Following his appointment as the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, Cameroon Concord News Group congratulated Dabney Yerima and judged it wise for our readers to get first-hand information about this new C0-driver of the Southern Cameroons revolution train. Vice President Dabeny cautioned our correspondent not to address him as VP but simply as Comrade. Below is the full conversation with the Southern Cameroons new strongman

Cameroon Concord News Thank you very much Mister Vice President for accepting to talk to us. A new page in the struggle and a new challenge for you and your family

Dabney Yerima: My dear journalist, titles aren’t essential or important now. The central people in this struggle are the families in the forests, the refugees in Nigeria, the IDPs, the Restoration Forces and Ground Zero not titles. These title cancers in the diaspora have made us lost our focus! We need to refocus. It is my belief that every struggle goes through phases and we have gone through a difficult one recently.

Regarding the second part of your question, I wish and must say here that this is not my family struggle; this is the people’s revolution. It’s not about me or President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe!! It’s about the people of Southern Cameroons.

Cameroon Concord News Many Ambazonians agree with you that the Southern Cameroons Diaspora has been consistently inconsistent! What should be expected in the coming days?

Dabney Yerima My vision is to get all the focus on Ground Zero. You and I are very much aware that diplomacy is a slow process but we must never give up whilst doing all we can to help our people defend themselves. My goal is to use this trust conferred upon me by President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe to build bridges and to get us to refocus and direct our dynamism where it matters most. Accountability and trust are earned and not dished out like kola nuts. I also will work extremely hard to build an IG that respects Ambazonian state institutions and the constitution of the State.

Cameroon Concord News A lot of tongues have been wagging ever since President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe made public the decision appointing you as Vice President! Who is Comrade Dabney Yerima?

Dabney Yerima I was born into a traditional Northern Zone family that till this day exhumes hard-work and enthusiasm. I attended Sacred Heart College Mankon and Cameroon Protestant College Bali both in Southern Cameroons before travelling to Holland over twenty years ago. I am a family man with two beautiful kids.

Cameroon Concord News Southern Cameroonians in Europe are saying that you are not a stranger to the complexity and direction of the Ambazonia debate and struggle. Is this true?

Dabney Yerima President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe pointed out to me some time ago that whenever a man is over praised, there is the danger of him becoming arrogant, so I will always check myself when dealing or reacting to what the public is saying about me. Formerly I worked as the Acting Secretary General of the SCNC and also held positions in SCACUF. In the Ambazonian Interim Government, I served as the Under Secretary of State for Home Affairs and Resource Mobilization and before that at the DOD in the logistics Command Unit.

Cameroon Concord News We gathered from our intelligence department that you were struck down by a serious illness and was never expected to walk again or stay alive but you recovered. Talk us through that experience

Dabney Yerima As you rightly mentioned, I recovered and that’s an experience which I attribute to the grace of God. God in his infinite image has provided another opportunity for me to lead his people. I am strong and doing well and ready!! But I need the support of every Southern Cameroonian and most importantly you of the press.

Cameroon Concord New When do you intend to address the people of Ambazonia?

Dabney Yerima That decision has to come from the Communications Department of the Ambazonian presidency. I believe and fervently too that it will come soonest.

Cameroon Concord News Thank you very much for your time! Hope to have more of these conversations with you

Dabney Yerima It’s my pleasure Comrade

Interviewed by our London Bureau Chief Sesekou Asu Isong and published by Chi Prudence Asong

His Excellency
Dr. Dion Ngute
Prime Minister, Republic of Cameroon

Dear Prime Minister Dion Ngute,

Allow me to congratulate you on your appointment as the Prime Minister of the Republic of Cameroon. I would also like to express my admiration of your efforts aimed at seeking a long-lasting solution to the Southern Cameroons crisis that has resulted in the unnecessary death of some 2,000 Southern Cameroonians.

Your trip to the North West regional headquarters of Bamenda, despite the violence that is playing out there, is testimony to your firm commitment to seek a just and fair solution to the conflict that has put our country in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

However, before focusing on your mission to the North West region, I would like to point out that l would have loved to send this letter to you through the official channel, but given that our civil service is ineffective and corrupt, I have opted to send it via this medium as I do not want it to end up as a dead letter.

Regarding your peace-seeking mission, I would like to highlight that many Southern Cameroonians, especially those who have been directly affected by this “man-made catastrophe”, are watching you very carefully as their future depends on the resolution of this conflict that could have been nipped in the bud if the government you serve had not made arrogance and repression its hallmarks.

I have personally been listening to you on your “roadshow” and I will continue to do so as you take your message of peace to our beloved South West Region next week. Like you, I am a bona fide son of the South West Region and I want peace to prevail so that our people can return to their land and live a normal life.

