The Agbaw-Ebai Debate:

Should Southern Cameroons Chiefs and Fons remain neutral on the war in Ambazonia?

A/Yes, it’s not their place to get involved

B/No, they need to be on the right side of history

Let your voice be heard!

For some months now, many observers and analysts of the Cameroonian political scene have been misled into thinking that things were improving in the country’s two English-speaking regions after more than five years of reckless and wanton killing of both soldiers and civilians.

For some analysts, the country’s successful organization of a beautiful Africa Cup of Nations (AfCON) might have resulted in the reduction of hostilities in the two English-speaking regions, especially as Southern Cameroonians fighters, including some of their own generals, were also watching the matches and even supporting the Cameroon national team. It appears that if peace must return to Cameroon, then the country will have to host the AfCON every month. 

Some observers had even predicted that the fighting might fizzle out after the Africa Cup of Nations as most youth in Southern Cameroons are preparing to participate in efforts aimed at developing football in the country.

But the month of March has brought in bad news to many who have been monitoring the Southern Cameroons crisis which has already sent more than ten thousand Cameroonians to an early grave. 

On Tuesday, there was a massive slaughter of army soldiers by Southern Cameroonian fighters in the country’s Northwest region. The dead included – Mbem Jean Pierre, Kamga Dieudonné, Ntieche Mefire Mohamed, Kamto Kamdem Fabice, Ntongfack Brice, Kameni Albert, Tchinda Antoine, Ninchue Blaise. One survivor, Baba Jean, successfully escaped to the Mesaje Brigade while one soldier is still missing. The hunting season is clearly open, and the world will very soon be seeing rivers of blood in that part of the country. 

But the situation in the Northwest Region was reduced to a dress rehearsal when a massive IED explosion consumed a Divisional Officer, the Ekondo-Titi Mayor, soldiers and others who were part of a convoy that was rushing to Bekora, a small town located some 30 miles from Ekondo-Titi, to lay the groundwork for the Prime Minister’s visit which was planned for March 2022.  

This visit will not be taking place as Prime Minister Dion Ngute has promptly cancelled the trip after hearing of the slaughtering orchestrated by Southern Cameroonian fighters in his home division.

The visit was supposed to demonstrate that the country’s President, Paul Biya, who is losing his memory, was listening to the people of Ndian Division. Prime Minister Dion Ngute had already started rehearsing his lies, but Southern Cameroonian fighters have sent home a strong message – Dion Ngute will not be using their land to tell his massive unproductive tales. 

According to Southern Cameroonian fighters who contacted the Cameroon Concord News Group, it seems as if Dion Ngute is suffering from memory failure. The burning of his home was a clear message that the people of Ndian Division had thrown him up and they will not be seeing him anytime soon in Ndian Division. 

“Dion Ngute is an expert liar. He lies in a winning way. He was planning a trip to Bekora to come and poison our minds with his lies. Our security agents within the government told us that a delegation led by the Divisional Officer would be in Bekora to lay the groundwork for CPDM lies and we took the necessary measures to ensure that no rain of lies falls on Ndian Division. We burnt his home when this conflict started to let him know that we do not want him anymore in our land. He is an unrepentant CPDM stalwart and no story from him should be trusted,” an angry fighter said.

“Dion Ngute has not achieved much for our people, and we do not trust anything from him. Since becoming prime minister, he has only succeeded to get married to a young Beti girl who is keeping an eye on him for the Beti Mafia. It is a good thing that he has cancelled his trip. We are planning to root out all Yaounde government agents from our land. If anybody had thought the fighting had stopped, let them know that we are still active and we will be active until we get our independence,” the fighter stressed.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

The Southern Cameroons crisis which started as a protest by teachers and lawyers became a millstone around the government’s neck as Southern Cameroonian fighters on the ground inflicted serious damage to the government’s war machinery and sent thousands of army soldiers to an early grave.

The Yaoundé government, which thought it was going to carry out a swift operation in the country’s two English-speaking regions, finally learned that there was no swift war and that anybody could be killed at the warfront including its so-called well-trained soldiers.   

