Liam Fox, the trade secretary, boasts that a British company, New Age, has signed a £1.5 billion deal for Cameroon’s natural gas?

Conservative Peer Baroness Goldie, responding for the UK government in a recent debate on the deteriorating situation in that country, told the House of Lords, “We do not see that there has to be a choice between securing growth and investment for the UK, and raising human rights…by having a strong relationship with Cameroon we are able to have open discussions on a range of admittedly difficult issues, including human rights.”

Yet, despite that “strong relationship” and “discussions,” President Paul Biya, in power since 1982, refuses to meet any representatives of Cameroon’s marginalised English-speaking minority. Human rights groups say Biya responded to 2016’s peaceful protests with disproportionate violence, prompting a militant and violent Anglophone reaction, and pushing the country further into conflict.

Disregarding a wealth of evidence from Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, and Crisis Group, Goldie insists Cameroon’s violence had “complex causes, and as with many conflicts, it is not always easy to establish what is happening on the ground.”

Cameroon Concord News calls on Interpol, The Serious Crimes Unit of the British Police, The FBI, The Criminal Investigations Department of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia and all Police and Intelligence Agencies worldwide to urgently step in and investigate the oil and gas contract between New Age Global Energy Company and French Cameroun that was signed recently in Britain. There are many reasons for an urgent criminal investigation of this international crime masked as a business contract.

The contract is a front for money laundering conceived for criminal purposes. The oil and gas fields which are subject of the contract are in the territory of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia over which a war and genocide declared by Paul Biya the head of the crime syndicate in French Cameroun are ongoing. The contract is directly linked to the subject of this in who the perpetration of international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes by one of the contracting parties, French Cameroun is ongoing.  These crimes have led to a humanitarian crisis of unimaginable proportions. The contract will directly contribute to the war efforts of French Cameroun in which international crimes are being perpetrated by French Cameroun.  Control over the mineral resources of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia is among the reasons for the declaration of war by French Cameroun against Ambazonia.  This contract therefore will substantially contribute to the crimes and the humanitarian calamity.

The contract is a front for the laundering of money and resources for criminal purposes. These criminal purposes include the bankrolling of the elections of Paul Biya and members of his criminal gang in power. These elections have all elements of fraud and criminality.

The contract is illegal, null and void in every respect.   This will be the first contract where French Cameroun will be signing with a company which has no incorporation within the territory in which the oil and gas fields are located. Pursuant to the foreign imposed laws of the colonial annexationist criminal government of French Cameroun in the territory of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, the foreign firm needed to comply with several OHADA treaty requirements. It has neither complied with Southern Cameroons laws nor that of the occupier.

The choice of a British firm in a French occupied economic annexed territory is intended to buy through this corrupt slave economic deal, the continuing support of Britain of the colonial occupation and criminal war and genocide.  The fact that the Secretary-General in the Presidency of French Cameroun’s crime syndicate went to England to sign the contract far away from the battlefields of Ambazonia where the intended loot is located, and far away from its own centre of French Cameroun’s criminal operations, Yaoundé, evinces an intention to shield the fine elements of criminality contained in the criminal deal from the scrutiny of the Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia victims.  French Cameroun has a record of signing bilateral agreements in Yaoundé and at the official locations of its partners.  This criminal contract is not a bilateral agreement but a business contract.

Cameroun Concord News is not aware of any time in recent memory when French Cameroun dispatched a Secretary-General in its Presidency to move to the head quarter of a foreign firm to sign a contract of this nature or any at all. The signatory on behalf of French Cameroun is neither its Prime Minister, Minister in Charge of Mineral Resources, Investments, or its plenipotentiary in Britain.  The Secretary-General in the Crime Syndicate of French Cameroun is a gate-keeper of corrupt deals; proceeds of national and international criminality and the vampire Paul Biya’s executioner of record.   The poster boys of criminality such as Paul Atanga Nji, George Tabetando, Laurent Esso, Fame Ndongo, Okalia Bilai, Lele L’Afrique, Joseph Beti Assomo, Louis Paul Motaze, General Elokobi Daniel Njock, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh and all CPDM apologists and conspirators are supervised by him on behalf of the crime master Paul Biya.

This contract is in a class of its own considering French Cameroun’s rather unorthodox approach to it.  French Cameroun is a well-known haven for criminal deals, corruption and international criminality. The colonization and criminal vandalization of the Southern Cameroons by French Cameroun acting as a proxy for France for the past fifty-seven years is a result of a criminal slave deal between France and Great Britain on the watch of the United Nations.  That slave deal encouraged the impunity with which French Cameroun entered criminal contractual deals to loot, vandalize and pillage the resources of the Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia. This contract follows this criminal pattern with the aggravating factor being that its immediate effect will be the funding of a war in which international crimes shocking the conscience of humanity are being committed.

