While the situation in the exiled Southern Cameroons Interim Government remains confused, events on Ground Zero, the US and Europe demonstrate once again that the likeliest resolution to Ambazonia’s seemingly endless USA political crisis lies in the hands of President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and the Southern Cameroons Restoration Forces.

The Sako Ikome failed dictatorship and the President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe’s decision dissolving the controversial Interim Government’s cabinet has been locked in a tense stand-off ever since a financial scandal rocked the Interim Government in the USA.

The Restoration Council dodgy effort to bring the crisis to an end has failed. Consequently, Chairman Kometa has erased himself from the annals of Southern Cameroons history. The Sako-Chris Anu’s power-play to bully President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe out of leadership appeared to run out of steam weeks ago. More nuanced efforts involving the renowned Prof Carlson Anyangwe and Seseskou Christmas Ebini have so far produced little of substance. Even Dr Fontem Neba has also declined to mediate, citing Sako Ikome’s bad faith.

The United Nations now estimates that a quarter of Southern Cameroon’s population is in need of humanitarian assistance, with almost half a million suffering from undernourishment in the forest. It also calculates another 50,000 have already fled to Nigeria in desperation. But the continuing support of ill informed Ambazonians in the USA has so far given Sako Ikome the feeling that he has survived the fallout from his leadership failure.

In part Sako has retained Chris Anu’s support thanks to differences between Chris Anu and Tabenyang Brado. But largely Chris Anu’s support to the disgraced Acting President has been bought by a promise of turning over huge swathes of Southern Cameroons financial donations to ABC TV. Chris Anu thinks this will make him fabulously wealthy through control over Southern Cameroons propaganda activities.

This is not to say that all members of the dissolved Southern Cameroons Interim Government in the USA are Sako’s true believers. Given the ruin into which Sako Ikome has led the Southern Cameroons revolution many are thought to be ready to abandon him but have lacked the necessary incentives to do so.

The decision by Chairman Kometa indicates that Southern Cameroonians in Europe and the Republic of South Africa are right to form their own bloc under the direct supervision of the leader, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe.  But despite Chris Anu’s claim that Sako still has the support of Ambazonians in the Diaspora he is yet to demonstrate that Sako is backed by any more than just a few corrupt and poor religious elements in the US. Rather than rally behind the international face of the Ambazonia revolution, Kometa’s decision instead looked like another ill advised attempt by far way Ambazonians to waste the lives of Southern Cameroonians on Ground Zero.

It is far from clear if Kometa latest effort would be more successful than Sako’s previous one in Berlin, which all ended in failure. The old cabinet as decreed by President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe is fully back in action and donations are pouring in!! Ground Zero commanders have also refused to come over to Sako en masse! Consequently Sako has no chance of hanging on.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

I am afraid the groundwork is being laid for a Jonas Savimba and a South Sudan situation in Ambazonia especially in the light of the action of a local Amba commander meddling in matters political, matters that appertain exclusively to the civil order.

The reality is that the IG is yet to live up to expectation. There are accusations of an itching palm. There are accusations of leadership conspicuous consumption lifestyle at the expense of the Struggle. There are accusations of misconduct, contemptuous arrogance, and patronage management style.

The leadership is very divisive. It is not inclusive and accommodating. It is very intolerant of criticism and alternative viewd.

This holds no promise for democracy, free and safe political competition, robust civil society activism, and constitutionalism in an independent Ambazonia.

The leadership has fractured Ambazonians in the Diaspora and on GZ, putting them on each other’s throat.

It has not conceived or rolled out Struggle strategy and a vision for independent Ambazonia.

All one sees is groping in the dark, loud empty noises from left and right, a focus on money and power, and mere reactions to events that unfold.

People do not help things by their distortions of facts and inconsistent inconsistency.

Comrade Boh, for example, has for long attacked the IG on grounds that its head was not elected by the people by universal suffrage through the Internet. He vowed never to recognise the IG. Now he finds it opportunistically convenient to pledge ‘support’. I doubt that the person who is the object of this evanescent ‘support’ is fooled.

Further, comrade Boh gives a self-serving narrative, an ex post facto rationalisation, of the standing of Mandela while in jail.

Mandela became famous. But that is not who he was while in prison. He was an ‘extremist’ (to use the language of the French Cameroun colonial oppressor and federalists) convicted and sentenced to life for treason.

He was a felon. He was seen and listed in the West as a terrorist.

The ANC tactically decided to make him the face of the South Africa anti-apartheid struggle to mobilise domestic and international public opinion in favour of his release.

That is a common strategy now used by especially international human rights organisations to secure the release of any imprisoned prominent human rights activists.

There is another false account by comrade Boh in his write-up. Mandela did not become head of the ANC until after the death of Oliver Tambo in 1994. Throughout the time of Mandela’s imprisonment Oliver Tambo remained head of the ANC and conducted the affairs of the ANC from Norway where he was in exile. Mandela was head of the South African Youth League. At the time of his arrest and imprisonment he was the head of the ANC military wing known as Umkhonto We Sizwe.

The claim that Mandela “let his peers – Oliver Tambo, Thabo Mbeki, Desmond Tutu, Winnie Mandela etc – be the leaders of the ANC” is utterly false and a piece of historical revisionism.

Thabo Mbeki was in exile and in charge, in the UK, of ANC communication. His father, Govan Mbeki, was in prison like Mandela. Desmond Tutu was not in the ANC but was, along with Pastor Allain Boesak, a leader in the rainbow movement that joined its voice in campaigning for Mandela’s release from prison. Winnie Mandela was a combatant in her own right.

All these South African freedom fighters did not need and did not have validation or authorisation from Mandela as Boh erroneously suggests.

A final and important point to make is that throughout the Struggle the ANC never set up a government internally or in exile. Boh’s analogy in this regard is therefore illegitimate and invalid.

It is often forgotten that the original idea of an Ambazonian IG was not to ensure the governance of Ambazonia from abroad. That is infeasible. The idea was to create a directive instrument responsible for: (i) prosecuting the national liberation struggle, (ii) internationalisation and education in regarding the quest for freedom, (iii) responding to the mounting humanitarian crisis, and (iv) crafting a vision for independent Ambazonia in all areas of national life.

We may have erred in designating the instrument for action as a government. The answer to that mistake is to fix things. This necessarily involves serious critical introspection, recognition of the mistake, development and adoption of a realistic solution, and then crafting the way forward.

This exercise requires the involvement of all willing and ready Ambazonians from the four corners of the earth. In this way Ambazonians will take ownership of the way forward and run with it.

There has since been a very detrimental deviation from the primary objectives of the Struggle. The focus now is on power – government per se, appointments, offices, titles, money, conspicuous consumption.

These expendable delusional quests are the root causes of the observed francture in the Ambazonian body politic, the bitter and acrimonious intra-Ambazonian fighting including deadly fighting on GZ, and the shameless peacock syndrome exhibited by some to the disgust and contempt of the informed outside world.

