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1, February 2019

Norwegian refugee agency tasks Biya regime on admission of 30,000 Nigerians ⁰

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has pleaded with the Cameroonian government to accommodate 30,000 Nigerians that fled from recent attacks in Rann, Borno State

The Country Director in Nigeria, Eric Batonon, in a statement yesterday in Maiduguri, said: “The Norwegian Refugee Council is alarmed by the massive displacement of 30,000 people from the Nigerian town of Rann into Cameroon.”

According to him, the Nigerian refugees, who had crossed into the Francophone nation last week, were forced to return.

He urged Cameroon to keep its borders open in consonance with a tripartite agreement. The humanitarian assistance, Batonon explained, was in tune with the pact entered by the two countries with the UNHCR.

“The women, men, and children fleeing are not opportunists. They are civilians running for their lives,” he lamented.

Meanwhile, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has received another batch of 162 stranded Nigerian returnees from Libya.

They consist of 100 females, including four pregnant women, 62 males, 13 female children and five infants.

In the male category, there are 50 adults, four male children and 13 infants. So far, 8,808 returnees had landed in the country.

Coordinator of Lagos Territorial Office of NEMA, Idris Muhammed, in a statement yesterday by the agency’s Information Officer, Ibrahim Farinloye, urged the returnees to be agents of positive change by joining the campaign against irregular migration.

Source: The Guardian

1, February 2019

Francophone Crisis: Maurice Kamto faces 8 charges ⁰

The lawyer for Cameroon’s arrested main opposition leader says he now faces eight charges including sedition, insurrection and inciting violence.

Christopher Ndong told The Associated Press Thursday that Maurice Kamto also faces charges that include hostility against the fatherland and disruption of peace. If he is found guilty, he could face five years to life in prison.

Kamto and members of his Movement for the Renaissance of Cameroon party were arrested on Monday in Douala. The party over the weekend had called for protests against what it called irregularities in the Oct. 7 election that saw President Paul Biya easily win a seventh term. Official results said Kamto finished a distant second.

More than 100 protesters were arrested in various cities. International rights groups have called for their release.

Source: AP

1, February 2019

Premier League: Fulham beat three rivals to sign Cameroon defender ⁰

Slavia Prague defender Michael Ngadeu-Ngadjui is set for a Deadline Day move to the Premier League, we can reveal.

Ngadeu-Ngadjui is ready to fly into the UK to finalise a move, with Fulham having won the race for his signature.

Cardiff, Crystal Palace and Derby County also asked about the Cameroon international – who was recently named captain of his country by coach Clarence Seedorf.

The 28-year-old is a domineering centre-half, and Slavia are loathed to lose him but the lure of the Premier League has proven too much and are ready to cash in for the right price.

Fulham hope to secure his signature before the window shuts at 11pm on Thursday night.

Source: Teamtalk

1, February 2019

Biya regime rapidly destabilizing as government forces fight on two fronts ⁰

Senior Cameroon military leaders have assembled the country’s armed forces in light of recent security vulnerabilities. Troops have been ordered to stand by at their headquarters in Yaounde to await deployment assignments. In a recent report, officials say the military is redeploying more resources to hotspots around the country.

ISWAP, best known as Boko Haram, has been menacing the country’s northern border with Nigeria, recruiting local militants to organize attacks on Cameroon soil. ISWAP, or a splinter group from Nigeria, has been on the rise in the region for some time, and there appears to be a strong resurgence brewing near the Lake Chad basin. There have been five reported attacks across the border and in the Lake Chad basin just this month. Last week, in the border town of Fotokol, three people were slaughtered. Boko Haram has taken responsibility for the attacks. Reports say government troops repelled the assault.

