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13, February 2019

Life after power: Where is Minister Augustine Kontchou Koumegni now? ⁰

Wheel chaired Augustine Kontchou Koumegni is slowly but surely moving towards his end. We understand his ancestors are calling!! We gathered that the former Minister of State for Communications in the CPDM crime syndicate attempted to release some memoirs but cancelled the event.

Kontchou who lied on numerous occasions to the Cameroonian people over the killings at the University of Yaounde was nicknamed “Zero Mort”. As a former Cameroon government spokesman, Kontchou is expected to reveal the ins and outs of his time with Biya. But is anyone really interested?

The former Biya acolyte has reportedly struggled to make a comeback into politics but suffered a massive stroke. Putting pen to paper is now a thing of the past. One former acquaintance said Kontchou feels so abandoned by the regime.

He added: “I think this is a really difficult time for him. He’s rethinking how he wasted his time serving Biya and the CPDM, all the decisions he made. Look at the Momos and the Kamtos from the West region, they’re all doing really well, and he’s the odd one out. He’s not been able to carve out a new life ever since he was sacked from government.”

So what else has Kontchou been up to and how will he be remembered? What has Kontchou been doing? Simply enjoying his wheel chair!!

Rita Akana

13, February 2019

Cameroon is one of the better examples of the struggle between geopolitics and human rights concerns ⁰

Allow Russia to do as they please in Africa or partner with African leaders with a history of war crimes and a tendency toward genocidal behavior? That is the conundrum American military and diplomatic leaders face. Cameroon, specifically, is one of the better examples of the struggle between geopolitics and human rights concerns.

Recently, General Thomas Waldhauser, the head of the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), gave a briefing to the Senate Armed Services Committee focused on the military’s concerns in the African nation. With regard to the U.S. military’s relationship with Cameroon and the political leadership of the country, General Waldhauser said, “We were very emphatic with President Biya that the behavior of his troops, the lack of transparency, could have a significant impact on our ability to work with them.” He added that “they have been a good partner with us, counterterrorism-wise.”

Nonetheless, General Waldhauser made clear that AFRICOM is concerned about numerous reports of war crimes and atrocities committed in the African nation. Both General Waldhauser and Ambassador Peter Henry Barlerin have confronted Cameroonian President Paul Biya about these allegations. Compounding their concerns, the Trump administration has decided to cut military aid to Cameroon.

But developments in the African continent might mean that the U.S. doesn’t have many choices of partners and that it must make do with what is available. During the same briefing, General Waldhauser emphasized the threat stemming from Russia’s involvement in sub-Saharan Africa.

“By employing oligarch-funded, quasi-mercenary military advisors, particularly in countries where leaders seek unchallenged autocratic rule, Russian interests gain access to natural resources on favorable terms,” said General Waldhauser. “Some African leaders readily embrace this type of support and use it to consolidate their power and authority. This is occurring in the Central African Republic, where elected leaders mortgage mineral rights—for a fraction of their worth—to secure Russian weapons.”

Russia has been active in other African countries as well. Take for example Sudan. There, Russian private military companies (PMC) are helping the Sudanese dictator Omar al-Bashir to maintain power in the midst of popular upheaval.

Ambassador Barlerin said, “We are not going to stop security cooperation with Cameroon. We have our differences, Cameroon is a sovereign country and the United States is a sovereign country. Relations between Cameroon and the United States are excellent and longstanding and we aim to continue that relationship.”

American troops in Cameroon are mostly concerned with training their Cameroonian partners in basic soldiering and counterterrorism skills.

Thenewsrep.com

13, February 2019

Southern Cameroons War: 11 injured in ‘governor convoy attack’ ⁰

At least 11 people have been wounded in an attack on the convoy of the governor of the English-speaking region of southwestern Cameroon, sources said Tuesday.

Armed men attacked the convoy of South West governor Bernard Okalia Bilai, who was travelling with a military escort from the regional capital Buea to Kumba, about 70 kilometres (45 miles) north.

“There were eleven wounded. Several were seriously injured by bullets,” said a member of the convoy. “The convoy was attacked both on the way home and back, five times in all,” the person added.

Photos of the attack, seen by AFP, show bullet holes in the vehicles of the convoy. On Monday, four people died when gunmen raided a hospital in Kumba and burnt it to the ground.

