The Southern Cameroons crisis that started in October 2016 following a strike by teachers and lawyers calling for better working conditions and the protection of the Southern Cameroons educational and social culture will continue in 2019 as the country’s authorities are in no mood to seek peaceful and long-term solutions.

In its third year, the crisis has already consumed more than 5,000 lives, including some 2,000 army soldiers sent to the region with clear instructions to shoot and kill. Despite honest and frantic calls by the international community for a peaceful resolution, the country’s president, Paul Biya, also known as the “monarch” has continued with unwavering determination with his reckless and dangerous military campaign.

Today, the region is awash with weapons and the crimes against humanity are simply mind-boggling. Government forces have been killing young Southern Cameroonian males, many of whom have nothing to do with the insurgency that is playing out in the region. The real fighters are in the jungles of Southern Cameroons, but since army soldiers cannot go to the jungles, they have been killing innocent civilians to prove to their Yaoundé bosses that they are mopping up the region.

Their brutality has not only been against young healthy males, but also against the old and disabled who cannot escape to the bushes where most of the population is hiding. In so many villages in the region, many old and disabled residents have been burnt to ashes, as the government’s collective punitive expedition has no limits.

This approach to solving problems adopted by the government predicated upon intimidation is only radicalizing more young Southern Cameroonians who understand that their best bet is to join the insurgents who are doing a great job at giving army soldiers a run for their money.

It should, however, be mentioned that the insurgents are not any saints by any standards. Besides defending themselves and protecting the population, they too have been committing gross human rights violations, sometimes even killing people they suspect of collaborating with the Yaounde government. This approach is sowing fear among the population and it is causing many critics to question the rationale behind the insurgency if its objective is to strike fear in the same people the insurgents claim they must protect.

With law and order completely down, the rule of the gun is prevailing in the region. Even army soldiers are using the occasion to make fast cash. They have been arresting young Southern Cameroonians and threatening to take them to Yaounde or even kill them if their parents do not pay for their release. The soldiers have been asking for huge sums of money and this is upsetting to the local population which holds that the insurgents are totally right to challenge the establishment whose hallmark is corruption.

But some fake insurgents (fake Amba boys) are also making hay while the sun shines. With guns within everybody’s reach, some young men have constituted themselves into groups and they are kidnapping civilians to acquire money. Their main targets are Southern Cameroonians living abroad who are in the region to either bury their loved ones or to spend the holidays with their families.

The fake “Amba boys” are sometimes a creation of the Territorial Administration Minister, Paul Atanga Nji, who is using them to infiltrate the real insurgents. But not all of his undercover agents are honest. Many have turned out to be rogue elements and they have been wreaking havoc on the local population and this is causing a lot of indignation among the population.

Some of these rogue elements have been arrested by the real insurgents known by the population as “Amba boys” and they have had to confess, but in a world ruled by impunity, many of these rogue elements get killed as their crimes have gone well beyond money.

They sometimes betray the real insurgents and after an operation by government forces which usually results in the killing of many real fighters, there is usually a round of revenge and even relatives of the rogue elements sometimes get targeted by the real fighters. This is the messy situation that the war declared by Biya and implemented by the Defense Minister, Joseph Beti Assomo, and Territorial Administration Minister, Paul Atanga Nji, has created in the region.

Besides human life that has been destroyed by the warring factions, the country’s economy has also taking a punch to the liver. The Southern Cameroons crisis has really been a true nightmare to this once-upon-a-time oasis of peace. It has indeed been a millstone around the neck of the government which has used all the resources available to it to quell the insurgency, but to no avail. Government authorities are still very worried although they have been putting on a brave face, especially as the fighting is robbing the country of much-needed financial resources and stability.

Their fear was all the more justified when the Confederation of African Football (CAF) withdrew the hosting rights of the African Nations Cup in 2019 from the country due to insecurity and corruption. Southern Cameroonian fighters had clearly expressed their determination to disrupt the event and they were quick to advise CAF of their decision and this had a huge impact on the withdrawal of the hosting rights from Cameroon which had many crises to manage at the same time.

Cameroon’s political authorities are still living in fear. They fear that Southern Cameroonians might walk away from the union that was hastily stitched together in 1961 between West Cameroon and East Cameroon. Southern Cameroonians have continued to hold that the union was predicated upon lies right from the beginning and for there to be peace, the country must be split. Walking away from that ‘political marriage’ implies Southern Cameroonians will be taking with them about 60% of the country’s wealth and this is no good news for the Yaoundé government that is already cash-strapped. It has indeed been bled by two years of fighting and there is no end in sight.

Southern Cameroons is blessed with many resources, including oil, gas, diamond and timber. Its rich sub-soil has brought lots of economic benefits to the country. For almost 50 years, the Rio Del Rey estuary has been the source of more than 90% and at times 100% of all of the country’s hydrocarbons, specifically oil.

The region’s waters are also home to large fish stocks. Its forest is home to unimaginable fauna and flora and it is not in error that the world also knows the country because of the Korup National Park which straddles Manyu and Indian Divisions. This region is also known for its fertile volcanic soil and this explains why agriculture is one of the many activities that have been yielding huge foreign earnings to the country. Many of the country’s neighbors have their food supply from this region.

While the country has been raking in millions of dollars from the region’s oil, the residents of the region have been tied up in degrading poverty. The country’s lone refinery (SONARA) is located in Southern Cameroons, precisely in the Southwest port city of Limbe formerly known as Victoria, but the natives of the region have been reduced to sorry spectators of events in their own region.

From every indication, the Southern Cameroons crisis is an outcome of this injustice. More than 90% of the refinery staff are Francophones and to add insults to injury, staff of the refinery have their own neighborhoods that are well designed and very clean. Besides, petroleum products are more expensive in the region than in any other region of the country.

This economic apartheid that has been around since 1977 when oil was discovered in Ndian Division is one of the many reasons why Southern Cameroonians hold that a clear break with Francophone Cameroon will be the ideal solution and they are willing to sacrifice their lives so that future generations will not have to deal with the same issues. This same mentality will surely continue in 2019 and Cameroon will continue to be in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

The Southern Cameroons crisis has hit the Yaoundé government like a ton of bricks. The country’s economy is suffering. Its Automatic Teller Machines (ATM) seem to be out of service. State corporations located in Southern Cameroons are already feeling the heat. Pamol, a palm oil production corporation located in Lobe, a small town in Ndian Division, finally shut its doors in 2018 as the fighting between Southern Cameroonian fighters and army soldiers took a turn for the worse. This revenue stream has stopped flowing and Yaoundé is really ill-at-ease.