If that wasn’t enough to deal with, there are also separatists fighting to establish an English-speaking state. The separatist forces have recruited mercenaries to support them in their fight to destabilize the Cameroon government, and in so doing, have begun a fresh chapter of bloodshed in the region. Fighting has taken place near separatist strongholds in the northwest and southwest provinces. The Cameroon military reported it has killed more than 40 separatists already this year. The separatists have denied these claims, instead arguing that “we are the ones doing the killing.” Last year Cameroon was under the microscope internationally for their handling of another separatist uprising in the west.

According to VOA, Cameroon Defense Minister Joseph Beti Assomo, speaking at the defense headquarters in Yaounde on Jan. 21st, said, “2019 will not be a bed of roses. We shall continue with various operations in the far north, northwest and southwest regions, reactivating special operations in the Adamawa region where criminal groups specialized in kidnapping are wreaking havoc and requesting ransom.”

Clearly, worrying times lie ahead for the people of Cameroon. Although no conclusive data has emerged about the increase in violence, locals, turning to social media to have their voices heard, have indicated that things are heating up in the country.

Although the deployments of the Cameroon military are reasonable at this stage, the government should look to Ukraine as a lesson. They should strive to engage in more peaceful negotiations with the would-be separatists to avoid further armed conflict. Otherwise, the government could quickly become embroiled in one of these never-ending wars. Since fighting first broke out with the separatists in 2016, more than 1,200 people have been killed and approximately a quarter of a million displaced.

Source: Newsrep.com

31, January 2019

Francophone Crisis: Pressure on Biya to free Maurice Kamto ⁰

Human rights groups and activists are appealing to the Cameroonian authorities to immediately release opposition leader Maurice Kamto, who was arrested in the economic capital Douala on Monday night.

Prof Kamto was reportedly whisked away to the Judicial Police Headquarters in the capital Yaoundé. The area was cordoned off and no one, including his lawyers and journalists, were allowed access to the detained opposition leader on Tuesday.

Amnesty International said the arrest of the leader of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (MRC), who came second in the October 2018 presidential election, signalled an escalating crackdown on opposition leaders, human rights defenders and activists.

Prof Kamto was arrested alongside four of his supporters.

“The authorities must immediately and unconditionally release them, as well as the peaceful protesters detained at the weekend simply for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly,” Amnesty’s West and Central Africa director Samira Daoud said in a statement.

Less tolerant

“Instead of taking steps towards improving the country’s human rights record, we are witnessing the authorities becoming less and less tolerant of criticism. This must stop,” the statement further quoted Ms Daoud.

The Network of Human Rights Defenders in Central Africa (REDHAC) said Prof Kamto’s arrest was a “flagrant violation of the law” and called for the “immediate and unconditional release” of the opposition leader and all those who were arrested in relation to last weekend’s protests.

The MRC secretary-general secretary, Mr Christopher Ndong, said Prof Kamto was arrested alongside several other party members. Two journalists were among those arrested.

Prof Kamto has continuously insisted that he won the presidential poll, whose official result show he emerged a distant second with 14.23 percent vote. His supporters have been organising sporadic protests against what they term “an electoral hold-up” in defiance of a government warning against post-electoral disorder.

Remain calm

At least 117 people, including Prof Kamto’s former campaign manager, Mr Paul Eric Kingue, and popular musician Gaston Serval Abe (Valsero), were arrested during protest marches in several towns including Yaoundé and Bafoussam at the weekend.

Saturday’s nationwide “white marches” by the opposition party were unauthorised according to Communication minister Rene Emmanuel Sadi. He said those arrested were “caught disrupting public order and perpetrating various assaults”.

However, according to the MRC third vice-president, Mr Emmanuel Simh, the hidden aim of the “unjustified political arrests, was to decapitate the MRC and Prof Maurice Kamto’s winning coalition”.

MRC has called on its members and sympathisers to remain calm and attentive to instructions the party national directorate would give.

Source: The East African

31, January 2019

Biya Regime Summons French, German Envoys Over Embassy Violence ⁰

Cameroon summoned French and German envoys to protest “violence and vandalism” during opposition demonstrations at the central African nation’s embassies in Paris and Berlin.

