Editorial

10, January 2017

Southern Cameroons Civil Disobedience: THIS IS WHAT OUR CHILDREN SHOULD LEARN ⁰

Let’s teach the children that today’s act of civil disobedience is the ultimate expression of their power over the dictator Biya and his coterie of corrupt ministers.

Let’s tell our children, that this act of civic education- of boycotting school, to demand accountability from an insensitive government is what developed countries have done to become developed.

Let’s teach our children that true education is an outgrowth of the needs of society, and that even the best education in a society where one is treated as a second-class citizen only diminishes one’s self-esteem.

Let’s teach our children that the ultimate purpose of education is to mould a free individual, who can think critically, and that having the best education and remaining under bondage is a negation of that education.

Let’s teach our children that the best education is the attainment of self-government where we can decide how far we want to go, and not forced to live in a system where we can only aspire to play second fiddle.

Let’s give our children historical examples where students stayed away from school for a year, and gained the right to earn a substantively richer education, through the use of cutting edge technology that is available in more open societies.

Let’s take advantage of this teachable moment empower our children to aspire to a genuine education that no despotism can enslave.

By Larry Eyong

9, January 2017

Happy Ghost Town to All Southern Cameroonians: Let this spirit continue ⁰

Since 2016 Southern Cameroons has been experiencing a wave of anti-government protests unleashed by hatred for the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime. Anglophone Cameroonians say Francophones have taken over their country and were systematically destroying their Anglo-Saxon heritage. Many people have been killed in Kumba, Bamenda, Buea and Kumbo.

Anti-government demonstrations rocked the Universities of Buea and Bamenda. It was followed by an industrial action staged by Common Law Lawyers and the Anglophone Teachers Trade Unions. Thousands of demonstrators went on to the streets calling on the Yaounde regime to embrace political reform and to stop killing protesters. Southern Cameroonians also demanded the release of all those arrested and respect for justice and the rule of law. However, the response from the Francophone dominated security forces, which used live ammunition against protesters, led to the death of many unarmed people.

Although the government security apparatus reported that the demonstrations had been contained and the 83 year Head of State described the protesters as “extremist and manipulators”, the current political situation in British Southern Cameroons has become volatile. Our intelligence officers have all reported that things are fast changing and developments have become increasingly unpredictable. The leaders of the various trade unions have metamorphosed into a consortium and are said to be busy devising alternative methods of protest that range from weakening the Francophone government institutions through staying at home and not operating businesses to organizing a Diaspora-based grand solidarity rally. The ghost town being observe today in Southern Cameroons has so far been a huge success.

Some conclusions could be drawn following the failure on the part of the Francophone government to halt the ghost town operation. Firstly, these new generations of Anglophones have lost faith in the ONE Cameroun concept. Secondly, the so-called Anglophone political elites militating with the ruling CPDM party no longer have legitimate authority in Southern Cameroons. And thirdly, Cameroon as a nation has entered its last journey of many dangers.

In Mamfe, a town that hosted the 1953 Conference after the Eastern Regional Crisis at Enugu which eventually paved the way for reunification, Southern Cameroonians refused to sing the national anthem. To be sure, Manyu Division has shut down completely today Monday the 9th of January in support of the Anglophone nationalism. In Mundemba, even the lame and the blind joined in anti La Republique protest. In Kumba, Buea, Bamenda and Kumbo where the first demonstrations took place, residents have resorted to a new mode of protest – staying at home. The streets of all major towns and cities in Southern Cameroons are now deserted and workers are staying at home and business remained closed.

We of the Cameroon Concord News Group understand that Southern Cameroonians have opted for this type of protest because their leaders demanded an answer from the Francophone government, but the response was one of bullets in return. This peaceful ghost town method of protest demonstrates a complete rejection of the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime by Southern Cameroonians. The ghost town protest is an indication of the increasing maturity of the leaders of the Consortium.

The Yaounde regime is planning to blocked internet connection and access to social media tools. But some experts have argued that this may attract the use of proxy servers. Cameroun’s Minister of Communications and government spokesman has repeatedly claimed that that social media had been used to churn out false information, mostly seditious remarks, trying to agitate people against security forces. There are growing numbers of Anglophone news websites all supporting the creation of a Southern Cameroons state.

Cameroon government receives billions of dollars annually from international donors and has remained a key strategic partner of the West, particularly the US and the French, in the ‘war against Boko Haram terror. This financial support has been toughening the regime’s resolve to silence Anglophone dissenting voices. The French and the US approach of tiptoeing around human right violations in Cameroun and its continued support for the Biya regime has been stirring up anger among even Francophone sections of the country. The US, the EU including the Roman Catholic Church are supporting a regime – which they know is clearly undemocratic and is the very cause of the state terrorism we now observe in Southern Cameroons.