These are all signs that portend an Angolan or South Sudan civil war situation in tomorrow’s Ambazonia raising well founded fears among not a few people that “this your Ambazonia thing” is hardly worth the salt and that we might as well accept the status quo.

The world is now conflict fatigued. It has no appetite for assuming the role of knight-errand going about extinguishing the ambers of conflict here and there.

Accordingly, voices are beginning to say the UK was right after all in its conclusion that we do not deserve and merit sovereign statehood and that we inexorably have to be under the tutelage of either of our adjacent neighbours.

Sixty years after that perceptive assessment we have not been able to show cause why it should be changed. Of course, in the light of GZ sacrifices, the assessment has now taken the form of a prescription for a federation in whatever form, shape or size.

I dare to suggest, against my own instincts and belief, that given this pathetic display of childishness and high degree of immaturity on our part, the federal thesis is apt to prevail on the long run if we do not change our nationally erring ways, recentre the Struggle and restructure the instrument of national liberation for better and timeous results.
[5/4, 7:20 AM] Prof Carlson Anyangwe: On the specious claim that the President and our other leaders in jail want to be “ruling from prison” this is my take:

In the past 16 months there has repeatedly been a chorus of a rehearsed line about our imprisoned leadership trying to rule from prison. That line betrays the warped mindset of its propagators who are persons consumed by and fixated with some amount of power which, on analysis, is a mere figment of the imagination.

The urgent call of the hour is the necessity of unflinchingly and successfully prosecuting the national liberation struggle. It is not ruling or governing. There is yet no state and no people over who we exercise imperium.

Ambazonia remains a contested territory. We are not in control of it yet.

The political leadership we proclaim is entirely located in the Diaspora, bereft of any privilege, power or ability to govern the land.

There is nothing to exhibit as evidence of our governance of Ambazonia. A country and a people cannot be ruled or governed from abroad without a local presence on the ground.

The colonial power ruled from the metropole. But he had an established administration in the colonial territory.

Some national liberation struggles have been successfully prosecuted while its political leadership is in a closed prison or in the open prison that the Diaspora environment is for it.

An exiled political leader of a national liberation movement in effect is in an open prison because he is constrained in many ways by the explicit or implicit requirements of his host country.

While in exile the political leadership of a national liberation movement does not and cannot purport to rule or govern the contested territory because there is a de facto or de jure authority on the ground exercising governmental functions and powers, and exacting obedience and tax from the population.

Given that situation, the political leadership in jail or abroad, of the national liberation struggle, does not govern or rule but directs the Struggle.

Nothing inhibits or precludes such direction emanating from an imprisoned leadership. There are many historical examples of this.

While in jail Mandela was able to evolve into the kind of strategic leader who, from his solitary confinement imprisonment, secretly directed the Struggle and steered secret government meetings that eventually ushered a free South Africa.

Jomo Kenyatta became the president of the Kenya African National Congress while in prison. From there he directed the liberation struggle of the party until his release in 1961 and his voyage to London the followng year to negotiate the constitutional terms of Kenya’s independence.

During his year in jail Kwame Nkrumah did not hands-off the CPP he had founded.

Nor did Robert Mugabe, Malcolm X, Robert Sobukwe, Mohandas Gandhi, Marcus Garvey, Martin Luther King Jr etc etc sit in their respective prisons twisting their fingers and waiting hopefully for release on some indeterminate date before once more engaging in the fight for freedom.

By Prof Carlson Anyangwe

The much publicised ASSC Berlin Conference took place some two weeks ago. Millions of Southern Cameroonians waited in joyful hope for this event. It was attended by some of the best brains in Africa’s newest nation-The Federal Republic of Ambazonia. The one million dollar question is: Were they served a delicious menu of hope and liberation or was it another symposium that promised more than it delivered? Cameroon Concord News Group was represented by a cream of very experienced news reporters including its London Bureau Chief.

On day 1 of the conference, Cameroon Concord News and its sister publication, Cameroon Intelligence Report published a report on the Southern Cameroons demonstration outside the Nigerian Embassy in Berlin, Germany.  However, coverage of the Ambazonia Berlin Conference ended there. The protest at the Nigerian embassy was a commendable initiative by the organizers and every Ambazonian who attended the conference. Any action that takes the Southern Cameroons plight to the international stage is worthy to be praised. It was also the first time that the Acting President of the Interim Government of Ambazonia, Dr Sako Ikome visited Southern Cameroonians outside the United States of America.

Thousands of our Southern Cameroons readers have wondered aloud why we of the Cameroon Concord News Group did not produce more write-ups about the event after the first report. The truth is we watched the spectacle that was put together by the Ambazonia Interim Government in Berlin like many of our readers with anticipation. Hardworking and mission driven Southern Cameroonians in Germany did their best to welcome all Ambazonian comrades who made the trip. In this soul-searching conversation our Chairman who also moonlights as editor-in-chief, Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai says the IG is now a thing of the past.

Cameroon Concord News: You were in Germany but blatantly refused to make the trip to Berlin

Soter Agbaw-Ebai: We had a very intensive and productive debate with my reporters and contributing editors in the UK, Germany and Belgium on whether we had to cover the conference. I gave the green light for them to travel to Berlin but stayed me in Mulheim because I felt we should have received an official invitation from Sako and his cabinet to cover the said conference.

Cameroon Concord News: We understand, you were constantly being briefed about the happenings in Berlin. Is this true?

Soter Agbaw-Ebai: Yes it is true! The first document that was sent to me via Whatsapp was the event flyer designed with the headline ‘the syncretizing conference’.  Either the IG didn’t understand the meaning of the word or it was deliberately employed to deceive Ambazonians. The conference was anything but syncretizing. It was so poorly executed that there was no written program to follow. Every member of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government that was present in the hall was also a Master of Ceremony. The fight for the microphone to speak gibberish was preposterous. Considering that many delegates sponsored themselves, this was a colossal waste of money for little or no benefit. The money would have been well spent in Ground Zero which was the aim of the conference

Cameroon Concord News: You reportedly ordered Chi Prudence to leave the venue. What prompted you to make such a decision?

Soter Agbaw-Ebai: Prudence and other members of the Concord team complained that they had never seen so many security clowns around one individual. Sako flew in from the US with security guards and Prudence told me they were too many. What a joke! What a waste of money. He has been caught up by the trappings of power long before he has had any. She reported to me that Sako spoke with unbelievable sluggishness, his audience was always asleep. No energy, direction or drive. One County head was unequivocal that he won’t trust Sako with a dime as he had no clue and charisma. Sako looked and acted robotic with no engagement with the audience. The disrespect he endured from his cabinet was there for all present to see. Chris Anu and other so-called cabinet ministers walked in after Sako was already in the hall. None of them showed any respect or interest whilst he was talking. It was a shame and embarrassing for all present. I had to ask Prudence to jet back to London.

Cameroon Concord News: Mister Chairman, what is your take on the Berlin Conference situation?

Soter Agbaw-Ebai: I personally believe that Berlin was a missed opportunity for Dr Sako and his team. Consequently, the IG is now a thing of the past. Ever since one cabinet Secretary publicly alleged corruption by another, Ambazonian donors have elected to stop all financial donations to the Interim Government. Berlin was a failed attempt by Sako and his acolytes to raise funds. The target was to raise $ 100,000 and claim it was for ‘Ground Zero’. But Southern Cameroonian elites who have the power of the purse knew that it was donating to fund Sako’s lavish and corrupt lifestyle. Most of the County Coordinators had other plans!  He only managed to raise$62,500 with $17,500 paid and $45,000 in pledges.

Permit me add here that hardworking Ambazonians in Germany had to pay out from their pockets for the venues, catering and hotels as the Interim Government had no money. They had to wait for the money that came in on the first day of the conference to get reimbursed. This is not what our leader Sisiku Ayuk Tabe wished for our people.

Cameroon Concord News: Some have opined that you are against Sako and the IG

Soter Agbaw-Ebai: Those who maintain that view are just being deliberately stupid. I am however familiar with such things. Let me open up to you a little!! There was a lady in Berlin now being referred to as the Grace Mugabe of Ambazonia. Her real name is Irene Ngwa. I have evidence that she runs the IG with an iron fist. She personally made a telephone call to the organizers in Berlin and instructed them on what size hotel room to book for Sako and the distance between her room and that of Sako. This is shameful. Hundreds of fighters are dying daily and our people are sleeping in the forest and the IG and its official are obsessed about hotel rooms. You should also remember that part of my interview with President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe in the presence of Prof Carlson Anyangwe in London was done inside the Sisiku’s hotel room where he shared a bed with Prof Anyangwe. It was indeed a Bread and Breakfast accommodation!!  That to me was sacrifice that President Ayuk Tabe and Prof Anyangwe were showing to the people of Southern Cameroons.

Cameroon Concord News: For the first time in this conversation, you have made some disturbing revelations. Our readers would love to know more about the Grace Mugabe of Southern Cameroons.

Soter Agbaw-Ebai: I discuss issues with facts blackmailing not being part of my heritage. Irene Ngwa is the Director of Resource Mobilization at the Ambazonia Presidency, Director of My Trip to Buea Fund, Board Member of Ambazonia Treasury Board, Director and Coordinator of Amba Peace Plan, LGA by LGA. Even President Robert Mugabe didn’t have the audacity to appoint Grace to so many top ranking positions.

My Trip to Buea raised over $807,000. Just last week, the ASC published irrefutable evidence that they only received $120,000 of that fund. Sako and his gang spent all in hotels, restaurant and renting cars. They are running out of cash and like gamblers and drug addicts they wrongfully thought Berlin was going to give them a platform to raise more money to fund their Made-in-Calabar corrupt habits.

Cameroon Concord News: Southern Cameroonians are of the opinion that Sako is in constant consultation with President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe

Soter Agbaw-Ebai: Are you kidding me? Are you for real? Are you part of this news group? You are an important person in the Concord News structure and you should be aware that Sako hasn’t had the decency to call President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and the other leaders in jail since February 2019. For your information, Sako travelled to Berlin with the intention of getting that assembly to endorse him as President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. He sees himself as Head of State forgetting that he is acting for someone who is accessible by phone. Over the last few weeks his surrogates have disseminated the falsehood that the meeting in Berlin had given him a mandate to reshuffle his cabinet and create new departments. I have been informed that he has already announced his new cabinet pushing out all of Sisisku Ayuk’s men. I have not seen the so-called decree but my team in the USA is working on it.

The decision to bring in Sako was a grave error of judgment and a costly mistake by members of the Ambazonian Interim Government. I think Sako should step aside for Southern Cameroonians of goodwill to reboot this revolution. If not, serious decisions will have to be made against him.

Cameroon Concord News: Thank you very much for your time and a very Happy Birthday to you Mister Chairman

Soter Agbaw-Ebai: You are welcome

This interview was conducted by Diamond Esoh for the Cameroon Concord News Group

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to its previous resolutions on Cameroon,

–  having regard to the statement by DROI Chair Antonio Panzeri on 7 March 2019on the situation in Cameroon European Parliament,

–  having regard to the declaration by the HR/VP Federica Mogherini on 5 April 2019 on the deteriorating political and security situation in Cameroon,

–  having regard to the various statements by the EEAS Spokesperson on the situation in Cameroon, and in particular the latest on 31 January 2019,

–  having regard to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 10 December 1948,

–  having regard to the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,

–  having regard to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights of June 1981, which Cameroon has ratified,

–  having regard to the Constitution of the Republic of Cameroon,

–  having regard to the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement (‘Cotonou Agreement’),

–  having regard to Rule 135 of its Rules of procedure,

A.  Whereas, previously known as a stable country despite the fact that President Paul Biya has been in power since 1982, Cameroon faced unrest, violence and serious human rights abuses subsequently to the attacks by Boko Haram, in the Far North since 2014, abusive military operations against a secessionist insurgency in the South West and North West, the two Anglophone regions since 2016 and Government crackdown on political opposition since Presidential elections held in October 2018;

B.  whereas the law provides for freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, including for the press, but the government have restricted this right throughout the country in accordance with the provisions of the law on public demonstrations; whereas from January 17 to April 20, the government blocked access to the internet in the South west and Northwest regions; whereas Government authorities claimed the shutdown was an attempt to limit the propagation of images and misinformation about the crisis in the Anglophone regions;

C.  whereas in October 2016, peaceful demonstrations were organized by Cameroon’s Anglophone minority against structural discrimination considered as mainly Francophone; whereas the government has partially responded to Anglophone socio-professional grievances, but some extremists have chosen the path of secession;

D.  whereas the governmental security forces used excessive force against them and the violence and unrest escalated in late 2016 after a series of strikes and protests contributing to the radicalization of the discourse and tactics of Anglophone activists;

E.  whereas armed separatists appeared in the field inclined to fight against the government; whereas separatists have carried out mass kidnappings including pupils and students,  targeted killings of police, law enforcement officers and local authorities, extortion and have torched educational institutions, thereby depriving thousands of young people of access to education, as well as hospitals, depriving populations of access to healthcare;

F.  whereas the situation in the country has degenerated both with the insurgent terrorist group Boko Haram that has extended its actions since 2012 from Nigeria to the broader Lake Chad basin, including the far North region of Cameroon, and with the separatist crisis involving the Anglophone Northwest and Southwest regions;

G.  whereas by 2018 violence has escalated more with security forces conducting large scale operations and the separatists conducting hit-and-run attacks, and fighting had become almost daily;

H.  whereas the security forces and the armed separatists have both targeted civilians; whereas since October 2018 over 170 have been killed as a result of the fighting;