This contract if not investigated and halted, will stain the conscience of the civilized world; Great Britain in particular, with more blood of innocent Ambazonians.  Cameroon Concord News strongly calls for an urgent investigation of this criminal deal to avert the escalation of the genocide and international criminality going on in the Gulf of Guinea and its contagious territories.

Written by Open democracy UK and Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Voting on Cameroon Concord News Man of the Year 2018 is now officially open. Since 1999, Cameroon Concord News Group has provided our readers the opportunity of chosen a “Man of the Year.” It is simply a choice of a person who has had the most influence over the news in the last 12 months.

Samuel Eto’o, Bishop Emeritus Francis Teke Lisinge and former Nigerian Head of State, Goodluck Jonathan have all won the award. In 2017, the Cameroon Concord News Person of the Year award was accorded to the Southern Cameroons and all its citizens individually and collectively. The collective nature of this choice was justified.

Fifty-six years ago, the Southern Cameroons a United Nations Trust territory under British administration, was betrayed and sold off to France through its vassal state of French Cameroun. Great Britain and France were among the key actors on whom humanity relied to create the United Nations on the 26 of June 1945 in San Francisco. This underscored a firm determination of the civilized world “to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small’. In consequence therefore, the United Nations Organization went operational on 24 October 1945 with among other goals to fulfill a critical determination to meet its charter obligation under article 76 (b) “to promote the political, economic, social, and educational advancement of the inhabitants of the trust territories, and their progressive development towards self-government or independence as may be appropriate to the particular circumstances of each territory and its peoples and the freely expressed wishes of the peoples concerned, and as may be provided by the terms of each trusteeship agreement”.

Pursuant to this multilateral treaty obligation, the United Nations oversaw the grant of independence to French Cameroun on 1 January 1960 although; it remains a vassal state of France. When the time came for the realization of the UN multilateral treaty obligation towards the Southern Cameroons on 1 October 1961, Great Britain handed the articles of sovereignty over the territory to French vassal state of French Cameroun and France’s proxy army of occupation in the night of 30 September 1961.  Ever since, the genocidal onslaught and ferocious intensity with which it is executed qualifies the Southern Cameroons as a cancer on the conscience of the international community.  The genocide that was carefully weaved into the slave deal apart, the racism that underpinned the callousness of the impunity with which Southern Cameroons was sacrificed to satisfy or fulfill the imperial economic interests of Britain and France, more than anything establishes that these superpowers perceived the United Nations as an institution they may rely on to legitimize imperial domination over supposed independent African nations.  The selling off the Southern Cameroons into slavery at its threshold to independence explains this eloquently.

This is further explained by the complicit silence or inaction of the UN to the consequences in terms of Southern Cameroonian lives lost, legal and cultural identity destroyed, economy raped and culture of terror, and international criminality imposed on the Southern Cameroons on the watch of the UN and its ancillary institutions.  Judging from the timid and complicit statements of the France-Afrique neocolonial UN Secretary-General Representative for Central Africa, François Louncény Fall of Guinea an avowed paid agent of French Cameroun aimed at whitewashing the genocide of Southern Cameroons by attempting to make victims out of French Cameroun criminal genocide executioners, it is safe under these circumstances to conclude that  the infiltration of the international system over the years rather than dissuade, encouraged impunity and

Despite these obstacles and the seemingly insurmountable odds against the Southern Cameroons, after fifty-six years of excruciating life under genocide, terror, economic terrorism, and all forms of international criminality imaginable, the people rose as one on the 22 September 2017, and ultimately on 1 October 2017 to reclaim their freedom and independence.  Many of 2017’s biggest headlines were a reflection of the year that preceded it.

In 2018, a warning from the Cameroon Intelligence Report to the leadership of the Ambazonian Interim Government that Nigeria was planning to betray them was not taken seriously but it however escalated into a major crisis. Another major news item of 2018 is the emergence of Barrister Agbor Balla into the Cameroon political story and an election in French Cameroun that placed President Biya and Prof. Maurice Kamto at daggers-drawn positions. Outside the two Cameroons, France’s Emmanuel Macron was in Nigeria, Ali Bongo of Gabon suffered a massive stroke and the political factions in Kenya reconciled.

The Ambazonian Communications Secretary, Chris Anu, the 85 year old President Paul Biya, Prof Maurice Kamto and Barrister Agbor Balla have indeed had the most influence over the news in the last 12 months. It is now our duty as Cameroon Concord News People to decide who should be the person of the year.

Voting can be done using the comment link or via email

cameroonconcordnews@gmail.com

By Seseskou Asu Isong

Which were you thinking about today? a) Anything but Cho Ayaba and General Ivo? b) All the actions of the Ambazonian Interim Government? c) None of the above?  It’s the most important question in the Southern Cameroons revolution right now.