The government may not have expressed its disappointment publicly with the way things have turned out following the death of some 4,000 soldiers, but its actions speak to war fatigue and frustration. It has reduced the number of army soldiers in the two English-speaking regions and the senseless killings of unarmed civilians by army soldiers just to prove a point are on the decline.

Over the last 12 months, English-speaking Cameroonians living abroad have begun visiting relatives in Cameroon without being scared that they could be arrested at the airport. The government has understood that its own actions were bereft of sound logic and commonsense and it is now working hard to make amends. 

Security is gradually returning to many parts of Southern Cameroons, and this could be attributed to some government actions, though schools in rural areas of Southern Cameroons are still closed. The military is working hard to win hearts and minds and this strategy seems to be working, although the core issues which triggered the fighting have remained unattended to.

However, if the government really wants to win more hearts and minds, then it must release many people arrested within the framework of the crisis, especially Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe and his team arrested in Nigeria. Their release will be an olive branch that might turn things around forever.

There are many things to be done to demonstrate that the government is prepared to work for a return to normalcy. Unfortunately, there is no sense of urgency on the government’s part. The marginalization of Southern Cameroonians is still ongoing, and the government is not doing enough to ensure its own decentralization policy is delivering the results desired. The ruling CPDM party is still running the country as if it is a family business, while corruption is threatening to ruin the country’s economy.

There is no economic planning in Cameroon and all decisions are still being taken by presidential decrees which clearly demonstrate that genuine democracy remains a distant tomorrow affair. Under the country’s current president, democracy has made giant steps backwards, with free speech taking a huge hit. The country’s president still appoints people based on loyalty and he even appoints ‘night watchmen’ across the country, something which makes the whole notion of decentralization look more like a joke.  

 But the most challenging problems are those Southern Cameroonians themselves are creating, causing the struggle to struggle. Divisions within the Southern Cameroons interim government have become a huge concern among Southern Cameroonians.

Ever since Dr. Samuel Sako Ikome and Mr. Chris Anu took over the reins, things have deteriorated, with Southern Cameroonians refusing to contribute to the war efforts because of massive allegations of financial impropriety by both men. Chris Anu and Samuel Sako Ikome who joined forces to humiliate Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe after his arrest are today at each other’s throat.

Today, both men cannot even talk to each other. They have been dismissing each other and forming governments which cannot even survive a day. The money is no longer flowing and both men have been accused of robbing the people of Southern Cameroons of their hard-earned money. My Trip To Buea (MTTB), a strategy used by both men to raise funds, has only caused them to be unpopular as both men have used the money for personal purposes and cannot even provide any account of the money.

The internal conflicts are really damaging and comments from both camps are unfriendly. Their surrogates are at work and are doing their best to destroy whatever little hope of reconciliation that exists. There seem to be no chance of reconciling the various camps. According to a Chris Anu supporter:

“Sako is an incompetent president, a thief and a scammer. He has proven that he can’t lead, we, the people of Ambazonia, reject his method of leadership, propaganda, lies, stealing of contributed money which has been invested in bitcoin. We will fight him for as long as he continues to occupy the position of a president. We can’t stay quiet anymore. The conman has been removed from office as president, he should give back the people’s ABC TV, it does not belong to him,” the leaked message says.

“We have freed ourselves from the Sako Scam. For 5 years, he has used all our contributed money and instigated a lot of infighting which has led to the killing of our fighters. Yes, it is Sako who is ordering the killing of fighters on the ground. He has been the president and head of military,” the Sako adversary said. 

“Sako is the worst thing that ever happened to this revolution. This jobless unrepentant conman is the biggest thief and embezzler in the history of liberation struggles. This criminal planted agents everywhere, and his ponzi enterprise has caused so much damage to this revolution. The sad thing is that this criminal was supported by supposed Men of God including Deacons like Tassang who used to write long essays defending this criminality. Why has he suddenly stopped writing? Until Ambazonians vomit these fake men of God, devils in pastoral garments, the road to independence will be long and hard,” another anti-Sako Southern Cameroonian said in an exchange with others. 

There are more messages coming through, but the most damaging comes from Tassang, a notorious Kondengui inmate who spends his time seeking to divide Southern Cameroonians. In his latest outing, he said that:

“Great has been my shock to live the problem rocking the Interim Government. From prison, I am as close to it as you all are, except that I cannot communicate freely. Before, I thought it was due to lack of communication but when I got closer, and tried to mediate, I discovered it was much deeper. But what is the problem?” 

