Cameroon’s President Paul Biya celebrated his 88th birthday recently, making him the oldest president in Africa. He has been in power for 38 years. Birthday celebrations held across the country were met with protest by the opposition, demanding that he step down. So, how has he acquitted himself in office, and what has been his legacy for Cameroon?

Cameroonians welcomed Biya when he became president in November 1982. The peaceful transfer of power by his predecessor Ahmadou Ahidjo won Cameroon praise as an example to emulate in Africa, where leaders either held on to power for too long, through duplicity and violence, or were forced out.

Ahidjo was ruthless, authoritative, and vicious. He ruled by intimidation. Under him rivals were hunted down, tortured, killed, or forced into exile. He was the “source of all power in the state”.

Biya was seen as a breath of fresh air, and he stepped in saying the right things to different groups. He visited the nation’s Anglophone regions, spoke in English, and even referred to Bamenda, a major city in the Northwest region, as his “second home”. It was a marked difference from his predecessor, whose policies severely undermined English as a major part of the nation’s bilingualism.

Biya’s early actions were received with cheers. He pledged a “new deal” to restore integrity and eliminate corruption. He also announced that although he was of the Beti/Bulu ethnic group, he was born a Cameroonian and would govern as such.

His policies extended elementary and secondary education to rural areas. He allowed press freedom. In his book Communal Liberalism he emphasised the importance of creating a “more open, more tolerant and more democratic political society”.

But those promises and pronouncements were short-lived.

Hopes dashed

By the end of Biya’s first year in office, he had reverted to his predecessor’s tactics, a practice which intensified after the attempted coup in 1984.

He remade the nation’s only political party, Cameroon National Union, in his image, renaming it the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement. He packed his administration with people from his ethnic group and drove a solvent economy into insolvency.

His policies targeted and undermined groups like Bamilekes, Anglophones and Northerners.

He changed the name of the country from the United Republic of Cameroon to the Republic of Cameroon, a clear indication that Anglophone concerns did not matter.

He went to the World Bank and International Monitory Fund for help to revive an ailing economy. But, after three decades of intervention by these institutions, the economy remains on the brink of collapse.

The nation’s currency was devalued on his watch in 1994, bringing misery to many.

Corruption became endemic. Cameroon is often ranked as being among the most corrupt countries in the world.

Biya circumvents the country’s multiparty political system at will. He has repeatedly amended the constitution to tighten his grip on power. One amendment, in 2008, was to eliminate presidential term limits.

As a response to protests against excessive centralisation of decision making in Yaounde, Biya signed a decentralisation decree in 1996 to empower regional and local authorities. But 25 years later, that initiative has not been realised. Another failed initiative was the National Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism and Multiculturalism created in 2017 in response to the Anglophone protest. After billions of francs CFA were squandered, the commission has achieved nothing substantive.

Biya’s Achilles heel is the ongoing Anglophone crisis. He has overstayed his term in office, using underhand manoeuvres to cling to power.

His nearly four decades’ rule has robbed Cameroon of its credibility as a stable and peaceful country. Nations such as the US have repeatedly imposed advisory travel bans on Cameroon.

The true test of leadership

Four years ago, a peaceful protest against the marginalisation of English-speaking people turned violent as Biya’s military responded with arrests and torture.

Some responded with a call for secession of the Anglophone regions and created a virtual Ambazonia Republic. They formed a military wing, Ambazonia Defence Force, and used it to attack Biya’s military and disrupt economic and social services in the region.

My work in Cameroon brings me to the conclusion that the Anglophone crisis degenerated into violence because of miscalculations by Biya’s regime. The resulting crisis has devastated entire communities. The region’s economy has also been crippled, resulting in a wave of crime, and burning of businesses and public facilities.

Cameroon is now a no-go country in many respects.

Foreign policy success

My research shows that Biya’s most enduring achievement has been in his conduct of foreign policy. He remains influential in the African Union, and maintains good relations with France, the US and China.

Cameroon was part of the multinational joint task force which conducted military operations to contain Boko Haram. Biya was key in convincing major powers that Boko Haram posed a global threat.

He settled Cameroon’s conflict with Nigeria over the Bakassi Peninsula and placed relations between the nations on a good footing.

Biya also diversified foreign policy from a focus on France to expanding relations with China (though by 2007 he had begun to regret China’s economic domination in Cameroon). He has encouraged American businesses in Cameroon too.

Even after Cameroon was excluded from the African Growth and Opportunity Act, a programme that allows African nations to export their goods to the US duty free, for human rights violations, US-Cameroon military collaboration continued.

Turning the tide

Given Biya’s unwillingness to step down from power, the global community needs to exert pressure on him to solve the Anglophone crisis.

The crisis exposes the hypocrisy and weaknesses of the current global system. The major powers make noises about human rights, yet fail to stop abuses by Biya’s government.

What happens with the Anglophone crisis may turn out to be the most significant determinant of Biya’s legacy.

Culled from The Conversation

Happy women’s day 2021 to all the women of Ambazonia (Takumbeng)

 Amongst many things, this day is a celebration of freedom. Freedom is important and inevitable for Ambazonia. It is my strong belief that this freedom will mean nothing if we are not united, at least in purpose.