The two European host governments failed to provide ample diplomatic and consular protection during the Jan. 26 protests by backers of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement, in violation of international conventions, Cameroon’s Communication Minister and government spokesman Rene Emmanuel said in a statement Tuesday in the capital, Yaounde.

While the United Nations condemned the violence at the Cameroonian embassies, it also expressed concern about alleged use of force by security forces during demonstrations in Cameroon’s port city of Douala in recent days, and the arrest of opposition leader Maurice Kamto, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ office said Tuesday in an emailed statement.

“The UN calls on Cameroonian authorities to respect the freedom of assembly, association and expression and stress the need for restraint by all political actors,” according to the statement.

Source: Bloomberg

31, January 2019

UK army accused of targeting children with recruitment scheme ⁰

The British army’s controversial recruitment policy has sparked fresh criticism as minor children interested in video games have been encouraged to join the military. A report by The Guardian newspaper on Wednesday showed that the British army had sent a military magazine to teenage gamers, calling on them to join its ranks.

The report said army recruiters had allegedly arranged for the glossy magazine, called The Locker, to be distributed with the latest issue of a PlayStation publication in February. The Locker included information on lifestyle and details on how to join the army, said the report, adding that the magazine also contained direct pleas from the army in the form of images and articles encouraging the minors to join the military’s ranks.

The British army has been struggling to recruit from a new generation of the British youth who are mostly disinterested in the country’s expanding military missions around the world.

Rights campaigners had previously criticized army’s policy to seek recruitment from socially-odd groups such as addicted gamers and internet savvy teenagers. “It is distressing to see the British Army use a gaming magazine as a vehicle to advertise army recruitment,” said Charlotte Cooper, UK research and campaign officer at Child Soldiers International.

Cooper said teenagers receiving The Locker could be easily influenced by the content and style of the magazine, adding that it was a dishonest gesture of the army to draw comparisons between gaming environment and military activity.

“Comparing a military environment to playing a games console is frankly ridiculous and disingenuous, and gives young people no sense of the risks involved in a military career,” she said.

Many believe the declining public interest in joining the British army is mainly a result of the country’s vast contribution to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past decades which left thousands of members of the armed forces killed, injured or mentally unfit to continue a normal life.

Source: Presstv

31, January 2019

RSF Calls for Release of Two Cameroonian Newspaper Reporters ⁰

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls for the immediate and unconditional release of two newspaper reporters who were arrested while covering a meeting of members of Cameroon’s opposition at a home in Douala, the economic capital, on the evening of 28 January.

Théodore Tchopa and David Eyengue, who work for one of the leading Cameroonian dailies Le Jour and are members of the National Union of Cameroonian Journalists (SNJC), were arrested at a meeting in the home of a close supporter of Maurice Kamto, runner-up to President Paul Biya in last October’s election, in which Biya won a seventh term. The police also arrested Kamto and several of his supporters during their raid on the home.

“Covering opposition activities is not a crime – it is the duty of political reporters,” said Arnaud Froger, the head of RSF’s Africa desk. “By arbitrarily arresting journalists who are just doing their job, the Cameroonian authorities are not providing any answer. Instead they are just helping to deepen the country’s current political crisis. We call for the immediate and unconditional release of these two journalists.”

In a communiqué calling for their release that was sent to RSF , the SNJC said the two journalists were at the meeting as reporters and that the police had “confused” them with the opposition leaders and supporters they arrested. The journalists were transferred to judicial police headquarters in Yaoundé, the political capital, the SNJC added.

Journalists are often arrested in Cameroon. RSF is currently also fighting for the release of Amadou Vamoulké, a former head of state-owned Cameroon Radio & Television (CRTV), who has been held for more than two and a half years and is due to appear before a Special Criminal Court for the 17th time on 1 March. Cameroon is ranked 129th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2018 World Press Freedom Index.