His latest letter is not a cure to any of the issues. He has worked very hard to make the wound deeper as he keeps on supporting one bloc against the other. He is even accused in many communications of receiving USD 100 from Sako from time to time, making it hard for him to be neutral. 

The struggle is really struggling. Southern Cameroonians need new leaders. The current crop of leaders has been infected with the corruption bug. The only person who has been above this mess has been Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe and he remains the poster boy of the revolution. Southern Cameroonians should therefore rally behind Dabney Yerima who is the recognized Vice President of the Ambazonia Interim Government and who has remained loyal to Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe.

By Haggai Fung Achuo 

Five years into the war in Southern Cameroons and four years ever since the leader of the Ambazonia Interim Government was arrested by Nigeria’s intelligence agency and handed over to the Francophone dominated regime in Yaoundé, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, the Southern Cameroons iconic leader, is still seen as the man capable of taking Ambazonians to Buea and a fighter who constantly gives Southern Cameroonians hope despite the hardships.

Thousands of Southern Cameroonians in the diaspora are now of the opinion that if President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe was out of French Cameroun captivity, the problems that led to the split in the Ambazonia Interim Government would not have taken place, and that Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, the artist of skilful diplomacy, would have found a way out of every predicament in the Southern Cameroons struggle.

Millions of Southern Cameroonians all over the globe also say that if Nigeria did not betray President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, he would never have allowed conditions in Ground Zero to move from bad to worse.

The changes in the Southern Cameroons resistance and battle for independence that have developed in Ground Zero, Ground One and in the diaspora since the arrest of President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe have become more complex.

The Ambazonian leader Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and nine of his top aides were arrested inside NERA Hotel in Abuja, Nigeria.

Sisiku Ayuk Tabe posters still hang on buildings and his pictures are drawn on major streets in towns and villages in Southern Cameroons.

His continued detention at the Kondengui Maximum Security Prison in Yaoundé is now considered by a majority of Southern Cameroonians as a sign of his rejection to discuss the issue of separation on French Cameroun terms that falls short of Ambazonian aspirations for independence and statehood.

A group of Southern Cameroons Interim Government front line leaders including the man he entrusted the job of Communications Secretary, Chris Anu considered Sisiku Ayuk Tabe irrelevant and called for him to be killed in jail.

Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, who opted for resistance against La Republique du Cameroun following decades of marginalization, has remained defiant hoping that the Hand of God will help the people of Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia realize their statehood dream.

His aides who distanced themselves from the scandal hit Maryland cabal have always said that Sisiku Ayuk Tabe is not convinced French Cameroun under Biya is ready to make peace with the people of Southern Cameroons.

His successor, Sako Ikome, unlike Ayuk Tabe, was neither a fighter nor an intelligent man and did not believe in anything besides the money donated by the Diaspora for “My Trip To Buea”.

The recent crisis that has rocked the Maryland Sako IG crime syndicate has reinforced the Ambazonian’ belief that the so-called Sako-Chris Anu IG was not a partner for Southern Cameroons liberation war.

The only way to make Biya and French Cameroun change their positions vis-à-vis the crisis in Southern Cameroons would be a change in the positions of all Southern Cameroons diaspora groups. That change should include rallying behind Vice President Dabney Yerima.

The entire Maryland gangs have been thrown into a vicious cycle of instability. They succeeded in painting Sisiku Ayuk Tabe as the man who wanted to govern from prison and they won support from the diaspora and Ground One, but they have failed to neutralize Dabney Yerima, the symbol of the Southern Cameroons resistance who does not go around deceiving the Ambazonian people.

With the collapse of the Maryland cabal, the tools and the scenario in Ground Zero would be different in the coming days and weeks.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

My Fellow Citizens of Amabazonia,

I bring you revolutionary greeting from your President SisikuAyuk Tabe and the rest of the team in jail with him. If you read his recent interview with Emergence, you will notice that their fighting spirit remains unsurpassed. They are resolute.Their resolve to fight for a free and prosperous Ambazonia has never wavered. It remains unshakable.