The Southern Cameroons political conversation is at a troubling and unusual tipping point. The exiled Interim Government wants to sell only its positive plans and the other obscure groups wants to talk only about the Interim Government’s negative record. Instead of rallying behind a government that has many experienced actors and actresses and that has the support of the Ambazonian people, the disgraced Cho Ayaba and the consistently inconsistent General Ivo are both thinking that right now the struggle is about which Interim Government negative plan is most debated.

Recently, every French Cameroun military atrocity has been blamed on the Interim Government by these inconsequential actors.  As the Southern Cameroons war intensifies, it is evidently clear that the wins will be decided by what the leaders choose to do in the media.

This can play out in one of two ways. If Ambazonians decide to ignore the other opportunistic so-called leaders such as Cho Ayaba and General Ivo, we’ll be talking about anything but division and much of the discussions will be dominated by a combination of diplomatic push and resistance tactics. After the massacre in Nkambe and Bali, we of the Cameroon Concord News Group think that where we stand right now, that feels increasingly likely.

There’s another possibility; the small groups earlier created by Akwanga and Ayaba on Ground Zero that are now committing horrible crimes could remain the centre of the discussion. The leaderships of these funny groups keep posting videos of themselves on social media with the aim of fabricating a contest between the Southern Cameroons Interim Government and their unpopular one-man-show style of resistance. Though there is plenty at stake there. In fact, this tactical struggle for the agenda of social media coverage of the Ambazonian revolution has really affected the resistance greatly and caused the lives of hundreds of innocent Southern Cameroons civilians.

Doubt, lack of confidence, disillusion, political apathy and cynicism is hampering the smooth running of the Ambazonian Interim Government. Interest in Southern Cameroons political philosophy and ideology, is very low now amongst our people in Europe, South Africa and the USA including Canada. There is far greater involvement by those on Ground Zero than Ambazonians in the Diaspora.

The more complex truth is that the Southern Cameroons Diaspora political elite are materialistic and transactional about the politics of liberation – but this isn’t the same thing as being cynical or selfish.

Of course, if the people of Southern Cameroons really want to win this war of liberation, it requires for all Ambazonians to rally behind the Interim Government now to reproduce the discipline that was put in place by Interim President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and to see through the politics of distractions, to what matters: progress in resistance and protection to our wounded and refugees in Nigeria and those living in the bushes. But for Cho Ayaba, Akwanga and Ivo, its simply about the money.

To this I put my name

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Cameroon Concord News Group deeply regrets the assassination of General Amigo. He was a great hero of the Ambazonian liberation war.   Boyo County of the Northern Zone of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia has lost a great son and soldier but Ambazonia has lost a war hero. The death of this liberation hero must inspire Ambazonians of all walks of life to fight on until the last person standing.  General Amigo like all mortals was never going to live forever. In effect all mortals are bound to submit to the biblical injunction, which commands that from dust we were raised, to dust we must return.  But the cause General Amigo lived and died for will endure forever.

The demise of the Roman empire, the Ottoman empire, the Yugoslav Republic and other human oppressive contraptions that enslaved millions for years was achieved on the weight of the pressures and sacrifices of freedom seeking peoples. These are lessons we must point to, to fight on, in honour of General Amigo, thousands who have lost their lives, and our individual and collective survival.  Let the enemy not rejoice for the cowardly assassination of General Amigo and thousands of Ambazonian civilians and freedom seekers. From the dusts of their lonely graves, their spirits shall rise to inspire our generation and generations unborn to cement the irreversible gains of Ambazonia independence and freedom.  These heroes died defending the sovereign will of an overwhelming majority of Ambazonians who under the Leadership of His Excellency, President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe on October 1 2016, proclaimed the independence of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia from every nook and corner of our Ambazonia fatherland, chanting and pledging that “Ambazonia has risen to fall no more”. Cameroon Concord News Group for this reason joins millions of Ambazonia to eternalize the memory of this great warrior General Amigo and thousands of others who have lost their lives in the defense of the Ambazonia fatherland.

The assassination of General Amigo, and that of many of our fighting self-defense forces, raises questions about the increasing but unchecked degree of infiltration and treachery largely responsible for these painful losses. It is one thing if our heroes died in combat, and another when they are ambushed and slaughtered betrayed by infiltrators, some controlled or manipulated by forces purporting to be fighting for the liberation of our homeland.