 Our freedom will mean nothing if we do not free our minds to forgive and move on. It will amount to nought if we do not act with urgency to come together to liberate Ambazonia from the shackles of the ugly past to which her people have been subjected.

We have always felt the sense of loss which culminated in the need in 2017 to actively defend ourselves from genocide. The urgency of that moment brought us together. There is greater urgency today, in 2021, given the over 500 of our villages burned, over 4,000 of our people incarcerated, over 20,000 killed, over 200,000 as refugees in Nigeria and Ghana, over 1,500,000 displaced within the Homeland and in LRC and over 800,000 of our children out of school for four years and counting.

 You, our mothers, our wives, our sisters and our daughters have been exemplary in this struggle; doing everything to bring our people together towards our common goal – freedom for Ambazonia. You remain the cornerstone of the Ambazonian edifice. You are the reasons for which AMBAZONIA is succeeding. Thanks for your immeasurable sacrifices. Happy Is This Day To Celebrate You

Sisiku Ayuk Tabe

President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia

Rape has successfully been mischaracterized and dismissed by President Biya and his top military leaders in Yaoundé for more than three decades and in the last four years; the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime has accepted rape precisely because it is so commonplace in Southern Cameroons.

Ever since President Paul Biya declared the war against the English speaking minority in Southern Cameroons, numerous reports of rape by Francophone soldiers from the renowned Human Rights Watch have been dismissed as a kind of propaganda coming from the Ambazonia Interim Government and the Southern Cameroons diaspora.

Responding to reports of widespread rape of women and teenage girls in Southern Cameroons, the Biya administration has either denied that the rapes are occurring or has blamed the Southern Cameroons victims for not cooperating with Cameroon government army soldiers.

To be sure, Paul Atanga Nji Minister of Territorial Administration who himself hails from British Southern Cameroons territory noted in a conversation with our undercover reporter that the rape allegations were made by the people of Southern Cameroons solely to attract sympathy and give the Biya government negative publicity.

A Francophone army general from Beti extraction and married to three wives said during a security briefing recently in Yaoundé that Cameroon government soldier conducting an operation at the dead of night in the North West and South West is unlikely to think of rape when he is not even certain if he will return alive as if soldiers that carryout rape must do so operating under safe conditions.

Francophone soldiers are motivated to rape precisely because rape serves the strategic interests of the Biya Francophone regime.

Several Southern Cameroons women are now openly recalling harrowing tales of sexual abuse in Bui, Menchum, Mezam, Ngoketunjia, Ndian, Kupe Munenguba, Meme, Manyu, Fako and Donga Matung counties.

For many, their bodies are still trembling while narrating what the Francophone soldiers did to them. Cameroon Intelligence Report gathered from some of the women that at every moment, they were humiliated before the extreme sexual act.

Many English speaking Cameroonian women and teenage girls are now speaking of sexual abuse, ranging from exposition to extreme cavity searches. A lady in Weh-a locality not too far away from Wum, the chief town in the Menchum County said that she was subjected to sexual harassment for four days when Francophone soldiers stationed in Wum raided her village and she now has HIV.

In Etoko village in Manyu where two Francophone soldiers reportedly rape a 17 year old girl, she told a visiting Roman Catholic priest that “When I refused to take my kaba off, the two soldiers attacked me and ruptured my pants.”

Sexual abuses in Southern Cameroons are part of an organized Biya regime policy to infuse humiliation and torture against all Southern Cameroons families and detainees especially against women and children.

In French Cameroun detention centers such as the Kondengui High Security Prison in Yaoundé and the New Bell Prison in Douala, Francophone prison authorities have made sexual harassment a tool to put pressure on prisoners especially in the interrogation sessions. Many young women and girls in Southern Cameroons are now highly stressed and have lost their consciousness several times and many are also struggling to cope with the HIV virus.

In Kumba, a Francophone soldier deployed to Fiango who wanted sex with a teenage girl reportedly accused her of having a sexual relationship with the Senior Divisional Officer for Meme.

A very pretty GHS Mundemba female student was subjected to sexual harassment in an armored vehicle transfer between Mundemba and Ekondo Titi.

Our chief correspondent in Bamenda hinted that most Southern Cameroons women avoid talking about rape experiences with Francophone soldiers out of the fear of stigma, taking into consideration that the Ambazonia culture treats sex as a shame.

By Isong Asu in London

Systematic Rape as a means of French Cameroun warfare in Ambazonia

The Human Rights Watch report on Cameroon dated 26 February 2021 titled “Survivors of Military Assault Await Justice” was unambiguous and uncomplimentary on the actions and conduct of the Cameroon army. The report detailed the rape and abuse of more than 20 women by the Cameroon army in the village of Ebam in the South West Region of the country during raids carried out last year. The United States Embassy to Cameroon today released the following message: “The United States is deeply disturbed to learn of reports of a military raid in Ebam, Southwest Region, on March 1 of last year that resulted in violence against civilians. We condemn all violence in which civilians are targeted. We call for an immediate investigation into the alleged incident and for perpetrators to be held accountable. That this attack, if found to be true, could go unacknowledged for a year speaks to the important role civil society and media organizations play in helping governments meet their obligations to their people.”