On behalf of the Interim Government, I want to thank all of you who continue to stand by them in their tribulations under captivity by the enemy. They suffer vicariously on our behalf for what we stand for – the freedom of Ambazonia that must come.

I want to extend special thanks to the dedicated and tireless ones on ground zero who visit and support them in every way possible. You constitute a strong link in the unbreakable chain of Ambazonian heroes in our liberation struggle.

Let me also single out for high commendation our selfless, brave, resourceful and ingenuous liberation fighters who continue to demonstrate togetherness and patriotism in resisting the atrocious invading colonial enemy.

We must keep on fighting until freedom is achieved. The alternative of not doing so is too ghastly to contemplate. Our fate would be worse than that of slaves without dignity and identity. We would be slaughtered en masse like sheep to the slaughterhouse. The genocide agenda of the blood-thirsty enemy would be accelerated, and we would be exterminated within a short time. We and our children would be wiped out. The children of our children would be wiped out. And their children’s children would also be wiped out. The people of Ambazonia will ceased to exist. The land of Ambazonia would be stolen by the enemy.

Tonight, I come to share some reflections with you; first, I make a passing reflection on evil that has inevitably fallen, and secondly,I talk about what I believe we need to do to build better, moving forward.

Comrade Ayuk Tabe and his leadership team foresightedly put in place a resource-generating system. The purpose of the system was to provide the wherewithal for our Liberation Struggle to enable us achieve freedom without further delay. Funds generated from the system began to flow in. But a horde of rapacious evil ones laid their leprous hands on the finances. Many of the individuals concerned were simply vagrants and scroungers masquerading as so-called ‘pastors’ – self-designated briefcase fly-by-night ‘pastors.’ They embezzled the funds for their personal upkeep. They swindled the money for their gluttonous conspicuous consumption. They used part of the stolen money to sponsor the assassination of freedom fighters on the ground.

Like the devil who can also quote the Bible, they quoted books, chapters and verses from the Bible impiously fooling vulnerable and impressionable individuals. They started their evil mandates with prayers and fasting to seduce our people that are too religious to a fault, and were not smart enough to notice that they were simply displaying the hallmarks of bible carrying conmen. Today, the scales have fallen from the eyes of most of these unfortunate people and they now know better. In fact, we all now know how the thieves and their accomplices ran their criminal networks. We also now know roughly the amount of the liberation funds that were swindled and used for other criminal activities.

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe foresaw this calamitous turn of events. That is why he reinstated the IG cabinet and other structures that existed before the NERA 10 incident. He presciently reduced to a counterfeit ‘IG’ the rump of what still advertised itself as ‘the IG’. Some of us naively doubted the wisdom of President Sisiku’s timely action. But today he has been vindicated. Everyone now acknowledges that he took a wise decision warranted by the circumstances. Imagine what would have become of our national liberation struggle today had he not taken that wise decision.

The criminality of wolfs in sheep skin masquerading as fellow comrades in our liberation struggle is now in the public domain. It has been put out by these same people, those among them who have seemingly undergone a road-to-Damascus conversion. Despite the fact that blatant truths about the true nature of these vampires are all out there for even the blind to see, they still shamelessly try to tell more lies in their woes to defend their past falsehood and wistfulness to keep a few gullible Ambazonans still in their nest in servitude.     

Truth always triumphs. Like President Sisiku said, “one day the truth will come out and we shall be vindicated.” The same is true of the law. The wheel of justice turns slowly but surely. The long and strong arm of the law will certainly catch up with the principal offenders and their accomplices who have caused so much pain and suffering to our people in this our God-ordained national liberations struggle.

In the past three years we lost solidarity as our common interest. Today, we cannot run business as usual in very unusual times. We need to be bold and boldly face the evil within our liberation struggle. We cannot afford to be gentle with evil and indiscipline among our ranks. Nothing can be achieved in chaos. Nothing can be achieved without serious and purposeful thinking, creativity, hard work, and collective endeavours for the common good.

We must allow ourselves to think beyond the ills that have afflicted us. We must do so because solidarity is critical in the promotion of our common interest. ‘Building Back Better’ will not do the trick. We cannot afford to go back to a situation that is unsustainable.

