Editorial

3, September 2016

The French media and the happenings in Gabon: The AGBAW-EBAI DEBATE ¹

It is abundantly clear that President Ali Bongo won the recent presidential election that held in Gabon. A lot of tongues have been wagging about the intentions of Jean Ping who after spending decades as a diplomat, fails to understand that electioneering is a contest and you MUST NOT win.

The French media is pushing for the ouster of Ali Bongo through a diabolic harsh ploy teleguided by some French multinationals operating in Gabon. The AGBAW-EBAI DEBATE is asking our readers to make known their views about the goings-on in Gabon.

Is the French media exaggerating the situation in Libreville?

A– Yes

B-No

C-None of the above

22, August 2016

Nigeria: Boko Haram down but far from over ⁰

The Takfiri Boko Haram terrorist group has invaded a village in Nigeria, killing at least ten people and abducting 13 others before burning down the entire village. The terrorists riding on motorcycles opened fire on residents in Kubrrivu village near the northeast town of Chibok at dawn on Saturday, locals said on Sunday.

Residents said the militants attacked the village as residents slept, adding they burnt down the whole village after looting food supplies and livestock and taking away women and children. A community elder said seven women, five boys and a girl were abducted by the violent group which has pledged allegiance to Daesh terrorists in the Middle East.

The terrorist group first raided the village in 2014, during which the villagers were forced to flee. The residents returned and reconstructed their homes one year later after Nigerian troops retook swathes of territory from the terrorists. Boko Haram has been active in Nigeria since 2002, but its attacks had not been significant until 2010, when the gunmen managed to free 700 inmates from a prison in Bauchi and raid a mosque in Maiduguri.

This file photo taken on March 25, 2016 shows Nigerian soldiers in Damboa, Borno State northeast Nigeria. ©AFP

Boko Haram in Nigeria: A timeline of events

September 2010: In a prison break in Bauchi, militants free 700 inmates.

May-December 2011: The group intensifies terror attacks by raiding government officials, police officers, students and religious leaders.

January, 20, 2012: Terrorists carry out a series of coordinated attacks in Nigeria’s largest city of Kano, killing almost 200 people

April 2012: They attack a church in in Kaduna, killing at least 38 people.

June 2012: Militants attack three churches in Kaduna, killing at least 19 people.

August 2012: Gunmen raid a church in Kogi State, killing 19 people.

December, 2012: More than 40 people are killed in separate attacks in the country.

April 2013: Boko Haram insurgency kills more than 200 people in the city of Baga in the northeastern state of Borno.

May 2013: At least 200 heavily armed militants raid the northeastern town of Bama, killing dozens of people and freeing 100 militants from a prison. Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan declares a state of emergency in the northeast.

May 2013: Nigeria announces a military offensive in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe against the terrorists.

June 2013: In a series of attacks, Boko Harm raids several churches in different states and kills more than 50 people.

September 17, 2013: Gunmen kill 143 people by dressing in military uniforms and staging a fake checkpoint near Benisheik in Borno.

November 13, 2013: The US State Department announces Boko Haram as a terrorist organization.

January 2014: Gunmen kill at least 45 people in a raid on a market in Kawuri in Borno.

April 14, 2014: Militants abduct more than 250 teenage girls from a boarding school in Chibok. Some of the girls, however, manage to escape.

May 13, 2014: Terrorists raid three villages in Borno. Villagers fight and kill more than 200 militants.

May 20, 2014: Twin bomb blasts kill 118 people at a market in the city of Jos.

May 21, 2014: The US declares that it has sent 80 troops to Chad to help search for the kidnapped schoolgirls.

May 2014: The United Nations Security Council imposes sanctions against Boko Haram.

June 3,4, 2014: Boko Haram militants kill hundreds of people in Borno. Some sources put the death toll at 500.

June 2014: Militants hold a village in Borno hostage for four days. They kidnap over 60 women and children and kill 30 men.

October 16, 2014: The Nigerian government says it has reached a ceasefire agreement with Boko Haram under which the militants pledged to release schoolgirls.

November 1, 2014: In a video, Boko Haram’s leader denies the government’s claim of a ceasefire.

March 7, 2015: Boko Haram pledges allegiance to the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.

April 2015: Mass graves of at least 400 men and women are found in northeastern Nigeria.

April 28-30, 2015: Nigerian forces destroy Boko Haram camps and rescue some 450 women and girls in an operation in Sambisa Forest.

July 1, 2015: Gunmen storm three villages in Borno, killing at least 145 people.

September 3, 2015: At least 30 people are killed and 145 wounded after Boko Haram attacks a crowded market in Kerawa, Cameroon and a hospital near a Cameroonian military camp.

February 2016: Mlitants raid two villages in northeast Nigeria, killing at least 30 people. In another attack, two female bombers kill 58 people at a Nigerian refugee camp for villagers fleeing the insurgency.

April 14, 2016: Boko Haram releases a video purportedly showing the girls abducted from Chibok in 2014.

This image taken from a video released on August 14, 2016 shows a Boko Haram militant standing in front of teenage girls kidnapped from Chibok in April 2014. ©AFP

In the April footage, one of the militants claimed that some of the girls were still alive and the others had been killed in airstrikes by the Nigerian air force. He said a number of the girls, “about 40 of them”, had also been married to the militants.

Last year, Amnesty International said at least 2,000 women and girls had been kidnapped by Boko Haram in Nigeria since the beginning of 2014, and many of them forced into sexual slavery or combat.

Presstv

18, August 2016

BICEC CPDM Scandal: More questions than answers ²

Since August 8, some top BICEC bankers’ have been remanded in custody at the New Bell central prison in Douala. Cameroon Concord News has learned that there is more to this crisis than the bank would want the public to know. Recently, a prominent Cameroon financial expert hinted our Douala economic reporter that other culprits are at large. Our source who sued for anonymity revealed that the smart arrest of Innocent Ondoa Nkou, the former Deputy Managing Director of BICEC and Samuel Ngando Mbongue, the Director of Accounting suspected of embezzling nearly 50 billion CFA francs were state managed as a policy of damage control.

We can now reveal that many other people are involved in this case and participated in this grave financial crime and have not been mentioned by the bank hierarchy. Given that some of the money was used to pay for events hosted by the ruling CPDM crime syndicate, some junior staffs of the bank are now afraid to say a word for fear of being fired or disappear in a strange way, especially that all suspects are influential people in the country.

On the menu of questions around this financial scandal that has rocked an international establishment such as BICEC; some wonder why the previous General Managers did not uncover these malpractices? A highly placed Cameroon government official who spoke to us at the time of filing this report hinted that based on the fact that the period of the alleged offense was from 2003 to 2012, the internal audits cannot wash their hands off the matter like the Biblical Pontus Pilate. Our source further questioned what prompted the high profile arrest recently.

By Sama Ernest

16, August 2016

China’s rise as a cyber power ⁰

The cyber domain has become central to the struggle for strategic advantage between the US and the West on the one hand, and China and other authoritarian states on the other. If there is any outsider, who can present a coherent view of China’s rise as a cyber power, it is the author of this short book. Nigel Inkster was the deputy chief of the UK’s Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, speaks Mandarain, is well versed in the country’s history and seems to show a good understanding of the psyche of Beijing’s leadership and its options. He is currently the Director of Future Conflict and Cyber Security at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.

Informing China’s stance is the Soviet era doctrine of information warfare as a tool to ensure internal political control and a favourable external narrative. The US, of course, has its own cyber war capacity, and its efficacy may have been damaged by Edward Snowden, who blew the whistle on the US’s extensive snooping programme. Where the West and the East importantly differ is the degree of liberty they are willing to tolerate in the cybersphere.

China’s Cyber Power argues that state control of the cyber domain is a critical factor in China’s pursuit of military strength and protection from internal and external threats. “What the leadership fear most of all is the prospect of an irrecoverable breakdown in internal order,” writes Inkster. “There are signs that the Party’s ideologues may be developing a vision for the Chinese cyber domain that enables it to exercise control over citizens by both filtering the information they access and compiling such detailed electronic data on individuals – including their entire browsing history and all their social-media posts – that any perceived infractions can be used as leverage against them,” he writes.

“For now, China appears to believe that it can have its cake and eat it: gaining the economic benefits that come from with global connectivity while excluding information as seen as detrimental to political and social stability,” Inkster writes. On the external front, Inkster believes that the Chinese are heavily engaged in cyber espionage as a means of dulling the West’s technological edge. In the wake of an agreement between President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Chinese efforts to cyber-steal American intellectual property and business secrets seem to be declining. But the international fault lines on cyber issues remain clear, as does cyber’s pivotal role in future armed conflicts.

In 2000, then US President Bill Clinton likened Chinese efforts to censor what was on the web to trying to “nail Jell-O to the wall.” Beijing’s approach is nuanced as the authorities often refrain from censoring criticisms of the leadership, but do crack down on attempts to mobilize unauthorized public protest. The Chinese now live in what could be called a parallel web universe, overseen by a complex and multilayered monitoring and control system. This might strengthen the authoritarians’ hold on power, although Inkster concludes, “it will be some time before any safe conclusions can be reached about this experiment.”

The recent example of Zimbabwe shows how the cat and mouse game is playing out in an African country. Robert Mugabe’s regime is presently facing a challenge from Pastor Evan Mawarire’s #This Flag, a protest movement that makes extensive use of the internet and social media. Shutting down the internet was probably considered too draconian, especially since opponents were likely to see it as sign of panic. When warnings about “misuse” of social media proved ineffective, says TechZim.co.zw, a Zimbabwean information technology site, the government opted instead to force Zimbabwe’s three mobile network operators to suspend sales of cheap data bundles. Eliminating special mobile data promotion bundles is the ultimate squeeze on protest, TechZim suggests.

Was Mugabe’s government advised by the Chinese? Inkster believes that a large number of African countries may find the Chinese model of internet control attractive. China’s large footprint in Africa allows it to influence cyber policies through diplomatic pressure and help in telecommunications network development, he says. Chinese telecommunications giants Huawei and ZTE have built major systems in around 30 African countries. Huawei has established training centres in seven African states, a research and development facility in South Africa, and a network operations base in Cairo. Human Rights Watch has criticised both companies for providing equipment used to conduct political surveillance.

“China may exploit its control of African telecommunications infrastructure for intelligence-gathering purposes,” writes Inkster. “There is no hard evidence to support this proposition, but it would scarcely be surprising if China were engaged in such activities, whether independently or in conjunction with the states concerned.” “Chinese engagement appears to have been translated into political support for some of Beijing’s policies, a notable example being the 2015 cyber-security pact between the Chinese and South African governments, which made reference to collaboration on information security,” he says.

In July 2016 South Africa, along with others, supported China by voting against a UN resolution that would have required states to commit themselves to a policy of non-interference with the flow of online information. This diplomatic victory could be a sign that Beijing is winning the cyber Cold War in Africa. For the public, communications can be hidden from prying eyes through encrypted services such as WhatsApp, the use of Virtual Private Networks, which can camouflage internet addresses, and Tor, software that can hide the source of internet traffic. These devices are certainly sufficient to force prying eyes to work a lot harder.

10, August 2016

Turkey and the Syrian crisis: Consistently inconsistent ⁰

Turkey says its views are concurrent with those of Russia regarding the need for a political solution to the crisis in Syria. Speaking to the state-run Anadolu Agency on Wednesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu also said Ankara and Moscow were of similar opinions concerning the need for a ceasefire in Syria and the provision of humanitarian aid to the civilians affected by the conflict there.

The comments come even as Turkey and Russia have been supporting opposing sides in the conflict in Syria. While Russia has stressed the need to support the legitimate Syrian government, Turkey has been offering support to the anti-Damascus militants.

Despite that difference, Turkey has recently been surprisingly gravitating toward Russia. A standoff in November last year plunged the two countries’ relations into turmoil. Back then, the Turkish military shot down a Russian fighter jet as it was conducting operations over Syria. One of the two pilots of the Russian Sukhoi Su-24M was killed by anti-Damascus militants on the ground after parachuting out of the targeted jet.

Following a failed coup in Turkey in July this year, Turkish officials, who had previously defended the downing of the Russian jet, distanced themselves from the incident, saying that the bomber aircraft had been targeted by military personnel who later took part in the putsch attempt against Ankara.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a press conference in Konstantinovsky Palace outside Saint Petersburg, Russia, August 9, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

Most recently, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan traveled to Russia, where he discussed the Syrian conflict with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In his Wednesday’s remarks, Cavusoglu said a Turkish delegation, including Foreign Ministry, military, and defense officials, will travel to Russia for follow-up talks on the same day.

Observers also speculate that the Turkish overtures to Russia are coming at a time when Ankara is finding itself increasingly at odds with Western countries in the wake of the coup.

Western countries, particularly those of the European Union (EU), say Turkey is being too heavy-handed in its crackdown on putschists. Cavusoglu seemed to dismiss such speculation on Wednesday, however, saying his country’s rapprochement with Russia was not meant as a message to the West.

He did say, though, that support for EU membership had fallen in Turkey because of what he said was the bloc’s sympathetic attitude toward those who carried out the coup attempt. The EU is making serious mistakes in its response to the coup, the Turkish minister said, adding that if the West “loses” Turkey, it will be because of its own mistakes, not Ankara’s good ties with Russia, China or the Islamic world.

Presstv

7, August 2016

Fear of Anglophone Diaspora: Biya Regime’s secret reason for not accepting dual nationality ¹

Many have argued that the North West/South West divide remains a Francophone political creation. It could be true. However, the people of the South West and North West Regions have fundamental political and cultural differences. But this does not mean that the political leaders of Anglophone Cameroon cannot work together for the common good of their people.

Dr. Churchill Monono Ewumbue, South West political strategist and Special Adviser to President Biya while serving as Secretary of the South West Elite Association, Yaounde Chapter suggested to the leadership of the North West Elite Association that the first step towards solving the Anglophone problem was to solve the South West minority issue.

Another prolific South West opinion leader, Mwalimu George Ngwane upheld the same opinion and even sounded a note of caution that something has to be done and done in a hurry to reunite the Anglophone elite and politicians in order for English speaking Cameroonians to be able to face the challenges of the 21st century Cameroon.

It is generally accepted that Anglophones most fundamentally great intellects are all in the Diaspora. The likes of Dr. Simon Munzu, Prof. Carlson Anyangwe, Lawrence Eyong Echaw, Chief Barrister Charles Taku, Napoleon Viban, Asonglefac Nkemleke and Eric Chinje had attempted to instill some Anglo-Saxonese into a predominantly French system but were handed something like a poisoned chalice in their various departments.

During those times of economic turmoil in Cameroon, the Anglophone parents sounded like they had a mastery of what was needed to drive our nation forward. In comparison to the often civil service job seeking Francophone parents, the English speaking parents encouraged their children to migrate to the West.

The contribution made by the Anglophone Cameroon diaspora community, sending money home and providing for the retired and the elderly abandoned by the Francophone Beti-Ewondo regime, remains the articulate and reassuring voice in the Cameroon political wilderness.

To be sure, Cameroon in the 1990s had too little for too many and only the wisdom of the Cameroon Anglophone parents guaranteed continuity and this was understandable given the unprecedented scale of the economic crisis unfolding at the time. The most enduring image of that chaotic period remains that of a beaming Finance Minister Anthoine Nstimi who in a televised press conference in Yaounde, informed Cameroonians that the “economy is booming but it is not liquid“.

Through the prism of hindsight, the great contribution made to our nation by the Anglophone diaspora such as keeping many financial institutions up and running with hard currencies from the West is largely seen by the Biya regime with suspicion. When President Biya finally sent his former acolyte, the disgraced Chief Inoni, then Prime Minister to the USA, Inoni, following CPDM directives thanked the US government for playing host to many Cameroonians and blatantly refused to say a word of thank you to the predominantly Anglophone Cameroon diaspora in the US for remittance our nation continues to receive.

With indications that the CPDM era is drawing towards a close, the greatest issue troubling the French political arithmetic is the all-powerful Anglophone diaspora. They have agreed in principle not to make dual nationality an option in our current political dispensation as this will favour Anglophone Cameroonians the most.

At the very least, the CPDM government can be accused of poor judgement or even incompetence because of the rising number of Francophone Cameroon diaspora in places like Canada, Germany, Ireland, UK and the USA and the ever increasing Anglophone population in France—making France now the biggest and strongest SCNC stronghold in the West.

President Biya is taking the last kicks of a dying horse and for him to ensure that his legacy is not unfairly tarnished by cheap CPDM political point scoring, he should move straight and push the national assembly to accept dual nationality.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

NB This article was first published in 2013.