Ever since the police atrocities in Bamenda, Buea Kumba and Kumbo, no pressure has been put on the regime to allow for credible investigation into the rapes and killings. Not a single UN official has demanded access to visit the affected areas to establish what really happened in Southern Cameroons. Minister Issa Tchiroma is always ready to inform international public opinion that the government has its own system of checks and balances and that Cameroun’s own Human Rights Commission was doing its job in investigating and publicizing the human rights situation in the country.

The regime supported by Anglophones such as Ghogomu Paul Minglo is still in denial of the injustice its policies have resulted in. With the success of today’s ghost town, President Biya now has the opportunity to change La Republique’s approach – otherwise if the situation is left to fester, there will be more outbursts, more unrest, more protests and perhaps more violence.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Editor-in-Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group

8, January 2017

Open letter to H.E. Okala Bilaï, colonial governor of the South West region ³

Your Excellency, it is with regrets that I write to your office at this crucial moment of your colonial occupational rule. Sir, after listening to you this evening (Friday 6th January 2017) over CRTV, I heard you saying “Teachers who will not return to school will have their salaries suspended.” Most of these teachers you are talking about don’t even have a service number yet. And those who got the service number are not different from the thousands of job seekers parading our streets on a daily basis.

These teachers work for close to four years or more before the said salary is made available. moreover, the machinery put in place by your hierarchy in “La République” has made it difficult for teachers to earn what you call salary. How on earth do you create a system that warrants a teacher to give away 20% or more of his or her pay package to an agent before he or she can seemingly boast of having his or her name on the list of those programmed to collect their salaries? Should you take it back, it makes no difference. I wonder whether that salary is the raison d’être of your behavior towards us.

If you are paying us so as to deal with us the way you have been doing in the past and even up-to-date, then you had better done what you have promised. By the way, which salary are you talking about? Is it commensurate to the job teachers do every day? How much is the salary and what is the work load of the teachers you are threatening? Our Fons and Chiefs rejected 50 million from your hierarchy. Our university students waved at the meager 50 thousand francs you people wanted to buy their consciences with. Gone are those days! Money is not our interest! FEDERALISM OR INDEPENDENCE is what we stand for. No amount of money can purchase our freedom!

We have suffered a lot under your colonial administration. No degree of threats can repel us from our target. It is time we stand for what we believe in and hope for. “He who refuses to fight today, will live to fight for ever.” ALUTA CONTINUA.

6, January 2017

Are Southern Cameroonians Fighting for “Secession” or “Separation”? ³

In this present struggle for our freedom and independence, we should be very careful and articulate in the way we use legal words and concepts in order not to create the wrong impression. I say so because I have heard and read many write-ups on Facebook where Southern Cameroonians are voicing that they want “Secession” from La Republique du Cameroun. In reality, do we really want “secession” or “separation”? In normal discourse these words are used synonymously. However in politico-legal discourse, there are different with different implication and application. Which of these concepts is applicable in the Southern Cameroons situation? The aim of this short write-up is to explain these two concepts, secession and separation, and determine the one which is applicable in our context.

Contextually, what Southern Cameroonians are asking for is a mere Separation from L R.C, not Secession! As a matter of fact, secession does not in any way apply here and if we keep forcing the word into our context, it might create a negative impression which could be counter-productive to our struggle. In this guise, most Southern Cameroonians are separatists and not secessionists – even our SCNC brothers. In international law, secession is the detachment of a territory that was part of another at the date of independence. For example, what the Biafrans were trying to do in Nigeria was secession because at the time Nigeria had her independence on October 1, 1960 the territory of Biafra was an integral part of Nigeria. The most recent example is Southern Sudan which seceded from Sudan

Contrariwise, separation is the detachment of a territory that was not part of a country at the time the country had her independence. In this case, Southern Cameroons was never a part of French Cameroun when the latter granted independence on January 1, 1960. Consequently, the detachment of Southern Cameroons from La Republique du Cameroun is not “secession” but a mere act of separation. If we keep using the word secession in our context, it will create the impression that we were once part of French Cameroun at the time it had independence in 1960 – an idea which is historically untrue and misleading!

Interestingly, the act of separation is permissible under the African Union Constitutive Act (Charter) of which La Republique du Cameroun is a signatory. The A.U. Charter accepts separation because no people can consciously form a union with another country to assume the status of slaves or sub-humans. In international law and diplomacy, nations form unions in order to better their conditions of existence. If what brings two or more nations together cannot longer sustain them, they have the right to either re-negotiate the terms of their union or separate indefinitely – which is different from secession. They came together willingly; so they can separate willingly!

In the case of Southern Cameroons, our fore-fathers voted overwhelmingly on February 11th, 1961 to have their independence by joining French Cameroon under the guise of forming a federal association with the latter. In fact in June 1960, President Ahidjo reiterated that French Cameroon had no intention to annex British Southern Cameroons. In his interview in “Agence Press Camerounaise” he said: “I have said and repeated, in the name of the Government [of Republique du Cameroun], that we do not have any annexationist design”. In July, the same year, he stated more firmly in the same press that “For us, there can be no question of annexation of the Southern Cameroons. We have envisaged a flexible form of union, a federal form.”

Conclusively, it was on the basis of Ahidjo’s assurance that he will not annex Southern Cameroons that we formed a federal union with French Cameroun on the 1st of October, 1961 although no union treaty was signed to this effect. Truly, what brought us into this union was a federation and since it was destroyed in 1972 under the pretext of an illegal referendum, La Republique du Cameroun has no locus standi to force Southern Cameroons to stay in the association since what brought them together is no longer in force. Southern Cameroonians, therefore, have the legal right to separate from La Republique du Cameroun as per the A.U Charter which permits the separation of countries and also the U.N. Resolution 1541 of 15th of December, 1960. We shall overcome because he who is with us is great than him who is in them!

Dr. Zuhmboshi Eric

6, January 2017

Nigeria: Challenges of Conflict De-escalation in Recession ¹

Increased divergence in researches on insurgency in the 21st century has reflected in the plethora of definitions and descriptions for this common security conundrum. I defer to the British Military’s doctrine, (a credible authority, given decades of experience suppressing series of insurrection in Ireland) hence position that Insurgency is an organized movement designed to through armed resistance and subversive activities overthrow a constituted government in any state (UK Min. Of Defence 2004: 4). Contention with insurgency has become part of state security since the beginning of societal governance by groups supposedly striving for better governance on behalf of the general public. Tendencies for anti-state elements to challenge authority of ruling elites have been a major form of conflict in world history.

Biblical and other historical evidences chronicled the Roman Empire’s struggle against several insurgencies and coups. Jewish leaders led several putsches towards liberating Palestine from Roman rule in the period before and after Christ. In Africa, fight against colonialism between 1940 and 1965 set the pace for current ‘classical insurgencies’ designed to liberate Africa nations from an European imposed state system since independence. The central theme for African classical insurgency could be traced to the Marxist revolutionsts’ “propagating a better system of governance than currently obtainable”.

Insurgencies are premised and driven on the belief in the idea for change from status quo. Given that people are always curious and willing to sacrifice current status towards embracing a newer concept, the human fixation on “change”, even sometimes grievous and harmful has been the root of all anti-state conflicts. Experts agrees that the success of any rebellion is based on tactic popular supports. People drives and maintains insurgencies. Insurgents, like any animal, always adapt and adopt existing forest for cover and sustenance. Wining popular supports through covert and overt spread of “new idea” has been consistent in most rebellions, hence the term “peoples’ revolution”.

The MI6 maintained in its Journals that; “every program; paramilitary, policing, military, political, intelligence gathering, legal, psychological, civil and media, employed by the state towards eliminating insurgency is termed ‘counterinsurgency’”. If this is true, then the Nigerian state strategy needed to be reevaluated. There exists need for the established institutions to develop and provide properly articulated response giving clear roles to all arms of government and the media in fighting rebellions and insurgencies. Countering insurgencies should become a more robust operation which should take full cognizance of the socio-political environment and other distinctive factors enhancing radicalization in the area. Mere deployment of the military with high morale is never enough in guerrilla warfare. Over 15 years fruitless yet relentless engagement of the Taliban in Afghanistan by the mighty US Forces; the deplorable security situation in the failing Somalia despite years of combined military operation in Mogadishu; and, the Boko Haram unending engagement with Nigerian Military has revealed the inability of military might in counterterrorism operations.

Historical evidence according to the researches have revealed that military actions in countering insurgencies constitutes less than 10 percent of the efforts needed to eliminate an idea oriented movement. Records shows that policing and other political actions employed in the right proportion have been successful in ending insurgencies in conflicts like the IRA against the British government. Challenges of proper foundations for most African states creation has been blamed on the growth of anti-state elements agitating for self-determination and ethnic nationals’ independence. Nigeria conflict patterns since advent of independence has been tailored to reflect agitations of minority ethnic groups’ self-determination struggles. The Niger Delta and Biafran Struggle which has been a common index in Nigerian state conflicts since 1966 has festered through the Civil War of 1967 to 1970 through apparent lack of proper means of interaction between state and constituent units in Nigeria.

Honorable Steve Gamey, former Ghanaian Minister for Labour and a major teacher of conflict management maintains that the level of violence in Africa today is driven by lack of conflict management institutions in the continent. He postulate that states without conflict management plan, like Nigeria will only have plans for counterinsurgency. The Niger Delta conflict escalation since the eighties afforded the Nigerian state the opportunity to build and strengthen institutions to handle public agitations. Unfortunately, the state chosed an elite securitization model, the use of instrument of blunt force to protect the elite The Niger Delta conflict escalation since the eighties afforded the Nigerian state the opportunity to build and strengthen institutions to handle public agitations. Unfortunately, the state chosed an elite securitization model, the use of instrument of blunt force to protect the elite while alienating the people in the process.

The Nigeria Armed Forces were deployed to stem popular oppositions in Choba, Port Harcourt, arrest and killing of Ken-Saro Wiwa and the Ogoni Eight, the Odi Massascre and other attacks on dissenting forces termed “anti-state elements” laid the foundations for growth of classical conflicts in the Niger Delta by the end of the twentieth century. Classical insurgency was given a huge boast by the Nigerian government as the Nigeria law enforcement structure was practically taken over by a new military class robbing the state of the much needed resources for developmentof policing, judicial processes and criminal jurisprudence. The use of military expeditionary forces in mediating conflicts became common feature after the Lt. Gideon Orkar Coup of 22nd July 1990 and by 2005, the Nigerian Army has operations in over 26 states of the 36 state federations.

While the militarization of internal security operations grew and expanded, the Nigeria Police Force roles were further depleted by the mutation of internal security functions in Nigeria. The misguided state instead of concentrated efforts and resources at strengthening a policing force, plethora of bodies were created. Creating newer policing roles for other organizations without proper equipment and installed capabilities to perform such roles. Changing roles for the Nigerian military by the state further expanded the national security imbroglio. Unfortunately, Ill-equipped and untrained in civil conflict mediation, the Nigerian Army adaptation to its new roles were challenged in all theater of operations due to traditional hatred for security forces honed from the public mistrust of the colonialists establishment of the Hausa Regiment in Lagos in the late nineteen century by Col. Lugard to form the bulk head of fight against pro-independent movements in the regions.

Regrettably, these operations have succeeded in creating more opposition to the state than solving the militancy problem. From only 3 main militant groups in Bayelsa and Delta states in 1999, over 60 different camps were discovered at point of National Amnesty Programme introduction nine years later. Equally, crude oil illegal bunkering rose from a few hundred barrels per day in 1999 to a major economic drain of over 150,000bpd or a revenue loss of over $6 billion in 2015. The failure of military operations in Nigeria was hyped by the state’s introduction of a Niger Delta Amnesty Programme to mediate worsening security issues in the Delta and attacks on the state major revenue earner, oil

While the state bob and weave among several conflicts from Jos, Saki-Biam, Southwest and Southeast regions, challenges on all state institutions multiplied, straining already battered and ill-prepared public law enforcement institutions to limit. The apparent result was the failure of these institutions as challenges and demands on them grew in leaps and bounds while budgetary allocations remained fixed.

The growth of the Boko Haram insurgency since 2009, fall in international oil prices, an import dependent mono-product economy, a burgeoning youth population, double digits youth unemployment rate and a highly corrupt elites were a recipe for a falling state. Nigerian state institutions integrity unexpectedly fell and public trust plummeted in public domains at the turn of the century, radicalism equally grew as the youth demands a change from the old order. As the economic situation worsens, the seam that holds the nation together continued to fail, ethnic nationalities switches to group protection mode. Ethnic self-determination became the new challenge on state authority as ethnic militias like the Biafran and Niger Delta autonomy calls become national issues again since preindependence minority rights issues conference, threatening the now weakened.

Regrettably, as the state economy worsen in a balkanized, ethnocentric nation, groups’ rebellions could expand as each tries to regain and preserve its own identity and champion personal goals irrespective of national needs. As Nigeria prepares for worse economic scenario predicted for 2017, there are needs for proper prioritization of real need for security in Nigeria to face the growth in public agitations that are expected to follow the expected growth in hardship. The time to expand policing security capabilities through recruitment and training is now. The state must be ready to accommodate and manage public agitations instead of aggravating violent response. The army roles in civil engagement needed to be reanalyzed and realigned according to the 1999 constitution and deployment of forces properly checked. The state could ill afford costs resulting from several conflicts; hence there are needs for mustering all factors that might aggravate the already volatile situation.

Tolerance of the state institutions of security to be peacekeepers and not elite securitization organs with higher mandate than protecting the people could be discouraged. Security forces may be retrained to understand their roles in civil domains. Trigger happy security operatives have caused more national harms than good in recent past. A review of the current “Rules of Engagement” could be done by the legislature to reflect international standard and the deployment of security forces should be done with proper legislative supervision at all time.

All round policing and law enforcement system overhaul is required urgently in Nigeria, state internal security should and must be managed by policing institutions and not by the armed forces. The people always feels less threatened at police authority operations than when faced by the armed forces. Increasing internal security capacities can only be attained when the civil security operatives are allowed unfettered access to perform their duties. Domiciling local security operations in the army always weakens the national defense as it creates a military that is soft and not battle ready when called to action.

Policing private residences and hotels gates shouldn’t be the duties of an efficient military system. The deployment of military personnel in these points clearly shows the level of professionalism in Nigerian military and demeans the soldiers in the eyes of the public. All resources outlaid on military operations in conflict areas in Nigeria since the 1990’s cannot be counted as contributing to the development of internal security hence a colossal waste. These resources would have afforded the policing authorities the abilities to recruit, train and develop proper security operatives for the theater of operations as appropriate. Lack of proper policies on security of homeland and defense of territorial integrity of Nigeria has become cloudy. The line between internal security and Nigerian defense are now blurred regardless of national constitutional provisions.

Mediatisation of security operations has equally created a security class eager to discuss security issues in public domains without respect for confidentiality of investigation and personality of suspects. The hunger for public accolades has revealed barrage of information in public domain in Nigeria that not only increases perception of insecurity but aggravates the level of trust in the capacity of the security forces to provide adequate security. To ward against Nigeria devolution into a failed state, managing local conflict, establishing proper law enforcement system and a review of current Rules of engagement of security operations should be priorities of the state.

By Don Michael Adeniji

Contributing Editor

Cameroon Concord News Group

6, January 2017

Governors, SDO’s and DO’s are running around West Cameroon: Too little, too late ¹

The people of West Cameroon have no reason before God and man to resume schools following the continuous brutal repression and oppression that has always resulted in the killing, rape, torture, and imprisonment of our innocent children by the same government that now suddenly pretends to care.

At this time in our history, we as a people, must stand up and face our oppressors. If this government were interested in our plight, our children’s’ schools and classrooms would not be filled by theirs and their teachers who forcefully un-teach them in a language they do not understand. When a system like ours wants to subjugate and enslave us, it comes for our children. They have gone too far. We must stop them now. The schools are ours! The children are ours! We are determined! They will stay home!

Bravo to our Teachers’ Unions and our Common Law Lawyers for standing up firm against these and other injustices against our people. We must now stand by them from Ndian in the South to Donga –Mantung in the North, and ensure that by sacrificing a school year, we will collectively cease back our freedom and dignity that have been trampled upon for over 55 years.

THE TIME IS NOW! WE MUST MAKE IT HAPPEN!

THIS IS THE CORE OF OUR RESISTANCE TO BLATANT, DECEITFUL, PROVOCATIVE AND INHUMANE OPPRESSION.

Has this government ever really cared about the fate of our children? Can a government that cares for its children send soldiers to rape, torture and kill them? Our people of West Cameroon, when did the union between TWO EQUAL PARTNERS become that between master and slave?

The Governors, the SDO’s and the DO’s are running around West Cameroon in circles. WHY THE PANIC? Is the master just frustrated that the slave has risen? Is the government just frightened that for 55 years, “the few cubes of sugar” have stubbornly refused to melt?

DIGNIFIED PEOPLE OF WEST CAMEROON, THE RESISTANCE HAS COME TO STAY…UNTIL… WE gain our Independence.

5, January 2017

Ghost Town Operation: An urgent imperative for changes in Southern Cameroons ⁰

President Paul Biya is planning sweeping changes in his cabinet and the management of the state of Cameroon including the army. But all these will not change anything in the fight for a Southern Cameroons identity and dignity. The success of the recent Anglophone Uprising and the humiliation of the Biya’s Southern Cameroons emissaries have left the 83 year old dictator fighting for his political survival. The Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime is slowly but surely running out of cash and ideas and day-by-day, it is becoming more evident that the leaders of the Consortium have legitimate authority in British Southern Cameroons than the Biya regime and its appointees.

Many factors that signal the end of a regime are now visible in La Republique du Cameroun. His so-called tactics of having an Anglophone as Prime Minister-a policy propounded in 1992 to stifle a Southern Cameroons orchestrated wind of change that came with the SDF is now outdated. Anglophones are now aware that no single Southern Cameroons CPDM member of government has political power. Correspondingly, President Biya’s New Year speech was leaked to the public more than 12 hours before it was delivered. With age telling on him, the 2017 New Year speech sent out contradictory messages which greatly angered Southern Cameroonians.

The ageing Cameroonian thug now intends to begin the process of destroying the recent Anglophone nationalism. On the good side of things Biya seems to have mustered the courage at last to effect changes that will lay the foundation for a good transition of power to the country’s next president. But this will be none of Southern Cameroons business. Biya has started the implementation of a Francophone backed plan by appointing Anglophone Magistrates and judges to the South West and North West regions. The truth is Southern Cameroonians virtually have no place in Biya’s thinking and also in the next republic.

With no Anglophone inside the present regime capable of raising a finger, it is now abundantly clear that for 34 years, Biya and his Francophone political elites have failed to adopt a Cameroonian solution to Cameroonian problems and have been working under strong French government influence aimed at marginalizing Southern Cameroonians. For the contribution that Southern Cameroonians have made to the image and standing of La Republique du Cameroun as a nation within the world community, the Anglophone Prime Minister and Head of Government should have at least been listened to during this difficult times in our country’s history. The recent statements issued by Higher Education Minister, Fame Ndongo, the Minister of Justice and Keeper of the Seal, Laurent Esso and the Minister of Communication, Issa Tchiroma indicates absolutely that any decision made by President Biya at this time will only be pushing Southern Cameroonians further and further out of the Republic of Cameroon. Where to?

Biya intends to sack Prime Minister Philemon Yang and some Anglophone CPDM hardliners on lame and ridiculous reasons that they have failed to resolve the Anglophone teachers’ demands and those of the Common Law Lawyers. Here lies the misfortune for Anglophone CPDM politicians, there are few of them in the Biya cabinet and still fewer in more lucrative parastatals and in the armed forces. The sad news is that even these few are now facing the danger of being sent away. The Yaoundé regime intends to bring in many new faces as cabinet ministers and Anglophone governors and SDOs but there will always be a powerful Secretary General or an Inspector General in those government departments that will make Southern Cameroonians look almost entirely unrepresented. This makes the case for a return to the 1961 status even stronger and why not a Southern Cameroons state.

Biya can no longer be part of the Anglophone solution finder. His time had passed and gone. Consider that for every one Anglophone Captain in the Cameroonian armed forces, there are a hundred and fifty Francophones, the threat of an Anglophone military uprising is utterly non-existent. So, our last chance is now in the hands of the lawyers and the teachers. If we fail to listen to those who are in charge and start thinking that someone from Europe or the US is the messiah or if we continue on the path of arguing about names such as SCNC or Ambazonia, the enemy will destroy the movement and havoc will be done on Southern Cameroons.

Like in the Cameroon army and in important government parastatals, Anglophones are traditionally left out of major ministerial appointments. Every Southern Cameroonian now knows that no Anglophone since reunification has ever been Minister for Foreign Relations, Minister for Defense, Minister for Finance, Minister of the Interior (Territorial Administration), Delegate General for National Security, Secretary General at the Presidency of the Republic or even to head the Cameroonian Red Cross which is even an international body. Interestingly, whenever there is an Anglophone Prime Minister, there is always a powerful Francophone figure appointed as his Vice to secretly run the Prime Minister’s Office. Never has an Anglophone headed companies like the Cameroon Airlines, National Investment Company, Cameroon Shipping Lines, and National Ports Authority. Giving these offices to Southern Cameroonians now is not a genuine offer!! It is to continue to plunder the resources of Southern Cameroons which includes its children.

The French backed Francophone pattern of governance is also seen in appointments to divisional offices. Between North West and South West regions, there are 13 divisions. The size and population density of Manyu division alone is more than 3 divisions in the South Region where President Biya hails from!!! It has never bothered Anglophone CPDM political elites that they do not occupy more than two or three SDO positions! Biya plans to give Southern Cameroons 13 SDOs and many more DOs!! Southern Cameroonians do not need these funny political settings anymore. We want to take our destiny into our own hands.

We of Cameroon Concord News understand that President Biya is working towards balancing the political equation while snubbing our Anglophone leaders in the Consortium. The 24 billion FCFA dished out to Baba Danpullo is almost finished and nothing seems to be changing on the ground. Nothing can best justify Biya’s unjust representation of Anglophones against the contribution that their mere existence in Cameroon does to the international standing of Cameroon as a nation than gross neglect and state terrorism.

Southern Cameroonians as a group are arguably far better qualified than the national average. They also represent a distinctive political entity Biya has ignored for 34 years. Any change of course by this present Biya administration attempting at bringing Anglophones into the mainstream of national life will never give Southern Cameroonians a fairer share of public positions and development. CPDM politics will never be healthy for the welfare of Southern Cameroons. So we hereby endorse the Ghost Town Operation announced by the Consortium.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Cameroon Concord News Group

4, January 2017

South West CPDM barons have declared their unflinching support for the Southern Cameroons struggle ³

Highly placed government officials from the South West region have declared their unflinching support for the Southern Cameroons nationalism. The political elites based in Yaounde the nation’s capital have reportedly addressed an anonymous letter to the Anglophone teachers and the Common Law Lawyers consortium. Our senior political correspondent in the Center region reported that tension seems to be mounting deep within the ruling party for Biya to resolve amicably the Anglophone problem. Below is a copy of the document as sent to our London news desk:

To Southern Cameroonians and

Particularly To The Consortium.

We want to applaud the efforts put forth already by the southern Cameroonians in the fight for our liberation. We understand that as CPDM militants our efforts might be hindered by party lines but with what a few of us have seen and experience these days in Yaoundé has made some of us to start having a rethink thereby choosing the liberation movement over party bonuses. We want all of you to first of all understand that this fight is legitimate as it is backed by our constitution. We all as Southern Cameroonians have been marginalized and manipulated irrespective of our political affiliations. The future of our grand and great grand children is in jeopardy.

During the last presidential address, the president ignored all our advices given to him which were aimed at either organizing a referendum for a federal state or putting the decentralization model into practice. We also asked him not to be harsh when addressing the Anglophone problem but because his believes in what Prof. Fame Ndongo tells him, he went on to call us extremist. How can he then call for dialogue with people termed as “Extremist”?.

Our main aim of writing is to encourage all southern Cameroonians not to give up now. Yaoundé the capital is in serious dilemma. If we relent our efforts and go back to school or courts it means we will NEVER be taken seriously. This is the period to double our efforts so that our demands can be made instantly. For this to be achieved we call on the various Teachers Trade Union Leaders and Lawyers. Parents most understand that this fight is for a more propitious future for their children because if we allow things they way there are now, our children will not have any voice in this Union in the next thirty years or so.

Most ministers, directors, and corrupt government officials have build many hostels in Buea and they are afraid of their investment being destroyed. Also most of their children are in Anglophone boarding secondary schools and Universities thus they will want our grievances to be resolved at all cost. We should understand at this point that the president hardly fulfils his promises. If we don’t double our efforts his promise of creating a permanent “National Institution” to look into our problems will just die a natural death just like other previous promises. What we are saying in that the STRIKE MOST CONTINUE in full swing. We have gone far and many people have died for this struggle to end without concrete solutions. We are happy because with your expertise in social media as we have experienced, this message will be rapidly spread for everyone to be aware of some of our positions to this struggle.

4, January 2017

Southern Cameroons Uprising: Presbyterian Church raises a finger ¹

Presbyterian Church in Cameroon

Dear Presbyterians,

Dear brothers and Sisters in the Lord.

Pastoral Letter: Our God is a God of History

We bring you fraternal greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace and the Lord of Lords. We join you to thank God for the blessings and graces of 2016, the year of our Lord. The year 2016 was a challenging one for us as a church and as a nation amidst collective and personal successes on the field of evangelization and our drive towards transformation on the one hand; And on the other hand, we all were affected by the Esseka train accident and towards the end of the year, there were upheavals in the major towns of the Northwest and Southwest Regions of our country – mainly the English-speaking part of our country. In all these challenges, the God whom we serve showed himself as our refuge, stronghold and comfort in times of trouble. When such calamities happen, we should not lose faith because Jesus Christ himself warns us that, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Increasingly, we cannot trust the systems of this world for peace, that is why Christ said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your heart be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27).

We look forward to the year 2017 with great expectations for what we want to achieve as a church. We are also looking up to our hope in the Lord Jesus Christ as a people and as a faith community. Yet our anxieties and uncertainties on some of the things happening around us continue to be of great concern. We hear news of civil strife, we are not certain how the school year will commence, and we do not know how a breakthrough will come in a deadlock pitting the government of Cameroon and the Teachers’ Trade Union and the Common-Law Lawyers. We are not sure whether many Cameroonians may be able to afford food, medicines and basic utilities. This is the reason why as a church we must pray and lend ourselves to the service of God and our nation, to pray for peace but also to take our responsibilities in peace building.

Let me share our thoughts on the common issue plaguing our country today. We are referring to what has been called the marginalization of Anglophone. In the last few months our country has witnessed upheavals in some towns and cities in the English-speaking parts of Cameroon creating a situation of mutual suspicion between the leaders of Teachers’ Trade Unions and the government of Cameroon, each side portraying their own version that further deepen wounds and heighten the elements of suspicion and mistrust. This kind of situation may lead our leaders into the temptation of the insistence of an uneasy co-existence, secession, federalism and the much talked about decentralization. One thing is clear; the God we serve is the God of our history. None of us can explain how they came to be born in Cameroon; none of us know why God permitted the Germans to be defeated during the 1st World War. None of us know why God permitted the French and the English mandate to dominate Cameroon after the Versailles treaty. None of us know why God permitted a small section of our country to be called Southern Cameroons. Only God knows why the things that are, came into being.

Therefore, in times like this, we should repent from relying on our human wisdom on issues that have a bearing in God’s genuine plan for Cameroonians and for mankind as a whole. One thing which is clear is that God remains the Lord of our history and calls us to repentance so that our country can experience the reason why He made us Cameroonians. Those who insist on the uneasy coexistence should be able to answer how can there be co-existence without mutuality and trust? Those who call for federalism must also be reminded that even in the new fragments of the federation, there would be minority problems. Those who call for secession must be reminded historically that there cannot be any secession without bloodshed like the cases of Yugoslavia, South Sudan, and Eritrea to mention a few. Those who call for decentralization must answer why for all this while the so-called devolution of competences to local councils have dragged on or why should institutions in one council pay their taxes to another council area. So, you see, the problem of Cameroon has been one of peace without justice and Justice without truth. This is the time for truth.

Our today just like our tomorrow remains in God’s hands. We cannot craft out a future outside of God’s plan for our lives, we cannot build tomorrow by our own might and neither can we redeem our history by our own strength. So the question is what is God’s plan for Cameroon at this juncture? In times like this when our history challenges us and our people cry out for justice, no weapon or might can stop the restlessness of a people who cry out to God in distress seeking rescue. Rather, we all must come together like a family to pray together and seek God’s face so that our country should not degenerate into despair. So we call on all Cameroonians to turn to God – Cameroon, keep God at the center of your politics, keep God at the center of your thinking, keep God at the center of your actions and it will surprise you what the Lord God Almighty will do for you.