Statistics of actual mass or gang rape of Ambazonian women and girls are difficult to come by for obvious reasons. But there is no doubt, based on concurrent first-hand accounts, that what HRW reports is only the tip of the iceberg. The wartime rape cases reported by HRW points to systematic rape aimed at destroying the identity of the people of the Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia). It is indistinguishable from the same crime that was perpetrated in Rwanda by Hutu soldiers against Tutsi women and girls, and in Bosnia by Serbian soldiers against Bosnian Muslims.  Incidents of rape by French Cameroun troops in Ambazonia are more frequent than people are aware of or than is generally known. These cases go unreported because surviving victims internalize the occurrences and do not talk about them. Many surviving rape victims do not come forward to tell their traumatic experience because of the shame and stigma associated with the deed. They suffer in silence and bear for years their severely traumatic experience. There are no available local trauma centres providing counselling in private.

Massacres and other murders as well as systematic rape of women and girls are the well-attested shameless methods by which the ‘professional’ and ‘elite’ troops of French Cameroun conduct their colonial war in the Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia). That colonial war claims deaths in tens of thousands. It inflicts suffering, wholesale destruction, refugee flows and other forcible displacement of large numbers of people. It causes gross human rights violations. It creates thousands of orphans, widows, widowers and breaks up family ties. People are systematically subjected to indignity, and to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. The world seems inert. The people appear to have resigned themselves to an attitude of fatalistic cynicism. 

Women and girls are forced into sexual relationships by their torturers holding them captives. This results in forced impregnation and contamination with HIV and other sexually transmissible diseases. Women and girls are sometimes gang-raped to death or murdered after being raped to destroy evidence of the deed. Survivors go through emotional and psychological trauma. Rape and defilement are systematically used as a weapon and tactic of war by French Cameroun barbarian troops. They are used explicitly in efforts: to destroy population, to dislocate bonds within families and communities, to maximize humiliation and shame, to break resistance by instilling fear and terror in communities or in freedom fighters, to torture and inflict injury, to extract information, to degrade, to punish the rape victim for some alleged acts by their families, and to vent anger on the people of Ambazonia and humiliate them.

Rape always entails direct physical harm, trauma, and social ostracism for the victim. In many instances, it is also a health death sentence for the victims since they are deliberately infected with HIV and other sexually transmissible infections. Furthermore, gang rape invariably leads to vaginal destruction and traumatic fistula of the vaginal tract, bladder and rectum. Vaginal destruction is now classified as a war crime. Long term medical complication of such rape includes uterine prolapse, serious injury to the reproductive system like infertility or complications associated with miscarriages and self-induced abortions. The central element of rape is power. Rape is thus used to punish, intimidate, coerce, humiliate and degrade Ambazonian female victims and by extension Ambazonian men. As if this is not enough evil, French Cameroun troops enforce a war policy prohibiting treatment for women and girls suffering from war-related rape or other injuries. They violently eject them out of any health facility. The result is fear by affected women and girls to seek medical help. Their condition becomes irremediable. They eventually die in silence.

Rape most often occurs during search operations, during which those troops frequently engage in collective punishment against the civilian population, most often by beating or otherwise assaulting residents, and burning their homes. Rape also occurs frequently during reprisal attacks on civilians following ambushes by freedom fighters. In some cases, the victims are accused of providing food or shelter to freedom fighters or are ordered to identify or disclose the location of their male relatives as freedom fighters. In some attacks the selection of victims is apparently opportunistic and the women, like murdered civilians, are raped simply because they happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The French Cameroun regime is scared to death of its military and never credibly investigates any rapes or even massacres committed by them. The silence of the regime and its unwillingness to prosecute and punish those responsible leads to the inevitable conclusion that this form of torture is sanctioned as a matter of government policy. At least, the government of that country signals that the practice of rape is tolerated, if not condoned, and encouraged. The regime is in the habit of dismissing reports of massacres, and a fortiori, of rapes. It peddles the lie that its troops act ‘professionally’. The troops themselves habitually eliminate witnesses likely to provide evidence of rapes and massacres. The rape and killing of women and girls are a common occurrence though extremely difficult to document on account of the secrecy of the incidents, lack of pathologist evidence, and difficulty of evidence gathering for rape prosecution. 

Wartime rape is a criminal offence under the international law of war, which also applies to Cameroun. The criminalization of rape under that law is meant to safeguard human dignity. The rape of women and girls is prohibited in armed conflict. It is deemed a war crime under the provisions of international humanitarian law. The jurisprudence of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda characterizes wartime rape as a crime of genocide because of the intent to destroy in whole or in part a particular population group. Furthermore, the systematic mass rape of Ambazonian women and girls meets the statutory definition of systematic harm to a population or ethnical group within the meaning of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.  Persons who commit or order the commission of grave breaches of international humanitarian law are individually responsible in respect of such breaches.

We call for international condemnation of this crime as a violation of international human rights and humanitarian law and appeal to:

•             the international community to make vigorous and repeated representations to French Cameroun government, both bilaterally and multilaterally, in connection with these rapes and other grave human rights violations,

•             all States, organizations and programmes of the UN system, specialized agencies and other international organizations to urgently provide humanitarian assistance to all in need of it in Ambazonia,

•             the UN to urgently take practical measures to assist and counsel the girls and women concerned ,and to mandate investigations into the facts of each individual case, and

•             the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Womento devote particular attention to the issue of rape by French Cameroun troops in the Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia).