Pamol’s closure was indeed bad news for the government. More than three thousand Pamol workers are still unemployed and living in permanent fear, as the fighting between the warring factions rages on. Schools and courts in the region have been closed for more than two years and it is increasingly obvious that the Yaoundé government has lost control of certain parts of the two English-speaking regions.

But it is not only Pamol’s closure that caused the government nightmares. The Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC), one of the country’s major employers, also went through a rough patch. 2018 was indeed a bad period for this national corporation and this situation might not improve in 2019. Some of the corporation’s factories had closed shop, while the fighters deliberately set some of its infrastructure ablaze as part of their economic sabotage campaign. Malende, a small town located some 6 km from Muyuka, witnessed huge unemployment rates. The corporation’s rubber factory was set ablaze in 2018 by some unidentified men and this hit CDC like a ton of bricks.

In other plantations, many workers have simply deserted. The fighting is disrupting economic activities in those plantations and many workers hold that it is better to quit than be caught up between the devil and the deep blue sea. The fighting, coupled with the derisory salaries the corporation pays to its workers, made CDC unattractive and this actually eroded the government’s tax base.

Similarly, 2018 was a nightmare to government coffers. Government revenue took a nosedive, as the national oil refinery located in the Southwest region also faced some major challenges. While falling global oil prices were spreading pain and suffering among oil exporters, the declining oil output and constant attempts by Southern Cameroonian fighters to bring down the country’s lone oil refinery left the government in a huge messy economic quandary.

In 2019, Cameroon will continue to be in the spotlight for the wrong reason. The country’s president, Paul Biya, will soon be addressing the nation. He will continue to talk tough regarding the crisis and this does not augur well for the country and its economy which is in the throes of a severe crisis.

The government is yet to understand that this conflict will not be going away anytime soon and that no military action will sweep the frustrations and anger of the people away. The people’s determination to go the distance is there and it will only continue to morph as the government changes its military tactics. The more people the government kills in the region, the more insurgents it will create and the more money the Diaspora will mobilize to continue to make the region ungovernable.

The government must understand that cleaning up the mess it has created in the region will be a long haul. Southern Cameroonians are determined to walk away, and they are in no mood to talk with the Biya regime which is noted for speaking from both sides of its mouth. They have clearly stated that Biya is the problem and that if he continues to be in power, then there are no chances for a peaceful resolution of the conflict. This message will be clearly articulated in the end-of-year speech to be delivered by the Interim Government’s president, Sako Ikome, who will be addressing Southern Cameroonians from Washington, D.C. on December 31, 2018.

The ball is in the government’s court. It knows that it cannot kill Southern Cameroons through military action. Southern Cameroons is an idea and not just a location. While different factions of the fighters have recently been at each other’s throat, the government must understand that its brutality will only go a long way in uniting these disagreeing brothers. The Yaoundé government stands to gain if it sounds a note of peace and unity and Mr. Biya’s speech to the nation today is a huge opportunity which should not be missed.

By Kingsley Betek in Yaoundé and contributions from correspondents in London, UK, and Toronto, Canada

Cameroonian Christians joined their counterparts the world over on December 25 to celebrate the great event of the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Savior whose remarkable life of virtue, teaching and sacrificial death on the Cross of Calvary form the bedrock of the over two thousand-year-old Christian religion. Even in a nation overrun by materialistic wooliness, self-centered pedestrianism and other social vices impacting negatively on spirituality and morality, a nation witnessing an inexorable decline in public morality and Christian values, the continued influence of Jesus Christ is nevertheless unmistakable.

Cameroonian Christians should therefore reflect on Christ’s compassionate life and instructions and apply His teachings in their individual lives. Through His love, Christ demonstrated God’s mercy and compassion for mankind. So, Cameroonians should always show mercy to all in their communities with love and charity that touches the lives of those around them. In a nation begging for good exemplars, President Biya and the ruling elite occupy a unique place in that deficiency. The soul of the country is lost and the nation has been taken hostage by a cabal of octogenarians tottering on the borders of senile decay. The President is completely out of touch with reality and his underlings are stealing the nation blind in his name. In Cameroon today, it is now fashionable to steal only in billions. Just look at the scandalous contracts in the AFCON 2019 debacle. As a result, a blessed nation seems cursed and rudderless in life’s ocean.

This should engage the attention of all in this festive season. Christmas, of course, has come to be associated with festivities, the celebration of family and friendship, with the exchange of visits and gifts. For Cameroonians, however, this year’s Christmas is bringing to a close, a year of forlorn hopes and shattered expectations. The nation has been struggling to cope with poverty, worsening economic crisis, decaying social infrastructure and even more widespread insecurity, especially in the Northwest and Southwest regions; in the throes of a full blown armed insurgency by Ambazonia restoration fighters.

Reports of monumental corruption and mindless looting of the treasury continue with the scandalous contracts awarded in the countdown to the AFCON 2019 debacle. The fight against corruption appears lost as the regime has surrendered to the superior firepower of graft. The rising insecurity accompanied by kidnapping for ransom especially in the Anglophone regions has made every Cameroonian a prisoner in his own land. So hostile is the land that many youths would do anything including trekking across the desert to escape it and not minding the risks being taken. As a result, when not dying on the voyage, Cameroonians have ended up as slaves being sold in the open market in North African countries.

In spite of the agony and the social chaos that have buffeted in the country, the celebratory spirit of the Cameroonian is one that is most irrepressible. This incurable optimism in the average Cameroonian is what appears to have secured the peaceful quiet that prevails in many quarters today amid the subsisting trauma of life. Cameroonians, their pains notwithstanding, live the truism that Christmas is indeed the proclamation of good news. It is a celebration of joy and of hope. The Christ whose birth was celebrated on December 25 has given the world a roadmap to abundant life, peace and prosperity. Taken seriously and applied in individual and corporate lives, the values preached by Jesus Christ, namely, sacrificial love, justice, compassion, leadership by service, forgiveness, humility and purity of heart, will transform Cameroon for the better.

And so, in the middle of the festivities, Christians are once again challenged to live up to the core values of their religion, and impact positively on their socio-cultural and political environment. Christians are challenged to reject the prevailing cult of greed and selfishness, to shun the widespread cult of pleasure, to reject the dominant cult of money and strive to live purposeful lives devoted to the advancement of the common good. It is time for Cameroonian leaders to exhibit the attributes of Jesus Christ in order to build a just, peaceful and prosperous nation. Until that happens, Anglophones will continue to see no reason to belong to a country run by gangsters and kleptocrats.