What commends itself to us now is ‘Building Better, Forward,’ that is to say, building better as we move forward. We must seize the opportunity of the moment to make critical improvements that will address challenges of the hour as well as address clearly foreseeable challenges that are bound to arise as from the Day of Liberation.

This is what ‘Building Better Forward’ entails:

1. Rebuilding, remobilising, and restructuring constituencies globally from grassroots up so as to improve human and financial capacity.  This will build synergy within us. It will make our revolution shock proof and flexible to weather different storms as soon as they are identified. I believe that the best way to concentrate power within our communities is through Grassroot Remobilization & Regrouping. This means each and every one of our citizens, every one of our cultural and development meetings, every one of our churches at home and abroad, and each and every one of our constituencies around the world, must participate in our liberation struggle, each one contributing to their ability and willing level of sacrifice.
2. Focusing on our liberation fighters on Ground zero. This is critical because we are condemned to liberate ourselves, like all colonized peoples in Africa did. In this connection, we will continue to build a unified defence platform for our liberation fighters. We all applaud the lead taken by Bui, Momo and Bali. Same efforts to unite our Liberation fighters on Ground Zero are ongoing in Fako, Meme, Manyu, Donga Mantung and Boyo as we speak. We will replicate these examples in all areas of Ambazonia. A unified defence platform will empower our GZ freedom fighters through effective training and provisioning. This will sharpen and increase their fighting capability. It will make them responsible in the battlefield. It will engender shared-leadership, complementarity, and ensure fighters fight for each other rather than against one another. It will instill in them loyalty to the nation represented by our national flag rather than to individuals. It will redirect them to fight for the people of Ambazonia as a whole rather than for the interest of puppeteers. The cooperation between our Ambazonian self-defence forces and local communities is vital for our success. This is a winning strategy that will improve conduct on GZ and end the crime of kidnapping for ransom which some have desperately sought to dignify by attempting to whitewash it and launder the proceeds thereof as so-called ‘liberation tax.’  It will also stop the shameful, distasteful, outrageous, and unacceptable attacks on Ambazonia schools like what we witnessed on 10th February 2022,  when unidentified armed men raided Queen of the Rosary High School (QRHS), Okoyong, in Manyu County. The assailants set fire on dormitories and administrative buildings while students were asleep. With strongly bonded self-defense units in Ambazonia, the military of Paul Biya’s junta will not easily infiltrate and penetrate our communities to foster their genocidal actions on our people and institutions by using pseudo names. Recently, Paul Biya’s militia used a pseudo like “ARF-Black Lions of Manyu” which does not exist in Manyu self-defense to burndown QRC Okoyong. They used pseudo like “armed robbers” to assassinate the unapologetic defender of justice like Senator Barrister Henry Kemende(May his Soul Rest in Power) as well as to cover up their evil acts of genocide.

• Recognizing that resilience and transformative knowledge are keys to our fight for liberation, knowledge we know is an enabler for growth in a more sustainable way. This allows us to willingly use our competencies and huge potential as a collective in our advocacy, communication and in improving the innovative and technical capacity, strategies, and tactics of our liberation fighters on the ground.
• Participating in growing and consolidating the portfolio of the Bank of Ambazonia, our prestigious institution. Many were genuinely concerned about funds being mismanaged and decided to withhold contributing to the Bank. I urge them to get back onboard. A few people sponsored the external Audit of My trip to Buea which the American Authorities now have and we are waiting for justice to take its course and to be done.

The Bank of Ambazonia is duly registered in the United States with a Representative Board of Directors to ensure responsibility, accountability and transparency. Any and all funds in the Bank are, and will continue to be, responsibly spent and every dime accounted for. Diaspora Ambazonians now have no credible excuse for not resuming payment of citizens’ levy. I urge them to pay that levy, buy the Ambazonian freedom bonds, buy the big rubber gun bonds, and create njangi groups to help provide a level of humanitarian assistance to Ambazonians desperately in need.

