TRIBUTE TO THE FAMILY, IN HONOUR OF JUSTICE FREDERICK A. EBONG

It is with broken and bleeding hearts that we come to you during these times of deflating pain and grief. Though everyone would have found it okay if we had complied to the desires of our captors by staying indifferent and mute, the importance of this man we mourn could not be minimized. In fact,  we had no other option but to dare to think different, because we would not even be here without the concrete foundation this fallen hero laid for us as a people to emulate. We thought, and rightly so that in moments like this, when we are left with very little but these words of love and comfort, we must share with each and everyone of you.

In fact, just as we shared those moments of comfort and joy, in like manner in your pain we are able to determine the depths of ours. Therefore, right from the depriving, and dehumanizing cells of Kondengui, where our fallen hero once was, we cannot hold back but raise our voices to hail this man who took the very first step to show us that as a people our survival depended on concrete physical action, and not mere words, conjectures and platitudes. We cannot succumb to the inhibiting and physically draining effects of the jingles of the chains and shackles of imprisonment to which we wake every day. And not even the morbid and morriborn yells and commands of unkind and unfriendly prison warders can hold us down enough to prevent us reaching out to you people.

Therefore, empowered by this spirit to act, that Justice Ebong taught us, even the prison walls of Kondengui cannot stop our endearing wishes, intents, and profound concerns to reach out to and mourn with all of you assembled here today. Assembled not to say goodbye, as the thought of him shall remain a permanent cluster in our memory. Bear with us that we are assembled here today to reaffirm our individual, as well as our collective commitment to prosecute the struggle Justice Ebong initiated on the 24th of December 1994, when he sounded the very first note of the melody for Sovereignty we are all dancing today. It was on this blessed day that the mustard seed of the courage that has become a dominant part of our identity and or DNA, was planted in our midst.

It is with this courage that our Amba boys and girls are standing tall to make that dream which Justice Ebong nursed and sowed to come true. Have no doubt because our arrival in Buea, is no longer a matter of “IF”, but “WHEN”.Be rest assured that our yearnings and actions are focused on nothing but to make Bueaa reality.

However succulent and juicy it is, the freedom we seek, is wrapped up in folds of suffering and pain we must endure. Indeed the pain is grave, the deprivation overwhelming, yet undying hope and the example Justice Ebong set for us are real, cogent, empowering, and inspiring. And on the fortifying belief that His spirit would follow to guide and protect us every step of the way on this tedious journey to total and unconditional Independence, permit us reiterate to everyone here present, our uncompromising resolve to seek no rest or respite till as a people we make it to the foot of the mountain. It is only there and then that meaningful and befitting, monuments shall be erected as everlasting homage we shall pay to all the likes of Justice Ebong, who nurtured and enshrined in us the hunger and thirst for freedom. Accept our heartfelt condolences as we wait our turns when we shall meet to part no more.

Justice Frederick A. Ebong was the 4th Chairman of the Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC). Elected in his absence, while in underground detention in Yaoundé, for declaring the independence of Southern Cameroons, this made him the leader of the people in the hands of a foreign aggressor and expansionist Yaoundé regime. Detained with eight others, they were released, without having been charged and tried in any court of law, after fourteen months of incommunicado detention. Their release was thanks to internationalization of the campaign which drew worldwide condemnation and worldwide appeals for their release.

The news of the passing away of Justice Frederick A. Ebong came to us in Prison Principale, Kondengui, Yaoundé as a big blow. Being where he had been some nineteen years ago for declaring the independence of our fatherland, Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia), we were like children trying to fit into the shoes of their fathers. For this, we looked forward in great hope to the day, when we would sit with him to share our experiences, and tapping from his wisdom and with him, lay a solid foundation for the New Dawn for Ambazonia.

Believing fervently that we live not in days but in deeds, while we mourn his departure to meet our ancestors, we praise the Lord Almighty for the hope he gave the young that with courage and selfless determination we shall overcome annexation and colonial occupation by La Republique du Cameroun. By courageously declaring our independence over Radio Buea on the 30th of  December 1999, Justice Ebong assured us that Southern Cameroons belongs to the indigenes and not the aggressor and expansionist La Republique du Cameroun. He assured us that if we don’t make it, no one will come from celestial space and chase La Republique du Cameroun out and hand our Homeland to us on a platter of gold.

Our Amba Boys, inspired by his courageous will and thanks to the political education they received over the years from the SCNC leadership, are fired up and say “Enough is Enough!” to annexationist La Republique du Cameroun. They are determined to assert themselves and be masters of their destiny. Our right to a sovereign Homeland, offering great opportunities to its citizens is non-negotiable. Annexation is a global monster that threatens peace and justice everywhere on planet earth.