By Ekinneh Agbaw-Ebai

Fellow Southern Cameroonians,

On behalf of all the mothers, sisters, daughters and wives of this revolution, accept greetings from the spouses of your abducted and detained leaders. We appreciate you for the daily struggles you go through to sustain your various families, the people of Southern Cameroons and this revolution. Our condolences to all the families who have loss love ones in this struggle. Last year was a year of extraordinary transformation. The people of Southern Cameroons around the world stepped forward to determine their own destinies on October 1, 2017 with the symbolic restoration proclamation of our independence. Fifty Seven (57) years of untold suffering, subjugation, marginalization, arbitrary arrests and detentions, killings and disrespect has driven our people to the precipice, but through the resilience of our lawyers and teachers, our people were given renewed hope for a better future.

We want to salute the collective contributions of all the leaders of this Southern Cameroons reawakening who ignited this revival in 2016: the leaders of the Consortium, Barrister Agbor Balla, Deacon Tassang Wilfred, Dr. Fontem Neba,  Barrister Eyambe Elias, Barrister Shufai Blaise and Barrister Bobga Harmony. We salute Ntumfoyn Boh Herbert of MORISC and Mr. Milan Atam of SCACUF who rekindled the consciousness of the diaspora. We salute the leaders of the SCNC, AGC, Ambazonia and SCYL, Dr. Nfor Ngalla Nfor, Dr. Ayaba Cho Lucas, Fon Gorji Dinka and Dr. Ebenezer Akwanga respectively, who have been in the trenches of this struggle for decades. We want to salute the leaders of the Interim Government headed by Sisiku Julius Ayuktabe and now Dr Ikome Sako for globalizing the Southern Cameroons consciousness. To the Southern Cameroons Women and our Takumbengs, our hearts go to you as mothers of this revolution. To all our news outlets, from SCBC, Cameroon Concord News Group, Bareta News, National Telegraph and to all our social media activists, we salute you. The strides made last year gave our people a false impression that a revolution of this magnitude was like a walk in the park and Buea was next door. Unfortunately, no revolution has ever been a walk in the park and this one will not be an exception. We must prepare our minds that we might be in this tussle for a while, but we must know that for the struggle to succeed we should remain steadfast and learn to lean on each other.

2018 has brutally reminded us of the nemesis of every revolution: the enemy’s determination to decapitate the leadership of the revolution by inserting their agents within the revolution to implement counter revolutionary measures. Their strategy is to destabilize the revolution and sow seeds of discord amongst us. Their aim is to divide and conquer. This has come to life with the plotted abduction of the leadership of the Interim Government and the infiltration of agents amongst our ranks both in the Diaspora and on ground zero. This has resulted in unnecessary confusion, conflict, distrust, animosity and discouragement. Our present predicament is like the pain of childbirth; no matter the extent of the labor pains, no matter the urge to give up pushing, no matter the insults or provocation from the nurses, you never give up because your goal is to hear the first cry of your child. We shall hear that cry and our joy will return if only we work together for our common goal.

We know that many feel frustrated by the seeming lack of progress, but we should also agree that there is no shortcut to end a dispute that has endured for almost 6 decades. Yes, it has been over a year of needless squabbling, but now, we stand at the crossroads of history with the chance to collaboratively and collectively move decisively in the direction of actualizing our independence, especially with the level of international awareness that we have created. To do so we must return to the wisdom of our forebearers, who despite their political differences placed the patriotic interest of the state above individual interest. That was what made them in the 1950s to collectively leave the Enugu House of Assembly and practice a nascent democracy. The truth is that each of our revolutionary movements have legitimate aspirations and this is what makes the resolution of our differences so hard. Despite these differences in ideology, we can work together for our common goal – the fight for the independence of our people. This deadlock will only be broken when each group learns to stand in each other’s shoes.

Our leaders must act like facilitators for peace, not instigators of confusion, disinformation, disorganization and hate. Our hope and dying desire as mothers and spouses is to see the quick resolution of this dispute and end the killings, pain and suffering of our people of Southern Cameroons.  We the women are aware of the present quandary within the struggle and we intend to begin the confidence-building process that will lead to ultimate reconciliation and resolution of our internal differences.

We may not have all agreed with the processes that led to the creation of the Interim Government, but we can all agree that the regime in Yaoundé was threatened by the formation of the Interim Government in exile. This prompted them to sponsor the abduction of some of our leaders and their subsequent incarceration in the dungeons of the Republic of Cameroun. Their abduction and incarceration further exposed some of the complexities in a struggle such as ours: needless infighting, alienation of committed activists, sabotage, grandstanding and unnecessary distraction in our various social media platforms.

Some among us have taken pleasure in attacking Dr. Agbor Balla, Dr. Cho Ayaba, Dr. Ebenezer Akwanga, Boh Herbert, Milan Atam, Chris Anu and AP Dr. Samuel Sako and have labelled them as scammers, blacklegs, saboteurs, embezzlers and corrupt. It appears we have forgotten the 57 years of subjugation and the carnage that has been meted upon our people by the regime in Yaounde. It appears we have forgotten about our detained compatriots and leaders in the dungeons of Cameroun. It appears we have forgotten the roasting of Mami Appia in her home and the burning down of about 124 of our villages. It appears we have forgotten that about 400,000 of our people are IDPs and almost 120,000 are in refugee camps in Nigeria, languishing in poverty.

In view of the foregoing, we want to appeal to all the women of Ambazonia to join us in the search for peace.  Some of our women have been sticking their necks out, advocating for the helpless people of Southern Cameroons. We are appealing to you as mothers, spouses, daughters, sisters and aunties of this revolution: if you have ever felt the pain of childbirth; if you have ever felt the pain of losing a child; if you have ever felt the desperation of praying to God for a child; if you have ever felt the embarrassment of having your period without any hygienic pads and if you have ever felt helpless being raped or listened to the story of an innocent child who has been raped, then imagine what some of our mothers,  sisters, daughters and aunties are going through at home and some in the forests, exposed to all the dangers therein. Imagine what our people are going through in squalid living conditions in refugee camps in Nigeria. Imagine the torrid smell of decomposing bodies in our villages and towns of North West and South West Provinces. The live of every child born of a woman matters.

We want to appeal to us all to collectively say “Time Out” to the unnecessary personal attacks on our frontline leaders and ourselves and focus on our common goal. No matter anyone’s shortcomings and no matter how flawed any leader’s processes are, they pale in comparison to what the military is doing to our people. They pale in comparison to the killings, the rapes, the burning down of villages and the abusive exploitation of our natural resources by the regime in Yaoundé. Our appeal is that we should redirect our anger and frustration with laser focus on the adversary and not on any disagreements among ourselves. We wish to caution our leaders to collectively reign on their surrogates to stop the peddling of smear and hate within the struggle. Any leader who cannot publicly call for an end to this reprehensible behavior on social media platforms is therefore not fit to lead. The desire of our people is to see the end of infighting and rivalries. Our appeal is for you to join us to continue the process of reconciling our differences as we close this painful year and enter a very decisive 2019.