• Improving on the way we communicate within and without. We can connect and relate better through better and responsible communication. We need to build strong communication channels to reach out to our people on Ground Zero, Ground One and the world at large. This will help us manage and share information better and responsibly. Southern Cameroons Broadcasting Coorporation (SCBC) is a huge symbol of our liberation struggle. We cannot let it down for any reason possible. I want to thank the Board, the team in Germany and some of us who kept it running during these difficult times. It is our duty to maintain it as another of our prestigious institution. I call on the board to continue to be innovative, improve on the content, open up to willing Ambazonians with competencies to make it one of Africa’s best and bring back shows like the Gilly Gilly show which was one of the hallmarks of SCBC.

• Being open and willing to work with other stakeholders in our liberation struggle, those who fight proactively for a free Ambazonia. This demands on our part discipline, honesty, humility, integrity, respect, tolerance, truthfulness, resilience, and above all, putting Ambazonia first and foremost.

 My fellow Ambazonians, as you will recall, when I was called to take up this responsibility, in my acceptance speech I said, “Our Liberation struggle is less about me and more about you. We are in this together. Ambazonia must be first.” Your Interim Government always puts Ambazonia first in all it does as these few examples show.

1.We provided support for all legal representation in Ambazonia, Nigeria and French Cameroun since November 2018 to date.

2. More than 70% of the welfare of comrades behind bars have been coordinated by the IG.

3. We engaged in diplomatic outreach with the Swiss Federal Government, UN Department of Political Affairs, and CDN; we have initiated engagement with some countries details about which must continue to be classified.

4. We refocused the attitude of our GZ liberation fighters to defend and fight for the flag and truly lead responsiblyas all for one, one for all on GZ.

5. We have sought to partner with other groups within the revolution.

6.  We created the Bank of Ambazonia, a semi-autonomous institution, to handle the resources of our people in a transparent, responsible, and accountable manner. 

7. The first phase of the big rubber gun project went into operation. We are all witnesses to the tactical changes on GZ which reduced the rate of killings of our liberation fighters and inflicted heavy casualties on the invading colonial enemy.

8. A complete external audit of the MTTB funds has been done and submitted to the American authorities.

Together we can do more. Together we can build better, moving forward.

Those who fell by the wayside but have now picked themselves up, pleaded mea culpa and committed to good faith and honourable engagement in the struggle from henceforth are most welcome to join the ranks of worthy Ambazonians daily, fighting tooth and nail to free our Homeland from genocide, plunder and destruction by French Cameroun. We cannot afford to allow con pastors, embezzlers, dubious bitcoin merchants, killers of the same fighters they claimed are theirs, and kidnappers of our people for ransom, who have failed in their mission to set us apart, frustrate our quest for total independence, and eventually hand us over to LRC to rejuvenate and raise their evil heads again against us. This is the right time to close any loopholes, keep vampires flooding around as men of God in our God’s ordained struggle under control, and completely revitalize the struggle by Regrouping, Remobilizing, and Building better as the best way forward.  Let us work together and build better, forward. Fighting to free our nation is a singular honour, a privilege and an exalting task that must be done earnestly by ALL of us that stand for nothing but the flag of Ambazonia.

Death to the enemy and evil within and without our liberation struggle, independence and justice to Ambazonia.

God bless you all. God bless the people of Ambazonia. God bless the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. 

Dabney Yerima

Vice President

Federal Republic of Ambazonia

The trial of 21 people accused of involvement in the killings of 21 civilians in Ngarbuh, in Cameroon’s North-West region, on February 14, 2020, has dragged on for 14 months, Human Rights Watch said today. The slow pace raises concerns about the justice system’s efficiency and ability to deliver justice to the victims. The lack of progress is compounded by the limited opportunity for access and participation by victims’ families, the lack of probative witnesses, and the fact that senior officers with command responsibility have not been arrested or charged. The only witnesses so far did not see the killings and claimed the victims were separatist fighters.

“When the trial started, it was welcomed as a step toward justice and tackling impunity for military abuses in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions,” said Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “But two years after the massacre, victims and their families are still awaiting justice, while security forces have continued to commit serious human rights violations.”

The Ngarbuh killings were one of the Cameroonian security forces’ worst atrocities since the crisis in the country’s Anglophone regions began in late 2016. The government initially denied that its security forces were responsible. But following international pressure, President Paul Biya established a commission of inquiry on March 1, 2020. The government then admitted that its security forces bear some responsibility and announced the arrest of two soldiers and a gendarme in June 2020.