We urge community groups on the ground to continue to ascertain and record the magnitude and extent of rape by the French Cameroun occupying forces in the Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia).

Dabney Yerima

Vice President

 Pro-independent Leadership Government 

Joshua Osih, an SDF vice president and parliamentarian and a son of Ndian Division in the Southwest region of Cameroon has decided to stir a hornet’s nest even when he is aware of the pressure and disaster he is inviting into his personal and political life.

The SDF MP joined parliamentarians of the ruling crime syndicate, the CPDM, to take American senators to task for calling on the Biden Administration to reconsider the repatriation of Cameroonians from the United States because of the government’s violent military response to protests by the country’s English-speaking minority.

The American senators are criticizing the government of Cameroon for its massive and senseless execution of its own citizens, most of whom are native Southern Cameroonians.

The majority of those being repatriated from the United States are from the English-speaking part of the country where an insurgency has been playing out for four years.

The SDF member of parliament knows that there is a massive and bloody conflict playing out in that part of the country but seems to be in denial of this military violence that the government has unleashed on innocent civilians in that part of the country.

Mr. Osih has had a taste of the challenges ordinary people face in that part of Cameroon but he is clearly buring his head in sand.

The MP’s father died some two years ago and for him to have him buried in his native Ndian Division, he had to pay huge sums of money to insurgents, as the government could not provide the much- needed security in that part of the country.

Mr. Osih’s decision to turn his back on the people of Southern Cameroons has triggered a backlash and even his fellow SDF parliamentarians are chiding him for such a preposterous decision.

The Social Democratic Front (SDF) has called for an emergency meeting to take a look at Osih’s misguided decision which has left the SDF with a bloodshot eye.

Many SDF parliamentarians are bitter and some are openly accusing him of placing his interest above that of the people of Southern Cameroons.

The Cameroon Concord News Group’s correspondent in Yaoundé has been talking to some senior officials of the SDF and many of them are calling for Mr. Osih’s dismissal from the party.

He is being accused of cozying up to the government ever since Dion Ngute, the country’s Prime Minister, was appointed by the country’s long-serving and ailing president, Paul Biya, who has ruled the Central African country with an iron fist for almost 40 years with no results to show for his long stay in power.

Mr. Osih and Prime Minister Dion Ngute are from Ndian Division and it is alleged that they are related and this is causing Mr. Osih to embrace the government’s obnoxious policies against Southern Cameroonians who headed to the United States to seek asylum because of the conflict that has been playing out in their part of the country.

“Joshua Osih should be dismissed from the party. He has clearly demonstrated his greed and dishonesty by siding with the ruling party’s members of parliament who have never wanted the Southern Cameroons issue to be discussed in parliament,” an angry SDF Parliamentarian told our correspondent in Yaoundé.

“Every since Dion Ngute got appointed as the country’s Prime Minister, Joshua has shown total disrespect of party rules and he is now disrespecting the suffering people of Southern Cameroons who are being hunted by government forces as game,” the MP said.

“Osih is an embarrassment to the people of Southern Cameroons in particular and of Cameroon in general. He cannot claim he is not aware of the pain the country’s English-speaking minority is facing. How many more Southern Cameroonians have to die before Mr. Osih and the ruling CPDM understand that the Northwest and the Southwest regions are not safe?” the MP quipped.

“Osih wants to be the president of Cameroon and he wants to run on the SDF ticket. With his new mentality, how can he ever win an election in Cameroon, especially in the English-speaking part of Cameroon which is the SDF’s stronghold and where thousands have been killed and millions sent into exile by a government that has never prioritized dialogue over military violence? Osih should be dismissed from the party as he is more of a liability to the SDF,” the Member of Parliament said.

“Osih and his fellow CPDM parliamentarians should have instead written to their president instead of writing to American law-makers who had actually painted a true picture of what is happening in Cameroon. This is a problem that has been going on for years and for Osih to suggest that things are improving in that part of the country is a clear demonstration of dishonesty on his part,” the Cameroon law-maker who elected anonymity said.

“Osih is under enormous pressure and the Southern Cameroons Diaspora which wields a lot of influence is punching him from all directions. He has stirred a hornet’s nest and this is costing him his reputation. This demonstration of poor judgment by an SDF parliamentarian is giving the SDF a very bad name and this will surely affect the party in future elections” the MP regretted. 

Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Group Chairman, Editor-In-Chief

Over the last couple of days, a position statement signed by several colleagues of the National

Assembly including my humble person has been the main topic of discussion on several platforms and news outlets. This document has been subject to various interpretations, generating a lot of controversy on what its noble intentions were.

Given the unprecedented challenges the country faces, we are all called to take our responsibilities and we must boldly take it up when and where necessary. Cynics, in deliberately misunderstanding and misrepresenting the intentions of this document, have also seized the opportunity to peddle innuendos of my collusion with the regime in its poor management of the Anglophone crisis and from seeking to benefit from it. It is this toxic politics, to which we have subjected every aspect of our national life which is at the very heart of the protraction of some of the crisis we face today.