However, as a Southern Cameroonian, I am concerned by some of the messages you have been delivering while on your roadshow. While I welcome the message that your president, the one you serve and adore, is now open to discussions on the form of the state, I am however concerned that your mission seems to be doomed to failure, especially as your government is determined to exclude an important segment of the Southern Cameroonian population which you and your government have tagged as separatists.

For any dialogue to be meaningful, all shades of opinions must be welcomed and discussed at the negotiating table. I am an unapologetic federalist, but I hold that it is incumbent upon me to dialogue with and understand those who hold that secession is the ultimate solution.

I think those who have been calling for a separate Southern Cameroonian state have been pushed to the wall by your government and it is incumbent upon you and your government to convince them that separation is not a good option for the country. That is one job you should be prepared to handle in the days ahead.

These people have been pushed to the wall by your government’s refusal to listen to the people’s grievances for decades. Eliminating them from any dialogue might only radicalize them and make it impossible for our country to achieve the peace it needs.

These “separatists” are Southern Cameroonians too and they deserve to be heard. They must be given a chance for them to express their views so that, together, we can find a lasting solution to this unfortunate situation.

Their leaders are in jail in Yaounde and your government has been putting them through a pseudo trial that does not speak well of the country. Those in jail must be involved in the dialogue for it to be meaningful.

Allow me to point out that a first serious step towards seeking peace will be publicly acknowledging that mistakes have been made, apologizing for the lives lost and property intentionally damaged by government forces.

Mr. Prime Minister, unconditionally releasing all those who are being held in your dungeons in Yaounde will send a clear message that your government is serious about restoring peace in the country. A blanket amnesty should be granted to all Southern Cameroonians at home and abroad as a confidence building measure.

Southern Cameroonian leaders at home and abroad should be allowed to prepare for any inclusive dialogue that may be organized by your government in the presence of the United Nations and other stakeholders like Canada and the United States.

It should be underscored that there is a confidence deficit in Cameroon. Cameroonians, especially Southern Cameroonians do not trust the Yaounde government, as it is noted for speaking from both sides of its mouth. These issues require Cameroonians to look at each other in the eyes and say those home truths that will enable us make giant steps towards peace.

I am also pleased to know that you met with lawyers in Bamenda and you listened to them religiously in order to gain a better understanding of their own issues. I would like to advise that the conflict that has torn our country apart is not a socio-professional issue.

It is a constitutional and political issue that needs to be addressed in an inclusive dialogue like the one the United Nations and the International Community have been calling for over the last two years. If your government is still insisting on its own approach, then it is not yet ready to see this matter settled definitively.

It has also been reported that you advised lawyers in Bamenda not to focus on the root cause of the conflict, but rather on the way forward. I understand that you and your government want to walk away from the mess you have created but walking away from it without seeking to know what triggered it will be like striking the branches of a problem instead of its roots.

Like most Cameroonians, I would not like this ugly history to repeat itself in Cameroon. If thunder strikes twice in the same place, then we have not taken all the measures necessary to keep it at bay. It is incumbent upon us to come up with solutions that will never put future generations at risk.

To achieve this, we must carefully examine the root cause of the issue. We should not just flip the page without reading it. It is an ugly page, but we must read it to understand how it all unraveled. We should be driven by the need to spare future generations such a disaster and not by the political expediency that your government is noted for.

I know you will be heading to the South West Region next week and you will be delivering the same messages over there. I would like to remind you that you have to meet with people who will tell you the truth and not only with those who will flatter you.

While seeking opinions at home, do not forget that the Southern Cameroonian Diaspora is a formidable force and its opinion must count. There is no way there can be peace in Cameroon if the opinion of the Southern Cameroonian Diaspora is not taken into consideration.

The Diaspora has the resources and men to destabilize the country for a long time. Its vast financial resources can be used for development purposes if the Yaounde government partners with it in a win-win partnership. Rather than alienate this group of hard-working Cameroonians, it will be in the government’s interest to work with this Diaspora that has played a significant role in the conflict.

This situation is critical and only the truth will bail our country out of this political quagmire. This situation does not require long speeches. Many have died and many are still dying. Your soldiers are still kidnapping and slaughtering innocent civilians. Their license to kill is not yet expired. I would suggest we make these consultations as short as possible in order to commence with the inclusive dialogue Cameroonians are waiting for.

Mr. Prime Minister, I would not like to take your time. I know you are a busy person and you are honest and peace-loving. I sincerely wish you the best in your undertaking and I stand by for any input you may need in this regard.

Sincerely,

By Joachim Arrey

About the Author: The author of this letter has served as a translator, technical writer, journalist and editor for several international organizations and corporations across the globe. He studied communication and public relations at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom and technical writing at George Brown College, Toronto, Canada. He also studied translation at the Advanced School of Translators and Interpreters (ASTI) of the University of Buea, as well as Languages and Linguistics at the University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria. He holds a Ph.D. He can be reached at: arreyjoachim@hotmail.com

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