Human Rights Watch research concluded that government forces and armed ethnic Fulani killed 21 civilians in Ngarbuh, including 13 children and a pregnant woman, burned five homes, looted scores of other properties, and beat residents in a reprisal operation against the community suspected of harboring separatist fighters. Ethnic Fulani living in and around Ngarbuh are also known as “Mbororo” and are mainly pastoralists.

The Ngarbuh trial started on December 17, 2020, before the military court in Yaoundé, Cameroon’s capital, and has had 15 sessions. The next is scheduled for February 17, 2022. The defendants include two soldiers: a sergeant and a first-class soldier of the 52nd Motorized Infantry Battalion (Battalion d’intervention motorisé, BIM), a gendarme, a former separatist fighter, and 17 ethnic-Fulani vigilantes, who remain at large. They have been charged with murder, arson, destruction, violence against a pregnant woman, and disobeying orders.

The court is about 450 kilometers from Ngarbuh, making it difficult for family members of victims to attend. Family members’ lawyers expressed concern about the issue in March 2021. Since then, only two relatives of victims have testified before the court.

The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, has said that “all investigations must be prompt, impartial, thorough and transparent” and that failure “transparently to take all necessary measures to investigate suspicious deaths and all killings by [s]tate agents and to identify and hold accountable individuals or groups responsible for violations of the right to life constitutes in itself a violation by the [s]tate of that right.”

Under international standards, including the United Nations Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Death and jurisprudence from human rights bodies such as the European Court of Human Rights, for an effective investigation to be transparent, victims and their families need to have reasonable access.

Lawyers for the victims and their families told Human Rights Watch that sections 177 and 189 of Cameroon’s Criminal Procedure Code provide the possibility that a magistrate could go to Ngarbuh and collect testimony from witnesses. But instead, lawyers said, courts have used section 336 of the Criminal Procedure Code to allow criminal proceedings to be heard and determined without witnesses present.

International standards also require an effective investigation to identify and collect evidence from probative witnesses, to take all feasible steps to identify and locate those allegedly involved in the crime, and to hold to account all those responsible, such as those with command responsibility.

Instead, family members’ lawyers said that the prosecution has presented testimony from people who did not witness the killings and whose testimony is at odds with witness accounts provided during the preliminary investigation, as well as reports on the massacre by the United Nations and local and international human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch.

“Testimonies of administrative and military authorities, who serve as prosecution witnesses in this case, try to show that those killed in Ngarbuh were separatist fighters and not civilians,” said Barrister Menkem Sother, one of the family members’ lawyers. “It looks like the goal of the investigation will be to show that the Cameroon security forces only killed separatist fighters in Ngarbuh, and that the killing of any civilians was the work of vigilantes.”

The judicial authorities also appear to have made no effort to locate the accused vigilantes. According to family members’ lawyers, investigators had the telephone number and location of at least one vigilante, but apparently made no attempt to trace and apprehend him or to explain why they didn’t.

In the Anglophone regions, vigilantes work in tangent with local authorities and security forces and receive material support from the government in the form of motorcycles, first aid kits, flashlights, and metal detectors. As a result, the sub-divisional officers, including the one in Ndu, which includes Ngarbuh, should normally have a list of the vigilantes working in their areas.

The prosecution strategy also omits accountability for the authorities who had direct supervision over the suspects and the units and personnel who conducted the military operation in Ngarbuh. This includes the commander of the 52nd BIM, who acknowledged that he authorized a reconnaissance operation to Ngarbuh, and the Ndu sub-divisional officer. The 17 vigilantes would have been operating under his supervision. According to family members’ lawyers, the suspects all stated that the operation in Ngarbuh had been authorized by the Commander of the 52nd BIM and the Ndu sub-prefect.

Lawyers for the victims also said that the judge in charge of the case also sits on the court of appeals, to which complaints about the trial and requests for review will be referred. “If the parties are not satisfied with the judgment and the case is referred to the appeals court, the review will be carried out by the same judge,” said Barrister Richard Tamfu, one of the family members’ lawyers. This is a blatant violation of the right to appeal to an impartial tribunal. As set out in the Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Fair Trial and Legal Assistance in Africa, judicial impartiality is compromised if “a judicial official sits as member of an appeal tribunal in a case which he or she decided or participated in a lower judicial body.”