The cultural heritage of English speaking Cameroon and its bearing on their professional and socio-economic life is a fact of history that no amount of political gymnastics can erase or hide. Nonetheless, we also recognize the strength of our unity and no parochial political interests should be allowed to destroy a people with a long geographical, political and cultural ancestry. We should seek God’s favor as we look forward to 2017, we should attempt great things for God and we must be determined to cultivate peace so that the children of God can rise up and claim their inheritance in true brotherly love.

Some people are confused on our stance on this issue. But as you all know, the church is not the Moderator, the PCC is her Christians and the specialized committees that have been formed to govern the church. We can only say what the respective bodies of the church ask us to say. Therefore, do not confuse the prophetic expressions of some pastors on the field. It represents their individual emotions and understandings of the things that are happening; some of those expressions genuine or not genuine do not represent the official opinions of the church. The role of the Presbyterian Education Teachers Trade Union (PEATTU) is independent, as a trade union they reserve the right to join other trade unions to militate on issues affecting their sector.

The Synod of Unfailing Love meeting in Bamenda from the 20th – 21st of November 2016 addressed a message to the Head of State of the Republic of Cameroon, amongst other things calling for urgent dialogue between the government of Cameroon, Teachers’ Trade Unions and Common Law Lawyers. After the sad incident of violence that happened in Bamenda on the 8th of December 2016 will reiterate emphatically our stance as a church.

We recognize the efforts of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Cameroon in creating ad hoc committees to see into the issues tabled by Teachers Trade Union and Common Law Lawyers. While this is a starting point, may all the preliminary objections be cleared comprehensively in order for these committees to function fully? Those who are called to these committees must show a high sense of patriotism, truth and humaneness. We call for dialogue, peace and understanding so that we can identify the points of weaknesses, the areas of our common strength and how we can rekindle a spirit of trust, a spirit of tolerance and a spirit of love.

We condemn acts of violence perpetuated by forces of law and order and some civil authorities. Such acts should be investigated and those officers brought to book. In the same light, anyone who is in detention should be proven guilty of violence before detention; otherwise it is unlawful to keep people behind bars for an indeterminate period of time.

All proposals for reconciliation should have both short and long term considerations. The government of Cameroon, the Teachers’ Trade Unions and Common Law Lawyers should do everything possible to see into the commencement of schools and private practice of the Common-Law Lawyers. We volunteer our services and our facilities as a church that will lead to genuine reconciliation and long lasting peace; hoping that this will contribute to the healing of our Land.

Our times are not in our hands but in God’s hands for He is the Lord of our history, He is the author of our lives, He is the beginning and the end, the pioneer and perfecta of our faith. We call on Cameroon and Cameroonians to pray fervently and to call upon God to direct our minds to be our Light as we grapple with the dark edges of our political history.

Finally, we anticipate that 2017 shall be hopeful and more rewarding. We look forward to ensure sustainability of our Mission fields and business operations, we anticipate commitment of our staff especially those in the health and educational departments so that they as co-creators in God’s vineyard will be able to touch lives in a positive way and further the kingdom of God here on earth. We trust that the spiritual lives of our Christians will experience a surge in 2017 and that we would be able to win more souls for Christ Jesus. We enjoin Christians to remain peaceful and hopeful in the expression of their faith so that together we may be able to do great things for God in 2017.

May God in His infinite mercy redeem our land and accompany each and every one of us safely on to the shores of 2017.

Yours for the Sake of the Faith

Rt. Rev. Fonki Samuel Forba

Moderator, PCC

3, January 2017

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Biya’s one and indivisible ideology is not new ⁰

President Biya is not the first leader to claim that his country will remain “one and indivisible”

1) Josef Wissariono Stalin vowed that the Soviet Union will remain one and indivisible ad infinitum, however the dissolution of the USSR in 1991 resulted in the creation of 15 independent states

2) Josip Broz Tito promised that Yugoslavia will remain “one and indivisible” forever. Today we know that he was only dreaming.

3) Umar al Bashir swore that Sudan was “one and indivisible”. Today we know that he was simply playing to the gallery.

4) Mengistu Haile Mariam pledged that Ethiopia will remain “one and indivisible”. Today Eritea is an independent state.

5) Edvard Benes swore that Czechoslovakia will remain “one and indivisible”. Today there are Czech Republic and Slovakia as independent countries

6) General Suharto vowed that Indonesia will remain “one and indivisible”. However East Timor is an independent state

The truth of the matter is that a country can never remain “one and indivisible” with the help of a military. The Soviet Union was the second most powerful nation on planet earth but she disintegrated into 15 independent States because of the evil called marginalization

The powerful Soviet Union could not prevent the dissolution of USSR. This should serve as a warning to the ruling elite because the guarantee for a “one and indivisible” Cameroon is the dismantling of the systematic marginalization by one camp on the other. Engage in sincere and constructive dialogue, those who advocate war should please look at Aleppo and ask if that’s what you want for your children. There’s no joy in deaths and hatred