As we bid “Fair Well” to our fallen, we know he is not joining our ancestors empty handed. Hehas joined Dr Endeley, Chief Stephen Nyenti, J. N. Foncha, Ambassador Epie, S. T. Muna, Dr Martin N. Luma and Chief Ayamba, among others as a hero who fired the first cannon to flush out annexationist La Republique du Cameroun, so that our people will live in freedom, peace, justice and prosperity.

Be reassured you that we will stop at nothing until we see the backs of the occupation forces of La Republique du Cameroun beyond the Mungo and Matazen.

Adieu Comrade Justice Frederick A. Ebong (rtd)

For,and on behalf of AMBAZONIA LEADERSHIP IN DETENTION

SISIKU JULIUS AYUKTABE

PRESIDENT

Widespread killings, burning villages, French Cameroun army soldier rapes and looming starvation have become normal in Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia.  This is what the African Union, the EU and the United Nations have turned a blind eye after several trips by their respective agents to Southern Cameroons.

Ever since the 86 year old French Cameroun dictator Paul Biya declared war against the people of Southern Cameroons, as many as 3,000 people have been killed. More than half a million Ambazonians have been forced to flee their homes. Approximately 2.3 million people are currently at risk of going hungry, and 80 percent of schools in Southern Cameroons have been closed due to the fighting.

The Biya Francophone regime is applying guerilla tactics using fake armed groups in executing the war. So what is the conflict actually about? Who is fighting whom, and why? And does any world power have any realistic way of stopping the carnage going on in Southern Cameroons?

Bloodshed is nothing new for Southern Cameroons.  For 57 years, a brutal marginalization policy raged in Anglophone Cameroon orchestrated by the Francophone dominated government in the predominantly French speaking Central African country.

Finally, some three years ago, protest by teachers and lawyers culminated into an armed conflict that has rocked the entire Southern Cameroons. The fighting in Southern Cameroons has become more intractable due to political tensions in Yaoundé over who to succeed President Biya.

To be sure, only the United States has been particularly active in finding a peace process. Southern Cameroons Diaspora groups in the US and Europe have also been championing the Ambazonia cause, seeing the Southern Cameroons struggle against the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo government as a fundamental struggle against the French Cameroun oppression of Southern Cameroonians.

The French government of President Macron with the support of French speaking African diplomats has blocked any action for a referendum on whether Cameroon should be split in two, with Southern Cameroons becoming a separate country. The French government understanding is that any vote will pass overwhelmingly.

The leader of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government, President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe noted in a public address to the people of Ambazonia that all who cherish the rights of all people to govern themselves in liberty and law should and must rally behind the Federal Republic of Ambazonia and its institutions.

The final push for Ambazonia independence has been hampered by tensions among the more than 10 different groups. Some corrupt leaders such as Dr Samuel Ikome Sako, Chris Anu and Elvis Kometa including Dr Akwanga Ebenezar and Cho Ayaba have blatantly refused to overlook or ignore or downplay lesser conflicts in order to achieve what has been seen as a far more important goal: independence from La Republique du Cameroun.

The underlying tensions as fabricated by the North West/South West Divide have never actually gone away. And once the bigger fight for independence actually started three years ago, and it came time to actually get down to the business of fighting for a brand new country-the Federal Republic of Ambazonia the Anglophone Divide has come bubbling right back again. The liberation curse took hold when some Ambazonians like Boh Herbert felt entitled to power.

The Ambazonia president Sisiku Ayuk Tabe proclaimed the independence of Southern Cameroons and called for tolerance, unity and love for one another not parochialism and conflict. By appointing Dabney Yerima to the second-highest political office in the Southern Cameroons Interim Government, President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe has essentially built a unity government in which all rival groups are now willing to participate in the struggle.

Also, in the middle of the entire crisis in Southern Cameroons, President Paul Biya decided to basically pick a fight with yet another political group, the Bamilekes by arresting Prof Maurice Kamto, the man widely believed to have won the presidential elections in French Cameroun.  There have been attacks by Cameroon government troops on Bamilekes, and some are now taking up arms and promising vengeance on the Beti Ewondo crime syndicate in Yaoundé.

Southern Cameroonians now have a new element of hatred and conflict, adding to what had been going on during the AAC1 and AACII.  And that has added to the worry from the Trump administration and the US State Department who fear seeing the entire Ambazonia descending into a hotbed of ethnic genocidal acts on all sides. The violence probably won’t stop anytime soon.