It is imperative that after every ambush and assassination such as that of General Amigo, and those of our self-defense forces in Nkambe, parts of Momo, Ngokentunjia and other locations in Ambazonia, we must make a strategic, tactical and forensic analysis of how the attacks occurred and remedy the situation.   Cameroon Concord News Group is conducting a critical examination of the very troubling trend of treachery, infiltration and greed and hereby shares these provisional findings:

• Some of the attacks although carried out by French Cameroun terrorist forces, have been preceded by targeted ultimatums given by forces alleged to be under the control and command of Cho Ayaba and by extension the AARC alliance. The AARC amorphous group was created in Washington DC barely two weeks after the abduction of His Excellency President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and members of the Ambazonia interim Government in Nigeria. The amorphous group was created purposefully to sabotage and hijack the Ambazonia cause for the selfish pecuniary interests of its members.
• The attacks in Momo and Boyo counties were preceded by ultimatums to self-defense forces and the IG by Cho Ayaba forces or forces allied to him and shortly after French Cameroun forces ambushed and assassinated our self-defense forces, suggesting a potential high degree of coordination.
• A concomitant threat of attack of the Ambazonia self-defense forces by the Ayaba ADF and allied forces and French Cameroun terrorist forces can be said be co-incidental, in one occasion but coincidence must be ruled out when that occurred more than once. Indeed, it has become a recurrent trend.
• Nsoh Nkem Foncha, a renegade who was sanctioned and sacked by the Interim Government for embezzling funds meant for Ground Zero operations confessed in a social media video recording that he and his acolytes were on mission to destabilize the IG and GZ operations.
• After the Nkambe genocide in which Ambazonians not in combat were slaughtered in cold blood, a social media Activist and Spokesman for the Cho Ayaba’s ADF went on a social media frenzy celebrating and rebuking the slaughtered Ambazonia victims of the genocide claiming that they died because they failed to join Ayaba’s ADF and to follow his orders.  Cho Ayaba tacitly endorsed this message because he did not rebuke his spokesman, did not express regret for the genocide, did not condemn French Cameroun’s terrorists for the genocide and indeed through multiple fake Facebook profiles, by himself or his surrogates, he blamed the Interim Government for the slaughter of our people.
• In attempts to showcase the power and control of Cho Ayaba, and his ability to forcefully take over command of all GZ operations, social media activists under his control such as one Carpo Daniel, and others have consistently exposed GZ forces to enemy surveillance. In one occasion, Cho Ayaba himself invited a French television network to conduct a tour of his field operations zones, potentially exposing the territory of Ambazonia and potential war zones to French intelligence.
• Cho Ayaba’s Dadi misadventure caused this liberation war the early loss of a key tactical and strategic logistical defense base at the borders with Nigeria. What he hoped to achieve by that misadventure was to lure Ambazonians to get more money.
• The exposure of GZ forces through social media video postings comports a degree of coordinated sophistication. It is inconceivable that forces who are short on logistics and weapons can produce and post these videos on social media.  The purpose is to hoodwink a gullible diaspora to contribute money to Ayaba and his cohorts as opposed to Local Government by Local Government or County by County defense policy advocated by the IG.
• Cho Ayaba is opposed to County by County and Local Government by Local Government because it deprives him of the only source of subsistence he has lived on since he migrated to Europe. He is accountable to himself and himself alone.
• The London supposed oil deal scandal for which Cho Ayaba has refused to apologise, portrays Ayaba, a supposed Commander-in-Chief as a Scammer in Chief and unfit to be a credible leader of Ambazonia. He is greedy, self-seeking, gullible and even pathetically inept and delusional.    He has never ever expressed remorse or sympathy for any fallen hero, even those who fell in combat fighting for units under his command.  He has never ever taken measures to assist some of them who were abducted from Nigeria and illegally taken to French Cameroun. It is instead the IG which is doing all in its power to secure their release.
• The recent betrayal, ambush and assassination of General Amigo is the latest act which has exposed Cho Ayaba, his ADF and acolytes as the Trojan horses by which French Cameroun military intelligence is infiltrating the Ambazonia liberation struggle and committing the genocide which is on the rise.
• The fact that the Cho Ayaba allied forces have not publicly condemned and dissociated themselves from the assassination of General Amigo, is a tacit confirmation that the assassination was a realisation of their ultimatum. Revealing is the sudden silence of the ADF spokesman, social activists and acolytes who at various degrees threatened General Amigo and even tacitly urged his demise.   This silence indeed underscores their satisfaction for a mission realized.
• Unfortunately for them, their satisfaction must be short-lived, because their rhetoric, actions and threats and the assassinations have linked them unmistakably to the French Cameroun terrorists forces they have been pretending to be fighting against on behalf of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. They have finally been exposed as the conduits, infiltrators, Trojan horses, while French Cameroun terrorist forces are the executioners.
• In the face of this reality, Cameroon Concord News Group calls on Ambazonians worldwide to intensify their support for the IG, Local Government by Local Government and County by County defense strategy.
• The Local Government by Local Government, County by County liberation policy devised by the Interim Government deprives the vultures of the Ambazonia liberation struggle of the money they have been extorting by fraud from Ambazonia diaspora.
• The military strategy conceived by these vultures of the Ambazonia liberation war, provides ample opportunities for French Cameroun agents to infiltrate the forces and exterminate our people.  Our fighting forces know the fighters in their local government areas or counties.  They will readily identify and neutralize infiltrators.
• Cameroon Concord News Group does not discount the possibility of forces deployed from parts of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia to conduct military operations in some parts when the self-defense needs of the people require. In this circumstance, these forces will be members of the Ambazonia mobile specialized mobile units, special forces and commandos. These special operation forces must remain largely unknown to the enemy and must possess multiple intelligence and operational capacities.
• The method of operation of the enemy through forces disguised as civilians to ambush and assassinate Ambazonia civilians and self-defense forces shows elements of adoptability to the Ambazonia war environment with the support of vultures of the revolution or local CPDM party traitors. These categories of traitors must be checked and controlled. They must know that providing intelligence to the enemy makes them targets for attacks.
• The Cho Ayaba ADF forces have been exposed to the social media limiting their capacity to be deployed to areas outside their respective local government areas as special mobile forces, special operations forces and commandos. By their very exposure, they have lost the capacity and characteristic to be effective.  The constant media outings of his commanders expose them as undisciplined and lacking in military intelligence strategy.
• Cameroon Concord News Group is aware of the recent call by His Excellency President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe for unity. Cameroon Concord News Group recalls the Acting President Dr Sako had made similar calls. He even initiated a unity conference in Washington DC which Cho Ayaba and members of AARC sabotaged.
• The preliminary result of the enquiry which Cameroon Concord News Group is conducting has been made public now due to the urgency of the need to alert the GZ forces, the IG and Ambazonians to the need to take urgent steps to close the loopholes in the revolution that have been exploited by opportunistic vultures of the liberation struggle for self-gain and in the ultimate interests of the enemy.
• Cameroon Concord News Group gives its qualified support to the unity call by the President but strongly call on Ambazonians to be extremely vigilant and cautions of the activities of vultures of the revolutionary war which have inflicted so much harm and are hampering the efficacious prosecution of the war. They must be made to understand that the enemy is French Cameroun and not the IG or the Ambazonia Ground Zero self-defense forces. The first line of control by the people of Ambazonia is to deny them the contributions they are seeking and contribute to Ground Zero operations directly through your local government or county and to your IG.  Your IG needs contributions for the defense of the President His Excellency Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, members of the Interim Government as well as forty-nine other Ambazonians who were abducted from Nigeria and taken to French Cameroon. The IG needs resources for Ambazonia refugees in Nigeria and for other strategic diplomatic, strategic defense operations.  The vultures of the revolution have never done anything for Ambazonia refugees, abductees, or possess delicate diplomatic skills.  They do not have the ability and maturity to counter the enemy in multiple fronts through the resourceful coordination of the Ambazonia highly skilled and professional Ambazonians and members of the international community away from the self-seeking social frenzy antics of the vultures of the revolution.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman and Editor-in-Chief