31, January 2019

Biya Francophone regime accused of ‘decapitating’ opposition party ⁰

Cameroon’s main opposition MRC on Tuesday accused authorities of trying to “decapitate” the party after its leader Maurice Kamto was arrested in the country’s economic capital Douala.

Mr Kamto, who came second in last year’s presidential election which he claims was fixed, was detained on Monday at the home of another politician, prompting some 300 people to protest outside.

The Movement for the Rebirth of Cameroon (MRC) “strongly condemns these unjustified and announced political arrests, whose hidden aim is to decapitate the MRC and Maurice Kamto’s winning coalition,” the party’s vice president Emmanuel Simh said in a statement.

MRC’s treasurer Alain Fogue was arrested in the capital Yaounde on Monday night, according to the statement.

DISPUTE

Cameroon’s veteran leader Paul Biya, in power for 36 years, won a seventh consecutive term in last October’s presidential election but Mr Kamto has repeatedly claimed he was the rightful winner.

President Biya, 85, has ruled the West African country with support from the army, government administrations and the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (RDPC) party that he created in 1985.

He was declared winner of last year’s election with 71 percent of the vote, which repeatedly faced allegations of fraud.

Mr Kamto received 14 percent in the election, according to the official figures, but his party has held sporadic protests since to dispute the result.

DESTABILISATION

Communication Minister Rene Emmanuel Sadi has accused Mr Kamto and his supporters of “attempted destabilisation” of the government. On Saturday 117 people were arrested during protest marches in several towns.

Mr Kamto’s former election campaign head Paul-Eric Kingue and rapper Valsero were among those detained over the weekend. The MRC on Tuesday called on its supporters to remain “calm” and affirmed its commitment to respect the law.

AFP

31, January 2019

Nigeria to Commence Repatriation of Refugees from Cameroon ⁰

The Honourable Minister of Interior Lt Gen (rtd) Abdulrahman Bello Dambazau has said that Nigeria is collaborating with UNHCR through the Technical Working Group to actualize the voluntary repatriation of the refugees in safety and dignity. Gen. Dambazau disclosed this during the opening ceremony of the Technical Session of the Second Regional Protection Dialogue on the Lake Chad Basin holding in Abuja.

Represented by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr Mohammed Bello Umar, the Minister said, in line with international best practices, biometric capturing of IDPs/Nigerian returnees from Chad, Cameroon and Niger was conducted before resettling them. While enumerating the Federal Government’s achievements on the 2016 action statement, Gen. Dambazau stated that government has ensured ongoing capacity building workshops on strengthening state actors’ response to sexual and gender based violence, sexual agencies in four states which are: “Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno and Gombe”.

He said further that a tripartite agreement for voluntary repatriation of Nigerian refugees in Cameroon was signed in March 2017. Adding that Nigerian military and para-military agencies have collaborated in providing escorts to and during relief material distribution in the affected areas. Gen. Dambazau emphasized that a lot was being done to provide care, maintenance and livelihoods support to refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in different parts of the country.

In her speech at the occasion, the Federal Commissioner for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons, Hajiya Sadiya Farouq said that the Commission have increased the pace of registration, documentation and addressing of nationality issues of affected persons, adding “especially the new arrivals from Cameroon”. Hajiya Farouq said “We have equally developed the Convention Travel Document for Refugees to take the routine refugees status determination to a higher level. We have established new field offices and expanded existing ones in the six geopolitical zones of the country in order to enhance our capacity to provide protection and support services to persons of concern wherever they may be in Nigeria,” she said. Mrs Farouq noted that significant progress has been made in ending the Boko Haram insurgency.

According to her, Nigeria had demonstrated its commitment to implementing the Abuja Action Summit. The Abuja Action Statement on Protection was declared and adopted in June 2016 Four nations in the Lake Chad Basin region namely: Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon Republics, under the technical facilitation of the UNHCR jointly agreed to address the needs of refugees. The four nations agreed to proactively enhance protection and respond to the urgent needs of refugees, IDPs and other affected populations in the region.