 For the last 4-5 years, political apprentices have used sentimental judgements as a tool to stoke the sympathy of desolate Cameroonians, who have suffered and continue to suffer from various trials but never truly suggest any actual solution to the problems our fellow compatriots face. We will never succeed in building the Cameroon we believe in through such cynicism and in trivialising every debate in the country.

We are faced with several hard choices and we must face up to the truth and make those tough decisions. As famously quoted by Martin Luther King, Jr “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. The true neighbour will risk his position, his prestige, and even his life for the welfare of others. “

That said, the position by some members of the Cameroon National Assembly was published on February 22, 2021, in response to a petition from the United States Congress sent on February 17, 2021 by some 40 members of the United States Congress to the Biden administration. This petition was asking the administration to suspend the repatriation of Cameroonians from the United States to Cameroon because conditions in Cameroon continue to worsen as violence continues and the pandemic continues to take its public health and economic toll…

 In matters of parliamentary diplomacy, the position of a parliament is usually entertained by the opposing parliament concerned, providing a response to the position in question except in cases of escalation. It was therefore within our remit, as representatives of the people, to provide a weighted response and seek further methods through which to best engage with these concerned members of the American Congress.

In response therefore, a position was taken on behalf of the Cameroonian Parliament and which can be summarized in its conclusion by the following words, “As legislators, we welcome the genuine expression of concern and support for the well-being of the vast majority of Cameroonians. We urge members of the United States Congress to engage more vigorously to ensure compliance with the international conventions against transnational crime and criminality to which the United States is a signatory and to ensure that their country is not a safe haven for perpetrators and funders of acts of extreme violence and terrorism on the people of Cameroon”.

This response, for those who have taken the time to read it, is both diplomatically correct and courteous. As an unusual first, this document provided a medium of exchange from the Cameroon Parliament with foreign counterparts on a topic that has been the major concern for every Cameroonian, an opportunity I personally welcomed. The document in itself evoked several aspects, which make it foolhardy to read it in a singular context. It is necessary to unpack both statements and answer some questions, while pondering the proposal of “…suspending repatriation flights back to Cameroon…” for the various reasons provided, which include but are not limited to the war in the English-speaking regions.

These questions are:

Firstly, does this de-escalate the ongoing crisis in the country? The answer is a resounding NO!

Should we be encouraging and celebrating more and more Cameroonians who are forced away from the responsibility of building this nation, the comfort of their homes in the hope of seeking asylum in the United States of America? Again, the resounding answer is NO!

Does America provide safe harbour and anchor for the financiers, propagandists and sponsors of the war? Resounding YES!

Have those who have been repatriated so far been subject to any severe treatment besides the psychological, physical and economic cost of their journey, which would have been all but avoided had we the right government in place? Once again, a resounding NO!

Do I feel for such Cameroonians who have been through such unbearable conditions, forced away from home in search of better? Absolutely YES.

Do I feel there is another way we can solicit the support of the Biden Administration to ending the crisis and ensuring that Cameroonians feel welcomed and safe in their very homes? Absolutely YES.

Those are some key questions every patriotic Cameroonian must be asking and to which we must provide true answers. My political goal is not to look for the best means by which to portray the weaknesses of the country, but rather to the best way to resolve its imminent challenges. That is the responsibility I have as a representative of the people and a duty I must uphold.

 I am therefore baffled by the various negative reactions that I have received from this petition. Not that I am surprised by them, but rather by some of the authors of the criticism levied against me. Some have questioned the audacity to question or seem unyielding to a document regarding the state of affairs in Cameroon from the United States.

 Some have questioned why I appended my signature to a ‘CPDM initiated document’ as a member of the opposition and finally some political parasites once again are hoping to gain relevance in the face of the buzz this newsworthy action is making.

When we consider the questions above, our actual challenge becomes evident. We can see how a genuine problem became hostage to the fantasies of some virtual leaders and gun wielding miscreants. From the onset, the Anglophone problem, which enjoyed the full support of every meaningful Cameroonian and to which we formulated the problem question adequately and had a clear roadmap for its resolution, was side-tracked by a group. They hijacked the “struggle” by peddling the idea of an independent country.

 Driven by frustrations and misgivings with the system and the vices we have condemned over such a long period, the idea of an independent country where they could reset and restart afresh was very appealing to several young men and women. They greeted this false believe with so much enthusiasm after giving up all hope and trust in the system. We must not forget the effect of this narrative on the escalation of this crisis. From the moment they embarked on this method, any other position or any other leader was dealt all sorts of derogatory terms.

 Several well-meaning Cameroonians were forced out of this debate because of its toxicity. For those who rightly evoke the absence since the start of this terrible war in the North-West and South-West of a real debate on the issue in the Cameroonian parliament, I would like to begin to reassure them that I am offended as much as they are by this inexplicable incongruity maintained by the CPDM majority. In their short-sightedness, they never imagined the impact the SDF debate on the crisis would have brought about. We petitioned and revolted on the floor of parliament and today they see the need to take action. By this therefore, we would call for more discussions on the floor of parliament on the crisis.

The SDF to which I belong is for a strong Cameroon, united in its diversity through a federal system set up with a broad consensus and which gives pride of place to local development and the enhancement of the specificities of its components in a participatory and inclusive democracy.