As the trial goes on, Cameroonian security forces continue to commit serious crimes in the Anglophone regions, underscoring a climate of impunity that has fueled the crisis in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions for the past five years. Armed separatist groups have also committed abuses, including killings, kidnappings, torture, and widespread attacks on education. This highlights the urgent need for effective investigations that meet international standards into all serious abuses.

“The lack of justice for the killings of civilians in Ngarbuh and the recurring military abuses are avoidable consequences of the failure to ensure effective investigations and prosecutions,” Allegrozzi said. “Cameroonian authorities should rein in their security forces, ensure an end to abuses, and guarantee that those most responsible for the Ngarbuh killings, as well as other serious abuses, are held to account in fair and effective trials.”

Culled from Human Rights Watch

The image that has dominated social media of today’s Africa is ailing President Paul Biya not being able to handover the Africa Cup of Nations trophy to the Senegalese captain. Derision of the 88-year-old Biya on social media is widespread showing a changing media landscape where young Cameroonians are increasingly free to express their discontent publicly.

When Biya arrived the Olembe stadium for the closing ceremony of the Africa Cup of Nations, he was simply a bag of bones and could barely walk. He has been in office since 1982 and will be turning 89 this year.

The Cameroonian dictator has won every election ever since he took office even though he rarely appears in public and without personally campaigning. Many political commentators are now saying that Mr. Biya is unfit to run the country because of his health problems.

A frail pensioner falling off his seat during the opening ceremony of the Africa Cup of Nations in Yaoundé was billed as a triumph for the nation by militants of the ruling CPDM party from his Beti Ewondo tribal extractions. Those of us who watched Biya during the final of the Africa Cup of Nations came to the conclusion that Francophone African nations were badly in need of the gift of shame.

However, the 88-year-old head of state is part and parcel of Cameroon’s history and – with the support of his beautiful wife, Chantal Biya – he was cheered by enthusiastic well-wishers at the Olembe football temple.

The problem as far as the divided Cameroon is concerned is that the so-called father of the nation is set to remain president forever.

Paul Biya’s record of national service is questionable because he has always placed his tribal interest above democratic and economic progress. He is a French acolyte who threw his brother Idriss Deby of Chad under the bus in preference of French backing and to guarantee his continued stay in power. Together with his feared Francophone dominated military and intelligence officers; he has continued to battle Southern Cameroons Restoration fighters committed to creating an independent state in English speaking Cameroon.

Against such a background of violence in Southern Cameroons, Boko Haram incursions in the Far North region and the poor security situation in the East caused by the crisis in the Central African Republic, the appetite for coups or massive street demonstrations is limited in Cameroon. As a pro Yaoundé Southern Cameroonian told this reporter “Moving around Obili and Melen shouting Biya must go is not a wise thing to do in Yaoundé.”

The majority of those living in the cities of Douala, Yaoundé, Garoua, Maroua, Buea, Bamenda and Kumba including Bafoussam certainly want to see Cameroon’s enormous economic potential exploited to solve endemic social problems, including spiralling unemployment and infrastructure crisis. But Biya and his gang are not interested. The nation has everything including foreign reserves from oil and gas but wealth is not distributed evenly.

Cameroon is also of huge strategic importance to Europe and the US, with the Anglo-American empire viewing the country as a key ally in the war against Islamic terror. Correspondingly, with the Russians now in Bangui, Biya is at least a predictable player with whom Europe and the US can work.

From the numerous political discourses on both state and private television houses, it is evidently clear that it is time for proper democratic rule in Cameroon. However, CPDM sources in Yaoundé suggested to this reporter that the Beti Ewondo ruling clan is not ready for change and that key lieutenants still want Biya to remain in power.

Perhaps the most noticeable aspect of the behaviour of the 40-year-old Biya regime during the Africa Cup of Nations was the abiding image of Paul Biya at the Olembe Football Stadium and that summed up the state of Cameroon’s leadership crisis.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai