Thomas Tangem is a Southern Cameroons prisoner of conscience held by the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime in Yaoundé. He was recently handcuffed on a hospital bed at the Central Hospital in Yaoundé following directives from the superintendent of the Central Prison in Kondengui, Hamadou Modi despite him being seriously ill.

The extremely vulnerable Southern Cameroons citizen was handcuffed to a prison officer and transported in an old dusty prison van to the Central Hospital and later handcuffed on a hospital bed. Thomas Tangem was taken to hospital three times lately after he woke breathless, unable to move and without any feeling down the right side of his body.

Thomas Tangem is a prisoner of conscience and a member of the Southern Cameroons group of activists arrested by the Biya Francophone government for their role in peaceful protests four years ago.

The Ambazonia Interim Government collected testimony regarding his arbitrary arrest and torture late last year and despite the intervention of a legal defense team, the Cameroon government judiciary authorities have refused to release him.

Thomas Tangem was among the hundreds of Southern Cameroons detainees who joined the Ambazonia leader President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and his top aides in staging a hunger strike in protest at the collective punishment and acts of torture that French Cameroun police and military establishments inflicted upon Southern Cameroons prisoners in French Cameroun jails.

Thomas Tangem is going through unimaginable torture and his medical conditions have deteriorated considerably as a result of his incarceration. Yaoundé prison and hospital authorities have denied him everything including physiotherapy and surgery.  He is currently being held in solitary confinement in a windowless room in Central Hospital.

We of the Cameroon Concord News Group remind the Biya Francophone government of its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and we call on the Yaounde authorities to release Thomas Tangem and all prisoners of conscience in French Cameroun jails and detention centers.

We further call on the international community, and in particular EU member states and the United States, to demand the release of the Southern Cameroons leader President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and all Ambazonia detainees.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Group Chairman/Editor-In-Chief

Interim Government Statement on state of the Revolution

Fellow Ambazonians,

Our revolution has suffered and is suffering in the hands of dishonest individuals amongst us. Trust is a major reason for our success to date. The bad seeds within us whose main aim is to propagate the enemy’s agenda to divide us and derail our revolution will not succeed. We have two enemies in our fight for freedom and independence; the enemy within who misuses our resources and the enemy without who claims to represent our collective voices. The enemies within act like Judas Iscariot without a conscience and because they lack consciences they are caught in their own game. We will not waste our time on them because truth never fails.

Our work has been to bring back integrity and sanity to our revolution. Our progress is painful but progressive. We are working mostly with Southern Cameroonians of goodwill and people of unquestionable integrity. The leaders of the Interim Government of Ambazonia (Southern Cameroons) have never had any engagements with La Republique du Cameroun in any form before the meeting regarding the United Nations Security Council resolution 2532.  This resolution is in support of March 31 2020 call for a cessation of hostilities around the world as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

No member of any department of your Interim Government was asked during their services within the Interim Government to engage with La Republique du Cameroun. Let me state that Nick Santos has never officially represented the IG to engage with La Republique du Cameroun. We are bigger than name-calling, smear campaigns, blackmail and the defamation of the character of respectable Ambazonian citizens like our leaders in detention, Justice Ayah, Dr.Makongo, Dr Cho Ayaba, and John Mbah Akuroh etc when those within us cannot deliver what they were bought over to deliver to the enemy because of our steadfastness.

What we are experiencing now is a healthy sign that our revolution is moving in the right direction.  The evil within is being exposed. It will help us to forge ahead with our quest for freedoms, liberties and above all a free independent Southern Cameroons. No energy should be wasted on those within who want to delay our quest to a free Southern Cameroons. They should listen to their consciences and do what is right. There is room for the prodigal son and the time is now.

I call on all Southern Cameroonians to stay focused. Let us spend time on the work at hand and deliver for our people as we cannot give evil a chance to prevail.

Thank You

Dabney Yerima

Vice President

Federal Republic of Ambazonia

There is a saying that when you have been in slavery for too long, and you suddenly face the prospects of freedom, you become scared and cling to slavery. That’s why I pity the growing army of sycophantic blacklegs who are making frenetic efforts to discredit President Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe, with the invidious intention of torpedoing the Ambazonia struggle to restore its independence. These mendicants have been living in the dark for too long and want to continue living in darkness because light hurts them.

The latest poster child of this pre-bendal nihilism is a certain dunder-head scum lawyer who goes by the name John Fru Nsoh. In his frustration, this wretched piece of misery called John Fru Nsoh suffers from delusions of grandeur. To raise his nuisance value and make himself relevant to the Ambazonia struggle, Nsoh has taken to social media platforms to attack President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and the NERA-10; casting banal and vituperative aspersions, ornamented with provocative and insulting grandiloquence. In a video outburst circulating on social media, the mentally-retarded septuagenarian Nsoh, who is tottering on the borders of senile decay, described President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe – a man who rose to the pinnacle of his professional career through solid, academic and personal achievements – as a “capital fool.”

Even if one concedes Nsoh’s right to free speech and his own opinion, one must marvel at a situation where a lawyer who failed to stage a spirited defence of his clients despite pocketing millions of francs to do so, will be so ungrateful as to shamefacedly defame his own clients simply because he was sacked as principal counsel for the NERA-10 because of his poor and unsatisfactory performance. Nsoh, a man wanting in competence, was hired to represent the NERA-10 in Yaoundé and paid handsomely for his unsatisfactory exploits by the Interim Government of Ambazonia. Nsoh’s catastrophic mismanagement of the financial resources of his clients led to major fractures with other members of the defence team. His ignominious sack and subsequent mutation to a social media activist and anti-NERA-10 crusader has confounded even his most ardent supporters. Except for those who would prefer to negotiate the evidence, the verdict is that Nsoh is an empty suit with a loose tongue, running and talking on empty.

In an interview with Equinoxe TV which went viral on social media, Nsoh vindicated his credentials as a dotard by trying to be clever by half and tried unsuccessfully to make a distinction without a difference. He came across as uncivil, arrogant, ill-mannered, pompous, unaccountable, pretentious, full of avarice, hypocritically petulant, cunningly petty and astonishingly trivial. But it is not difficult for discerning Ambazonians to see through the braggadocio and self-aggrandizing posturing as he came across lamely as a bitter and cantankerous man; angry with himself and motivated by the desire for revenge and out to gain cheap publicity. He has lost the respect of many.

Being old and ignorant is bad. Adding financial insufficiency and dishonesty to self-elected amnesia is unacceptably depressing. As one grows older, wisdom should be one of our most dependable and requisite companions. Nsoh’s moral squalor has embarrassed Ambazonians on both sides of the intellectual and moral spectrum. His refusal to engage in the truth and facts in any shape or form is astonishing to discerning Ambazonians.  The climax of the drama of his life which has now become a personal circus was his decision to seek political asylum in the United States of America, where he is now a familiar face in the bootleg joints in the Washington DC area; where solicits free achu and booze. Quite predictably, he has offered himself to be used as cannon fodder by Pastors Sako Ikome and Chris Anu in their campaign to destabilize the Amba revolution with tele-guided attacks directed at President Ayuk Tabe and the NERA-10. His first-division factory-made defamation on Sisiku- a man with a superior intellect and better professional record – are now tenacious and repugnant.

Almost four years into the Ambazonia revolution, nothing has been robust enough to derail the coalition and bond that President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe has built with his people. The decapitation policy of Paul Biya and the French Cameroun regime didn’t work and not even the pathological lies and insults by Nsoh would succeed, where Biya failed. Ambazonians are desperate for coherent leadership and Nsoh and the gang of social media warlords, are embarrassments not leaders.

Unlike Mola Njoh Litumbe, who epitomized the Ambazonia struggle by staying in his home in Buea and leading the resistance from the front until he transitioned, John Fru Nsoh, a monument of absurdity, who has nothing to show, after practising law for over 50 years, is hiding in a basement in the US moonlighting as a social media warlord. What a disgrace! The intellectually questionable and morally deficient pensioner reflects the worst of the Amba revolution. Public intellectuals, elites and elders have been appalled by John Fru Nsoh’s scandal of stealing funds while representing the NERA-10. Now, he is associated with genuine calamity by being a regular trash contributor on the moribund ABC TV Facebook streams to disseminate junk, untruths and insults.

The breadth and depth of the anti-John Fru Nsoh alliance now in Ambaland is a remarkable testimony to his capacity to inspire disgust from his words, deceits and actions. The principal worry for many Ambazonians is how can a man in God’s waiting room be so thoughtless and infantile with the truth and integrity? One big positive for Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and the NERA-10 is that the old man’s attacks on men behind bars are fundamentally based on falsehoods and the people of Ambazonia know this. Shrewd and well-mannered humans don’t trust an old man with a running mouth. Ambazonians with brains feel loyalty towards people who have sacrificed their lives to fight for justice and liberation of their people.

The Ambazonian revolution urgently requires the silence and absence of John Fru Nsoh. In his head, he must know that. But he lacks the competence and decorum to reach such a decision. It is hard to sympathise with the pensioner after his persistent personal attacks on the integrity of man who can’t defend himself.  The consensus seems to be that his emptiness and reliance on food stamps in the US for existence at his age might just be driving him to depression. John Fru Nsoh has demonstrated time without number, that he lacks the basic attributes of civility in public engagement and he should simply just shut up! John Fru Nsoh should not only be so clearly told, he should know he is fast becoming an embarrassment to Ambazonia and a national disgrace, and he should take his verbal diarrhea and empty grandstanding elsewhere.

At this time and in this matter as it concerns his attacks on the legitimate constituted authority representing the Ambazonian people, the adage that silence is golden does not at all apply. Rather than maintain a wooden silence, Nsoh is a clear and present danger to the Ambazonia struggle and must apologize to prove evidentially, beyond any reasonable doubt that he is indeed sorry. A failure to do this forthwith implies unapologetic arrogance. It is a matter of honor; if at all John Fru Nsoh has any left, that whatever accounts for his insulting impudence and offensive temerity, his insolence is one too many that would only stoke the embers of disunity and weaken the struggle. His shame is made more painful and pathetic because this is the time Ambazonia needs men and women of character. For a man of his age, becoming a public nuisance speaks to a mind, shallowly naïve and incapable of sound intellectual judgment. Certainly, John Fru Nsoh is one miscreant, Ambazonians can do without. He should shut up!

By Isong Asu

London Bureau Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group

OFFICE OF THE CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA COMMITTEE FOR THE DEFENSE TEAM OF SISIKU AYUK TABE & OTHER SOUTHERN CAMEROONIANS-AMBAZONIAN DETAINEES

PRESS STATEMENT

“Our Resolve to Stage a Peaceful Protest in front of the Principal Prison Kondengui Yaoundé to press on the Justice and Penitentiary Administrations to grant us access to our clients is maintained”

The defense Team of Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and the nine others in the Yaoundé Principal Prison is disappointed to announce that the Penitentiary and Justice Administrations have denied us access to our clients in their Prison.

Our senior colleague Barrister Emmanuel Simh had gone to the prison on July 15th, 2020 to meet with the superintendent, Mr.Isidore Angoule, to express this difficulty that we have been facing for over four months.

Mr.Angoule gave him his word that he will enable us to meet our clients after the hearing of their case, on July 17th, 2020. Sadly, upon our arrival, the officers on post stated that high instructions from hierarchy forbid lawyers from accessing their clients whereas other visitors were granted access. The superintendent was reported not to be on seat. Several attempts to get to him on phone were futile.

In reaction to the ban, Senior Emmanuel Simh called the Minister Delegate in the Ministry of Justice Jean de Dieu Momo, whom we know has been a human rights defender in the past, but he failed to react accordingly and we were obliged to stage a peaceful sit-in in front of the Principal Prison in Kondengui Yaoundé. We consider this as fatal to the right of counsel protected by section 240 (1) of the Criminal Procedure Code “counsel shall visit his client, in detention only between the hours of six (6) am and six (6) pm”.

Additionally, section 41 of decree No.92/052 of the 27th of March 1992 regulating the Penitentiary Administration in Cameroon guarantees the right of detainees to communicate with their counsel whenever they wish during visit without the presence of any guard.

The General Assembly of the United Nations adopted Resolutions in December 17th, 2015 on the Mandela Rules wherein minimum conditions for detainees were reinforced especially rule 61-1 in particular. These rights are absolute, fundamental and foundational to the Constitutional rights of any citizen or accused

Violations of the above instruments by the Penitentiary and Justice administrations are a deliberate attempt to continue to humiliate not only lawyers but our clients whom we represent. In this desperate situation, we CANNOT and SHALL NOT cross our arms to watch them persist in their illegal acts destined to frustrate us in our practice and most importantly to drag our profession into mud in the eyes of the public.

We have resolved to return to the Principal Prison Kondengui as soon as possible, to cause the Penitentiary and Justice authorities to grant us access to our clients. We invite counsel of the entire defense team and other learned colleagues, who have been perpetually harassed, disgraced, humiliated, and denied opportunity to assist their clients properly, to join us in our action that day. Our plea is that this call for action be heeded to so that the powers that be sit up, perform their functions, obey and respect the institutions of the Republic of Cameroon by permitting us to perform our duties as lawyers as well.

It should be recalled that over two years ago, the then Cameroun Minister of Communication, Mr.Issa Tchiroma, announced that 47 of our fellow citizens had been arrested in Nigeria, and put under custody for being ‘suspected’ terrorists. Our clients, Mr Julius Ayuk Tabe, Pr. Augustine Awasum, Barrister Elias Eyambe, Dr Henry Kimeng, Dr Fidelis Nde-Che, Dr Cornelius Njikimpi Kwanga, Dr Nfor Ngalla Nfor, Dr Egbe Ogork, Barrister Blaise Shufai Berinyuy, Mr Wilfred Tassang were among them. On August 19th and 20th, 2019, they were sentenced to life imprisonment.

During the nineteen hour charade, our Clients were unrepresented, as we had withdrawn our appearances in protest of the gross travesties. Even so, the Court proceeded to carry out a lopsided trial, condemned them to life and set onerous and unconscionable conditions of Appeal – amongst them payment of deposit fees of Five Million Francs FCFA. The case is before the Court of Appeal, for the Centre Region. It is with considerable frustration and dismay that the Cameroun Government through the Ministry of Justice is doing nothing to ensure that rights of the defense are protected. Severally and without any formal apology, the legal department-prosecution failed to produce our clients before the court during three consecutive hearings.

During the last hearing on July 16th, 2020 they were finally produced before the court. The presiding judge ordered the clerk of the session to call the matters on the cause list and then proceeded to call the names of the appellants. That was done and as we were waiting for the interpreter to translate the opening remarks of the judge into English to the understanding of our clients, we were surprised to see and hear the judge in utter vexatious utterances pursuing in the French language “…ils sont où les AyukTabe là? —–ils ne sont pas dans la salle —– nous ne sommes pas en guerre ici!! —– ils doivent se lever et se présenter à la barre ——l’affaire est renvoyée au 20 août 2020”.

Invariably the collegiate bench and the prosecution all French Speaking were very unresponsive to the usage of English in violation of section 26 of Law No 2019/019 of 24th December 2019, and the case was adjourned to 20 August 20th, 2020. This decision to adjourn was suomoto.

We bring the above violations of the law visited on our client held in prisons across Cameroon to the attention of the international community, local and international press to know that “Our Resolve to as demonstrated last July 17th 2020 to Stage a Peaceful Protest in front of the Principal Prison Kondengui Yaoundé to press on the Justice and penitentiary administrations to grant us access to our clients is maintained.

That, we have as duty to uphold the rule of law and respect of institutions to ensure that the basic rights of our clients are respected. That as advocates of justice we shall never be mute to incongruous acts of injustice for if we dare, this shall tantamount to complicity to injustice and anathema to the right of defense of our clients.

Done in Buea

This 22 July 2020

Barrister Amungwa Tanyi Nico

Many people thought that news of the informal meeting between the Yaoundé government and leaders of the revolution who have been in jail for almost three years would be a welcome relief to many Southern Cameroonians, but this move designed to start talks that might deliver peace to the people of Southern Cameroons does not seem to bring happiness to many of those who thought they would be at the forefront of things.

In every society, there are always people who will feel diminished when others get recognized or known and these are the people who feel that they have been rubbed up the wrong way as the Southern Cameroonian President, Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe, and his collaborators honored the international community’s invitation for informal talks that might pave the way for formal and comprehensive negotiations.

Mr. Ayuk Tabe and his team have demonstrated that they are still faithful to the principles that have driven the revolution from the very first day. The team has always placed the people’s interest above its own and it understands that a decision to end the fighting on the ground does not depend entirely on only those who are in jail. This explains why the team laid out some realistic conditions that the Yaoundé government must fulfill before any serious talks could take place.

The leaders believe in the total independence of Southern Cameroons and they know that they must tread carefully. Their demands included calling for a ceasefire which will require the military to go back to the barracks. This action will make it possible for Southern Cameroonians who have been traumatized for years to be psychologically liberated to go about their businesses without fear of sudden aggression.

They also called for the unconditional release of all those who have been detained and imprisoned as a result of the crisis as well as a declaration of a general amnesty for all Southern Cameroonians in the Diaspora, making it possible for them to visit their homeland without any embarrassment from the Yaoundé authorities.

The leaders also called on the Yaoundé government to participate in a genuine, open and inclusive dialogue without preconditions, with a timetable and venue, in the presence of an independent and impartial mediator acceptable to both parties.

The team was invited by the Yaoundé government that has been dragging its feet on the possibility of sincerely discussing the Southern Cameroons crisis that has put the country in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. President Ayuk Tabe and his collaborators did not have a choice. They are captives and are at the mercy of their captors, so they must listen, but have so far demonstrated that they will always express only the views that will reflect the genuine aspirations of the people of Southern Cameroons.

Since the people’s interest is paramount, they had to honor the invitation, especially as the international community was involved and has been urging both parties to seek ways to end the fighting and address those issues that triggered the fighting.

From every indication, this approach is ideal in the minds of peace-loving Southern Cameroonians, especially those who hold and understand that no matter how long the guns keep spitting out bullets, the final decision on separation, restoration or federalism will only be made at the negotiating table where all parties are properly represented; a point Southern Cameroonian leaders in jail reiterated by calling for the unconditional release of all those who have been detained and imprisoned as a result of the crisis as well as a declaration of a general amnesty for all Southern Cameroonians in the Diaspora.

But a bunch of warmongers led by highly discredited and easily corruptible people like Mr. Chris Anu, the disgraced former Communication Secretary of the collapsed Sako Interim Government; Mr. Boh Herbert whose major concern has been how he can be in the spotlight and Lawyer John Fru Nsoh who had to escape because he could not stand the heat in Cameroon, but is courageous enough to tag President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe as a fraud. Lawyer John Fru Nsoh still has many races to run in his life and the ones he has in the USA are tough and should keep him busy. Instead of seeking to split Southern Cameroonians who have wholeheartedly invested their confidence in President Julius Ayuk Tabe, he should use his experience as a lawyer to unite Southern Cameroonians. 

Their constant attacks on President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe for attending the informal talks facilitated by some ambassadors speak to their bad faith and dishonesty. Their hunger for recognition is gradually reducing them to stage buffoons. The only unfortunate thing is that Southern Cameroonians are not finding their drama funny. Southern Cameroonians need solutions to their problems and not theories from people whose only solution to the crisis is very unrealistic. There will never be any military solution to the crisis and anybody who holds that Southern Cameroons will have its way through fighting is simply deluding themselves and selling false dreams to the people on ground zero who are taking the brunt of the fighting.

Common sense will dictate that during critical moments like the one Southern Cameroonians are going through; most people will demonstrate objectivity and modesty in their analysis of the situation that has already consumed some 5,000 lives. Yes, the fighters cannot down their weapons at this time and President Ayuk Tabe has not called for that. He has simply articulated the people’s aspiration and that does qualify him for a death sentence as advocated by Mr. Boh Herbert and his band of attention seekers.

There will be a negotiation and that will be after a general amnesty would have been granted and all prisoners released. The talks will surely take place in a neutral location and when that time comes, all stakeholders in the conflict will be free to express their minds to ensure that the people of Southern Cameroons see their dream come true. For now, Mr. Boh Herbert must use his “wisdom” to understand that he is splitting Southern Cameroonians and weakening their ability to resist the dictatorship coming from Yaoundé. He should be wise enough to understand that silence could be golden in certain circumstances, especially now that unity is considered a huge asset against the Yaoundé government that is looking for ways of disuniting the people with a view to imposing its laws on them.

In Africa, it is assumed that age comes with wisdom, but Mr. Boh Herbert and Barrister John Fru Nsoh have not proven that they are wise despite the clear signs of senile decay on their faces. It is time for them to stop singing the wrong music. Southern Cameroonians are not buying what they are selling. Many are simply asking if Mr. Boh Herbert and his team are not playing for the Yaoundé government that has a history of corrupting its opponents. While they accuse President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe of corruption, they must know that that logic clearly cuts both ways. For now, the Yaoundé government is simply enjoying the fake family feud that Mr. Boh Herbert and his team have triggered just to be in the spotlight. 

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman/Editor-In-Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group

The butterfly thinks himself a bird. Such is the case with the Ambazonian struggle that hundreds of butterflies envisage themselves as parrots. Factionalism is a natural part of the human family but never before has the human community, fighting for the same goal, seen as many factions as in the current Ambazonian struggle. There are more so-called frontline movements in this fight for liberation than followers. One of such groups goes by the appellation of AGovC under the leadership of Dr Ayaba Cho Lucas. Like many of the trivial factions in the revolution, they claim to have all the answers for the Ambazonian people.

The Interim Government of Ambazonia, the major frontline movement, under Dabney Yerima adopted a policy of collaboration with the AGovC and other miniature factions for the greater good of the nation. The unease for many veteran political commentators with such collaboration was the AGovC’s inflated ego, history with the truth, and integrity. Twelve months after the move from the Ambazonia vice president, the AGovC has proven their critics right.

The cunning side of the AGovC with its double speak was already raising concerns within the Interim Government and SCBC TV. The abuse of trust by so-called AGovC activists on the national broadcaster to question the integrity of President AyukTabe wasn’t well received by the elites and elders. Suppressed anger has been the portion of IG sympathisers in dealing with AGovC. 

Many within the IG and academic community have raised questions many times about AGoVC comedians and morons passing for activists and spokespeople. But Comrade Dabney was confident that he could tame these unruly knuckleheads.

Earlier this week, Dr Ayaba put out a statement in which he put the final nail into the coffin of the fragile partnership. In saying one thing to the leaders in detention when he was briefed about the pre-talks in Yaoundé and expressing another view in public, the concerns of many Ambazonians about the true intentions and trustworthiness of Ayaba were confirmed. The sole purpose of the AGovC was to propagate and defend Cho Ayaba’s feelings and demands. The elites, elders and discerning Ambazonians find him deeply offensive and a major security risk to the nation.

As a keen observer of the political landscape in Cameroon for the last 4 decades, I am befuddled to see that Ambazonians have failed woefully to pick up increasingly obvious clues on the similarities between the erstwhile sit-tight Chief Scribe of the SDF opposition in Cameroon, Ni John Fru Ndi, and the Jean Bendel Bokassa look-alike of the AGovC called Ayaba Cho Lucas. Is this is a particular trait from Mezam/Santa because both mis-leaders come from this enclave?

The SDF chief managed to successfully eliminate all intellectuals and individuals with a backbone to challenge him in the party and surrounded himself with spineless stooges and truants. Chairman Fru Ndi has never seen collaboration or the unity of the opposition parties in Cameroon as useful except looking through the egomaniac prism of Fru Ndi at the helm because the SDF is the biggest and strongest party. What a mockery! Have we quickly forgotten the many failed attempts at collaboration and unity of opposition parties in Cameroon?

Now enters Ayaba Cho Lucas, the knucklehead and power monger in Norway in a similar political contraption called AGovC/ADF. In mirror-like similarities like identical twins, Dr. Ayaba Cho has eliminated all intellectuals and people with backbones who could challenge his waywardness with spineless, frail and not so manly stooges, some of whom could not even make a single complete sentence in proper English as his henchmen.

He wants to be leader at all cost with the pitiful argument that he has been advocating for the Southern Cameroon’s cause for 32 years. Longevity in the struggle is respected but sound personal achievements, integrity, leadership skills, and a clear vision are revered. The people of Ambazonia want leaders who know where they are going. The Ambazonia people understand that 32 years in the struggle while making the same mistakes is akin to insanity. The nature of our emergency calls for much more than a village celebrity with a long history of divisiveness.

For a long time, many in the IG have discerned the AGovC as a tragedy waiting to happen. Honesty and collaboration holds a vague terror in the small mind of Ayaba and his gang of ruffians. They are deluded. Extremely deluded! Our people say when the moon is shining; the cripple becomes hungry for a walk. The AGovC is inundated with many intellectual and academic cripples who count the Queens Language in the past and present continuous tenses. The adoption of Pidgin English as a language of communication in this revolution has saved them excessive embarrassment by masking their deficiencies. 

My sources tell me that time without number, Ayaba has sent representatives to important collaboration meetings with the IG and third parties because he is too significant to make appearances. What planet does he live in? The delusions of grandeur in the AGovC are tragic. They believe in their own propaganda which is a dangerous disorder. These paper tigers and social media warlords are possessed and self-absorbed in their illusions.

In the Southern Cameroons of pre social media, AGovC characters would be nowhere close to political leadership. Their opinions would be ruthlessly dismissed. Their infantile stubbornness, naiveté and pride are their greatest undoing. Ayaba in particular, has not got complete control over his character and temperament which is a huge worry. His character is tremendously flawed and millions in this revolution trust him not.

He is ruled by one passion; to hate everything that every other leader does, especially Sisiku AyukTake. He is bitterly consumed by not being elected the leader of the Southern Cameroons revolution.

Ayaba Cho just like Fru Ndi has been the main stumbling block in all attempts at collaboration of forces within the Ambazonian Revolution. Facts and history are always stubborn to shove aside. SCYL breakup, 4th Conclave disruption, Dadi go-in-alone, The ARCC, The Washington DC collaboration conference, the ASC, the SCLC and the current IG-Care-AGovC charade, all attempts at collaboration have failed woefully. Why? I will intimate that you ask Dr Know-it-all Ayaba because just like the Chief in Ntarikon, Ayaba and the AGovC/ADF cynically believe they have the biggest and strongest forces on the ground. Although with no evidence and no political organization, he believes he has all the answers to the Ambazonian revolution. What a delusional comedian!

The King of Ntarikon has occupied the helm of the moribund political party for over 30 years. Ayaba has been at the helm of his own moribund organization for over 3 decades too. Posterity will not treat us fairly if we allow another Fru Ndi-like character within our political spectrum. It’s time to take a deeper look into the chameleon-like, disruptive and manipulative nature of Dr. Ayaba Cho Lucas.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Group Chairman and Editor-in-Chief

The recent press release by the Cameroon government Minister of Communication, Rene Sadi in which he stated that Yaoundé is not in any talks with President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and his top aides’ as widely reported by local and international media has pushed many political commentators to come to the conclusion that there’s no place for the 87 year old President Biya in the future of the so-called “one and indivisible Cameroon.”

We of the Cameroon Concord News Group are in support of this tough line after a week long investigation in the nation’s capital Yaoundé revealed that Biya is simply a ceremonial head and is no longer in command.

It is an open secret that the French Cameroun regime is behind 99.9 per cent of the atrocities committed in Southern Cameroons. But Paris has stood by its ally and no one, not the EU or the UNSC is pushing for sanctions against Biya and the Francophone dominated army.

The UN Secretary General António Guterres is helpless but still posing as a leader who is ready to do what is necessary. After receiving a gold statue from President Biya during his last trip to Cameroon, Guterres has failed to make Yaoundé aware of its responsibility in the bloody actions going on in Southern Cameroons.

The President of the Swiss Federation spoke by telephone with President Biya and tweeted that Switzerland was ready to host face-to-face discussions with both French and British Southern Cameroons leaders. However, nothing is being said about whether the international community is willing to commit itself to regime change in Yaoundé.

Removing Biya should be EU and US top priority

We of the Cameroon Concord News and the Cameroon Intelligence Report are strongly in favour of any international and well coordinated action that will remove Biya from office. To be sure, some form of regime change is inevitable in Yaoundé.

The medium- and long-term future of a peaceful French and Southern Cameroons no longer includes the National Chairman of the ruling CPDM crime syndicate President Paul Biya. The French have tolerated the abuse by the Biya regime for four decades blocking any UN action against Yaoundé.

However, Biya needs to be held to account, and the international community needs to move as quickly as possible toward peace and stability in the two Cameroons.

Liberal position no longer acceptable

The current US administration, the European Union are taking a soft stand against Yaoundé and the complicity of French President Emmanuel Macron including the Francophone Chair of the African Union in Biya’s attacks on civilians in Southern Cameroons.

The Commonwealth governments have stiffened their positions, but it’s still all over the map and imprecise as to what the Commonwealth should be saying and doing after the corrupt Baroness Patricia Scotland steps down. 

The UK, France and Nigeria must play a key role in peace talks to develop a shared way forward by persuading Biya to agree to an orderly transition to a new government in Yaoundé and inviting leaders of the two Cameroons for talks.

With 32,500 Southern Cameroonians killed, 550 Southern Cameroons villages burnt, 125,000 refugees, 1.4million IDPs and 3,000 still detained any military intervention will have solid basis in international law.

The Southern Cameroons Vice President Dabney Yerima in an interview with SCBC TV noted that the international community is still searching for the right words to describe the vicious and failed French Cameroun regime in Yaoundé and added that things should be done and done in a hurry to avoid a repeat of Rwanda.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

AMBAZONIAN VP ADDRESS TO THE NATION ON THE AMBA FOUR POINTS AGENDA

Fellow Ambazonians,

Today I come to you out of genuine love for our country Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia) to address a matter of national importance. The best hope for advancing our struggle is in engaging with honesty and humility. Endeavour, generosity and genuine intentions have put us where we are today as a people. As a result of your generosity and hard-work, we have come this far in our quest for justice and liberty.

This struggle has reached a point of no return. The upper gear for a free Ambazonia has been engaged and will not be reversed. Ambazonia is not for turning! We are committed to independence or resistance forever.

After months of negotiations and diplomatic wrangling amongst nations, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on July 1 2020, unanimously adopted UN resolution 2532, endorsing UN Secretary General, Antonio Gutterres’ call in late March 2020 for a global ceasefire. The resolution has three main provisions: (i) a demand for a cessation of hostilities, (ii) an appeal for an immediate 90-day pause to allow for humanitarian activities, (iii) a plea for intensified international cooperation to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many countries have signed this resolution but La Republique du Cameroun has not. Instead, they made a move to engage with our leaders in detention under President AyukTabe to explore the option of both nations calling for a ceasefire in the Cameroons colonial conflict. On 2 July 2020, the regime in Yaoundé called a meeting with nine of our leaders in detention.

Since that meeting, our airwaves have been polluted with inaccuracies and deliberate distortions. The peddlers of these inaccuracies intend to poison the minds of Ambazonians with the fiction that “prisoners do not negotiate for freemen”. As a wise negotiator, the great Nelson Mandela employed the phrase in the 1980s to negotiate his release from detention. Any attempt to misinterpret the great man is disingenuous and must be condemned in the strongest terms.

I challenge you to show me a free Ambazonian. None of us is free when we can’t freely visit the land we call our own. Freedom is much more than social media activism and self-exile. The idea that any genuine Ambazonian is free anywhere on this planet is a myth. We all die when one of us is killed. We are all in prison when one of us is jailed as a result of our cause.

The words widely misrepresented on social media by some frontline leaders are “Negotiations” and “Dialogue”. Resolution 2532 pushes for a ceasefire to allow for humanitarian aid during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our leaders in detention are public servants doing their best for our nation against all odds. Their personal pain is intense but they are still going strong for our nation. They are called to a mission to liberate the Southern Cameroons; a mission to fight for freedom over tyranny and oppression. Owing to their dedication, astuteness and wisdom, they crafted four points as a basis or pre-requisite for Ambazonia agreeing to a ceasefire;

• A call for a ceasefire by La Republique Cameroun and an order for its military to go back to barracks- supervised and enforced by the United Nations
• Unconditional release of all people detained and imprisoned as a result of this crisis as well as declaration of general amnesty to them.
• Declaration of a general amnesty on all our people in the diaspora to visit home without embarrassment by any La Republique du Cameroun authorities.
• Acceptance by the government of La Republique du Cameroun to participate in a genuine, open and inclusive dialogue without preconditions, with timetable, neutral venue, and in the presence of independent and impartial mediator acceptable to both parties.

These four points were crafted by our leaders as a condition to employ confidence building measures that will eventually lead to a ceasefire and create an enabling environment for sustainable justice and peace. The four points from the leaders were created with the Ambazonian public in mind which is standard procedure before any subsequent evolution into a legal document. The pressure from the international community upon La Republique du Cameroun is rock-solid and we must seize our moment. La Republique du Cameroun should stop deceiving herself that Ambazonia will be defeated in the battlefield.

To the leaders of frontline movements, I say to you that as leaders of this revolution, we owe our people a debt of honesty and reality in finding a lasting solution to the war in our country. True leadership does not mean we have to kill or abandon our fellow leaders in detention. Our revolution must be characterized by mutual respect, not by falsehoods and contaminated politics. The individual and collective sacrifices from our people in Ground Zero must be carefully considered in every move we make. We must balance our national goals with their daily misery. Any condition that shortens their suffering while leading the nation to its objective of freedom and independence must be supported.

Pre-talks are not Negotiations or Dialogue! I want to assure all Southern Cameroonians that neither of that is taking place between President Ayuk Tabe and the Government of La Republique du Cameroun. Our President has made it abundantly clear that no single person can negotiate for Ambazonia. It will take our finest experts from across the board to engage in negotiations as the complexity of the assignment is enormous.

Our people are desperate in the forests, disrespected by La Republique du Cameroun military and despised by the regime in Yaoundé. They are on edge and seek relief from their distress. They need us now more than ever.  They have devoted faith, hope, and trust in us but our actions over the last twelve days have been dishonorable. The diaspora must send our people in Ground Zero a signal that they care. This is a time for action, integrity and honesty.

It is alarming, pointless and irresponsible for any Ambazonian of good-intent to disagree with the move from our leaders in detention. Since the meeting of 2 July 2020, we have reached out to nearly all the frontline leaders of this revolution. We have personally briefed Hon Wirba, Dr Cho Ayaba, John Mbah Akuroh, Dr Ebenezar Akwanga, Boh Herbert, Dr Fontem Neba and Abdul Karim just to name a few. We have also reached out to the clergy and civil society organizations in G0 and the diaspora. Most Activists, Restoration Forces and tens of Ambazonian legal minds have also been briefed. Our resolve has been to bring the Ambazonian family together. Any leader who says one thing in private and propagates a different narrative to the nation in public is not doing our nation justice.

For all who see this revolution as a game or business, I have news for you; your game is up. The smear campaigners, blackmailers, doomsayers, tricksters and social media warlords must understand that they will never succeed in derailing the commitment of Ambazonians. The people of Ambazonia are better than what you are serving them. There is an appropriate season for everything. There is a time to compete and a time to cooperate. The time for cooperation is now. The time for all Southern Cameroonians to back the four points tabled by our leadership team to La Republique du Cameroun as conditions for any ceasefire is now. The Ambazonian people are watching.

To our Restoration Forces; I salute your courage, dedication and selflessness. Your bravery and commitment to the Ambazonian struggle is indisputable. Your collective sacrifice to defend our parents, brothers, sisters, children, and properties from the oppressor will live long in the consciousness of our nation. We are proud of you. The optics is good, and we are determined more than ever to provide you with what is needed to defeat the oppressor. Stay committed and resilient, your sacrifice is the only thing that has brought us to this stage in which the oppressor is willing to talk. We must continue with our coordinated and ruthless firepower in self-defence.

Fellow Ambazonians in G0, G1 and G2, your daily suffering is our concern. The Interim Government of Ambazonia in all its decisions balances your suffering with the national goal of freedom and independence. Your leaders in detention are much too intelligent and committed to your dream and would settle for nothing less than total independence. After 59 years of abuse and subjugation, we cannot be satisfied by just returning to the status quo.

Time is neutral and does not change things but people with vision change things. No generation can choose the age or circumstance in which it is born but every generation can choose to make the age in which it is born an age of enlightenment, freedom and justice. Ours is that generation of Southern Cameroonians endowed with the task of attaining freedom for our people. Let us stand together for history to judge us favorably.

Factionalism in a revolution is not limited to Ambazonians. La Republique du Cameroun also has factions in her midst; those that are in support of war without end and those who want peace and justice with Ambazonia. For the La Republique du Cameroun advocates of war against Ambazonia, I have bad news for you; you will never defeat the never-again generation of Ambazonians in the battlefield. I urge you to join in good faith your brothers who want peace between our two nations

Fellow Ambazonians, when the trumpet of negotiation sounds, let us walk to the table with one voice and one vision to free our homeland. Our independence is non-negotiable. Let our collective voices mirror that of President AyukTabe and our leaders in detention whom despite their present personal plight articulate our struggle with courage and put Ambazonia first. The path to freedom and independence is always difficult but despite the current darkness, if we muster our collective energies and talents, Buea will be a reality soon.

Our time has come. Our faith, hope, and dreams will prevail if we give truth and honesty a chance. Our time has come. No amount of atrocities and slaughter from Yaoundé can hold us down. No lie can live forever. Our time has come. We must leave social media politics behind and unite as one people. Our time has come. If we unite as a people, no force on this earth will stop us. Our time has come. It’s Independence or Resistance Forever.

Thank You and God bless you all.

DabneyYerima

Vice President

Federal Republic Of Ambazonia

Soldiers in Mozogo, in the Far North region of Cameroon, have forced civilians to perform local night guard duty to protect against attacks by the armed Islamist group Boko Haram, Human Rights Watch said today.

At the beginning of this forced labor, from mid-March to late April, 2020, soldiers beat or threatened those who refused to perform the tasks, although Human Rights Watch was told that for now, following denunciations by local nongovernmental organizations and the National Human Rights Commission, the beatings appear to have stopped. However, people in the town report that they continue to live in fear of beatings resuming, and that the forced labor and threats continue.

“The Cameroon authorities should immediately stop forcing civilians to perform night guard duty and instead protect civilians through lawful means,” said Lewis Mudge, Central Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Cameroonian authorities should investigate the reported beatings, threats, and forced labor and members of the security forces found to be responsible should be brought to justice.”

Boko Haram has since 2014 waged a violent campaign against civilians in the Far North region. The Cameroon army started to forcibly mobilize civilians after a February 4 Boko Haram attack, during which its fighters burned an estimated 40 homes in Mozogo and killed 2 civilians, one of them a blind man, who was killed and then burned inside his home.

In April and May, Human Rights Watch interviewed 15 people by telephone who have been forced to perform night guard duty under threat. Six had been beaten for initially refusing to join. Human Rights Watch also spoke with 12 Mozogo residents who witnessed but had not been subject to the forced labor, 4 victims and witnesses of other alleged military rights violations, and 4 representatives of local human rights groups.

Human Rights Watch shared its research findings on June 9 with Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, the secretary-general and Samuel Mvondo Ayolo, the Civil Cabinet director, both at Cameroon’s Presidency, requesting responses to specific questions. Human Rights Watch also followed up with a senior official from the Presidency on June 18. Cameroonian officials have yet to respond.

The civilians who were forced under threat to perform guard duty received no compensation and were put in harm’s way. They were not trained, were unarmed, and were told to run back to town to alert the army if they saw Boko Haram fighters approaching. Human Rights Watch has been monitoring local media, including Sembe TV, L’Oeil du Sahel, and reports by nongovernmental groups, for accounts of attacks by the militant Islamic group. This monitoring indicates that since January, Boko Haram has carried out over 200 attacks and raids in the Far North region, killing at least 126 people.

Mozogo residents said the military unit based in Mozogo – the 42nd Motorized Infantry Battalion (BIM) – worked with local authorities to compile lists of about 90 men and at least one boy who were required to join the night guard duty and displayed these lists in public spaces. They identified at least 12 locations in and around Mozogo as posts for night duty and assigned nine civilians to each location. Those who did not willingly comply were sought out in the neighborhoods and threatened with death and beatings. Some were beaten in public.

According to victims, witnesses, and residents, at least 40 people were threatened with death and beatings or were beaten for refusing to take part.

A 38-year-old man said that a soldier beat him after he initially refused to perform night guard duty in early April: “A soldier came to my house around 10 p.m. He asked why I skipped my duty. I said that it was not my job. So, he forced me to do push-ups and hit me several times with the flat end of a machete. Then he took me by force to the river to serve guard duty.”

Once the civilians were on duty, it appears, the soldiers usually stayed until midnight, then left the civilians alone to guard the areas without any means of protection and communication. The civilians said that they would generally stay from 7 p.m. until around 3 or 4 in the morning.

A 28-year-old man who was forced to serve as a night guard for at least two months, described the forced labor: “They said everyone whose name is on the lists needs to go, but they don’t pay us anything, they don’t give us anything to protect ourselves. If Boko Haram attacks Mozogo, we will be the first targets.”

At least 40 men fled Mozogo after soldiers threatened them. A 23-year-old university student said he fled to Maroua, 100 kilometers away, after being beaten and forced into guard duty. “If I wanted to be a soldier, I would have joined the army,” he said. “But I chose to study. I do not want to spend my nights in dangerous locations and face Boko Haram fighters.”

The night guard system in Mozogo has no legal framework and those forced to perform it are not only untrained, but also lack the necessary experience and supervision needed to perform the dangerous security tasks demanded of them.

Boko Haram continues to wreak havoc in the Far North region, carrying out abusive attacks, often indiscriminate and sometimes directly targeting civilians. The attacks have included suicide bombings in crowded civilian areas; kidnappings, including of children; and widespread looting and destruction of civilian property. As a result of Boko Haram’s abuses, over 297,000 people have fled their homes and are internally displaced across the Far North region. Cameroon also hosts approximately 113,000 refugees who have fled Boko Haram’s attacks in Nigeria.

In the face of such atrocities, the government of Cameroon has the legitimate duty to protect civilians, but it must do so while upholding its human rights obligations under domestic and international law, Human Rights Watch said. Cameroon has ratified both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the 1930 International Labour Organisation (ILO) Forced Labour Convention No. 29, which prohibit the use of forced or compulsory labour.

Human rights groups have reported widespread human rights violations and crimes under international humanitarian law by security forces, including extrajudicial executions, arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, incommunicado detention, systematic torture, and deaths in custody. Witnesses, victims, and residents have reported that security forces in and around Mozogo continue to commit other abuses, including extortion and sexual violence.

“Cameroon security should address threats posed by Boko Haram in a way that respects rights and wins the trust of the population,” Mudge said. “That trust has been broken by a climate of near total impunity for the military’s abuses.”

Soldiers from the 42nd Motorized Infantry Battalion have been based in Mozogo since at least the beginning of 2020 and have forced civilians to perform local night guard duty since mid-March. When people refused to perform this duty, soldiers beat them or threatened them. In April, the National Human Rights Commission visited Mozogo and raised concerns with local authorities about this practice. Local human rights groups echoed this call saying it is illegal and puts people at risk. While reports suggest that the beatings have stopped, people continue to report threats, and participate in the duty out of fear of abuse at the hands of soldiers.

Abuses Related to Forced Guard Duty

Beatings

A 33-year-old man said he was beaten by a soldier in April for arriving late to his night guard duty.

I had a family emergency and went to the hospital to assist a relative. I arrived late for the night guard and a second-class soldier beat me up. He slapped me several times. I was in pain for two days; my ears were hurting so much. He told me not to tell anyone what had happened.

A 25-year-old farmer said he was beaten by soldiers in mid-March and forced to perform the night guard duty:

Several soldiers came to my neighborhood late in the evening. They were looking for men whose names were on the lists. My name was on the list. The soldiers approached me and said, “You are going to spend the night by the river and carry out the guard duty. If you do not agree, you’ll pay the consequences.” I replied that I did not want to go, so they slapped me several times in my face and forced me to go. Since then, I have no other choice by to go. I do not want to be beaten again.

Threats

A 43-year-old man said that he was threatened by soldiers in mid-March when he refused to join the night guard duty for health reasons:

A BIM officer came to my neighborhood and asked me why I did not go to perform my night guard. I explained to him that I had been sick, and the doctor had recommended me to rest. [The officer] replied: “If you don’t go, I am going to kill you, I’ll cut your throat.” Two days later, another solider came to my home, broke the door, and threatened to beat me if I didn’t carry out the night guard duty. It is only thanks to a neighbor, who interceded for me, that I was not beaten up.

A 17-year-old boy told Human Rights Watch that he is living in hiding to avoid night guard duty.

 When I learned my name was on the list, I got scared. I did not want to go and spend the night by the river because it is dangerous. Between March and April, the soldiers came three times to look for me at my place. Since then, I hide. I am afraid that if they find me, they will force me to go and if I refuse, they’ll beat me up.

A 24-year-old student said he was forced to carry out a night watch guard following repeated threats by a soldier in mid-March.

I was on my motorbike outside my home at 9:30 p.m. when a soldier came, accompanied by a member of the vigilante committee. He ordered me to carry out the night guard duty by the river. I refused and I told him I am student, not a soldier. He replied: “You’ll go, or we will force you to go.” I asked him if I could speak with his boss, who came and let me go. But since then, I fled Mozogo and now live in Maroua.

Culled from Human Rights Watch