 We are for a true inclusive dialogue to resolve the crisis in the North West and South West. Our social democratic and progressive values are for peace all over the country and we carry values which dictate to us that there can be no real and lasting peace without justice and this justice knows no borders. The SDF has given its all to try to bring peace to the North West and South West regions for the past five years in a deadly conflict in which we are not a party but for which we are paying an immeasurable price. This, however, will not deter us from sticking to our democratic fundamentals enshrined in our internal constitution.

Party members should therefore not be drawn into this sentimental expressions and futile debates fanned by political lackeys. To do politics is to have political ideas, a political program, a clear vision of the economic and social mix that you want for your country. Political life is the confrontation of these ideas and these programs. Let’s talk and debate about ideas.

Let us be focused and reflect together on the fundamental problems of our society and propose to the electorate a program based on socio-democratic and progressive values to solve them. This is what the SDF should be for the days and weeks to come. This is my vision.

 Conserving old positions divides, adopting change unites. I live my political struggle as a divine blessing. Being misunderstood, stigmatized, or just fought is an inseparable part of this fight. I am for the unity of all the political forces of the left, of all the progressives. I am for a strong and united SDF. Only the struggle liberates and together we win.

Hon. Joshua N. Osih

Member of Parliament

Cameroon has been touted as an oasis of peace in a desert of chaos for many decades, but for some time now, the country has gradually been ranking itself among the most dangerous, corrupt and chaotic countries to live in as dissent and frustration spread across the country like wildfire.

Four years ago, the country’s president, Paul Biya, erroneously declared war on the country’s English-speaking minority which was simply demonstrating to bring its sorry plight to the attention of the government and the international community and what Mr. Biya and his collaborators thought would be wrapped up in a week has now lasted four years with more than 7,000 young Cameroonians already sent to an early grave in a war that has no raison d’etre.

As the government and militia have transformed the country into an open air killing field, the country’s economy has taken a nosedive, with millions of Cameroonians seeking employment and thousands losing their jobs in the country’s two English-speaking regions where the killings are going on unabated.

The number of internally displaced person has continued to swell, while millions have fled to neighboring Nigeria where they are living rough and waiting for the fighting to end for them to return to their country, though their homes have been razed by government soldiers who are wont to inflicting collective punishment on the population each time an army soldier is killed.

But it is not only Southern Cameroons that is going through such an apocalypse. The northern part of the country has been the theater of violent confrontations between government troops and Boko Haram fighters who have bombed many civilians into an early grave.

While the government has been active in the North hoping that it could roll back Boko Haram fighters who are believed to come from Nigeria, government forces have succeeded to alienate Northerner due to massive and bloody killings and abuse of the civilian population which now sympathizes with Boko Haram fighters who are sometimes viewed as liberators.

Noted for its corruption, the government has never really sought to address those issues that are really threatening national unity and integration. The North, like many parts of the country, has been neglected, with very little development projects being implemented in that part of the country.

Tribalism and nepotism are really tearing the country apart as most senior government positions are only occupied by the president’s tribesmen and those loyal to him and his ruling crime syndicate known as the CPDM.

However, it is not the government’s nepotism that is the issue but the results it has posted over the last four decades. Cameroonians would not be bothered if those occupying those strategic positions were really delivering desired results.

While across the country the unemployment rate is high, it is a lot higher in the northern region of the country where there are no companies, no roads, no hospitals and no social services and financial assistance that can even cushion the impact of the economic hardship.

The frustrations in the North are legion and the pain is excruciating. The North has lost almost everything it had during the Amadou Ahidjo days and this is really painful.

Northerners have grudges and they want to get their pound of flesh sooner rather than later. The Biya regime had killed thousands of Northerners, especially senior northern military officials, following a coup d’état in 1984 that led to the country’s first president, Amadou Ahidjo, fleeing to Senegal where he died and is currently lying in an unmarked grave.

This bitterness and the corruption which have robbed the northern population of many services has pushed the frustrated northern population to set up a militia which is now armed and willing to fight the Yaounde government that has never incorporated dialogue into its national development and integration strategy.

The new militia is enjoying huge support from muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia, Quatar, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates which surely have a hidden agenda that may result in the long term destabilization of the country.

Cameroon is falling apart and the way things are shaping up, if care is not taken, it might end up like Zaire, currently the Democratic Republic of Congo, where since its brutal dictator, Mobutu Seseseko, fell in 1994, the country has been unstable and the number of militia has grown by leaps and bounds and the country has become the epitome of political chaos.

The international community must stop looking the other way as Cameroon continues its unfortunate but sure descend to the bottom of the abyss of chaos and corruption.

With new armed groups cropping up on a daily basis, it is obvious that the country which is now on life support may one day implode and the consequences could linger for a very long time.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

The man responsible for running a prosperous nation to the ground is indeed a blessing to his people and Cameroonians are lucky to have him as their head of state. State radio and television says he indeed a Jesus Christ.

Recently, the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime announced its expenditure on cars which is expected to be made this 2021 in thirty administrative departments.

In spite of the difficult economic situation in the two Cameroons, the Biya administration that only cares about the French Cameroun Kaiser, his acolytes and represents falsehood intends to increase its car fleet in 2021.

Cameroon Concord News Group understands that for the current year, the consortium of crime syndicates in Yaoundé will be spending the sum of FCFA 5,343,285,000 in car purchases.

The Ministry of Territorial Administration comes first with an estimated expenditure of 850 million FCFA. The Prime Minister’s Office (460 million FCFA), the Ministry of Health (416 million FCFA), the Presidency of the Republic (nearly 400 million FCFA), the Ministry of Youth and Civic Education (269 million FCFA), the National Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism (250 million FCFA), the Ministry of External Relations (246, 4 million FCFA), the Ministry of Economy (211 million FCFA), the Ministry of Commerce (210 million FCFA), the Ministry of Women’s Promotion (193.5 million FCFA), the Ministry of Transport (178 million FCFA), the Ministry of Scientific Research (177 million FCFA), the Supreme Court (153 million FCFA).

The Ministry of Labour (CFAF 125 million), the Ministry of Domains (CFAF 120 million), the Ministry of Mines (CFAF 110 million), the Ministry of Public Procurement (CFAF 114 million), the Ministry of Employment and Professional Training (CFAF 108 million), the Ministry of Decentralisation and Local Development (CFAF 102 million), the Ministry of Agriculture (CFAF 100 million), the Ministry of Water and Energy (CFAF 100 million), the Constitutional Council (CFAF 90 million), the Ministry of the Civil Service (CFAF 80 million), the Ministry of Tourism and Leisure (CFAF 60 million), the Ministry of the Environment (CFAF 60 million), the National Disarmament Committee (CFAF 60 million), the Ministry of Social Affairs (CFAF 50 million).

In French speaking Cameroun, it is business as usual despite pressure from the European Union, and more recently the Vatican for the 88 year-old Biya to reconcile the country and make peace with the people of Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia.

 The Francophone dominated government is still in favour of a military response to the crisis in Southern Cameroons and nobody not even the Holy Father Pope Francis has succeeded to talk President Biya out of the madness and cruelty he has brought to a once prosperous nation.

Buying of expensive cars and handing them to senior regime officials both in government and in the military  and above all, having superior military power, will still not put an end to the Ambazonia resistance because the determination of eight million Southern Cameroonians will surely keep the military in the jungles of Southern Cameroons for a very long time.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

The Secretary of State of the Holy See paid a six-day diplomatic visit to Cameroon, a country ravaged by civil war, in which the Catholic Church plays a key role in resolving the conflict.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State for the Holy See arrived in Cameroon on January 28, 2021 for a six-day visit, at the end of which he gave the pallium to Msgr. Andrew Neka, metropolitan of Bamenda, in the northwestern part of the country. The archdiocese was not chosen at random: in fact, it is at the heart of the Anglophone conflict which has plagued the political and social life of Cameroon for nearly five years now.

The world cannot be totally wrong. The Pope has called for peace. He has spoken to Mr. Biya about the need to engage Southern Cameroonians in a frank and fruitful dialogue but Mr. Biya has remained adamant.

The Pope, like many heads of state has sent special envoys to talk Mr. Biya out of the madness and cruelty he has brought to a once prosperous nation, but his inhuman indifference to wise counsel has only made his soldiers to think that they have carte blanche to kill and maim whoever they meet in their path.

This mentality is not addressing any issues. At best, it is counterproductive. The chaos the war is spreading in Cameroon should have advised the government to rethink its ways. The number of civilian and military deaths is rising and there is no end in sight.

The government might have superior military power, but the determination of eight million Southern Cameroonians will surely keep the military in the jungles of Southern Cameroons for a very long time.

Many soldiers have been killed and thousands have been maimed by determined Southern Cameroonian fighters and this has struck fear in the minds of these young soldiers, many of whom have only been trained for six months and rushed to the killing fields of Southern Cameroons where they are made to see death first hand.

The Genesis of the Current Conflict

To reconstruct part of the context of the current crisis, one must return to 1961: West Cameroon—a former British colony—is made up of Northern Cameroon and Southern Cameroon. Through a referendum organized by the United Nations, the populations of Southern Cameroon chose to join as a federated state to Eastern Cameroon—a former French colony—while the people of Northern Cameroon opted for an attachment to Nigeria.

But, in 1972, a constitutional reform completely shook up the situation, transforming federal Cameroon into a unitary republic, depriving the English-speaking region of its autonomy. Another twist in 2016: a movement to strike by teachers and lawyers demanding more recognition from the central state. Demonstrations quickly led to an uprising in the English-speaking regions of the northwest and southwest.

The conflict then degenerated into a murderous crisis with clashes between separatist troops and the regular army: the Catholic Church quickly found itself on the front line in an attempt to mediate, in order to find concerted solutions. A delicate position that earned it reprisals, sometimes bloody, from the separatists and sharp reproaches from the executive.

Since its outbreak, this civil war that lives up to its name has claimed more than 2,000 dead and 650,000 displaced. In addition, more than 800,000 children have been out of school.

A Diplomatic Visit for Peace

The day after his arrival, the Secretary of State of the Holy See spoke with the Cameroonian Head of State, Paul Biya: “we discussed the various points concerning the conflicts, in particular the situation in the north and the southwest of the country. What we are impatiently waiting for is reconciliation and peace, especially in the current situation where there are many other crises starting with COVID-19,” declared Cardinal Parolin, at the conclusion of the presidential interview.

“Cordial exchange…with his eminence Cardinal Pietro Parolin, bearer of a message of peace,” the Head of State soberly declared on his Twitter account.

The US Maryland gang had called for a boycott of the Mass celebrated in Bamenda on January 31 in order to denounce what is considered to be the partisan the attitude of the Catholic Church in the conflict. But the legitimate Southern Cameroons Interim Government headed by Vice President Dabney Yerima threw its weight behind the visit.  A partially followed appeal: despite the suspension of activities in town and deserted roads, the faithful came by the thousands to attend the giving of the pallium to their archbishop.

“We are sure,” Archbishop Nkea said, “that your arrival in Bamenda will be like rain, which never falls without watering the land,” said the Bamenda ordinary. “This visit by Cardinal Parolin is a light in our tunnel. It is read as a sign that peace will soon return,” the Cameroonian prelate believes. Let us hope so for this war-torn country.

By Chi Prudence Asong with files from the Vatican

I long for a Cameroon where anglophone children no longer mimic the sound of gunfire, and Mondays are no longer “stay-at-home” days decreed by armed men.

I want to go back to a time – not so long ago – when education was a religion in every household, and schools were places children were eager to attend, promising a brighter future.

These days, we have school massacres, boycotts, kidnappings.

We have more than 80 percent of schools closed, and over 1.1 million children out of class.

We have teachers and students stripped naked, terrified, jeered at by gunmen, and those images posted to social media.

We have stay-at-home days – ordered by separatist fighters to demonstrate anglophone solidarity – that merely impoverish us all.

There has been four years of war, but all that suffering seems to be largely ignored by the rest of the world. That’s why, as an investigative human rights journalist, I feel compelled to write this.

Schools become a target

“Ambazonia” secessionists took up arms in 2017 to protest the marginalisation of the anglophone Northwest and Southwest regions by the majority French-speaking Cameroon – an issue keenly felt in those zones at the time.

Much of the killing and violence in this conflict has been by the government security forces – their abuses well documented by rights groups. The counter-insurgency campaign fuels the cycle of violence, and the alleged impersonation of separatist fighters adds confusion to the tragedy.

But lately, trust in the separatist fighters has also begun to fade.

They have enforced an unpopular school boycott since 2016 to protest what they see as the dismantling of the region’s separate education system, and its assimilation within French-speaking Cameroon.

The turning point for public sympathy came in October 2020, when armed men stormed a school in Kumba in the Southwest region and killed seven children and wounded 13 others. Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack, although the government blamed the separatists.

The Kumba killing became just one in a series. In November, gunmen attacked Kulu Memorial College in the Southwest, and to punish the teachers and students for attending school, stripped them naked and beat them.

Barely 24 hours later, 11 teachers were kidnapped by armed men from a mission school in Kumbo, in the Northwest region. They were released after two days, following pressure from civil society groups and the Presbyterian church.

Intimidated, the local population sits on the fence for fear of being tagged as sympathisers by either side. Others are packing up and leaving the conflict zones.

Evolution of the crisis

Like nearly all the children from these regions, I now know the choking effect of tear gas and the sounds of live bullets.

At the start of the crisis in 2016, I was an eager journalism and mass communication student at the University of Buea – Cameroon’s most prestigious English-speaking university – in the capital of the Southwest region.

It was a time of high tension. Student protests against alleged corruption by the vice chancellor turned into much more serious anti-government demonstrations – and the security forces responded with beatings and violence.

The iconic image of those days is shaky cellphone footage from the Buea campus of the security forces deliberately humiliating female students, forcing them to roll in the mud.

There has been four years of war, but all that suffering seems to be largely ignored by the rest of the world.

As students, we were unsure whether it was worth the risk to continue with our studies. But the idea of missing our final exams after three tough years was an even more painful thought.

That was then: Things now are far worse.

Women and girls have been hardest hit by the school closures and lockdowns imposed by the separatists – with a spike in teenage pregnancy, rape, and transactional sex.

In Kumbo, a hotbed of the crisis in the Northwest region, a government health survey of girls aged between 15 and 19 found that the majority were out of school and almost half had become teen mothers.

Yaoundé and major cities like Douala and Bafoussam have seen a huge influx of displaced people. The streets are full of young anglophone children hawking goods. In private homes, young girls are employed as domestic workers, earning as little as $35 a month.

And then came COVID-19 last year. It shut down the world but not the war, and has made the struggles of already poor and vulnerable households so much worse.

Even if parents wanted to send their children to school, the fees are a burden that many can no longer afford.

Change of heart?

I sometimes wonder what would have become of me if I hadn’t mustered the courage to ignore the unrest and complete my studies at the University of Buea.

I have opportunities now – working in Yaoundé – that so many children from the conflict zone will never have; children who these days can barely count to 10, let alone read.

That is leading to some rethinking among separatist leaders in the diaspora – where nearly all are based – over the continuation of the school boycott. After championing the ban for the past four years, activists like Mark Bareta and Eric Tataw, for example, have pressed for armed fighters to allow children to go back to school.

That is good news. But how does the damage of four lost years get repaired?

There was a time when schools in the anglophone region were famous throughout the country as bastions of quality education. This war was supposedly waged to liberate and raise up our children. Poverty and illiteracy seem the only winners.

Source: The Humanitarian