The town, which serves as the commercial hub for the anglophone region, has been badly hit by the violence between separatists and Cameroon troops that began in October 2017.

The Southwest region and Northwest region of Cameroon are home to an anglophone minority that accounts for about a fifth of the country’s population.

Both areas, which were once ruled by Britain, have long complained of discrimination at the hands of the French-speaking majority. Separatists have been fighting for independence.

Since the start of February, at least four people have been killed in Buea, after separatists announced plans to disrupt the February 11 anniversary — the date of a referendum that brought together French and English Cameroon in 1961.

Over the past 16 months, there have been regular clashes between troops and groups of separatists who have attacked police stations, schools and staged mass kidnappings.

UN figures show around 437,000 people have been forced out of their homes by the ongoing conflict, with another 32,000 fleeing across the border to neighbouring Nigeria.

Cameroon’s veteran leader Paul Biya, 85, won a seventh consecutive term in last October’s disputed presidential election. He has held power for 36 years.

AFP

13, February 2019

Nigeria’s President Isn’t a Democrat. He’s a Liar. ⁰

As Nigerians gear up to choose their president on Feb. 16, there is good reason to fear a return to military-style dictatorship. Following incumbent Muhammadu Buhari’s extraconstitutional suspension in January of Nigeria’s chief judge, who heads the Supreme Court that has final say in election disputes, the main opposition candidate, Atiku Abubakar, requested U.S. and EU intervention for the “survival of Nigeria’s democracy.”

This is more than idle rhetoric. Buhari, an ex-general who led a short-lived military junta in the 1980s, was elected president in 2015 by Nigerians who (like this writer) accepted his claims to be a “reformed democrat.” However, his four years in office have highlighted the difference between accepting the principle of elective government and being a true democrat. In Nigeria, like elsewhere in today’s world, the biggest threat to democracy comes not from generals instigating coups but from authoritarians-at-heart winning elections, only to use their democratic mandate to rule anti-democratically.

Half of Nigeria’s 59-year post-colonial history has been spent under various military dictatorships, but this year marks the 20th anniversary of the return to democratic rule. While the country has seen its fair share of ups and downs during this period, some tangible progress has been made in the spheres of freedom of expression, judicial independence, rule of law, and general civil liberties—and certainly in comparison with the military era.

In the past four years, however, Buhari’s government has serially ignored court orders, harassed and arrested journalists and activists, deployed security services to intimidate political opponents, and unforgivably sanctioned the killings of hundreds of unarmed civilians on multiple occasions with the impunity of a power-drunk dictatorship. Yes, security services have been known to overreact even in advanced democracies, and civilians sometimes get hurt in the process. But what distinguishes governments committed to upholding fundamental human rights—such as the right to not be killed while demonstrating peacefully—are the post-incident actions they undertake to ensure such tragedies never repeat themselves. No such luck with the Buhari government.

Following the recent army killing of unarmed protesters in October 2018, rather than express remorse, Nigeria’s army brass falsely claimed that demonstrators had attacked soldiers who simply did what President Donald Trump told U.S. soldiers to do in the same situation: start shooting. Such callous impunity can only thrive in an army confident that its commander in chief will indulge such excesses. Buhari is, by any reasonable standard, personally responsible for the killings of unarmed civilians going unpunished under his watch.

In addition to all this, opposition figures such as former President Olusegun Obasanjo are warning that Buhari’s ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party is readying to rig the Feb. 16 elections, an allegation lent credence by the irregularities and violence involved in a recent gubernatorial poll that the APC was determined to win at all costs. In perhaps the Freudian slip of the year, commenting on the gubernatorial election, ruling party chairman Adams Oshiomhole said: “I think that for democracy to flourish, only people who can accept the pain of rigging—sorry, defeat—should participate in an election.”

The international community is thus right to raise concerns about whether the upcoming election will be free and fair. On Feb. 16, Nigerians will be choosing not only their president but also their national assembly. Taking into consideration Buhari’s dismissive behavior towards the judiciary, a potentially rigged clean sweep of the executive and legislative arms of government by himself and his party could usher in an era of dangerously centralized power imperiling Nigeria’s modest democratic gains since the end of military rule in 1999. As of today, there are no credible polls indicating who might win the presidential election, and it is probably a toss-up.

The fact that Buhari still retains significant support among Nigerians despite his anti-democratic behavior requires explanation. One major reason is that Nigeria’s top political actors are all so morally compromised that an appeal by any of them to higher principles can always be persuasively dismissed by their opponents as hypocritical nonsense.

For instance, Atiku, Buhari’s main rival who accuses him of weakening democracy, has faced numerous allegations of corruption since serving as Nigeria’s vice president from 1999 to 2007. Additionally, the government that Atiku was a prominent member of itself oversaw massive election rigging and deployed widespread violence to stay in power. Meanwhile, Obasanjo, who is now accusing Buhari of wanting to rig the February election, was president at the time and once exhorted his party members to treat an upcoming election as a “do-or-die affair.”

Walter Onnoghen, the chief judge whom Buhari suspended, is claiming unconvincingly that it was due to “forgetfulness” that he did not disclose several sizable foreign currency accounts in his asset declaration. Moreover, prior to his suspension, he used his position to obstruct investigations into the matter. Corruption runs deep in the highest echelons of Nigeria’s judiciary. Many regular citizens thus feel scant sympathy for judges being muscled by the executive. They’re seen as part and parcel of the country’s corrupt elite, certainly no friends of the ordinary man.

Nigerian politics suffers from a moral vacancy, an acute shortage of credible political actors who could plausibly champion democratic values and set standards that others feel compelled to live up to. Ignoble actors evoking noble values they rarely uphold do not make for effective democratic role models. Hence many Buhari supporters remain unmoved by opposition claims that he is a danger to Nigeria’s democracy. To them, his rivals are hardly better democrats. Moreover, many Nigerians still see Buhari as, if not incorruptible, definitely far less corrupt than rivals like Atiku.

It also needs to be said that some Nigerian voters support Buhari precisely because of his strong-arm tactics. In a society where the corrupt always seem to have the upper hand and always seem able to defy institutional attempts to bring them to book, it is understandable that the instinct for some basic societal justice can easily translate into an impatience with institutions that appear stacked with people unable or unwilling to deliver basic justice.

This creates the opportunity for populist authoritarianism to hold significant appeal. Buhari’s justification of his suspension of the chief judge appealed directly to this societal hunger for justice. Pointing to Onnoghen’s attempts to frustrate investigations into his false asset declaration, he argued: “If justice cannot be done and clearly seen to be done, society itself is at risk of the most unimaginable chaos.” Nigeria’s political reality is stubbornly defiant of any simple good versus evil narrative.

In the final analysis, however, Buhari’s authoritarian actions cannot be described as anything other than detrimental to Nigeria’s democracy. The judiciary, as flawed as it is, has played a stabilizing role in post-election disputes, which in a country as volatile as Nigeria always have the potential to descend into violent confrontation. In a society as ethnically and religiously divided as Nigeria’s, democracy is as fragile as an egg; if not handled carefully, it could drop and shatter into a thousand pieces impossible to glue back together. That’s why it’s critical for the country’s judiciary to get reformed and strengthened by rooting out corruption within its ranks rather than suffering diminishment by Buhari. In practical terms, this would require corrupt judges to be weeded out by their peers, rather than by the politicians they are meant to hold accountable.

Irrespective of who wins the Feb. 16 election, the next few years must be spent ensuring that cornerstone values—such as rule of law, equality before the law, accountable government, free and fair elections, the right to nonviolent protest, and a free press—become sacred nonnegotiables in Nigerian public life, the democratic equivalent of the Ten Commandments. These are the dogmas of democracy, and only those who uphold them are truly worthy of calling themselves democrats.

Culled from Foreign Policy.Com

12, February 2019

Pressure on Biya to release student ⁰

Human rights activists are calling on the authorities in Cameroon to release a student arrested last week in the country’s Anglophone regions.

Emeline Njongwan had shared a video showing dozens of students being led from hostels to the police station.

The Director of the Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa, Felix Agbor Nkongho, condemned the arrest which he said was part of a government strategy to ensure people kept silent about abuses committed by the military in Cameroon.

A secessionist rebellion in the two English speaking regions of the country has displaced hundreds of thousands of people. On Monday, four people died when a hospital was burnt down in the town of Kumba.

News Day

12, February 2019

Open Letter to President Paul Biya of Cameroon ⁰

Dear President Paul Biya,

For almost three years, I have been thinking of writing a very private mail to you, but given the administrative challenges and stories of you never replying to letters, especially those that contain ideas that are not music to your ears, I have opted to talk to you through an open letter.

For more than three decades, you have been telling Cameroonians that you are aware that they are suffering and that you would do anything in your power to improve upon their economic and financial circumstances, but for more than three decades, not much has changed and Cameroonians earnestly think that they are already living in hell.

Across the country, there are complaints of economic hardship. Our parents have worked and retired on derisory incomes. Their retirement benefits are just too small for many of them to survive for a long time.

Besides the amount of money they receive for their pension, there is also the issue of getting the money when they need it the most. It has become normal in Cameroon for people to retire and go without their retirement income for years. I can vividly recall that when you came to power in October 1982, you promised that the issues at the Ministry of Finance would be promptly addressed. I was in high school at the time and for more than 36 years after you made that promise, things at the Ministry of Finance have changed, but for the worse, making it hard for some of our compatriots to live a decent life after retirement.

During your 36 years in power, I have already worked for almost three decades. I have worked in the private sector and I have also worked as a civil servants in Cameroon’s public service. I have worked at the international level and I am today winding down as I have less than a decade to work. If I were still in Cameroon, I would be heading out of the civil service in Cameroon for retirement while you will still be in power. The issues you promised to address have endured and for 36 years, you have conducted state affairs in a manner that leaves much to be desired. The story is that you have no regard for the people you government and these are the people who were very happy to see you accede your country’s highest office.

Well, Cameroonians are used to tolerating a lot and they have learned to put up with the corruption and inefficiency that have become your regime’s hallmark. But over the last five years, your complacency has hit new highs with millions of young Cameroonians looking outward for opportunities. It is rare today for young Cameroonians to hold that they have a place in the country you rule. Cameroon is no longer a good place for the poor and millions of our young men and women are heading abroad for greener pastures. The brain drain in Cameroon calls for significant economic reforms. A country can only develop if its resources are used internally and if the people have faith in the system.

Looking at those who surround you, it is clear that your regime prioritizes the old over the young. Your collaborators have been in the corridors of power for decades and this has resulted in them developing a do-nothing attitude. Your ministers are people who have, on many occasion, been indicated by the public of corruption and their ages make it hard for them to deliver the goods Cameroonians have been looking forward to for more than three decades. I know if I were in Cameroon, you would still be considering me as a young person, though I am in my mid-fifties. This is not fair to our young men and women who are a lot smarter than people of your generation. As most economies become digital, it is but normal for our young men to be given a greater say in the management of state affairs.

But this is not where it hurts the most. It is the political and military chaos that have put our country in the spotlight that are compelling me to send you this letter. For almost three years, the former West Cameroon has been in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. A peaceful strike by teachers and lawyers in 2016 has finally morphed into a civil war that might tear the country apart if you continue to pursue you military actions in the region.

Today, the military under the instruction of the defense minister, Joseph Beti Assomou, has engaged in a scorch earth policy that will cost the government – I mean the one after you – tons of money to rebuild some of the infrastructure that your soldiers are destroying in West Cameroon. Hospitals, schools, prisons, private homes and other facilities are being burnt down by your soldiers in the hope that the people will yield. I wish you and your military could understand that you never win a war. You seek to win peace and that should be your approach and objective at your age. You have nothing to prove and no power, no money and no wealth should excite you at 87.
Your military has sent innocent Cameroonian civilians into exile. Thousands of women and children are living rough in Nigeria. Thousands are hiding in the bushes for fear of being killed by soldiers who are supposed to be protecting them. Children are being born in these jungles and many do not have access to clean drinking water. Does this not bother you as a father and grandfather?

Thousands of English-speaking Cameroonian children are currently not going to school and this does not seem to bother you and your government. I thought at your age, your cardinal objective should be to ensure that after you, Cameroon continues to exist as a single geo-political entity that will make its people proud and happy to be living in such a lovely and rich country.

Thousands of English-speaking Cameroonians are today internally displaced. Many have been shot and killed by your soldiers for no just reason. Many women and men of your age have been roasted to death just because they were incapable of running away when your army showed up at their doors. I thought old age should be that moment when people should enjoy some serenity and peace. But your soldiers have proven that they have no regard for the old. Where have we kept that respect and love for the old that make Africa the envy of the world?

But in the English-speaking regions of today, your soldiers have made old age a crime for which its punishment is burning while alive. Why have you unleashed such a violent reign of terror on your own people? Why have you allowed a small difference of opinion to morph into such a violent war where killing has become a sport in Cameroon; a sport in which your soldiers are excelling? What have Cameroonians done to deserve such treatment? I am a witness of history and I can say, without fear of contradiction that your fellow countrymen considered you in 1982 as the best thing to have happened to their country.

Today, they all are looking back in anger. Parents are weeping for the loss of their children. Children are weeping for the loss of their parents. Entire villages and towns are mourning because of the crimes your soldiers have committed against the people. How do you think it will be possible for this people to live with you in the same country after all the pain and suffering you have inflicted on them?

As a child growing up, I was made to understand that with age, I should instead be thinking of making peace and ensuring that those who will live after me do not go through what I have gone through. For close to three years, I have watched you very closely. I have listened to your speeches with rapt attention and I have been reflecting on whether age really brings wisdom to everybody.

I would like to use this medium to advise that you have not conducted yourself as that person who is supposed to make our country an oasis of peace. Your actions over the last three years have clearly shown that you want to take the country down with you. You should have proven that you are a man of peace by listen to calls from the international community for a peaceful and inclusive dialogue.

While you may be right that Cameroon cannot be allowed to be fragmented on linguistic lines, I would be prompt at pointing out that if you had listened to the voices of frustration right from the beginning, we would have spared our country the agony that might last for centuries. If you do not listen to a people, you might never understand their frustrations. If you do not listen to them, you might never convince them that the path they are walking is not the most appropriate for them and their kids. Instead of unleashing a reign of terror on them, I think you should have used your high office to ensure all the children of Cameroon live in peace and harmony by listening to each and every one of them and providing strict guidance on how to make things better for every Cameroonian.

Today, Cameroon is imploding. There is no way English-speaking Cameroonians will ever feel comfortable in a country that sees them as second-class citizens and intimidates them into silence. While we all are hankering after peace as you said in New York in 2017, I would like to point out that negotiated peace is the type of peace that can last a lifetime. Imposed peace never lasts. It will collapse like a pack of cards even before it gets implemented.

A lot might have gone wrong, but there is still time for us, as citizens of the same country, to take a look at what has gone wrong in our country with the objective of making amends. We should be looking back, but not in anger as anger is a bad master. We should be looking back with a view to fixing what is broken and to addressing those things that have caused a lot of frustration in our country.

Mr. President, walking the path of peace is not a weakness. Despite the long time he spent in jail, Nelson Mandela decided to walk the path of peace so as to give future generations a greater chance at life. He did not call for war because a lot of injustice had been committed against him. He understood that nobody has ever won a war. It takes a lot of wisdom, a lot of selflessness and a lot of determination to understand that it is peace that should be our goal and not war. It is not too late for you to reverse your declaration of war against the English-speaking population of the country.

Great men are not just those who have lasted long in power. Great men are people with noble minds. While you are still alive and you have some authority – although those around you are manipulating things – I would urge you to embrace the inclusive dialogue that many have exhorted you to embrace. No killings or burning of homes will make thing better. Talk to the people of the North West and Southwest regions directly. Talk to them from your heart. Let them know that mistakes have been made. Sue for peace. Suing for peace is not a sign of weakness. Only people with noble minds have the courage to choose peace over war. You can do it. You still have the time to achieve something that will make Cameroon great again.

I look forward to a prompt reaction from you and your government.

Sincerely,

Joachim Arrey, Ph.D.
Brampton, Ontario, Canada.
arreyjoachim@hotmail.com

12, February 2019

Burning Down Kumba Hospital: UN boss has no credibility, Covers up Biya, Took Biya’s golden statue ⁰

Now after UN Secretary General Guterres bragged again, this time in French, about his talks with Biya’s government, Cameroon forces have burned down the hospital in Kumba in the Anglophone Southwest Region. The UN usually calls attacks on medical facilities a war crime but as we have seen, Biya’s Cameroon is a special case for Guterres, since it chaired the UN Budget Committee. Guterres is entirely silent on Biya’s lock up of Njongwan Emeline, for filming a video of the arrest of dozens of young people in Buea early this week.

As Guterres pledges his support to Biya, he remains locked up. Birds of the same feather flock together. As he left the African Union summit on February 10, Guterres took questions in French and answered this on Cameroon; we are following the situation to which you referred. Yesterday we had a dialogue with the Prime Minister [of Cameroon] and he promised us all this to create conditions of respect for human rights and dialogue so that the situation could normalize. It was the result of our approach with the Prime Minister who was with us last night.”

Guterres has no credibility on Cameroon – he covered up Biya’s slaughter since Cameroon was chair of the UN Budget Committee, took Biya’s golden statue, days and counting and bragged he spoke six times with Biya.

The Secretary-General met Mr. Joseph Dion Ngute, Prime Minister of the Republic of Cameroon on the margins of the African Union Summit. They discussed the latest political developments in the country, including the situation in the North-West and South-West regions. The Secretary-General reiterated the readiness of the United Nations to continue to support Cameroon in its efforts to strengthen peace, democracy and development.

Inner Press

12, February 2019

Southern Cameroons Revolution: Going, going, gone ⁰

Things are falling apart for the Southern Cameroons revolution and the members of the Ambazonian Interim Government can no longer read from the same script. We of the Cameroon Concord News Group recently rejected the resignation of Secretary Chris Anu and we advised that cabinet issues be kept as a nuclear secret. To be sure, nothing seems to interest the Ambazonian cabinet ministers and they have blatantly refused to see how they can jointly strategize to forge ahead with the struggle while keeping their differences aside.

While free speech and democratic debate may justify some of the outings of the Ambazonian cabinet ministers, we of this publication are asking how they help Southern Cameroonians to terminate the cases brought by a vicious sanguinary regime against their leaders. Does a debate surrounding Ambazonian leaders organizing meetings with other leaders wanted by the enemy help or provide the enemy with evidence against the leaders and the Southern Cameroons cause? Who gains from this infighting deep within the Interim Government concerning meetings supposedly organized from the enemy’s dungeon?

Yesterday’s audio by Chris Anu questioning the integrity and honesty of the Secretary of State for Finance has reportedly made matters worse and more intractable. In the words of our London Bureau Chief, “The Southern Cameroons revolution is now facing a hydra-headed crisis.”

Reacting to Secretary Chris Anu’s audio message, a spokesman for the Secretary of State for Finance told Cameroon Concord News Group that “It is a smear campaign against Hon. Tabenyang Brado because of disagreement on the proposed conference.”

We understand the long standing differences between Chris Anu and Tabenyang Brado emerged ever since the creation of ABC TV. Why Communications Secretary Chris wanted $9500 a month for satellite cost and an additional extra $3500 a month for salaries, the Secretary of State for Finance has always maintained that the ABC remains a good idea but it’s also not sustainable.

We of the Cameroon Concord News Group had opined late last year that $13000 a month for just 6 hours of broadcasting was not good value for Ambazonian money. We also had reliable information that ABC had no viable business plan to grow into financial independence at a time when there are more pressing financial challenges for the Southern Cameroons struggle.

The Secretary of State for Finance has hinted Cameroon Concord News Group of his decision to make public a full detailed financial statement of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government from November 2017 when the Ambazonian government was formed to December 2018. Our primary worry is that His Excellency President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe’s involvement in these controversies is already creating a rift among Ambazonians in captivity in Kondengui. They are in their thousands.

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe should have remained the mythical and emblematic leader that he is rather than a factional leader. Cameroon Concord News Group is of the opinion that if by any reason some Ground Zero commanders come up against his decisions and interventions then that may further weaken his authority. Acting President Sako, Communications Secretary Chris Anu and others even not as leaders may move back to their activist roles and continue the struggle but the loser will still be President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and his ability to hold and influence the struggle together.

We of the Cameroon Concord News Group support his leadership but disagree with his involvement in the current controversy. Dr Akwanga and Barrister Agbor Balla who were in the enemy’s dungeon can tell him how the enemy operates. Atanga Nji, Laurent Esso and Momo who are controlling that prison are very ruthless. Very soon the Pen’s, Mancho’s even Tassang who is an arch enemy of Milan may disagree with President Ayuk Tabe and the split will continue outside and cause more harm.

Cameroon Concord News Group is concerned that President Ayuk Tabe’s involvement may find its way into his case and provide the enemy with evidence to allege that he is directing military operations from inside his detention center. We wonder what his lawyers are doing.