The United States recently pushed for a UN Security Council briefing on Cameroon to try to limit the atrocities being committed by French Cameroun army soldiers.  However, the US has not been able to get enough support at the UN Security Council to make peace happen.

The problem is that each of the countries in the CEMAC region including mighty Nigeria — have their own vested interests in the crisis and by extrapolation, the Gulf of Guinea and they can’t seem to agree on what to do to stop the fighting in Ambazonia. Correspondingly,  in the African Union diplomats are divided.

This massive escalation in fighting in Southern Cameroons is also happening at the worst possible time, as it comes right at the end of Biya’s presidency.   Every day that goes by is another day in which the people of Ambazonia will see their brand-new country torn apart by truly horrific violence.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and his top aides have been notified with a decision of the President of the Court of Appeal in the Centre Region of French Cameroun dismissing the NERA 10 Recusal against Magistrate Lt Colonel Misse Njone Jacques Baudouin. Interestingly, the French Cameroun court also ordered the Southern Cameroons leaders to pay Colonel Misse Njone a symbolic franc as damages for Moral Prejudice suffered.

Cameroon Intelligence Report chief political correspondent covering the trial noted that when the Ambazonian leaders filed this Recusal which is a very serious application challenging a Magistrate for being bias, they had a very serious problem notifying the concerned Respondent by Bailiff because all the Bailiffs contacted declined service for security reasons. Our intelligence services in Yaoundé hinted that all French Cameroun Bailiffs have been threatened with either detention or being messed up by undercover security operatives. Some were economically victimized by Magistrates refusing to endorse their bills for payment.

As if this was not enough impediment to justice and fundamental right to fair hearing protected by both international legal instruments like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and even the Preamble of the French Cameroun Constitution as read with Article 65; … The Applicants/Petitioners were never notified with the Statement of Defense of the Respondent Magistrate nor even given opportunity to attend court or given a hearing as would be the practice in any regular or normal Anglo-Saxon judicial system. The Petitioners were only notified with a decision or judgment of the Court of Appeals which in Cameroun sits in first and last resort in matters of Recusals. This should be the more reason why the court ought to have notified the Petitioners with the statement of Defense of the Respondent so that they may have opportunity to bring further evidence arguments to backup their allegations against the Magistrate.

“Nowhere in the world is known to us where someone brings an action to court of this magnitude or importance and it is heard without him seeing the defense challenging his allegations” an adviser to the Ambazonia Vice President Dabney Yerima noted.  “One would expect pleadings and further pleadings to be exchanged and oral arguments of the parties taken before the court decides … especially in a situation like this one where the court sits in first and last resort meaning that there is no appeal against its decisions” the Yerima aide further pointed out.

This tells the story of the nature of the judiciary in French Cameroun and justifies why Ambazonians think they must go back home, restore their autonomy and enforce the truly adversarial judicial system Southern Cameroonians had known before the ill-fated & illegal unification of 1961.

Correspondingly, it was premature for any Ambazonian organization or grouping to go into any form of discussion or dialogue with any Swiss mediator without certain preliminary issues and conditions being settled. It is evidently clear that the so-called Swiss mediator is the mediator of the adversary.

It is shameful and disgraceful for Southern Cameroons groups to go for any form of negotiation while the war ensues and their people are still being killed, villages torched and many more arrested and incarcerated.

To be sure any talks whatsoever must be preceded by a Declaration of Ceasefire by the party who declared the war, release of all detainees Incarcerated as a result of the war and a demilitarization of the Ambazonia territory.

These are confidence building measures which ought to be agreed upon and the process of implementation of all decision clearly put in place with the Ambazonia Interim Government and with the consent of Vice President Dabney Yerima.

Given the severe breach of trust between the parties to the conflict, we of the Cameroon Concord News Group would have expected the so called Ambazonian negotiators in Switzerland to insist on the presence of a strong intermediary nation like the USA who has the capability to ensure the implementation of all decisions brokered by the talks.

In the absence of the above, we of Cameroon Concord News Group see clearly that the Swiss are merely helping French Cameroun to use its numerical and political strength against Ambazonia thereby taking us back to where we began in 1961.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Since September 22, 2017, our communities have been subjected to some of the most ruthless and systematic assaults the international community have witnessed anywhere in recent history. Initiated to suppress peaceful demonstrations for fundamental rights.