 January 5, 2019 will be one year since some of the leaders of this revolution were abducted and incarcerated. Their abduction has taken a significant toll on this revolution. We are therefore appealing and calling for a 1,000,000-woman match on Washington DC on January 5, 2019, to commemorate this day and to call for the unconditional release of our abducted leaders and all other Southern Cameroonians.

We wish to shine attention on the plight of our people and leaders and communion with the other leaders for the revival of this struggle for the sake of our people.

We must lean on each other and learn to appreciate the roles each group and the Interim Government are playing. They are interdependent on one another and we can only win collectively through unity and collaboration. We will be reaching out to the Interim Government and all the frontline groups of this revolution for proper notification and planning.

 “Save The Date” #Southerncameroonslivesmatter

Accept season’s greetings. From the wives of our detained leaders:

1. Lilian Ayuk Tabe
2. Sabine Tassang
3. Florence Kimeng
4. Shufai Jacqueline
5. Marie Nfor Nfor
6. Mrs. Eyambe
7. Chinyere Ogork Ntui
8. Awasum Moreen
9. Mrs. Kwanga

We are completely at a loss for words. We have been trying to wrap our minds around what is happening in Cameroon, but we are yet to achieve that goal. Success in this area seems to be a distant tomorrow affair. Things are gradually spiraling out of control from both ends.

In Yaoundé, the government is losing its grip on power. Scandals are destroying the crime syndicate that has ruled the country for 36 years. CAF’s withdrawal of the right to host the 2019 African Nations Cup has opened a can of worms that might sweep an entire government out of power.

The country’s ministers are accusing each other for the collapse of the plan put in place to hoodwink the world into believing that things are working out well in Cameroon.  The population is devastated while the government is trying to put on a brave face.

It never rains, but it pours. After CAF, there was more embarrassment for the criminal enterprise made in the mold of the Sicilian Mafia.  The World Bank recently released a report indicting the country’s government of corruption, overspending and misappropriation of funds.

This has left many government officials scrambling for solutions, as the country’s president, Paul Biya, also known as the “monarch” keeps an ominous silence which is destroying many of his ministers who fear they could be arrested anytime or kicked out of government.

The regime has never been this weak. Those who have been propping the government are gradually showing signs of fatigue. Years of lying and defrauding the state are clearly taking a toll on the health of these key actors.

The economy is crumbling; the population has lost hope in the country. The government’s mismanagement of the country and its determination to hang on to power despite losing many elections has pushed the population into the worst form of despair.

This situation has been made all the more desperate by tribalism and nepotism which have become the government’s tools of administration par excellence. Tribalism that had very little space in Cameroon’s politics under the country’s first president, Ahmadou Ahidjo has become a key component of the country’s politics.

In Cameroon, power belongs to a few, most of whom are from a particular ethnic group. For those who belong to the criminal enterprise known as the CPDM government and are not from the ethnic group that is calling the shots in Cameroon, there is the belief that if they hang on to what they have, they could change the destiny of their children.

To most of them, they just want to feather their nests and they know things could fall apart anytime soon. They are therefore doing everything they can to pick up any dimes and pennies they meet in their path. The impunity that has characterized the current regime is driving many government officials to ridiculous extents.

It is rumored that the Secretary-General at the presidency, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, who was in charge of the 2019 AfCON development projects is gradually coming to terms with the fact that he could be arrested anytime. His crime is known by all in Cameroon.

He established many fictitious companies to which he granted many major projects for the 2019 AfCON on mutual agreement and many of those projects have not taken off the ground and the “monarch” is now aware of the pranks his collaborators have been playing on him.

The World Bank report which clearly states that projects in Cameroon cost six times more than similar projects in Cote d’Ivoire and other countries comes at a time when the government is struggling for answers to the many questions Cameroonians have been asking about the government’s ability to build proper infrastructure for the country.

The truth is out and this has significantly diminished the government and many people around the world have been thinking that with such a huge setback, the government could be easily led to the negotiating table where it would cut a deal with Southern Cameroonian separatists.

But for many weeks now, Southern Cameroonian separatists have become their own enemies. They have decided to poison themselves. The devil has moved into their midst and has taken control of everything. Common sense has taken French leave and things are falling apart. The fighters have been shooting themselves in the foot for some time now and this is weakening their resolve to deliver good punches to the government and where it hurts the most.

Over the last two weeks, most of the rebel groups have focused on eliminating each other, giving the enemy the respite and time to plan on how to put the rebellion out of business. This is bad news for the ordinary people who have been living in the jungles Southern Cameroons for more than a year where they are expecting to hear victory songs for an independent Southern Cameroons.

Hundreds of Southern Cameroonian fighters have had to bite the dust in recent days because of the chaos and disunity that have gradually replaced the unity and discipline that have been their hallmarks for a long time.

Some Southern Cameroonians have already been bought over by the government and they are working with government troops to betray the cause. Things are really going down the hill for the rebellion, especially as key leaders in the Diaspora cannot even come together to establish a common ground.

They seem to be drunk with the little influence they have and this is causing them to lose sight of the overall objective of the struggle. Even members of the international community who had thought Southern Cameroonians were making some inroads are gradually throwing up their hands in despair as government troops continue to slaughter Southern Cameroonian fighters in many parts of the two English-speaking regions.

The knife has finally decided to turn inwards. Instead of facing their common enemy, Southern Cameroonian fighters have decided to play into the enemy’s hands, and this is costing so many youthful lives. Many donors are already withdrawing their support and this could herald the demise of a rebellion that had every chance of succeeding. Losing the unity of purpose that has characterized the struggle is really bad news for many Southern Cameroonians.

What is more disturbing is the apple of discord. Southern Cameroonian fighters and their leaders are still very far from Buea, but they seem to have lost their focus. They are failing to keep their eye on the ball. They must know that the enemy is clearly somewhere else. The enemy is not their fellow fighter. They must simply agree that there will be differences of opinion, especially regarding strategy, but that should not be reason enough to start a new war and split the group.

They need to remind themselves of the original objective. The people on Ground Zero have taken the brunt of the government’s massive and merciless attack for two years and this will not be a good way to reward them for their bravery and loyalty.

The people could not have been exposed to this disaster just for the leaders to start squabbling over little issues that can easily be addressed through negotiations. Disagreement is as old as man, but leaders must always recognize such cracks on the wall early enough and take actions that will keep the team together.

These leaders should have looked into the mirror of history to find examples that could guide them to success. The African National Congress (ANC) has a template that deserves some attention.

While fighting Apartheid, the ANC had to work with other groups in order to achieve the cardinal objective. Southern Cameroonian leaders must cast off their egos if they really think about the people on Ground Zero who have religiously listened to them and continue to look up to them for salvation.