I.  whereas the situation has worsened considerably since 2017 and turned into a war of secession, when militant secessionist groups symbolically proclaimed on 1st October 2017 the independence of the “Republic of Ambazonia” from mainly francophone Cameroon; whereas 1st October is the commemorating date of the (re)unification between the Cameroon under French mandate and the British Southern Cameroons in 1961;

J.  whereas during the 2016-2017 academic year about 42 500 children did not attend school according to UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA); whereas teachers and students have been targeted by separatists for not participating to the boycott of schools, and whereas, according to Amnesty International, at least 42 schools have been attacked between February 2017 and May 2018 by separatists; 

K.  whereas between January and September 2017, over 30 schools were burnt and damaged in the Anglophone regions, 139 primary schools in the Far North region because of insecurity and the constant threat of armed groups;

L.  whereas there are reports that governmental forces are responsible for extrajudicial executions, excessive use of force, burning down houses, arbitrary detentions and torture, several cases documented by Human Rights Watch; whereas according to the International Crisis Group, government forces and armed secessionists killed over 420 civilians in the two Anglophone regions since the crisis escalated in 2017;

M.  whereas all the protagonists of insecurity in the country, be it Boko Haram, Anglophone insurgents or governmental forces, have committed serious human rights abuses and breaches of international humanitarian law; whereas the Boko Haram exactions and crimes has resulted approximately 240 000 people in the far North region have fled their home since 2014 according to Amnesty International; whereas over 30 000 Anglophone Cameroonians refugees have been registered by UNHCR in Nigerian region neighbouring Cameroun and 430 000 internal displaced HRW said;

N.  whereas in December 2017, the UN Committee against Torture expressed grave concerns over the use of torture and secret detention in the country and criticized the Cameroonian authorities for not clearly indicating whether investigations were being carried out into these actions;

O.  whereas the 7 October 2018 presidential election where Paul Biya was standing for a seventh term was strained by insecurity and violence in at least these three regions; whereas the participation was very weak in the Anglophone regions and internet access in these areas has been disrupted ;

P.  whereas the election was compounded by a political divide between the ruling party and an opposition that accuses it of repeated fraud; whereas, contesting the results, the opposition called for mass street demonstrations banned by the government;

Q.  whereas at least 170 civilians have been killed since October in the Anglophone regions according to Human Rights Watch; whereas since the presidential election, and the re-election of Paul Biya, the NGO has recorded 220 incidents in the two Anglophone regions;

R.  whereas unfortunate candidate in the presidential election, opponent Maurice Kamto was arrested and could be accused of insurrection, hostility against the homeland, criminal conspiracy, public disorder, rebellion, group rebellion, and incitement to insurrection; whereas Human Rights Watch has also received reports that as many as 200 followers of Kamto, are currently detained following protests on 26 January 2019;

1.  Condemns in the strongest terms the cases of torture, forced disappearances, extrajudicial killings perpetrated by governmental forces and armed separatists;

2.  denounces any use of violence against members of the security forces, calls on the security forces to carry out operations by respecting international human rights law;

3.  calls on the Cameroon’s authorities to end the excessive use of force by the security services, mass arrests, arbitrary detentions, torture and other ill-treatments;

4.  urges the Cameroon’s authorities to adopt all necessary measures consistent with Cameroon’s human rights obligations to end the cycle of violence;

5.  deplores the measures taken aiming at restricting and preventing peaceful protests, including curfews and ban on public meetings in certain circumstances;

6.  Recalls that the Emergency Humanitarian Assistance Plan has been implemented by the Government for the North-West and South-West Regions 2018-2019, with a view of ensuring multi-faceted protection and assistance to displaced persons as a matter of priority, provision of healthcare to people affected by the crisis, etc;

7.  urges the Cameroon’s authorities to immediately stop restrictions and ensure a thorough, impartial and independent investigation into all allegations of human rights violations perpetrated by security forces and take effective measures to prosecute and sanction all those responsible for such violations;

8.  expresses its deep concern about political leaders detained in degrading and inhuman conditions, calls the government of the Republic of Cameroon for the free of all prisoners of conscience, whether arrested before or after the last election in order to appease the situation; calls for the resumption of political dialogue with a view to ending the crisis;

9.  Urges the international community, notably the Community of the Central African States -CEAC (Communauté des Etats de l’Afrique Centrale)- and the African Union (AU), to press Cameroon to find a sustainable democratic solution to the current crisis;

10. instructs its President to forward this resolution to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Government and the Parliament of Cameroon, to the Community of the Central African States and the African Union.

A widespread notion persists: that women, when compared with their male counterparts, are more naturally inclined towards peace. A woman is a full circle and within her is the power to create, nurture and transform. Over the years, there has been an increasing need for recognition of women’s efforts in conflict resolution by the international community, which resulted to a call for the incorporation of women in peace processes and fostering of equality, empowerment, democracy, poverty eradication and development. U N Security Council Resolution 1325 was the first formal and legal document to prevent violation of women’s rights and support women’s participation in peace processes.

African nations have been ravaged by conflict, resulting in destabilization, displacement and infrastructural destruction, all of which have gender-specific consequence. Recently, a wave of violence broke out in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon.

The United Nations as of January 2019 estimates that over 430,000 people have been internally displaced, over 30,000 live in refugee camps and settlements in Nigeria and over 2,000 people have been killed.

The impact of the anglophone crisis on Anglophone women has been severe. While conflicts inflict suffering on everyone, women are particularly affected by its short- and long- term effects. Sexual assault and exploitation are frequently employed as tools of war; victimization leads to isolation, alienation, prolonged emotional trauma and unwanted pregnancies that often result in abandoned children. Women can play active roles in the events that lead to fighting and instability, and even in combat itself- yet they have also served as the forerunners of peace movements that have ended conflicts.

Although conflicts affect every member of the society in varying degrees, women are naturally more prone to negotiate for peace than men, and in achieving this, women devise all available strategies and resources within their reach to mediate and resolve conflicts for peace to reign.

For instance, in order to achieve peace processes women, go as far as holding prayer meetings, marches, night vigils and in some cases withhold sexual services from their partners or shamed authorities into negotiating by appearing naked in public demonstrations, which has cultural implications in some African cultures.

Aristophanes in his play Lysistrata and Bole Butake, in Lake God, paint a similar scenario where women go on a sex-strike to draw the men’s attention to their plight. The extent to which women devise both formal and informal initiatives to bring about peace shows that women are a formidable force to reckon with in mediation and conflict resolution and must be well integrated in these processes.

Women are not the problem. They are the solution. With the security situation fast deteriorating in the two English speaking regions of Cameroon, a group of courageous women has emerged. Under the banner of Southwest and Northwest Women’s Task Force, individual women and their counterparts in the civil society are mobilizing and campaigning for the end of the Anglophone crisis. The women have decided to give a helping hand to State authorities in the search for long lasting peace in the Anglophone regions. They are demanding a ceasefire and meaningful participation to finding sustainable peace to the violent conflict.

In a patriarchal society like Cameroon’s, their task is not easy. Besides holding press conferences and marches, recently, they have successfully mobilized thousands of women to participate in two lamentation exercises in Buea and Bamenda. This is a cultural practice to show extreme displeasure by publicly wailing to draw the attention of elders, particularly men, forcing them to take appropriate action. The women appeal to talks and dialogue because according to them, these are the main points that will help reunite the two warring parties.

“There is no limit to what we, as women, can accomplish”, says Michelle Obama, reason why various religious groups like the Christian Women Fellowship of the Presbyterian Church, Christian Women Association of the Catholic Church and Baptist Women and traditional women groups like ‘Ma Awu” in the Manyu division, “takumbeng” in the North West region, Special Neighbors in Mile 16, Buea and other women groups, have all employed several strategies to resolve the conflict and bring peace. These women have used love, tenderness, care, concern, soberness, understanding, tolerance, politeness, patience and truthfulness. There’s also been sensitization through organization of seminars and workshops to educate the population on peace, peaceful protests/march pass with peace plants, reach out, advocacy and preaching, prayers and night vigil, traditional measures such as willful exposure of their nudity, dialogue and advice.

Within the context of the Cameroon anglophone crisis, women play important roles in the process of conflict resolution. Firstly, as activists and advocates for peace, women wage conflict non-violently by pursuing democracy and human rights. Secondly, as peacekeepers and relief aid workers, women contribute to reducing direct violence. Thirdly, as mediators, trauma healing counsellors and policy makers, women work to “transform relationships” and address the root of violence. Lastly, as educators and participants in the development process, women contribute to building the capacity of their communities and nations to prevent violent conflict. Emily Taft once wrote that if women understood and exercised their power, they could remake the world.

If a lasting peace must be achieved in Cameroon, then it won’t be without the participation of women and the inclusion of gender perspectives and participation in peace processes. Women must play a most significant and substantive role in making the transition from the culture of violence to the culture of peace.

Historical chronicles and modern international law theories have documented the role of women in wartime only by identifying women as victims of rape and other sexual atrocities.

This has somewhat changed recently, with resolution 1325 having both a meaningful and symbolic impact on women around the world; this has transformed the image of women from being exclusively victims of war to being active participants as peacemakers, peacebuilders and negotiators. This change recognizes the value women can bring to conflict resolution. While women need to be present at the negotiation table and their voices need to be heard and considered in conflict resolution process, we must also remember that when it comes to curing society’s ills and working towards the elimination of war and violence. Women are not alone. Like the Chinese proverb suggests:

“Women hold up half the sky, but we must work with those who hold up the other half.”

Written by:
Felix Agbor Nkongho
Executive Director
Committee for the Defence of Human Rights in Cameroon

After weeks of huge demonstrations, calling for the departure of the wheelchair-strapped Algerian president, the ailing 82-year old Bouteflika has agreed to resign before his term in office comes to an end on 28 Aoril 2019.

After ruling the country from a wheelchair for most of his time in power, the sick Algerian president felt he could take another term. He did not know the Algerian population had a different plan.

Immediately he announced his candidacy in the upcoming presidential election, his opponents also went to work. The timing was perfect. The economy is suffering, the ailing president can no longer talk and the global political atmosphere is changing in favor of real democracy.

The population has also been angry. It immediately mobilized and took to the streets to once more prove that there is power in numbers. Once again, the world has witnessed another people power revolution that has taken down another seat tight leader.

The Algerian case should serve as a good example to Caneroonians, especially French-speaking Cameroonians who are too chicken-hearted.

Algerians like Burkinabe have proven that true power lies with the people and when they are determined to take down a dictator, nothing can stand in their way.

Cameroonians must learn from Algeria. They must take down Paul Biya and his corrupt criminal enterprise through a people power revolution.

Holding that elections can solve the matter is a waste of time and thinking that death might help them in the process is total stupidity as Biya is simply an element in a system that has been designed to hold the country and its people down for centuries.

There is power in numbers and Algerians have proven that. Cameroonians should take to the streets in Yaounde for weeks. If more than 200,000 Cameroonians come out, the military will throw in the towel and Biya and his people will either flee or will be held in the jails they have built for others.

Cameroonians must learn. They must understand that nobody will change their fate for them. They must figure out that the criminal enterprise that has ruled the country for decades will not be going away anytime soon unless taken down through a people power revolution.

This is possible. Yes, you can. Stop sleeping, start preparing. Take fear out of your mind. If the military does not kill you, preventable illnesses will, as there are no good health facilities in the country. Poverty has already killed many and know that pauperizing the population is a true Biya strategy to keep the people submissive.

Accidents and criminality will continue to kill you if you keep on fearing Biya and his incompetent bunch. For 36 years, they have not built a single road in Cameroon.

Their corruption is obvious and that is why most of Mr. Biya’s former ministers are in jail. He put them there. That’s a clear indictment of himself. Those people could not be stealing if he did not create a favorable environment for that.

Alibaba cannot be innocent while the 40 thieves are looting the system. Hold him accountable. Take to the streets. The system is collapsing from within. Internal fighting is tearing the criminal enterprise apart. Take advantage of this weakness. Change your fate and that of your children. Biya is old, sick and weak. He can be taken down.

The Francophone Diaspora should take a lead on this. Yes, you can. The time is now.

By Dr Joachim Arrey

The CEMAC statement on the genocide in the Southern Cameroons in its just concluded summit in Ndjamena, Chad is worthy of note. French Cameroun’s President Paul Biya was elected President of the sub-regional organisation in his absence. He was therefore not present to officially take over the mantle of leadership of that sub-regional organisation.  His absence made it impossible for him to personally contribute to the decisions and resolutions on matters of importance impacting on the life of the organisation. No publicly stated reasons were provided explaining his absence.

It was obvious that sub-regional and international economic and security matters would be discussed at the summit. It was also obvious that the incoming President would be given the mandate to execute the decisions that were going to be taken at the summit.   Some CEMAC countries fall within the international security and economic powder keg in the Sahel, the Congo basin and the Gulf of Guinea. Cameroon Concord News Group is concerned that conferring the Presidency of CEMAC to Paul Biya who is a sub-regional Angel of death and General Overseer of a Crime Syndicate is potentially risky.  He is genocidal, aged, sick, senile and potentially in the evening of his life.

The security and economic challenges confronting CEMAC required a vibrant, visionary and strong leader. Paul is not. He is a demented neo-colonial stooge.  Some of challenges confronting France-Afrique of which CEMAC is the heart-beat, include the growing debate on colonial security, economic and cultural pacts, the CFA Franc, the Multinational war against Boko Haram, Maritime Security in the Gulf of Guinea, the instability in CAR and the DRC Congo etc.  A sick despot with a failing memory cannot withstand these challenges.  Cameroon Concord News Group can therefore only conclude that CEMAC has given Paul Biya a crown of thorns. This crown of thorns adds to the several attributes on Paul Biya’s despotic page in France-Afrique’s neo-colonial book of incredulity.

This crown of thorns came with an important statement from Paul Biya’s CEMAC peers which must have shaken the Angel of Death to the marrows of his evil bones. Fearing probably that he may abuse his mandate and the crown of thorns to legitimize the genocide in the Southern Cameroons, CEMAC leaders in a resolution warned about the consequences of continuing the war Paul Biya declared against the Southern Cameroons in the Gulf of Guinea. The CEMAC leaders resolved and urged him to find a negotiated solution as soon as possible. Coming from a sub-regional organisation whose presidency he was assuming, the resolution on the Southern Cameroons must have come through as a poisonous pill to criminal instincts of this notorious genocide mastermind.  The clear message is that if he persists on his genocidal misadventure against the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, then he will be doing that at his risk.   CEMAC took a clear stand before handing over the presidency of the organisation to him.  It behoves him as the president of French Cameroun and as the President of CEMAC to embrace the path of international legality and not criminality and genocide.

What if he does not stop the genocide and engage in negotiations? Will there be consequences from CEMAC?  Cameroon Concord News Group does not believe CEMAC will sanction him for non-compliance of its resolution on the Southern Cameroons.  However, the CEMAC resolution deprives him of an instrument or toll with which he intended to legitimize impunity, geocide and other crimes against the Southern Cameroons.  CEMAC were careful to point out to him that countries in the Gulf of Guinea would be negatively impacted by the war against the Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia.  The CEMAC resolution on the Southern Cameroons clears the way for Intervention by the International Community to protect and prevent genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.  Without this clear statement from CEMAC, intervention by the AU, UN, and the International Community at large would have been diplomatically hampered or slowed down.  International Organisations, the United Sates of America, the European Union and International Human Rights Organisations have found strong evidence that Cameroun civilian and military commanders planned and are executing despicable crimes against Southern Cameroons civilians within the territory of the Southern Cameroons and the neighbouring country of Nigeria.  There must be consequences for these acts of impunity.

The CEMAC resolution implicitly serves notice to the Buhari government in Nigeria and other countries that may be aiding the genocide.  CEMAC whose presidency the genocide mastermind Paul Biya has assumed, has taken a stand in favour of negotiation and peace. The Federal Government of Nigeria which is a party to the multinational force arrangement fighting against Boko Haram with some CEMAC countries is on notice to readjust its position and weigh its diplomatic options in the light of this reality.

Cameroon Concord News Group calls on the International Community to urgently deploy a peace keeping force to the Southern Cameroons- Ambazonia to protect and prevent against the ongoing genocide. The international Community should facilitate negotiations that must lead the way to the free exercise of the right of self-determination by the people of the Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia under the UN Charter, UN Resolutions and International Law.

Cameroon Concord News Group calls on all Ambazonians and freedom loving people world wide to redouble all efforts to contribute towards ground zero operations, the protection and sustenance of Ambazonia civilians and refugees, the legal defence fund of Ambazonians and Ambazonian leaders in captivity, Ambazonia IG institutional governance and diplomatic actions which must intensify now when the world is paying attention.

Cameroon Concord News Group calls on the IG and Ambazonians capable of carrying out diplomatic initiatives to know that international diplomacy warrants knowledge of diplomatic practice.  Effective diplomatic engagement is never conducted on social media.   Giving notice of attacks on supposed targets in the territory of French Cameroun at a time when International diplomatic actions are being triggered may constitute an act of sabotage to the Ambazonia self-defence efforts. The Federal Republic of Ambazonia are not the aggressors in this war. Ambazonia took up arms in response to this war of genocide in which French Cameroun is the identified aggressor.

Publicly announcing so-called diplomatic engagement in the Basque country in the heart of Europe by Cho Ayaba shortly after announcing that he will carryout attacks in the territory of French Cameroon is not in the interest of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. The Basque country is in Spain with its own specific historical peculiarity within Spain and the contagious areas of France.  It is in the heart of Europe. The announced social media diplomatic engagement at a time the EU has commence to trigger its sanction regime against French Cameroun for the crimes, including genocide committed in the Southern Cameroons may not be in the interest of the Southern Cameroons.  The Southern Cameroons problem has discrete international character which must not be complicated.  Cameroon Concord News Group has consistently warned that social media activism, grandstanding and ignorance by some who want to personalise the struggle for their selfish interests, may compromise genuine diplomatic efforts which the IG and concerned Ambazonians have been making and which may already be yielding fruits.

The complexity of international diplomacy within which many Ambazonia professionals are operating as key actors may be too sophisticated for social media activists who are in search of relevance.  Cameroon Concord News Group strongly encourages the Interim Government and Ambazonians of good faith to redouble the ongoing efforts with diplomatic discretion in other to achieve positive outcomes.  Diplomatic procedural pitfalls must be avoided as much as possible.  Sound diplomatic engagement must be discreet and must not be conducted in the social media. Cameroon Concord News Group calls on Ambazonians to strongly discourage or denounce the ongoing social media diplomatic circus.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman/Editor-in-Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group has persistently warned Southern Cameroonians in ground zero and in the diaspora that Cho Ayaba and his AGC recently rebranded AgovC constitute a serious threat to the Southern Cameroons liberation quest. His every action in the struggle justifies this.  His most recent actions among many elevates this warning to an emergency.

The so-called Dublin Declaration calling for armed attacks in French Cameroun and the persistent call by Cho Ayaba and his surrogates for the release of the audit report conducted on the orders of the Interim Government are matters which Ambazonians in ground zero and in the diaspora must consider with great suspicion.  These actions are intended to help the enemy. They are not intended to contribute to the self-defence efforts for the liberation of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia from the terrorist genocide war of French Cameroun.

Cameroon Concord News Group strongly urges the Restoration Council of the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia for the purposes of mitigating the damage intended by Cho Ayaba, to withhold the public release of the audit report that was submitted recently by the Interim President Samuel Sako. The Interim Government should distance itself from the Dublin Declaration and the planned attacks against targets in French Cameroun.

Attacking targets in French Cameroun may be used to transpose French Cameroun teleguided attacks, the actions of Boko Haram, French Cameroun opposition and insider attacks as attacks by the liberation forces of Ambazonia. Atanga Nji and the criminal government of French Cameroun, will organize targeted attacks against French Cameroun civilian population, protected settlements such as schools, palaces, markets, museums and hospitals and blame on the restoration forces. All they needed was this public announcement by Cho Ayaba that the attacks will be carried out by Southern Cameroons liberation forces under his command. Whether he in fact carries out the attacks will not matter. They just need this announcement to do the rest in order to criminalise all our restoration forces and inviting the international community to characterise them as terrorists, which they are not, French Cameroun has an extraordinary propaganda capacity by themselves and their lobbies abroad to rely on the Dublin Declaration to mount this campaign.   Cho Ayaba will not be targeted as indeed he has not been targeted at any time by French Cameroun and its agents, even though his actions have been acted upon by French Cameroun to target many who are in the diaspora legitimately exercising their protected rights to mount a defence of their ancestral fatherland, their civilian population and their freedom afforded by international law.

A key strategy by French Cameroun in the war of genocide against Southern Cameroons is the targeting of the civilian population and foreigners within the territory of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.  This strategy has backfired partly because the United States whose forces are in North French Cameroun supporting the multinational force against Boko Haram has through its independent intelligence gathering capability monitored the crimes committed by French Cameroun terrorist forces against Ambazonians and foreigners among whom are missionaries.  Providing a public open cheque admitting in advance crimes committed within the enemy scheme to criminalize the legitimate war of self-defence by the restoration forces of Ambazonia is indeed reckless.  Lest we forget, French Cameroun is a territory where the multinational forces are conducting legitimate internationally sanctioned military operations against Boko Haram and international terrorism.  Interjecting into the Ambazonia liberation struggle within this sphere, will bring negative focus on the Ambazonia armed struggle.  It ill subsumes the Ambazonia liberation struggle into a French Cameroun internal security problem rather than and Ambazonia problem which is an international problem for which there is overwhelming international support for all-inclusive negotiation without pre-conditions with international participation.  The Dublin Declaration aims at changing the nature of the conflict. Who stands to gain with the new factor and dynamic introduced by Cho Ayaba?  The answer is that the enemy stands to gain. As if the killing of the military commanders of Ambazonia defence units fighting against the enemy French Cameroun terrorist forces is not enough, Cho Ayaba wants to provide the enemy with a defence which it sought unsuccessfully to make through the Bangorain staged attacked.

While in warfare, taking out enemy operational, support, strategic and tactical command capability, even in its own territory may be legitimate. But then these are often done in covert operations. This is not what Ayaba intends to do with his Dublin Declaration. Making this public as Cho Ayaba has done is wholly intended to propagate the strategy which the enemy is relying on him to subvert the legitimate self-defence liberation efforts of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.The enemy strategy through Ayaba is unfolding in through the Dublin Declaration.

Also, Ayaba and his surrogates over the past several months embarked on a social media campaign of blackmail to force the IG to release a legitimate audit that was conducted furtherance to the Ambazonia quest for accountability.  The clear intention by Cho Ayaba and his surrogates was to ride on the popular request for accountability made in good faith by Cameroon Concord News Group and a sizeable component of the Ambazonia people in furtherance of the accountability quest. Cameroon Concord News Group wants to place it on record, that the aims of Cho Ayaba and reneged forces in seeking the release of the audit now is not for the public good.  He and his surrogates never recognized the IG and never contributed to the treasury whose audit they are requesting.   His intentions on the release of the budget report, the so-called Dublin Declaration judged against his destabilizing actions in ground zero, as a matter of urgency, strongly call for the audit report not be released now. That will not be in the public good nor that of the liberation war of self- defence. He and renegade forces will use it to undermine the self-defence war efforts, the county by county and local government by local government defence strategy and discourage diaspora, ground zero and international support for our refugees, our internally displaced and our ground zero self-defence operations.

The timing of the Dublin Declaration and the seeking of the release of the audit report to discredit the IG no matter how sincere and forthright the audit report may be, at a time when international action is closing in on French Cameroun is highly suspicious.  Coming at a time when every lie told by French Cameroun against the restoration forces of Ambazonia have been exposed, the public declaration through the so-called Dublin Declaration and attempts to blackmail and weaken the IG are a welcome relief to French Cameroun criminal government and its terrorist armed forces.  This strategic change of policy that benefits the enemy must be opposed vigorously.

The question which must be asked is why now?  Why now when the international community is putting the required pressure on French Cameroun sinking crime syndicate?   Why validate the abduction and extermination of thousands of internally displaced Ambazonians seeking refuge within vulnerable French Cameroun civilian areas who will be falsely accused for the actions of Ayaba, Atanga Nji and members of the crime syndicate?  Why now that French Cameroun has failed to paint the restoration forces as terrorists and has been forced to call Ambazonia liberators simply as separatists, a tacit recognition of the liberation rationale for the self-defence war of independence?  Why now, when Ayaba has a legitimate option to attack and take out the occupation war loot of French Cameroun within the territory of Ambazonia and has failed to do instead resorting to kidnapping and taking ransoms or killing liberation forces and commanders in ground zero?

Over the past fifty-seven years, French Cameroun and its colonial administrators, military commanders and politicians through extortion, claimed Ambazonia prized lands, farms, natural resources and built mansions and businesses in every county of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.  Why not join the rest of the restoration forces to take out the stolen resources, investments and wealth and weaken the enemy rather than stretch limited war resources to attack targets in French Cameroun when the resources of colonial rule are within Ambazonia?

The problem with Ayaba and other renegade forces within Ambazonia is greed. Prior to this stage of the revolution the struggle stagnated because rather than mobilizing the diaspora resources to liberate Ambazonia, Cho Ayaba and many others who are opposed to new ideas and leaders in the liberation struggle exploited them for personal gain.  This is one reason why the same diaspora who were exploited through the asylum process have rejected these same so-called front-line leaders exploiting the self-defence struggle for personal gain.

Most Ambazonians agree with Cameroon Concord News Group that a cancer that has afflicted the struggle for many years was the commercialisation of the struggle for pecuniary interest through the asylum process, even though most Ambazonians who fled the homeland had legitimate fears of persecution and harm to their precious lives.   For his more than two decades in Europe, Cho Ayaba sustained himself on exploiting the asylum vulnerabilities of Ambazonia victims fleeing from the murderous colonial rule of French Cameroun.  This cancer ran so deep in many of the so-called frontline leaders of the Ambazonia independence struggle to the extent that with the advent of a new dawn of the Ambazonia popular revolution, they have vigorously resisted the emergence of the new leadership outside the cancerous cartel as a threat to their pecuniary interests. The time to shred pecuniary interests to unite to confront a common enemy is now.

Cameroon Concord News Group called out to Acting Interim President Samuel Sako to step-down due to what Cameroon Concord News Group identified as his ineffective leadership in some areas. That call was not intended to be abused or misinterpreted to support a misdirected campaign to subvert the cause. It was done in good faith.  Cameroon Concord News Group called for full accountability of the IG for the purpose of public interest.  That action is expected by all democratic governments.  Ambazonians have a culture of accountability which that call echoed.  Cameroon Concord News Group is pleased that its call and that of many Ambazonians was heeded to and an audit was conducted as the IG promised.  Cameroon Concord News Group hopes that this audit should be a first step to reforming the IG and the restoration council for the purpose of strengthening it to carry out urgent ground zero operations, protection and sustaining our refugee population and diplomatic initiatives.

Cameroon Concord News Group is strongly opposed to renegade forces and French Cameroun riding on these citizen requests for an audit to harm the cause.  Classified information of an operational and diplomatic nature should not be provided to hostile forces through an unrestrained public disclosure of the audit report now.   Cameroon Concord News Group also urges Ambazonians and friends of Ambazonians worldwide to reject and distance themselves from the announced Dublin Declaration which plays into the enemy strategy. The Dublin Declaration and pressure to release the audit report to the public now are aimed at feeding the enemy with the ammunitions to delegitimize the Ambazonia war of liberation and subvert international support and efforts to protect and free Ambazonia. It undermines worldwide campaigns to hold the crime syndicate in French Cameroun to account in an international criminal court and targeted sanctions. Cameroon Concord News Group calls on Ambazonians to choose their priorities and timing wisely and to build on the many diplomatic and ground zero successes to expedite the movement to Buea and a free homeland. For this to occur, Ambazonians should rise to the occasion and contribute massively to match their comment to the unfolding international and ground zero response to their just cause. Let all remember that timing in every revolution is crucial to positive outcomes.  The time is now to make the final push.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman/Editor-in-Chief

For more than three decades, Cameroon has made the headlines for corruption and each time a senior official is arrested, the public feels that things will get better. But for three decades now, things have moved from better to worse with the future looking really bleak.

Way back in the mid-80s, only very few people were known to have stolen state funds and this did not look like an epidemic. In 1986, two years after the country’s President, Paul Biya, came to power, there were rumors of senior officials of his government stealing state funds. He promptly organized an interview with CRTV, the country’s national network, to dispel such rumors.

In his interview, he asked for proof and many Cameroonians were displeased with his statement on national TV. Many Cameroonians thought that it was incumbent upon the government to investigate any allegations instead of asking ordinary citizens to bring any evidence in their keeping.

The business of embezzling money is very sophisticated for an ordinary man to understand and it is only the government with its vast resources that can get to the bottom of things if it really wants to know the truth in a country like Cameroon.

But the truth did not take time to come out. No sooner had the president challenged the population than the very first managing director of CRTV, Elie Florent Etouga, absconded with the corporation’s budget. This was a sign that things were not as tidy as the president had portrayed in his interview. He later came on TV to acknowledge that some of his collaborators had stolen state money and were living out of the country.

This announcement was not only an indictment of Mr. Biya’s government, but a clear indication that the president was blissfully unaware of what was happening around him. Indeed, his statement in defense of his collaborators only served as the opening of the floodgates. After Mr. Elie Florent Etouga, Mr. Messi Messi, a managing director of a popular government financial institution, also fled the country with huge amounts of money in the early 90s as Cameroonians started demonstrating for multiparty politics and as things looked like Mr. Biya was losing his grip on power.

Mr. Messi Messi later alleged that the financial institution had been ruined by Mr. Biya’s wife and her family who constantly showed up at his office with bits of paper to collect money at the behest of the president’s wife. From that date, Cameroon made its way into the spotlight for the embezzling prowess of its government officials.

The last two decades have seen hundreds of Cameroon government officials being sent to jail for embezzlement. Even a Prime Minister, Ephraim Inoni, is also languishing in jail for dipping his hands into the government’s coffers. Cameroonians now joke that there is an entire government in jail and that the only vacancy in the country’s maximum security prison, Kondengui, is the post of president.

This implies that Cameroonians are looking forward to the day Mr. Biya will be taken to jail for presiding over a corrupt system. Cameroonians are at a loss for words. They argue that much of the embezzlement cannot be occurring without the president’s knowledge. They point to the fact that most of those in prison are people who are from the president’s ethnic group or region, arguing that there should have been a well-defined background check system to ensure that the public service does not get filled with criminals.

The public has been calling for a computerization of the system to ensure that a few people do not have absolute control over state funds, but these pleas have fallen on deaf ears and the looting of the system has continued unchecked. The embezzlement of state funds has not only hurt the president’s reputation as a leader, it has also hurt the economy.

Stealing state money has become a favorite sport among Cameroonians. Most Cameroonian civil servants, especially customs officials, tax inspectors, and heads of national corporations are clearly living well beyond their means and most of them have their children out of the country, mostly in Western countries where the stolen money is safely kept.

But this week, the country has been asking if the country’s economy will ever recover following the arrest of a former minister of defense, Alain Edgar Mebe Ngo’o, for the embezzlement of billions of taxpayers’ money. Pictures of the former minister’s mansion have been trending online and many Cameroonians are shocked at the display of opulence by Mr. Biya’s ministers.

Mr. Mebe Ngo’o’s case seems to be the worst in the country’s history. His wife, children and nephews are all involved and the list of his assets has left many Cameroonians wondering if this will ever stop. For more than three decades, the country’s government has been conducting itself like a crime syndicate and many members of the president’s ruling party are considered as Mafia kingpins who hold that they are above the law.

While the country is bleeding money and jobs, many members of the country’s ruling party have become very rich. The country’s economy is in a free fall and if something is not done, it will collapse and many lives will be exposed to hardship and death. The corruption has become all pervasive and it has now reached other sectors of the economy.

Schools, banks and hospitals have not been spared by this cancer that is tearing the country apart. The country’s hospitals have been ruined by corruption and most of them are more of consultation clinics. The country’s death rate has risen and it is even unsettling to know that medical doctors are more interested in money than in the health of their patients.

Regarding the financial sector, it could be said that it too has been hit hard by corruption as a result of what is happening in government circles. Late last year, the Central African Banking Commission (Cobac) issued sanctions on Cameroonian bank managers for various acts of corruption. This followed its September 22, 2018, meeting, the conclusions of which were published by Abbas Mahamat Tolli, the commission’s Chairman and Governor of BEAC.

The concerned managers reportedly violated exchange regulations and did not comply with prudential standards. Those affected by that decision included Alphonse Nafack, MD of Afriland First Bank; Isong Udom of United Bank for Africa; Gwendoline Nzo-Nguty Abunaw of Ecobank Cameroon; Waidi Loukoumanou of BGFIBank Cameroon as well as André Alexis Megudju, Managing Director of Crédit communautaire d’Afrique, a former microfinance institution that received Cobac’s banking accreditation in March 2017.

Furthermore, Cobac also examined seven financial institutions accused of non-compliance with banking regulations, lack of internal control and money laundering, among others. According to the regulator, these institutions have freed themselves from the rules governing the foreign exchange market.

This is the story of a country that has made corruption its hallmark. The story of Cameroon’s corruption is one that will continue for a long time, as long as the government does not find anything wrong with its ways. Corruption has blighted many lives. Many young Cameroonians are unemployed and millions are looking outwards for opportunities in distant lands. Today, it is normal for young Cameroonians to hold that their country has no plans for them and this is causing the country to lose many talented people. The brain drain has reached alarming proportions and it will be difficult for the government to reverse this unfortunate trend.

By Kingsley Betek and Linda Embi