 Today we have more than 2000 of our fellow citizens killed, more than 80,000 in refugee camps in Nigeria and the UN reports more than 4.3 million of our people are affected by the conflict. A situation the UN described as one of the fastest growing human displacement crises in Africa. 

 This is no sports. That anyone should go show up somewhere and provide the lobbyist of Cameroon with signature and documents so they can derail efforts by serious countries like the US to get our case as a standalone Item on the Agenda of the UN Security Council is not just shameful but treasonous.

 It is because of the importance of the situation that we questioned the seriousness of the Switzerland based Humanitarian Dialogue when they ignored the questions we sent to them in reply to their invitation for the said meeting.

 So let me be as clear as I can on this. NO I did not attend this meeting with Humanitarian Dialogue. And, no one from my team and our leadership behind bars led by President Sisiku AyukTabe attended that meeting. We had no representative there. Let me repeat this again. The one thing that we learnt from the Anti-apartheid struggle is that leadership behind bars is the sole target of any honest effort at negotiation.

 The Cameroun government has thus far refused to do the bare minimum required for confident building towards any real negotiations. Which is: 1. To stop violating the inalienable rights of the people you hope to negotiate with; and  2. To allow an international independent Fact Finding Mission to establish the facts on the ground and to stop the killings.

 We have heard the calls for dialogue without preconditions. These are not preconditions. They are trust building mechanisms we have seen deployed in most conflicts in the past several decades with relative success in reducing tensions, from East Timor, Sri lanka to Myanmar. 

 What does it mean to tell us to go into some room to have Talks/Negotiations with a Cameroun regime which has twice refused the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human rights access to investigate credible reports of international crimes?

 What does it mean to tell us to go and have Talks/Negotiations with a Cameroun regime that continues to slaughter our people as we speak? 

 If Humanitarian Dialogue is serious about facilitating Talks/Negotiations and the Swiss government is serious let them tell Cameroun to Stop the killings, release all our political prisoners, who are being held in violation of their fundamental human rights, allow an independent international fact finding mission to establish the facts on the ground like in all other recent conflicts. But more importantly Humanitarian Talks/Negotiations should go to Kondengui prison and discuss with our leaders there about their plans for dialogue.

 Again these are not preconditions. They are confidence building procedure. I will say this though. As far as this struggle is concerned.

 It shall be Total Independence or Resistance Forever.

 Yours truly,

 Dabney Yerima Vice President

 – Federal Republic of Ambazonia

One of the remarkable aspects of the latest crisis in Southern Cameroons is the Ambazonia national unity displayed ever since the removal of Dr Ikome Sako as acting president of the Interim Government. The fighting in Southern Cameroons has forced many traditional rulers to flee!

However, many around the globe have been seeking to know the position of the Southern Cameroons House of Chiefs. A prominent chief who hails from the Manyu County was quoted recently as saying that Biya and his military leaders should understand  the chiefs have never consider aligning themselves with the reckless killing of Anglophone Cameroonians by Cameroon government army soldiers.

Without any strong public condemnation from the Southern Cameroons traditional authorities of the genocide in Ambaland, many of the royals have called the war in Southern Cameroons a tactless act of aggression and have kept a deliberate kind of silence indicating their support for the resistance.

But in these expressions of nation-wide solidarity with the detained Ambazonia leaders including President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, there is one question that has not really been discussed: Where do Chiefs and Fons stand on the Revolution? And also the task ahead for Vice President Dabney Yerima

From the very beginning, some Fons and Chiefs were quick to show loyalty to the Yaounde regime, rather than to the suffering people of Southern Cameroons.  But three years into the crisis nearly all North West Fons and South West Chiefs are now of the opinion that the 86 year old French Cameroun President Biya has done a bad job handling the crisis.

The Ambazonia Interim Government has not employed any winning strategy when it comes to its relations with the North West Fons and South West Chiefs.  The Interim Government’s success with the local chiefs can be seen from a mere reading of the state of affairs in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

When President Sisiku Ayuk called on Ambazonia Restoration Forces to hand over all French Cameroun soldiers arrested in Southern Cameroons to the chiefs and fons, critics accused the Ambazonia leader of weakening the Ambazonia Self Defense Forces.  This was definitely not true, as the Ayuk Tabe declaration that was made during a visit to the US gave the Southern Cameroons traditional authorities the Interim Government’s unshakeable commitment when it comes to internal feuds.

It is, in some ways, worrying that the Fons and the Chiefs have not been the Interim Government’s strongest ally during this war period in Southern Cameroons.

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and his Vice, Comrade Dabney Yerima have both been steadfast in their support for the Southern Cameroons House of Chiefs, and the two leaders have rhetorically said: “The Southern Cameroons House of Chiefs remains a vital institution in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.”

 We need to remember that Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe has been widely described as Southern Cameroons’s first strong president since the first All Anglophone Conference in Buea. This is because previous Ambazonia leaders lacked popular support and were elected as a result of a political settlement. Having a leader who enjoys popular backing among the people of Southern Cameroons both in Ground Zero and in the Diaspora has been an Ambazonian demand since AAC1.

A disturbing factor that has made the Fons and Chiefs more hostile to the Southern Cameroons struggle in the past few months is undoubtedly the rise of criminal gangs created and sponsored by Minister Paul Atanga Nji and the ADF of Cho Ayaba.

While some of the royals naturally sided with the sovereignty of the state doctrine preached by French Cameroun dictator Paul Biya and are supporting the need for Ambazonia Restoration Forces to hand over their weapons, there is a general perception in Ground Zero that the Amba Fighters have played a key role in protecting the people of Southern Cameroons.  

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and the exiled Ambazonia Interim Government have been two important voices in the struggle. Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and Vice President Yerima currently enjoy high ratings in Ground Zero and are managing to create a viable bloc to push on with the resistance.

Vice President Dabney Yerima now needs to bring the Ambazonia Interim Government back to Ground Zero as there is no more doubt that Comrade Yerima has won the battle for public opinion during the last three weeks. Whether he will be able to keep the momentum going in favour of the IG and the people in Ground Zero will be determined by his ability to secure viable funding for the war.

In fact, Yerima now needs to bring the IG back to Southern Cameroons.  In other words, he needs to deliver a viable armed status – one that would satisfy the Restoration Forces. Attacks on President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe by former Interim Government members such as Ikome Sako, Chris Anu and Barrister Fru John Nsoh reflect a growing resentment from those who joined the struggle simply for the cash.

The clouds seem to have settled after a stormy three weeks in the USA. One of the factors that have aided the shameful exit of Sako and Chris Anu is the leaked audio of the so-called Sako’s IG. There is still a myriad of other political, social, religious and economic factors at play in Southern Cameroons. But Vice President Yerima should take the PEOPLE’s IG Back To Ground Zero.

By Besong Esther Agbor

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Mama Mukake of Small Soppo Buea was incredulous. “You call Sako Ikome and Chris Anu leaders?” She asked. “I call them mafia pastors.”

For the 72 -year-old Ambazonian resident in the Fako County, the former Acting President Samuel Ikome and the disgraced former Secretary of Communications, Chris Anu have for 18 months headed a corrupt Southern Cameroons Interim Government that benefited only a  few in the United States of America.

“Sako and Chris Anu have enjoyed the best time in their lives with Ambazonia money, they have travelled all over the US paid for by Southern Cameroonians. They don’t care about people in Ground Zero.”

Mama Mukake is far from alone. According to a recent finding by the Cameroon Concord News Group, 99 percent of Southern Cameroonians are no longer interested in the activities of Dr Ikome Sako and Chris Anu including the members of the so called Restoration Council.

The leaked audio and the political and financial malpractice of Mr Sako and Chris Anu and their diabolic harsh ploy to neutralize President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe have severely eroded public’s trust in the Southern Cameroons Interim Government.

Ikome Sako and his gang neglected the Ambazonian people in Ground Zero and this is why trust plummeted making matters intractable for the newly appointed Vice President Dabney Yerima. The leaked audio two weeks ago following the so-called impeachment of the Ambazonian leader, President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe has only confirmed this view for many Southern Cameroonians. Sako and Chris Anu’s latest moves are widely viewed as a means to further consolidate power in the hands of corrupt leaders who are only interested in Ambazonia financial donations.

Created in the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Southern Cameroons Interim Government was intended to serve as a transitional governing body for the English speaking people of Cameroon until the establishment of a fully fledged Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

Three years later, Southern Cameroonians are much closer to obtaining that state and Sako and Chris Anu have pushed the Ambazonia Interim Government to morph into a fake bureaucratic giant many now feel is more concerned with maintaining its relevance than advocating for the independence of Southern Cameroons.

Interim President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe appointed the first ever Ambazonian cabinet based on merit and commitment. But political corruption manifested itself under Sako’s leadership. This was followed by the creation of positions out of thin air and the appointment of officials based on loyalty or nepotism rather than merit.

The French Cameroun army enters, arrest, issue curfews, and so on in Southern Cameroons in a way that demonstrates the Ambazonia Interim Government doesn’t even have total control of the area that is called the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. But Sako and Chris are busy sharing audios of Southern Cameroonians addressing them as “His Excellency and Communications Secretary”.

After the appointment of Vice President Dabney Yerima and the spate of violence in Southern Cameroons, Sako and Chris Anu are under pressure to stay relevant. But the truth is both Sako and Chris Anu have no relevance in the Southern Cameroons struggle.

The continued military actions in Southern Cameroons and the imprisonment of hundreds of Southern Cameroonians by French Cameroun authorities have undermined the credibility and effectiveness of the Ambazonian Interim Government. This is the context in which Vice President Yerima is governing and it is a difficult situation.

Southern Cameroonians were busy with the war and turned a blind eye to corruption under Sako and Chris Anu. Now is the time for Southern Cameroonians to move forward with Vice President Dabney Yerima.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai and Besong Esther Agbor

The events that have rocked the Ikome Sako-Chris Anu gang lately in the US and the fall back from the leaked audio indicates that Vice President Dabney Yerima is nearly as powerful now as he was at many other points in the Southern Cameroons revolution history. But the newly appointed Ambazonia Vice President is still nowhere near as powerful as he has the potential to be.

But yes, Vice President Yerima now has an inherent power than allows him to punch French Cameroun and the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime way above his weight class politically. There are reasons why we of the Cameroon Concord News Group think the choice of Dabney Yerima as Vice President remains one of the best things that ever happened in the Southern Cameroons struggle.

The one thing that history shows about Vice President Yerima is that no matter how down and out you think he is, he will rise. And when he does, it’s not just as a strong personality, but a legal frame work for leadership excellence.

Remember the profound effect the failed 8 months of Sako Ikome’s leadership had on the Southern Cameroons revolution. Today, Ambazonians are donating money to support the struggle and their leaders in jail. Under Vice President Yerima, Ambazonia Restoration Forces who are poorly equipped have been ordered to stage a kind of tactical withdrawal and in areas like the Manyu County, road mines are now being used against the enemy.

The Southern Cameroons Interim Government under Mr Yerima has mastered modern communication cycle and Southern Cameroonians in Ground Zero are now part of the strategic calculations. Despite its limited resources, the Interim Government under Yerima has also become more organized and the Vice President is expected to step down from his influential role in the SCNC soonest.

Give Vice President Yerima and his team your support!!  Next, give him your money and to top it all, Yerima will infuse Southern Cameroonians with a culture that will see them rise not only as Africa’s newest nation, but give them the fortitude to rise again to become a super powerful force despite suffering some of the most crushing genocides any people have had to suffer.

Another secret to Yerima’s strength is that his detractors do not bother about Ambazonia casualties in Ground Zero and the former crooks in the IG and the Restoration Council keep underestimating the strength of the Ambazonian people and Yerima again and again. This is a singularly bad idea, as Sako, Chris Anu and Irene Ngwa have come to find out to their detriment after they announced the so called impeachment of the leader.

Today, the IG is at its absolute weakest but Vice President Yerima is delivering.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

The appointment of a Vice President by the Southern Cameroons leader, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe pre-dates the infighting deep within the Ambazonia Interim Government. To be sure, it has strengthened the Federal Republic of Ambazonia and will likely endure in the post-war years.

Interim President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe ever since his arrest and extradition to Yaounde has played a careful long game in the war in Southern Cameroons. One component of his game has been to outsource leadership. By doing so, he has successfully minimized Ambazonia casualties. Another component is to work with the Southern Cameroons Diaspora to train and fund Ambazonia Self-Defense Forces into a military structure.

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and the Ambazonia Interim Government do not need the disgraced former Acting President Sako or the now very unpopular Communications Secretary, Chris Anu to solidify his hold on leadership. Having emerged victorious from the Ambazoniagate in Abuja, Nigeria, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe now leads over a destroyed Southern Cameroons nation, a deeply polarized Diaspora population, and a Self-Defense Force that will need millions of dollars to strengthen its capacities.  The appointment of Vice President Dabney Yerima was simply in line with Sisiku Ayuk Tabe’s ambition to restore and hold control over all of Southern Cameroons territory which requires sustained financial support from the Diaspora.

Moreover, Sako and Chris Anu including some of the corrupt criminal cabals of the Ambazonia Restoration Council do not have European or South African allies they can trust.  Unlike SCBC, ABC TV is not the reliable and trustworthy channel that Southern Cameroonians rely on for news.

Vice President Yerima’s prioritization of the IG’s relationship with Europe, the US and South Africa has also been very productive. While maintaining the need for the IG to regain control of the revolution structures, Yerima has been engaging in talks with the leadership of other Ambazonia groups about future governance arrangements.

A claim by some frustrated exile leaders that Interim President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe has been removed from office is a double-edged sword for the leader’s detractors. On one hand, it denies Sako and Chris Anu the argument justifying the raising of funds for the war in Southern Cameroons.  On the other hand, it has made Chris Anu to become very irrelevant to the struggle.

Vice President Yerima’s Olive Branch operation to Chris Anu and Sako reflects the Interim Government’s intention to play a central role in shaping the future of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. The failure of Sako and Kometa pushed many Southern Cameroons leaders into a scramble about who will get to decide the future of the revolution and eventually destroyed Barrister Fru John Nsoh.

The so-called impeachment of the Interim President has instead give Sisiku Ayuk Tabe all the cards. There are indirect talks between the Vice President and other Southern Cameroons groups for a negotiated endgame that will ensure that the struggle is won.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

This is not a celebration of a tragedy. It is about the lessons to draw from the capricious nature of fire as a weapon of war. Impunity plants the seeds of tragedy in the soul of humanity. The symbolism of fire as an official weapon of war and atrocity crimes against Southern Cameroonians is evident in the fire that gutted the SONARA fire resources bank of the war against the Southern Cameroons. How can fire be this capricious?

A person on the driver seat of impunity loves being worshipped and glorified. He is worshipped as a magician of time, possessing absolute power of life and death over his people. Some called him a god, others a messiah and others, the master and controller of time. He accepted all the and rewarded the blasphemers with political and administrative positions to encourage others to join the sycophantic train. He is feared and revered not for his good services to humanity but for the impunity and ruthlessness with which he compels allegiance.

His ability to mystify and magnify his temporal and spiritual domination of the souls of ordinary frail humans is wrapped in a mythical flag of impunity. With this, he wages war against peaceful, armless people in need of peace and justice. Two grand masters of the mystical world were invited to re-enforce these powers in the full glare of all and sundry. , To his dismay, the 57 years colonised and dominated people of Southern Cameroons, with profound faith in God and the justice of their case, like St Paul, took the bait, confronted and rebuked the driving spirit of Bar-Jesus that empowers and directs his policies of impunity and criminality. In anger, he declared war against the Southern Cameroons. Fire was then decided by the civilian and military commanders under his supreme command to use fire as a cost-effective weapon to enforce the planned genocide on the Southern Cameroons. The policy was to execute the genocide against the owners with the proceeds of the oil wealth plundered from the territory and refined in SONARA. Bar Jesus was a counsellor to Sergius Paulus, the Roman Proconsul on Cyprus whom St Paul who was full of the Spirit, accused of trickery, deceit, and perverting the ways of the Lord and rebuked.

Hell is real so the Holy Bible says. This biblical truth is sacrosanct. The reality of life in hell purposively keeps the individual and collective excesses of humanity in check. Has it?

Playing a costly trick on history, the Republic of Cameroon chose the colours of its flag to be green, red, yellow with a single star conspicuously on the centre on the red. Whatever the symbolism of this flag as currently laid out, the truth that the soul of the lone star on the red is terminally disturbed, cannot be disputed. This fact is obvious even to the jaundiced eye.

A quick google search of the symbolism of the red colour, reveals that red is a colour of extremes; from the passionate to the atrocious. Within the context of many cultures and traditions, red is seen as the colour of fire and blood. In this contextual crime environment or polity, Cameroun, where an official policy exists for the perpetration of atrocity crimes with impunity, the two extremes may complement each other. In that context, atrocity crimes are committed with passionate zeal and reckless arrogance.

There is a strong symbolism about the fire which has gutted down the installations of SONARA in the town of Victoria, Southern Cameroons, Gulf of Guinea, West Africa. The economic cost of the damage caused by the fire has not been assessed yet. It is projected to be monumental.

Because this fire has torched the political and economic nerve centre of the petrol-dollar economy of Cameroun, and its affiliated partners, its occurrence no matter how, will be strongly felt. The loss suffered may be regretted by its beneficiaries and its impact strongly felt. For a while, the government of Cameroun will feel the painful impact of fire on its war economy. It will feel the loss of one of the wealth generating channels which sustained its war economy. SONARA is perceived by Southern Cameroonians as a cash-cow and symbol of colonial rule over the Southern Cameroons.