Why are these leaders fighting? Are they fighting for popularity? Are they already seeing positions when many of us are still seeing hardship and desperate days ahead? Why are they going after reputation when from the onset it was the sorry plight of the people that constituted the basis for this struggle? These leaders should understand that reputation comes without merit and goes without deserving. They should read their history books in order not to lose their focus.

They should remember that Oliver Tambo, the man who engineered the victory against Apartheid, never lived to see an independent South Africa. But Mandela, the man who incarnated the struggle, made sure his name was etched on the stones of history.

While accepting the presidency in 1994 in South Africa, Mandela openly acknowledged that the presidency was clearly that of Oliver Thambo, the small but smart man, who went into exile just to ensure his people were free from the grip of Apartheid.

It was on the basis of his selflessness that Mandela renamed the Johannesburg International Airport as the Oliver Thambo International Airport. Oliver never lived to see his people free, but his name is permanently on their lips and they are genuinely grateful for his role in the unseating of Apartheid.

Southern Cameroonian leaders need to know that the enemy is strong and he is rejoicing when he hears that the knife has turned inwards. They must stop playing into the hands of the enemy. Killing each other is no good news to the people on Ground Zero who have nowhere to turn to.

Yielding to the temptations of popularity and recognition is like herding Southern Cameroonians to an abattoir. They will never be forgiven if they betray their people. Only a globally recognized inclusive dialogue should herald the end of this rebellion on which a lot rides. Stop playing into the hands of the enemy!

A Cameroon Concord News Group Production

Cameroon Concord News Group holds the strong opinion that the government of the Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia will not be determined by ego/power-seeking profiteers, opportunists, activists and clueless self-seekers but by the sovereign people of Ambazonia. Cameroon Concord News Group on the outstanding trust and fact-based record of the IG urges Ambazonians from all walks of life to redouble their support for the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

The unfolding results of the discreet and matured diplomatic efforts deployed by the Interim Government and Ambazonians of goodwill towards finding an international solution to our cause merits unmitigated support.  Finally, the Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia problem has found its way to the United Nations Security Council and the AU Peace and Security Commission. It has pricked the conscience of the world, which is responding through the US Congress, the US State Department, the UN, the UK House of Commons and the House of Lords, several organizations and countries that are alarmed at having to deal with the consequences of another genocide on their watch.

It is not long since the Secretary for Communication; the Hon Chris Anu strongly condemned the inaction of the UN, the AU and the International Community towards the genocide of our people. No reasonable people facing a genocide would have acted no less.   He was right. There are obvious indicators from the recent UNSC debate that our voices might have been heard at long last. What is required of all Ambazonians is not to squander these opportunities.  Ambazonians need to support the IG and ground zero operations.   Power seeking individuals and social media activists will not fulfill our diplomatic or self-defense needs.  Their egos have been standing between them and the peoples’ liberation agenda for long. That needs to be deconstructed now.

Cameroon Concord News Group calls on Ambazonians of all walks of life to support the IG which is the collective voice of the people to call for a strong response to the genocide and international crimes committed against the people.  It is the collective resolve of the people of Ambazonia speaking through the matured, professional and well tested voice of the IG that will move the world to hold the perpetrators of these crimes to account. This is the time to slay the beast of impunity and international criminality in Ambazonia, now that the world diplomatic community has been trickled and is fully alert.   It is also a time to strongly support the Ambazonia self-defense ground zero operations. The exigences of a sustained strong diplomatic and self-defense actions warrants strong support because more positive outcomes depend of this support.

Cameroon Concord News Group recalls that on September 22, 2017, the people of the Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia of all walks of life, overwhelmingly endorsed the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia under the leadership of His Excellency President Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe with an urgent mandate to proclaim and defend the restoration of the independence of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.  His Excellency Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe fulfilled the peoples’ will fully to the peoples’ satisfaction. This is one reason, why a great majority of Ambazonians are united and committed to defend the restored independence of the Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia and the Interim Government they endorsed and mandated to proclaim the restoration on their behalf and with their full participation. This is not the time for Ambazonians to squander this opportunity through the distractive adventures of power seekers to distract the Interim Government from pursuing the peoples’ mandate.

All households,local government areas or counties in Ambazonia are enduring the genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed by terrorist forces of French Cameroun deployed by the arch-terrorist Paul Biya.  This is an impetus for Ambazonians of goodwill should support the ongoing diplomatic and operational efforts by the stable, respectable, humble, reassuring, focused and level-headed IG of Ambazonia.  The IG has demonstrated an ability to recognize the fact that there are many Ambazonians world-wide with the required professional, academic, diplomatic, expert, discrete skills and attributes who are eager to contribute in the defense of the Ambazonia homeland.  Based on this attribute, Cameroon Concord News Group is pleased that the IG has demonstrated its trustworthy ability and the humility in working with many Ambazonia professionals and experts in different fields of life in seeking accountability for the crimes of the terrorist government of French Cameroun.

The humility, simplicity, level-headedness of Acting Interim President Samuel Sako and members of the IG are attributes of strength and not of weakness as some self-opiniated activists have openly stated.  These are the qualities that endeared the President of the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia His Excellency Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe to an overwhelming majority of Ambazonians of all walks of life.   Ever since his abduction with members of the Interim Government, his leadership continues to inspire the Acting Interim President His Excellency Samuel Sako and members of the Interim Government. Acting President Ikome Sako and His Excellency Ayuk Tabe are united by their humility, their loyalty to the homeland, their level-headedness, their ability to garner the trust and support of Ambazonians of all walks of life with ease and with utmost trust and confidence.

Many Ambazonians working in sensitive positions that Cameroon Concord News Group spoke to for this editorial, expressed the respect for the confidentiality of their contributions and pledged more support for the Interim Government. Many expressed the view that some of the persons incessantly seeking power and the activists supporting them if given an opportunity, would not shy destroying the professional careers of many Ambazonians with the same zeal with which they are attacking the Interim Government; something that French Cameroun has tried over several years and failed.

Cameroon Concord News Group strongly cautions Ambazonians against the intentions of persons or groups that are doing everything to distract their attention from supporting ground zero local government by local government or county by county intensified self-defense operations, the struggle to free the President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia and all Ambazonians under captivity, the ongoing diplomatic efforts and bringing French Cameroun terrorists to account for their crimes.  The disruptive activities of these individuals and groups if allowed to continue will benefit French Cameroun and its accomplices in Nigeria and other places.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai  

After two years of violent confrontations between government forces and Southern Cameroonian separatists, which have resulted in the death of more than 4,000 Cameroonians, the Yaoundé government has begun taking baby and doubtful steps towards peace.