The Ambazonia Self-Defense Council (ASC) calls on the people of Buea specifically to join all other Ambazonians on ground zero and the world over to stand up and do what they need to do to prevent the capture and derailing of the process of the liberation of our Motherland. To this end we note that from the 19th to the 23th of November 2018, there shall be a complete lock down of Buea specifically and the whole of Ambazonia to prevent the holding of the purported AAC3 Conference.

We want to remind the great people of Ambazonia that the resolution of this conference had been prepared and we had circulated copies – even before the setting of the date of the conference. The essence of the come together is to rubber stamp a document concocted by individuals who do not have the interest of our people at heart.

Therefore we call on you all to ensure that there will be no AAC3 conference, no movement of people and vehicles. Our protest shall include the closure all businesses and markets as the soldiers of LRC have been tasked to brutalize and kill innocent civilians if they come out to protest.  However, this is a battle that we absolutely must win if we intend to tell the world that we are united in our opposition to the rule of the dictator in Etoudi.

No constructive discussion can take place in Ambazonia with the likes of Dr. Munzu, Christian Cardinal Tumi, Peter Mafany Musonge or Barrister Agbor Balla. The Interim Government was very clear when they announced the conditions for the holding of an inclusive conference. These included the following:

• The release of all our leaders and compatriots arrested and locked in all prisons as a result of this conflict
• The holding of the conference in a neutral ground that is devoid of all intimidation and fear mongering.
• The invitation and participation of neutral global powers like the US, the UK, the UN and the AU.
• The use of a mediator that is agreeable to both parties in the conflict

We therefore alert the entire peoples of Southern Cameroons that anyone who chooses to take part in this meeting shall be treated as an enemy to the revolution and shall only have themselves to blame for whatever shall befall them as a consequence of their betrayal.

We strongly urge all Ambazonians to caution family members and friends about the dangers of going against this advice.

Now that you are here

The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons.  The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers.    However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization.  It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

Bank transaction: Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Banking IBAN: GB51 BARC 2049 1103 9130 15

Swift BIC BARC GB22XX

SORT CODE 20-49-11, ACCOUNT NUMBER – 03913015 Barclay PLC, UK

The Board looks forward to hearing from the readers.