The wealth procured from SONARA and the oil resources in the Southern Cameroons sustains the regime of personal power in Cameroun and facilitates the procurement of arms and ammunitions to prosecute a meaningless war of choice that Cameroun’s President declared against the then peace plant carrying Southern Cameroons armless civilian justice and peace crusaders. SONARA is an emblematic symbol of the political and economic staying power of the regime in power in Cameroun.

The fire of hatred, aggression and arrogance of power that a leader relies on to command and superintend the perpetration of atrocity crimes with passionate alacrity may not relent after the SONARA fire incident. Since the targeting of armless civilians, women, men, children, the weak and the vulnerable is motivated by the fire of impunity from the soul and the heart, the burning of civilian settlements will continue unabated.

This official policy of targeting civilian settlement with fire and the deportation of victims from their ancestral homes, came early shortly after the declaration of war against the Southern Cameroons. It was one of the first-choice weapons of war used by Cameroun soldiers to prosecute the genocide of the Southern Cameroons. The Senior Divisional Officer for Manyu, one Oum II signed an order which was widely publicised over the radio and print media ordering the deportation of the civilian population of some thirteen villages in Manyu to make way for a scheduled military operation in those villages.

In the execution of the forced deportation order, thousands of Southern Cameroonians fled across the border to Nigeria for safety. The marauding soldiers pursued the refugees to Nigeria where many were slaughtered, and others abducted. A distinctive Cameroun government official war policy of torching civilians’ settlements was experimented through the burning down of the ancestral civilian settlements of the endangered refugees who were deported to Nigeria. By the last count, Human Rights organisations in published reports stated that about 207 towns and villages have been burnt down by Cameroon soldiers on the orders of their civilian and military commanders.

In the face of this heart wrenching record of atrocity crimes, the civilian and military commanders of the Cameroon soldiers deployed to prosecute the war have publicly praised the professionalism of the marauding soldiers in the implementation of the scorched earth policy. The charred bodies of helpless old, weak, sick, vulnerable victims of the fire devastation in villages torched by Cameroon soldiers have shocked the conscience of humanity. Far or near, we are all primary or secondary victims of the trauma of this culture of impunity, and the policy of devastating fires used by the government and army of Cameroon as weapons of war.

The world must therefore not analyse the SONARA devastating fire no matter the cause, in the abstract or as an isolated event in its symbolism. The fire and devastation of the atrocity crimes that are consuming the lives and property of Southern Cameroonians carries the same symbolism as the fire that has gutted down SONARA installations. The fire of hatred and criminal arrogance that Satan has planted into the hearts of men and women of power to enable them play “three cards” with the lives of the weak, the powerless and the vulnerable will consume them and their colonial power architecture in the Southern Cameroons and beyond. People who have chosen fire as a weapon to prey on the Southern Cameroons victims of genocide, have a lot to learn in the SONARA fire disaster, about the capricious nature of fire, its symbolism and its unbending exclusive loyalty to nobody.

Lest we forget, Mami Apey’s hut in which she was burnt to death was valuable to her far more than SONARA. Indeed, the villages and ancestral lands and property that have been devasted by the fire and impunity of atrocity crimes are more valuable to every victim dead or alive than SONARA. Theirs was their legacies and their humanity. The SONARA fire disaster is a painful symbolism that highlights the less reported or less recognised but more significant symbolism of the devastation caused by every fire and the accompanying atrocity crimes on victims and generations unborn.

For the Alices in Wonderland of one and indivisible Cameroon, the symbolism may be a strong signal and symbolism that, at long last the soul of the lone star on the central red of the Cameroon flag is irredeemably on fire. The symbolism is a rude reminder to those who have overplayed and manipulated the fire of impunity, that the moment to account for the painful reality and responsibility for the devastation they have caused or are causing is almost here.

The use of fire as a weapon of war and the devastation it has caused could have been avoided. Rather it is praised. With its security apparatus in place and a President with near omnipotent powers of impunity, could the fire have been prevented? The fact is that it was not. Indeed, the worldly power of impunity has limit. If anyone doubts, read again the encounter between St Paul and Bar Jesus.

In conclusion, I hope that the international community with the UN leading, will not wait until the entire Gulf of Guinea is on fire before they intervene. With their slow to intervene policy, this fire may ignite an inferno whose impact may be felt in all parts of the world. That will be an unpardonable betrayal of the pledge which the civilised made in 1945. In that eventuality, the pledge of “Never again” will be an empty slogan deriding the foibles and follies of a world at war with its very soul.

By Chief Charles  A. Taku