For President Ayuk Tabe to be too trusting to summon and preside over these meetings from the enemy’s jail is a grave error and a costly mistake. Even most sympathizers and supporters may be very disappointed in the short and long term. This meeting was unnecessary and counterproductive and even harmful. We wish Chris Anu did not address it in public at all. We wish the damage can be mitigated by nobody keeping the talk about the meeting and the fallout alive. To be complacent in the enemy dungeon is a grave costly error.

Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

11, February 2019

Champions League: Choupo-Moting swapped the Championship for PSG… now he could lead the line against Man Utd ⁰

When Stoke City got relegated from the Premier League less than 12 months ago, few could have expected one of their transfer flops to be leading the line against Manchester United in the Champions League this week.

Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting scored just five goals in 32 games for the Potters – ironically, two came in a 2-2 draw against Manchester United – and was a major disappointment after his move from Schalke 04.

The Stoke misfit saw his contract cancelled by mutual consent when they dropped out of the top flight and, to the surprise of many, he landed on his feet with a move to Paris Saint-Germain.

The Cameroon international has had a limited role in the French capital but is clearly relishing being part of one of Europe’s top clubs.

Now, he’s been thrust to the forefront of their bid for Champions League glory and could lead the line in their last-16 first leg against Manchester United at Old Trafford on Tuesday.

**Choupo-Moting could start at Old Trafford with Neymar and Cavani ruled out**

The powerful 29-year-old made his Bundesliga breakthrough with Hamburg as a teenager and made 10 appearances for Germany up to Under 21 level, scoring eight goals.

In May 2010, however, he received a senior call-up by Cameroon, the country of his father’s birth, ahead of the 2010 World Cup.

Despite once coming under an investigation into his international eligibility, Choupo-Moting has won 48 caps for Cameroon and scored 14 goals.

**The Cameroonian had a tough time at Stoke as they were relegated**

The striker spent three years at Mainz 05 from 2011 to 2014 before making his way to Schalke 04 for a three-season stint.

His form earned him his Premier League move to Stoke City, although he could not build on a bright start as the Potters were relegated and he was sidelined from March onwards by a groin injury.

The big-name superstars of PSG have limited him to an impact sub role, but he started against Bordeuax at the weekend and is now primed to feature at Old Trafford given Neymar and Edison Cavani are ruled out.

**The former Stoke man is primed for a big role against Man Utd at Old Trafford**

Choupo-Moting recently spoke about the challenge of facing a “changed” Manchester United as he expects a tough clash.

He told RMC : “Manchester United, they have changed. But it’s always like that when you change coaches.

“There may be a new state of mind in the team, everyone wants to show their best.

“But I do not care about other teams, we have to think about ourselves, we believe in ourselves.

“We have the quality to beat anyone but it will be a tough match because Manchester United are a very good team with great quality players.”

Source: Mirror.co.uk

11, February 2019

Southern Cameroons: 4 killed as hospital torched in Kumba ⁰

Four people died when gunmen raided a hospital and burnt it to the ground in western Cameroon where anglophone separatists have been fighting troops, witnesses and a local official said Monday.

The incident occurred in Kumba, a town which serves as the commercial hub for the anglophone region and which has been badly hit by the violence between separatists and Cameroon troops that began in October 2017.

“Attackers killed four people and burnt down the hospital,” said an administrative official in the Kumba region, confirming information from a witness.

It was not immediately clear whether the victims were shot or died in the fire, nor whether they were patients at the facility. Another local source said it appeared separatists were behind the attack.

The incident occurred on National Youth Day, the anniversary of the 1961 referendum which saw Cameroon’s western English-speaking areas joined onto the francophone areas which had just won independence from France.

Kumba lies about 70 kilometres (45 miles) north of Buea, capital of the Southwest region which along with the Northwest region is home to an anglophone minority that accounts for about a fifth of the country’s population.

Both areas, which were once ruled by Britain, have long complained of discrimination at the hands of the French-speaking majority and where separatists are fighting for independence.

Since the start of February, at least four people have been killed in Buea, one of whom was decapitated, as separatists announced plans to disrupt the February 11 anniversary.

Over the past 16 months, there have been regular clashes between troops and groups of separatists who have attacked police stations, schools and staged mass kidnappings.

UN figures show around 437,000 people have been forced out of their homes by the ongoing conflict, with another 32,000 fleeing across the border to neighbouring Nigeria.

AFP