Ground Zero commanders as well as other restoration groups.

Early on Monday, Vice President Dabney Yerima was quoted as saying that all Southern Cameroons Self Defense Groups are firmly determined to give a united response to the Biya-Francophone aggressive policies.

The countdown to the collapse of La Republique du Cameroun dominance over Southern Cameroons has begun, and the wish of the great Leader of the Ambazonia nation President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe is coming true.

By Chi Prudence Asong

20, September 2023

Football: Onana laments poor start as Man Utd crisis deepens ⁰

Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana said he had let his teammates down after a howler set the tone for a 4-3 Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich.

A third consecutive defeat ramps up the pressure on United manager Erik ten Hag and two late goals from Casemiro masked the gulf in class between the sides at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday.

However, United had started brightly until Leroy Sane’s strike slipped through Onana’s grasp on 28 minutes.

“After my mistake we lost control of the game. It’s a difficult situation for us, for me especially because I’m the one who let the team down,” Onana told TNT Sports.

The Cameroonian starred for Inter Milan on their run to last season’s Champions League final, but has struggled in the early weeks of his United career since joining in a £47 million ($58 million) move.

The Red Devils have now conceded three or more goals in three consecutive games for the first time since 1978.

“My start in Manchester is not so good, it’s not how I want (to play),” added Onana.

“Today is one of my worst games and it is difficult because we have big ambition, we want to win everything – it was a big opportunity for us to bounce back after the situation we are facing.

“It’s a tough time. We have to be together and learn from our mistakes because it’s the only thing to do.”

United have now lost four of their opening six games of the season for the first time in 37 years.

Downward curve

Ten Hag earned plenty of plaudits for his first season in charge as he led United back into the Champions League and ended a six-year trophy drought by lifting the League Cup.

But his side’s downward curve dates back to the latter part of last season. Since a historic 7-0 humiliation at the hands of Liverpool in March, United have lost eight of their last 12 games away from home in all competitions.

Ten Hag called for character from his side to bounce back from being outplayed on home soil by Brighton 3-1 at the weekend.

Instead, the former Ajax boss will be concerned at how quickly his side crumbled after Onana’s blunder and twice conceded within seconds of getting back into the game.

Serge Gnabry quickly doubled Bayern’s advantage after Jamal Musiala burst through the United defence with ease.

Rasmus Hojlund’s first goal for the club was the big positive of the night for Ten Hag’s men.

But Harry Kane had restored Bayern’s two-goal cushion within five minutes from the penalty spot after Cristian Eriksen was harshly penalised for handball.

Bayern should have then ran up a far more convincing scoreline as they twice hit the woodwork and eased up by bringing off Kane, Sane, Gnabry and Musiala.

Casemiro’s first goal could have provoked a nervy finale had Mathys Tel not been given space to crash in Bayern’s fourth within three minutes.

The Brazilian then headed in his second with virtually the last action of the match.

“When you score three goals at Bayern then you have to at least take a point,” said Ten Hag.

But he was keen to point to a collective failure rather than pointing the blame at Onana.

“If you see the first 25 minutes you have to score, but if not stay in the game. Don’t allow the opponent to score goals like we did. It’s not only about one mistake.”

Source: AFP

20, September 2023

Macron hosts King Charles for lavish Versailles banquet ⁰

The UK’s King Charles III starts a three-day state visit to France on Wednesday meant to highlight both nations’ friendship, after the trip was postponed in March amid widespread demonstrations against President Emmanuel Macron’s pension changes.

Charles and Queen Camilla were greeted by Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne at Paris-Orly airport, before heading to the city centre for a ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe in the presence of Macron and his wife, Brigitte.

Both nations’ hymns will be played during the ceremony before a review of French troops and a wreath laying at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to “mark the shared sacrifices of the past and an enduring legacy of cooperation”, according to Buckingham Palace.

The jet fighters of the Patrouille de France and Britain’s Red Arrows, the acrobatic teams of the countries’ air forces, will fly above the monument.

The presidential and royal couples will then head by car to the presidential palace, parading on the Champs-Élysées avenue.

Macron and Charles will hold a bilateral meeting expected to cover topics including Russia’s war in Ukraine and the migration issue as Italy’s southern island of Lampedusa was in recent days overwhelmed by people setting off from Tunisia.

The visit “symbolizes the relationship of friendship and trust” between them since they both ”have in the past worked closely together to protect biodiversity and combat global warming”, the French presidency stressed.

A state dinner on Wednesday in the Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles in the presence of more than 150 guests will be one of the highlights of the visit.

On Thursday, Charles will address French lawmakers at the Senate, providing a new venue for the king to show off his language skills after he wowed his audience by switching seamlessly between German and English during a speech to Germany’s parliament in March

He will later rejoin Macron in front of Notre-Dame Cathedral to see the ongoing renovation work aimed at reopening the monument by the end of next year.

Charles and Macron will also both attend a reception for British and French business leaders about financing climate-related and biodiversity projects.

The king will end his trip on Friday with a stop in Bordeaux, home to a large British community. He will meet emergency workers and communities affected by the 2022 wildfires in the area and visit the Forêt Experimentale, or experimental forest, a project designed to monitor the impact of climate on urban woodlands.

He will also tour a vineyard, which has pioneered a sustainable approach to wine making.

Source: FRANCE 24

20, September 2023

Gabon: Ali Bongo’s son charged with treason and corruption ⁰

The son of Ali Bongo Ondimba and several allies of the ousted Gabon president have been charged with high treason and corruption and placed in custody, the state prosecutor told AFP Wednesday.

Bongo’s eldest son Noureddin Bongo Valentin and former presidential spokesman Jessye Ella Ekogha, as well as four others close to the deposed leader, “have been charged and placed in provisional detention,” said Libreville prosecutor Andre-Patrick Roponat.

Bongo, 64, who had ruled the oil-rich central African country since 2009, was ousted by military leaders on August 30, moments after being proclaimed the winner in a presidential election.

The result was branded a fraud by the opposition and the military coup leaders, who have also accused his regime of widespread corruption and bad governance.

On the same day as the coup, soldiers arrested one of Bongo’s sons, five senior cabinet officials and his wife Sylvia Bongo Valentin.

National TV showed rolling images of those arrested in front of suitcases filled with cash allegedly seized from their homes.

Source: AFP

19, September 2023

Southern Cameroons Crisis: 5 Amba fighters killed in Meme Division ⁰

Cameroon’s army said on Tuesday that its troops have killed five separatist fighters in the country’s English-speaking region of Southwest, where a prolonged armed separatist conflict is in progress.

The Rapid Intervention Battalion, the country’s elite force, raided a hideout of the fighters in the Mofako Butu locality of the region late Monday.

Among those killed was a “dreaded” separatist commander who called himself “General Bitter Cola,” said Chamberlin Ntou’ou Ndong, senior divisional officer for Meme division where the hideout is located.

“He terrorized civilians, killing some. We are calling on all other fighters still in the bush to drop their weapons and embrace peace,” Ndong said.

Separatists have been fighting to create an independent nation in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions of Northwest and Southwest since 2017.

Source: Xinhuanet

19, September 2023

Vatican: Catholic Bishops in Cameroon Aim at “rekindling” People’s Faith after Ad Limina Visit ⁰

Catholic Bishops in Cameroon are eager to rekindle the faith of the people of God in the Central African nation following their September 10-16 Ad Limina Visit, the Secretary General of the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon (NECC) has said.

In a September 16 statement, Fr. Jervis Kebei Kewi says NECC members have thanked Pope Francis for welcoming them to Rome during the visit that happens every five years.

“At the end of their pilgrimage to Rome, the Bishops go back home with thankful hearts for having consolidated their unity in the same faith, hope, and charity, and looking forward to rekindling the faith of the Cameroonian people in the immense heritage of spiritual and moral values of the whole Church, in communion with the Bishop of Rome,” Fr. Kewi says.

He says the Catholic Bishops in Cameroon “expressed their deep gratitude to the Holy Father, Pope Francis, for the cordial and fatherly welcome that he gave them, and to the Cardinal Prefects and the officials of the various Dicasteries for the enlightenment and updates given them during their working visits to their offices.”

NECC members are “also deeply appreciative to the ambassadors of Cameroon to the Holy See and to the Republic of Italy, respectively, and the general community of Cameroonians living in Rome, and in Italy, for their welcome gestures and participation at Mass with them,” says Fr. Kewi.

The Catholic Bishops in Cameroon had an audience with the Holy Father on September 15, during which, under the leadership of NECC President, Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya of Bamenda, “discussed matters affecting the life of the Catholic Church in Cameroon: the Pastoral life of the Church, the formation of priests and catechists, immigration, the upcoming Synod on Synodality, interreligious dialogue, the situation of the socio-political and economic crisis that our country, Cameroon, has been going through, and the security situation of the world at large,” says Fr. Kewi.

The Cameroonian Catholic Priest says that Pope Francis “promised to continue to pray for peace in our country and assured the Bishops of his closeness to the people of Cameroon.”

On the closing day of the visit, NECC members were received at Pontificio Collegio Urbano by the Cameroonian members of the Clergy, men and women Religious, and Laity living in Rome and elsewhere in Italy, where they celebrated a thanksgiving Mass, interacted, and shared a meal.

Source: ACI Africa