Last month, the Yaoundé government had announced in a press release that it had set up Demobilization, Disarmament and Reintegration (DDR) Commission whose objective, according to the government, was to help young Southern Cameroonians who had lost their way to return to the fold.

The creation of the DDR Commission had come under massive criticism as many observers and analysts considered the government’s action as putting the cart before the horses.  According to many experts, the creation of such a commission should imply that the parties at war have been discussing and have agreed on the way forward, with a ceasefire announcing the end of the bloody confrontations.

But none of that had taken place prior to the announcement of the DDR Commission. The government has resorted to unilateral actions which are stirring more controversies than appease the Southern Cameroonian fighters.

Despite the creation of the DDR Commission, the government has not relented in its violent killing of Southern Cameroonians and the burning of their homes.

More than 15 villages in the two English-speaking regions of the country have, over the last two weeks following the creation of the DDR Commission, been deleted from the country’s map. Kumbo, Meluf, Wei, and Bambui are among the villages that have faced the government’s wrath and residents of these villages are today seeking refuge in the jungle. Some 50 unarmed civilians, including pregnant women and children were among those mowed down by the government’s trigger-happy soldiers in recent weeks.

Two weeks after the DDR Commission controversy, the Yaoundé government has once more engaged in its usual diversionary tactics by announcing that some 289 Southern Cameroonians charged with misdemeanor would be released from jails across the country.

This announcement leaves many people in doubt as the Yaoundé government is known for speaking from both sides of its mouth. The announcement is more confusing as no names have been provided and many people wonder if Southern Cameroonian leaders such as Julius Ayuk Tabe and those kidnapped, taken to Yaoundé and held in communicado for more than seven months will be among those to be released.

According to a Cameroon Concord News Group legal expert, Cameroon’s penal code categorizes offenses into three groups: simple offenses, misdemeanors and felonies.

“Simple offenses are punishable by a prison term of less than 10 days and a fine, while misdemeanors are punishable by a prison term not exceeding 10 years and a fine. Felonies, for their part, are punishable by death or a prison term above 10 years and a fine,” the expert who elected anonymity said.

He added that Julius Ayuk  Tabe and Co. had been charged with acts of terrorism which are offenses defined and punishable under the antiterrorism law No 2014/028 of 23 December 2014 (Section 2 et seq).  He stressed that “If found guilty of these offenses, Section 2, Paragraph (d) would kick in and they would face the   death penalty.

From every indication, the offenses for which they have been charged with are felonies and not misdemeanors. The presidential decree therefore appears   to have limited its scope to those who have only been charged with misdemeanors and from the analysis, Julius Ayuk Tabe and Co. are therefore not affected by the president’s decree.

The experts however advised that we should not lose sight of the fact that this is a purely political issue and the solutions are more in the hands of politicians than in the hands of the lawyers.

“We should therefore not be surprised if we the President uses his constitutional powers to extend the scope of beneficiaries to include those that are not targeted by the law. This option is even more likely considering the fact the government might be thinking of appeasing than implementing the law,” the legal expert concluded.

Despite this supposed act of magnanimity on the part of the government, many Southern Cameroonians are still very skeptical about the government’s intention, especially as its alcohol-inflamed and sex-starved soldiers are still mowing down young and unarmed youths in Kumbo and the neighboring towns.

Southern Cameroonians are surely not going to let down their guard. The fighters will not be downing their weapons anytime, soon, as the decision to disarm and demobilize any fighters is a unilateral move by the government which might have been informed by the changing global politics.

The Yaoundé government is gradually losing support around the globe and its main backer, France, is in the throes of a complex and delicate internal strife that might alter alot.

Besides, the international community is getting more vocal regarding the crisis in the two English-speaking regions and the cash-strapped Yaoundé government wants to prove that it is listening, especially to calls for an inclusive dialogue that would lead to a negotiated settlement.

This week, the World Bank came down heavily on the Yaounde government, accusing it of corruption and unjustifiable spending. The Washington-based organization also pointed to the government’s lavish lifestyle, arguing that if the government did not take appropriate measures, it could face the prospect of a bankruptcy as its coffers are gradually drying up.

It should be recalled that last month, the African football governing body, CAF, stripped the country of the right to host the 2019 games due to lack of infrastructure and growing insecurity in the two English-speaking regions and in the northern part of the country .

Corruption and mismanagement are to blame for the country’s inability to build state-of-the-art infrastructure, and following that decision, government ministers have been accusing each other for the fiasco.

Also in New York, the tides are turning against the government. Remarks by the U.S. representative at the UN Security Council briefing on the Central African Region have clearly proven that the Yaoundé government is under enormous pressure.

The U.S. representative said during the briefing that “Mr. President, the United States calls for an immediate and broad-based reconciliatory dialogue, without pre-conditions, between the Government of Cameroon and separatists in the Northwest and Southwest Regions. We urge all sides to forswear violence, to restore peace, and to resolve their grievances through political dialogue.”

With such statements, the Biya regime understands that it is time to change course. It has understood that Southern Cameroonian fighters will not be yielding anytime soon and the prospects of achieving any victory via military action are unfortunately low.

Southern Cameroonian fighters are more determined, and as they acquire more sophisticated weapons, they also hold that they can easily attain their objective through war.  The government might be willing to prove that it wants peace, but its killing of thousands of Southern Cameroonians might make its efforts look like another ploy to deceive the international community.

While many objective observers hold that this might be the first step in the right direction, many Southern Cameroonians are still skeptical and they hold that the moves by the government are too small and are coming too late.

They argue that the war was not necessary, adding that the government’s legendary arrogance is to blame for the blood that has been spilled and that blood will be one reason that will make it hard for peace to return to the Central African country.

By Kingsley Betek in Yaounde

From when the genocide mastermind and President of French Cameroun declared war against the Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia on 30 November 2017, Cameroon Concord News Group began exposing the details of the preplanned genocide against Ambazonia. Key actors in the preplanning and execution of the genocide closely supervised by Paul Biya himself made public statements which left no one in doubt about their involvement and their significant contribution to the criminal enterprise. Among a plethora of individual and institutional masterminds are Laurent Esso, Fame Ndongo, Biti Assoumou, Okada Bilai, Lele L’Afrique, George Tabetando, Atanga Nji, Philemon Yang, Patrick Ekema, Isa Tchiroma Bakary, Eno Meyomesse, Owona Nguini, television 4, Ernest Obama, CTRV. Added to this inexhaustible list are several military commanders deployed to execute the genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in and out the territory of Ambazonia.