29, July 2016

Jeanne Irene Biya: July 29, 1992-July 29 2016 “In Memoriam A.H.H. Lord Alfred Tennyson” ⁰

Strong (Daughter) of God, immortal Love,
Whom we, that have not seen thy face,
By faith, and faith alone, embrace,
Believing where we cannot prove;

Thine are these orbs of light and shade;
Thou madest Life in man and brute;
Thou madest Death; and lo, thy foot
Is on the skull which thou hast made.

Thou wilt not leave us in the dust:
Thou madest man, he knows not why,
He thinks he was not made to die;
And thou hast made him: thou art just.

Thou seemest human and divine,
The highest, holiest manhood, thou.
Our wills are ours, we know not how;
Our wills are ours, to make them thine.

Our little systems have their day;
They have their day and cease to be:
They are but broken lights of thee,
And thou, O Lord, art more than they.

We have but faith: we cannot know;
For knowledge is of things we see
And yet we trust it comes from thee,
A beam in darkness: let it grow.

Let knowledge grow from more to more,
But more of reverence in us dwell;
That mind and soul, according well,
May make one music as before,

But vaster. We are fools and slight;
We mock thee when we do not fear:
But help thy foolish ones to bear;
Help thy vain worlds to bear thy light.

Forgive what seem’d my sin in me;
What seem’d my worth since I began;
For merit lives from man to man,
And not from man, O Lord, to thee.

Forgive my grief for one removed,
Thy creature, whom I found so fair.
I trust he lives in thee, and there
I find him worthier to be loved.

Forgive these wild and wandering cries,
Confusions of a wasted youth;
Forgive them where they fail in truth,
And in thy wisdom make me wise.

1849.

19, July 2016

Inside Cameroon: Is the SDF Diaspora revolution over? ¹

The Social Democratic Front (SDF) and the ruling Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement (CPDM) are both major political parties in the Republic of Cameroon. The similarities end there! The SDF as Cameroon’s main opposition party is in a state of brooding, and its diaspora outlets in Europe and the United States of America are facing an energy-draining soul-searching brooding.Yet, every SDF militant you meet in the streets of London, Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Dublin and Oslo is not even worried.Is their silence deliberate or accidental? What is really the matter? Is it that the SDF revolution is actually over? Or is it in the words of Dr.Boniface Forbin “going, going, gone”.

The SDF tormented by fear graciously accepted the 43 seats awarded the party by a CPDM government-rigged parliamentary election in 1997. The understanding then from every SDF militant particularly those in the diaspora was that: well, we know the party will do nothing in parliament, but what will it achieve by staying out? It would have continued as a front as some Semi Bantus and Sawas recommended. But the Bafourchu mafia that hijacked the SDF were tired of staying on the sidelines of power and those luxurious hotels in Yaounde, the nation’s capital. From 43 seats gotten through a counterfeit parliamentary elections in 1997, the SDF has slowly but surely been reduced to a North West Region political party in 2014.

Correspondingly, it is evidently clear that the silence maintain by SDF militants in the diaspora is deliberate and betrays frustration arising from the fear that the SDF as a political entity in Cameroon has outlived its usefulness and the revolution that came along with it is over. When this reporter speaking to SDF militants in Paderborn,Germany in 2000 did observe that the SDF going to parliament in 1997 under those CPDM conditions was in effect surrendering and beginning a new form of cooperation with the President Biya regime, he was given matching orders to leave the venue. The 1997 SDF decision demonstrated a frightful and unloving attitude by the party towards the Cameroonian people. It was indeed a decision that was contrary to the SDF’s fundamental objective which was to overthrow the crime syndicate headed by President Paul Biya and bring about democracy, economic prosperity, law and order and above all good governance in the Republic of Cameroon.

As a big political party with a very small brain, the SDF did not know that its Chairman Ni John Fru Ndi’s greatest distinction and strength laid in his consistency and unswerving faithfulness to the party’s objective over the years. A pro-National Assembly policy destroyed this overnight. To be sure, the 1997 pro-Assembly decision weakened the SDF and its leadership forever!! The SDF diaspora in Europe and the USA cannot wash their hands off this failure like the biblical Pontus Pilate! The argument that came from New York, Berlin and London that there is no future prospect for free and fair election under President Biya greatly contributed to ending the SDF revolution. What the SDF diaspora was actually saying to their leadership back home was that “if you can beat them, join them”.Which they did!!

The SDF it can now be said was never ready for a long term campaign. What we know as Africans is that similar liberation struggles have lasted for decades and even more. The revolution that finally brought Meles Zenawi to power in Ethiopia in 1991 lasted 17 years. Though a very bad example in modern day Africa, but it is on record that Yoweri Kaguta Museveni challenged the electoral fraud of Milton Obote and that led to a long campaign based on a 10-point programme. He finally beat Obote and all the others in 1986, after 16 difficult years. In Namibia, Sam Nujoma and Toivoja Toivo founded SWAPO in 1959 to fight abusive colonialism. Nujoma went on exile in 1966 but kept up his fight for liberation. He won and became President of Namibia in April 1990-after 31 years. In South Africa the ANC campaign began in 1910. Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years. That did not daunt the spirit of the struggle. The campaign for African majority rule in Northern Rhodesia now Zimbabwe lasted for more than 20 years. So where does our Cameroon SDF stand in history? Maybe the SDF diaspora needs to come up with a new idea!!!!

Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai (Cameroon Concord News Group)

NB: This article was first published in 2014

16, July 2016

Cameroon and Amnesty International: Living together differently ²

Cameroonians in their great majority are still waiting for publicized press releases from human rights organisations out rightly condemning human casualties caused Boko Haram suicide bombings last 12^th, 22^nd and 25^th July in the Far North Region. The alacrity with which they have been condemning alleged human rights violations by the Cameroonian defence and security forces mismatches their apparent reluctance in responding to the 13 deaths and 10 injured caused by two suicide bombers on July 12, 2015 in the locality of Fotokol as well as the three suicide attacks perpetrated in Maroua on 22^nd and 25^th July, 2015 leaving a total of 34 dead and 117 wounded.

To many, the silence of human rights organisations cannot be comprehended, thus raising questions as to who is really behind these NGOs? Who is footing their bills? Are they fronts for those plotting to destabilize stable countries such as Cameroon? On June 20, 2015, Amnesty International issued a press release denouncing the alleged detention of 80 children in a center for minors in the Far North Region for reported links with Boko Haram. The release quoted Cameroonian authorities as saying that the kids arrested in a Koranic school were preparing a suicide-bomb mission for Boko Haram.

An allegation which some human rights organisations, including Amnesty International, said was unfounded. Could this explain the latter’s silence when the two young suicide bombers detonated their bombs in Fotokol on July 12^th and later on 22^nd and 25^th July in Maroua? The answer is blowing in the wind. Nevertheless, the silence is sharply in contrast with Amnesty’s condemnation of Boko Haram’s human rights violations in neighbouring Nigeria. In a report early this year, the NGO claimed Boko Haram had since beginning of 2014 murdered at least 5,500 civilians in North Eastern Nigeria, displaced at least one million persons due to violence and kidnapped over 2,000 women and young girls.

Amnesty International is not the only organization to have gone vocal. A Cameroonian-based NGO called the Network of Human Rights Defenders in Central Africa (REDHAC) issued a release on February 19, 2015 denouncing human rights abuses by Cameroon’s security forces in their fight against Boko Haram. Although, the release timidly mentioned Boko Haram violations, it focused on alleged intimidation, acts of torture by Cameroonian soldiers against the population to gather information.

REDHAC has surprisingly gone silent after the Fotokol and Maroua Boko Haram suicide-bombings, likewise another NGO, Nouveaux Droits de l’Homme (NDH-Cameroon) which supported REDHAC with a release, even appreciated support given REDHAC by other NGOs such as “Un Monde Avenir” and the Civil Society Platform for Democracy. What now explains their silence after the three recent suicide-bombings in Far North region of Cameroon?

Cameroon Tribune

14, July 2016

Sell Cameroon and share the money ⁰

Some few days after President Biya took over from the late Ahmadou Ahidjo, he announced that Cameroon will never go to the IMF or World Bank to beg for money. Biya had been handed over everything including the country’s reserves. Some months before the former head of state was lowered into an early grave in Dakar Senegal, Cameroon was already seeking first and second standby World Bank accords. Cameroon Tribune, the nation’s national daily newspaper wholeheartedly approved of the relations with the IMF and the World Bank.

The country’s lead editorialists such as Charles Ndongo, Eric Chinje, Ful Peter, Boh Herbert, Lawrence EyongEchaw, Ntemfac Ofege, Abel Mbida, Emmanuel Wongibe and Ebonkem Forminken went on to threaten anyone, like Paddy Mbawa and Chief Bissong Etahoben who campaigned against the IMF. The super editors made sure positions and ranks were terminated as a result of any political discourse on the IMF/World Bank.

That was in the early stages of rigor and moralization when no one anticipated a vicious salary cut and an unprecedented devaluation of the FCFA including the emergence of Ni John Fru Ndi and the Social Democratic Front. Civil servants regularly told those in the private sector that “after all my salary is passing”. From what we now know, neither these Cameroon government media gurus nor the super editors have been charged for deceiving the Cameroonian people.

The celebration of the coming of the IMF’s privatization has continued ever since. So today we can sing with pride of the collapse of the Cameroon Shipping Lines, Cameroon Airlines, Cameroon Bank, Cameroon Railway Company, Cameroon Aluminum Company (CELLUCAM), the Public Works Department, Cameroon Transport Company (SOTUC), the Cameroon Cotton Company (SODECOTTON), Preventive Medicine Department, Produce Marketing Board, Chantier Naval, the CDC, SOCAPALM etc

The Supreme Court has been replaced with the Special Criminal Court. French speaking state counsels and judges with no mastery of the English language are being appointed to head courts in Anglophone Cameroon. Cameroonian prosecutors turned up in court because of fear for their jobs. Nationally, the arrest of highly placed government officials has been greeted with cold-hearted intolerance from rightwing CPDM politicians – several of whom say they got what they deserved for embezzling state funds.

The truth is all too clear. Who is responsible for the collapse of Cameroon as a nation? Some of the very politicians like Garga Haman Adji, Fru Ndi, Maigari Bello Bouba, Jean Jacque Ekindi, Diakolle Daisalla, Akoteh, Dr Aka Muan, lawyers and journalists who championed the cause of democracy and the rule of law against the Biya dictatorship. Now they support, or fail to speak up against anything about the Yaounde regime. Where is the movement that was seeking justice for Captain Guerandi? Where is the Union for Change? Where is the real UPC that represented the late Um Nyobe and Dr Felix Moumie? Where is Laakam? Where is the Anglophone National Congress? Where is the SDF? Where is the SCNC?

In a nation where laws are widely abused to settle personal scores and to discriminate against minorities, no answer is needed. Any anti Biya official can be sent to jail and yet Europeans and US diplomats are busy romancing with this consortium of CPDM crime syndicates operating in Yaounde, the nation’s capital. The French can free anyone sentenced in Cameroon and they are making a mockery of our already poor and corrupt judiciary system.

Former barons of the regime have spent years in Cameroon’s most hellish prisons some in solitary confinement. Amnesty International reported today Thursday the 14^th of July 2016 that more than 1000 people are being detained in a prison facility in Maroua meant for 350 persons. Many have been killed while awaiting trial.

Cameroon now has two specific problems: what to do with an 83 years old frail leader and a government that has no succession plan. But Cameroon also has surely larger problems. Every time a Cameroonian civil servant, radio and television commentators, lawyers, judges, politicians, human rights activists, the business community and the clergy appease the leadership of the ruling CPDM party, the social space occupied by them grows widely. The only solution left is for us to sell Cameroon and share the money. If it does not work for you with money after the sale, former Cameroonian citizens will of course have the resources to relocate in other countries such as Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Chad, Nigeria, and Ghana and why not in the West.

The very slow and agonized fissuring of the state of Cameroon is to be measured not only in the arrests of senior government officials and Biya’s continued stay in power, nor only by entertainment coming from Brenda Biya and her mum, Chantal Biya. It can be measured, too, by a moral collapse and a cowed ambivalence of the silent majority. Those who are too frightened to confront the West backed Biya crime syndicate today will find themselves being consumed by it tomorrow. Inoni, Marafa, Mebara who is next? But before that happens, it will be good that we sell the country and share the money.

Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai (Cameroon Concord News Group)