Signed by the Group Chairman on behalf of the Board of Directors

Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Email: soteragbawebai@gmail.com

In Cameroon, government actions are cloaked in mystery and shrouded in secrecy. It can be difficult to parse rumors from truth, inconsequential events from those of significance, facts from fiction. In 2018 alone, President Biya postponed parliamentary elections to 2019, appointed 70 of 100 total senators, and has now officially been declared the winner of the October 7 presidential election. The presidential election, though, was like something cooked up in a Hollywood writers’ room. At one-point, President Biya announced the election date via his twitter handle, shocking domestic and international communities. Next, though no formal Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) party congress was convened, and no candidate was officially designated (as required in the party charter),Biya declared that he would run in the elections. Then, he snubbed the electorate. He did not campaign as a candidate for the highest office in the country. He staged one 20-minute rally in the Far North region, and that was it.

A more striking incident passed by unnoticed. Biya and other opposition candidates did not campaign in the Anglophone regions of the country, the North West and South West. Only Akere Muna of the Popular Front for Development Party visited, and he only went to Limbe, a French dominated city in the South West Region. The fact that Presidential aspirants, including Biya, avoided the Anglophone regions sends an unmistakable message to the international community – Ambazonia is a new country in the making.

What scared Biya and the other candidates away from Ambazonia? Earlier in the year, Ambazonian Restoration Forces attacked the Minister of Defence’s convoy in the South West Region.  This attack suggests that the seed of freedom has been planted in the hearts of Ambazonians that All-Or-Nothing Law now applies—we live free forever or we all die today. Of course, only one is true—we live free forever. The Cameroon military cannot kill the 8-million Ambazonians that it would take to end the Ambazonia freedom struggle. Even if Biya’s soldiers were able to kill all 5-million Ambazonians living within Ambazonia territory, the 3-million Ambazonians in the Diaspora would fight on like Israelites until they reclaimed their God given birth-land.

The Interim Government of Ambazonia, currently in exile, is steadily establishing institutional structures that would enable United Nations (U.N.) Member States to politically recognize Ambazonia as an independent and sovereign state. This could be a significant development in the Ambazonia war of independence. U.N.Member States would bring the Ambazonia case before the appropriate U.N.Committees for deliberation and decision.

Supporters of the Ambazonia independence struggle within the African Union and European Union see Biya and his tribal oligarchs as responsible for massive tax evasion and significant non-performing loans, and many understand that people’s standard of living now is considerably worse than in the pre-Biya era. Moreover, the 1961 U.N. decolonization process for British Southern Cameroons remains incomplete; although French Cameroun and Southern British Cameroons entered into a confederacy union of equal partners, for over half a century the successive governments of French Cameroun have systematically eroded the founding norms of the union such. The French Cameroun governments have changed the constitution, adopted a despotic rule, and oppressed the Anglophone minority.

The long list of institutional abuses and usurpation of the fundamental rights of the people of Ambazonia reached a breaking point in 2016 when government forces brutally cracked down on peacefully protesting lawyers, teachers and students. The die was cast in November 2017 when President Biya declared war against the unarmed people of Ambazonia for exercising their right to ensure their future security by declaring independence. Together, these developments have triggered decolonization experts and relevant stakeholder governments to re-examine the UN-plebiscite policies that encouraged two separate UN territories — English West Cameroon (then Southern Cameroons and now Ambazonia) and French East Cameroun (La Republique du Cameroun)—which would co-exist under a federal system of governance.  The Biya government, though, is bent on assimilating an entire neighbouring country of people who have their own distinct identity and culture.

The evidence speaks for itself. After the people of Ambazonia declared independence on October 1 of 2017, Biya’s government responded to peaceful protests with barbaric methods of suppression, including murder, rape, executions, assassinations, kidnap, torture, and dehumanizing treatment. Biya’s presidential win, as declared by the Constitutional Council, has proven that countries cannot be forced to unite and coexist in the absence of democratic institutions, shared values, and economic and political freedoms. Two countries with irreconcilable differences cannot exist peacefully in an oppressive political union. Indeed, the fiasco of the presidential election has proven that restoration of Ambazonia independence is right, legitimate, and practicable against the Biya-loyalist propaganda of an internal issue.

The regime used a new, never-seen-before tactical tool to accomplish its election fraud. Prior to the official announcement on Oct 22, Biya’s government, in collaboration with Cameroon’s electoral body, Elections Cameroon (ELECAM) and the Constitutional Council (CC), leaked tailored election results in which he won with 71.28% vote, followed by Kamto with 14.23% of the vote, in order to test public reaction. The reaction was as expected. Kamto of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (CRM) party and Osih of the Social Democratic Front (SDF) party petitioned the Constitutional Council with 18 distinct cases of fraud. The Constitutional Council rejected all cases within hours. The questions remain: when did the judges conduct investigations? Review the cases? Deliberate to demonstrate fair and credible procedures that would merit public confidence in their capacity for institutional oversight? Even worse, the Constitutional Council judges defended the completeness and correctness of the leaked election results. Where in the world does the highest court of the land demonstrate partiality and bias in broad daylight? Only in Cameroun. At the time, it was disconcerting. But when the same Constitutional Council declared Biya the winner of the election on Oct 22 using the same earlier leaked results – then it became momentous.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Now that you are here

The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons.  The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers.    However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization.  It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

Bank transaction: Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Banking IBAN: GB51 BARC 2049 1103 9130 15

Swift BIC BARC GB22XX

SORT CODE 20-49-11, ACCOUNT NUMBER – 03913015 Barclay PLC, UK

The Board looks forward to hearing from the readers.

Signed by the Group Chairman on behalf of the Board of Directors

Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Email: soteragbawebai@gmail.com

The pressure on Yaoundé regarding the killing of an American missionary is increasing by the day. Charles Trumann Wesco, 44, a clergyman from Indiana, died on October 30, barely two weeks after arriving in Bambili in the Northwest region of the country where a growing insurgency in the English-speaking regions has reduced government authority in that part of the country.

The American missionary who was being driven to a market by another missionary, together with his wife and a son, was caught in a crossfire between Ambazonian Restoration Forces and government soldiers near the city of Bamenda. He took two shots to the head when two bullets struck his car’s windshield. He was rushed to a hospital in Bamenda, but did not survive as the hospital lacked the appropriate equipment to handle such situations.

Speaking after the missionary passed away, Kingue Njie, Director of the Bamenda Regional Hospital, said “We tried in vain to save his life,” adding that Wesco’s wife and children, who were with him in the vehicle were unharmed and these people have been talking. They have already spoken to American officials on the ground, some of whom are CIA agents and they hold that ballistic tests will produce incontrovertible evidence regarding which weapon fired the bullet that cut short the missionary’s life and this is causing government officials to lose sleep.

Faithful to its gospel of falsehood and manipulation, the Biya regime through its defense minister, Joseph Beti Assomo, promptly pointed a finger at Southern Cameroonian fighters whom he considers as terrorists. He said the “separatists” who had taken cover, shot and killed the U.S. citizen, adding that the army swiftly riposted and four separatists were gunned down, while a student and soldier were wounded. He warned all foreigners in the country to always inform the country’s authorities and security forces of their movement in the north-west and south-west regions due to the actions of terrorist groups, ignoring the fact that the government had killed other men of God in that region in suspicious circumstances.

Father Alexandre Sob Nougi, 42, pastor of the parish of the Sacred Heart in Bomaka, in the Cameroonian Roman Catholic diocese of Buea, was killed on the 20^th of July by government soldiers and the regime has not expressed any remorse, nor has it apologized for the killing of a priest who had nothing to do with the fighting that is playing out in the two English-speaking regions of the country. Not even an investigation has been opened, maybe because the priest is Cameroonian and the clergy has openly criticized the government for its poor handling of the crisis in the region.

This serious incident occurred on the road between Buea and Muyuka, 25 km northeast of Buea, which is the capital of the English-speaking region in the southwest region of the country. The priest, who was also known because he was a diocesan secretary for Catholic education, was shot point blank by government forces.

During his funeral, the Bishop of Buea did not mince his words. He knew who the killer was. Speaking during another event in the northwest, Archbishop Cornelius Fontem Esua of Bamenda said the seminarian shot by Cameroonian soldiers was a “martyr of the Anglophone crisis”. He used the phrase at the October 16, 2018, funeral of 19-year-old Gérard Anjiangwe, who was killed on October 4, 2018, in front of the Santa Teresa Church in the village of Bamessing, in the northwest region of the country.

The armed separatist fighters blamed government forces for killing the missionary in a crossfire, but Assomo has denied the allegations. The Yaounde government is not known for taking responsibility for its actions. When it was accused of flagrant human rights abuses in the northern part of the country, it refused that the incident had taken place in Cameroon. It claimed the incident had taken place in Mali, oblivious of the fact that modern technology could help expose its lies. And this lies were laid bare by Amnesty International and other rights groups which made the most of U.S. satellite images and other technologies to arrive at a convincing conclusion that the incident had actually taken place in Cameroon.

In a fast response to the criticism, the government said it had arrested those identified in the video, including one of the soldiers who had even died a year earlier. This is a government that has a track record of arresting dead people. It will be hard to believe any story from any of the government officials and the government is noted for telling lies and seeking to manipulate international and national public opinion.

The American missionary is not the first to be killed by reckless Cameroonian soldiers who hold that they can put an end to the insurgency by killing any and everything in the two English-speaking regions of the country. Not long ago, government forces killed a Ghanaian pastor whose mission in Cameroon was to spread the word of God. Apostle Isaac Attoh who is survived by a young widow and a two-month old baby boy was shot dead in the troubled town of Batibo in Cameroon. The deceased was dressed in his religious garb at the time of his death.

It was confirmed that Apostle Attoh was killed alongside two other Ghanaians who were in the country for religious purposes. The government’s arrogance was clearly on display when efforts by some Ghanaian pastors and friends in Cameroon to retrieve the body of the deceased were frustrated by the military which was unwilling to release the body to anyone. Due to these frustrations, the Apostle’s family urged the Ghanaian government and the International community to intervene for them to get his remains to Ghana for burial.

As American officials become aware of the incident, the Yaounde government is once more at its antics. It has recruited a Washington DC-based communications firm, Glover Park Group, to inform U.S. and international reporters that the country’s authorities are urgently looking into the matter. The government is already trying to pin the killing on separatists, claiming that the weapon used in killing the U.S. citizen was a shotgun which was commonly used by separatists.

But the government’s gimmicks may not produce the desired results this time around. It might have succeeded to cover up the killing of the Cameroonian seminarian and the Ghanaian pastor, but it will have to work extra hard to convince Americans who are already breathing down its throat that it is not responsible for the killing of the missionary. Ghana, another African country, might not want to embarrass Cameroon, but Americans who are not in the business of hiding the truth, will surely publish their own findings and will want their fellow citizens to know the truth surrounding the killing of one of theirs who was in Cameroon just to spread the word of God.

Wesco’s brother, Timothy Wesco, told ABC News recently that their family believed the killing was targeted “quite probable because he was a white, English-speaking American.” He, however, did not specify which party perpetrated the “targeted” killing, but initial forensic evidence indicate that there were pellets in the victim and this could only come from weapons used by army soldiers. This initial forensic analysis is already pointing a finger of accusation to the Yaounde government that was prompt at accusing the separatists. The government’s charade will surely not last for a long time as CIA agents have already gathered a lot of evidence and their conclusion will be known in the days ahead.

This situation could jeopardize bilateral relations between the U.S and Cameroon under the country’s long-serving dictator. In recent times, the U.S has increasingly given military assistance to Cameroon particularly in its battle with Boko Haram terrorists; providing training to the country’s elite military unit—the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR)—which has been deployed to the north-west and south-west regions. But that may change as the Cameroonian military has been racking up a record of human rights abuses.

In May, the US ambassador, Peter Barlerin, had accused government forces of ‘targeted killings’ and abuses in the fight against Southern Cameroons separatists. This, coupled with the human rights abuses in the northern path of the country, has resulted in the U.S. putting an end to its military cooperation with the Yaounde government in the fight against Boko Haram.

The tragic death has sparked outrage on Capitol Hill. Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, a senior member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has called on Cameroonian authorities to ensure transparency and thoroughness in the investigation, adding that the Yaounde government must strictly adhere to the legal process for swiftly bringing those implicated to justice.

The U.S. lawmaker wants the Yaounde government to get to the bottom of the matter. “I am deeply saddened to learn of the death of an American missionary who sacrificed his life working to improve the lives of the people of Cameroon. As we wait for the details surrounding his death, I extend my heartfelt condolences to his family and friends during these difficult moments,” he said.

“I understand Cameroonian officials have opened an inquiry into this tragic incident. I call upon them to publicly release the findings of their investigation to ensure transparency and thoroughness, and to strictly adhere to the legal process for swiftly bringing those implicated to justice,” he added.

He pointed out that “Reports of increasing violence in the Anglophone region of Cameroon are alarming, as are allegations of human rights abuses by armed actors. I urge all actors on the ground to engage in dialogue to resolve political disputes, and to refrain from violence against civilians.  I also call on the Trump Administration to provide appropriate services to the victim’s family, and urge State Department leadership in Washington to engage the Cameroonian government at the highest levels to find a peaceful solution to the Anglophone crisis.”

Cameroon government officials are losing sleep. Their reckless military policies are gradually coming back to bite them in a big way. It is wrong to be shooting down ordinary citizens and it is even unacceptable for army soldiers to be firing at anything that walks. The American missionary is simply a victim of these policies and this mishap may be that trigger that might bring the stubborn Yaounde government to the negotiating table for that much-talked about inclusive dialogue.

Americans will not let the government off the hook. Their ambassador had clearly advised Mr. Biya, the country’s president, not to run for re-election. But Mr. Biya and his collaborators clearly ignored his advice. The killing of the missionary could be that much-needed opportunity that will enable Americans to take their pound of flesh. The pressure is on and the Yaounde government is already feeling the heat.

By Kingsey Betek and Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Now that you are here

The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons.  The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers.    However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization.  It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

Bank transaction: Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Banking IBAN: GB51 BARC 2049 1103 9130 15

Swift BIC BARC GB22XX

SORT CODE 20-49-11, ACCOUNT NUMBER – 03913015 Barclay PLC, UK

The Board looks forward to hearing from the readers.

Signed by the Group Chairman on behalf of the Board of Directors

Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Email: soteragbawebai@gmail.com