George Tabetando, a Southern Cameroonian participant in the planning of the genocide publicly stated during a French Cameroun sanctioned meeting in Buea and in live interviews over CRTV that it was he and Mafany Musonge who advised Paul Biya to impose an internet ban that lasted over three months on the territory of Ambazonia. Mafany Musonge promptly denied his involvement in the criminal conduct.

It is green in our individual and collective memories that the internet ban facilitated the elaborate extermination of armless Ambazonians, the rape of Ambazonia girls and women; paralyzed the economy of Ambazonia, its educational institutions, hospitals, the pillaging of its natural resources and launched the ongoing genocide. The internet ban also facilitated the abduction of thousands of the citizens of Ambazonia to concentration camps and underground dungeons in French Cameroun.  Many of them were tortured to death in detention and many others have since been brought before a court-martial and promptly convicted in sham trials conducted in furtherance of the genocidal policies of French Cameroun.

The abduction and rendition to French Cameroun from Nigeria of the President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, His Excellency, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and members of the Interim Government escalated and internationalized the conflict and the crimes committed in and out of Ambazonia against citizens of Ambazonia.  The President and members of the Interim Government were legally in Nigeria under the protection of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

The inter-state use of terror, abduction and rendition of His Excellency Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and members of the Interim Government, to French Cameroun outlawed in international law, places French Cameroun and Nigeria as state party apologists and sponsors of international terrorism which threatens world peace and security.   Nigeria through the national security adviser to President Mohammedu Buhari Baba Gana Mugano and French Cameroun through government spokesman Isa Bakary publicly made official statements on behalf of their respective governments admitting the shameful acts of international criminality.  Cameroun Concord News Group warned then, that left unsanctioned by the United Nations, the inter-state use of terror and abduction, by these countries might, provide a fig leaf of legitimacy and embolden Boko Haram and armed groups worldwide in their modus operandi of using terror and abduction to victimize and destabilize significant parts of the world.

The inter-state terrorism by French Cameroun and Nigeria on whom the international community is relying on to combat that form of outlawed international criminality, validates the claims by keen observers that the two states are indeed the sponsors of Boko Haram. This explains why the war against Boko Haram cannot succeed because Boko Haram masterminds cannot meaningfully lead the war against themselves.  The slaughter of hundreds of thousands of poor, jobless and uneducated youth in both countries is a mere subterfuge to conceal the Boko Haram criminal activities of the political, military and economic official structures within both countries.  The real enemies are the crime syndicates in power in Nigeria and French Cameroun and Daesh/Isis political Islamic conglomerate operating in the Sahel and the sub-region of which the ethnic political cabal in and out of the Buhari presidency and the Paul Biya crime syndicate are key participants.

Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and members of the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia may be said to be lucky survivals of the ruthless hit squad that had a mandate to abduct and kill them immediately.  The inter-state cooperation in this crime was not an isolated event. The government of Buhari and Paul Biya are united in economic and commercial terrorism arising from the imperial and neo-colonial exploitation of the oil and natural resources from the Niger Delta, and the Southern Cameroons.

The strong opposition by the exploited communities over many years threatens the pecuniary interests of these masterminds of economic and commercial terrorism.  Boko Haram provides a basis for them to eternalize power and provides an alibi for the channeling of funds to sustain economic and commercial terrorism against Ambazonia, the Niger Delta and South Eastern Nigeria.

Once the occasion to promptly assassinate Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and others failed, the problem about how to dispose of him and others has preoccupied the inter-state coconspirators.   French Cameroun decided to empanel a court-martial that was already very active in the execution of the genocide against Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia to put them on trial.

The court-martial is presided over by Colonel Abega Mbezoa epouse Eko Eko. The other members are Edou Mewoutou and Ngouongue.  The commissioners of government are Engono Eric and Tanjmou Dang Assabe.   The entire court-martial is made up of Beti-Bulu ethnic power elite, members of Essingan and like Clement Atangana, the President of the constitutional court of French Cameroun, members of the CPDM crime syndicate.  In addition to its ethnic composition and royalty, the court-martial is under the direct command responsibility of Paul Biya, the Commander-in- Chief of the French Cameroun genocidal armed forces that are executing the genocide of Ambazonians.

Apart from the multilayered conflict of interests, ethnic, political and military command and control of the court-martialand concerns over this court-martial, the Presiding Judge of the court-martial is the wife of one of the key actors in the prosecution of the war and genocide of Ambazonia Leopold Maxime Eko Eko. He actively participated in the abduction and rendition of Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and others to French Cameroun.  It is therefore a case of the husband overseeing the genocide, the massacres and the abductions of Ambazonians in and outside their country and the wife sitting in judgment to complement the crimes of her husband by providing a legal cover to them.

Leopold Maxime Eko Eko since 2010, is the director general of DGRE (Direction Générale de Recherche Exterieure) formerly known as SEDOC, DIRDOC and CENER. He operates in collaboration with the National Security Council whose Secretary-General is the criminal kingpin, Atanga Nji.

It is a matter of grave concern to Cameroon Concord News Group that Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and others over whom the UN High Commissioner for Refugees has asserted jurisdiction should be allowed by the civilized world to stand trial in a court-martial that itself is actively involved in the genocide and the wider economic and commercial terrorism in Ambazonia.  Cameroon Concord News Group strongly urges the United Nations and the International Community to step forth and stop this creative use of this court-martial tool of genocide from legitimizing this mother of all crimes that the free world promised to banish.   French Cameroun’s empaneled Beti-Bulu ethnic genocidal-martial is a judicial weapon of genocide and must be stopped by the international community.

To this I put my name

Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

The Biya Francophone regime is targeting Southern Cameroonians in the Diaspora and individuals and groups supporting the Anglophone uprising and quest for an independent state. For over a year now, Southern Cameroons businessmen and women owed money by the government of La Republique du Cameroun have not been paid.

Biya and his consortium of CPDM crime syndicates are imposing even more hard-hitting policies against the people of Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia to further starve them. Yaoundé has accused the Anglophone Diaspora of being behind the crisis in Southern Cameroons in which some 4000 Ambazonians have been killed including some 1400 Cameroon government army soldiers.

Biya is trying to distract from his numerous political problems in French Cameroun following the rigged October 7 presidential polls by blaming the Ambazonian Interim Government and by extrapolation, the Ambazonia Self-Defense and Restoration Forces Council.

The 85 year old president-dictator including his gang of French Cameroun political elites are claiming that the Ambazonia Self-Defense Council is a terrorist group which is a lie. The Ambazonia Self-Defence and Restoration Forces Council (ASC/RF), the command and control system prosecuting the war against La Republique du Cameroun, does not go out of its way to target civilians.

As an expert in Terrorism, International Crime and Global Security, I understand that terrorism is a military tactic and it is a tactic which consists of intentionally targeting civilians.  The Ambazonia Self-Defense and Restoration Forces does not do that.  On the contrary, the ASC/RF is a Southern Cameroons resistance group which is fighting to prevent French Cameroun terrorists army soldiers from continuing to overrun the Ambazonian territory that does not belong to them.

Nothing in Southern Cameroons or its surroundings belong to French speaking Cameroonians and their Francophone government in Yaoundé.  Southern Cameroons and French Cameroun were two separate nations that came together and created a federation. Then French Cameroun invaded, used terrorism as their main tactic for more than 56 years. Today, Southern Cameroons resistance groups are focusing on stopping this invasion and stopping the terrorism. So, Ambazonia Restoration Force actually is an anti-terror group. That is why the international community should and must stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Ambazonia Interim Government to put an end to French Cameroun terrorism and genocide in Southern Cameroons.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Since December 2016, the French Cameroon military has responded to peaceful protests with force, killing over 4000 defenseless civilians from then to date, according to activists on the ground.

Thousands more have been disappeared and are feared dead.

Over 90 villages have been burnt down by French Cameroon military forces, resulting in 60,000 people who have fled to neighbouring Nigeria as refugees, according to activists on the ground. The UN has officially registered 31,000 refugees in Nigeria, and it estimates that more 500,000 people are displaced within Cameroon.

Over 2,500 activist and peaceful protesters have been imprisoned, some are being tried in military courts which is a violation of international law, and some have been sentenced for terrorism and other unjustifiable charges.

These prisoners include the prominent nonviolence advocate Julius Ayuk Tabe and 11 of his senior aides, who were arrested on January 5, 2018, at the Nera Hotel in Abuja, Nigeria, where they had gathered to plan a meeting with the UNHCR to discuss the refugee crisis. 10 of them were then forcibly and unlawfully repatriated to Cameroon in violation of non-refoulement, a fundamental principle of international law which forbids a country receiving asylum seekers from returning them to a country in which they would be in likely danger of execution.

The #JUSTICE4NERA10 Campaign seeks to actively campaign by advocating for the Nera 10 Abducted leaders who are now being tried in the Cameroon military courts in violation of even their own and international laws of not trying civilians in military courts.

THIS CAMPAIGN DEMANDS:

*1) THE IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF THESE 10 NOBLE GENTELEMEN AND ALL HELD BY THE REPUBLIC OF CAMEROON UNDER SAME CIRCUMSTANCES*

*2) RETURN THESE NOBLE GENTLEMEN TO NIGERIA; IF #NIGERIA ACUSES THEM OF ANY CRIME,AS #INTERNATIONAL_LAW REQUIRES*

La Republique du Cameroun until the recent secession of its Anglophone part was CEMAC region’s biggest country. It is mostly known and in particular portrayed as such in the world media, for its peace, football and ethnic, religious and tribal tolerance. But the Southern Cameroons revolution has made all of the positives a thing of the past fostered by a sitting ruthless dictator, old colonialist power and new imperialist forces. This is exactly what is happening today in La Republique du Cameroun since the beginning of the Ambazonia uprising.

From its very inception, Anglophone lawyers and teachers rose up en masse and challenged the Francophone dominated regime in Yaoundé over what they described as endemic marginalization and economic discrimination. The revolt was directed against the heinous Francophone dictatorship of President Paul Biya and the ruling Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement party that has held power since November 6^th 1982.  This is the first revolt of this magnitude against a French surrogate regime.

Ghost town operations of a scale not witnessed for decades has continued for two years now in all major Southern Cameroons cities, towns and villages. Anti-government protests, initially led by students from the University of Buea and Bamenda, have inspired similar demonstrations among traders union, okada riders and transporters. In French Cameroun, years of subjugation at the hands of the ruling Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement (CPDM) has yielded both political apathy and a weak opposition.

The killing of several hundred of Southern Cameroonians and sweeping arrests on the part of the French Cameroun State Security and Intelligence Services reportedly pushed the protests to expand to include all the people of the former British Southern Cameroons.  The regime started to take it very seriously following the escalation of repression and this also is an indication of the loss of social control by President Biya. Buea, Bamenda and all the major cities in Southern Cameroons are now besieged by the Francophone police and the French Cameroun army. Bullets and teargas were the first reaction, and then the Biya regime started to crackdown massively on Ambazonians, arresting more than 1000 activists. 4000 Southern Cameroonians have so far been killed. Hundreds have been carried to “phantom houses” or undisclosed locations, where they are tortured and the women and young girls raped by members of the infamous French Cameroun secret service. Approximately 50,000 have fled the onslaught into neighbouring Nigeria and thousands are living in the bushes. The UN says some 461,000 Southern Cameroonians have been internally displaced.

On October 7, the president-dictator, Paul Biya rigged the presidential election in French Cameroun  and got a seventh term and is now imposing a new round of even more draconian measures against the people of Southern Cameroons which have subsequently created a club of military billionaires as  85% of the government’s budget is swallowed by military expenses.  Meanwhile the ongoing wars in the Far North region against Boko Haram and in the East with rebels from the Central African Republic cost the French Cameroun government millions a day!

Things are beginning to fall apart as Cameroon was recently stripped of the right to stage the 2019 African Nations Cup finals. CAF confirmed the unanimous decision after a meeting of its executive committee in Accra. Cameroon’s ability to host the finals was first questioned when CAF announced in July last year that the tournament would have eight additional teams and only countries capable of putting on world-class tournament, with complete facilities and extensive infrastructure would be allowed to stage the event. CAF sent several inspection teams to Cameroon to check on the progress of the construction of five stadiums proposed for the tournament.

When CAF president Ahmad went to Cameroon in October he told the country’s President Paul Biya in front of assembled reporters: “CAF has no Plan B, nor have we ever considered taking the Nations Cup away from Cameroon.” But last week he criticised Cameroon’s inability to regularise the affairs of its football federation, which has been under the control of a normalisation committee for more than a year while it struggles to adopt a new constitution and elect a new executive.

On 30 November 2018, President Paul Biya signed a decree creating the “National Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Committee (NDDRC) for organizing, supervising and managing the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of ex-fighters of Boko Haram and armed groups in Southern Cameroons willing to respond favourably to the Head of State’s peace appeal by laying down their arms.” In response, Ambazonia Self-Defence and Restoration Forces Council (ASC/RF), the command and control system prosecuting the war against French Cameroun rejected the so-called Biya presidential decree. The situation in both Cameroons is growing from bad to worse and even Francophone Cameroonians are fed up. The President-dictator lives in a five star Intercontinental Hotel in Geneva and his regime is slowly but surely taking the last kicks of a dying horse. To be accurate Cameroonians die three times over: they die of poverty, die of illness and die of war.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai