Headline News

12, January 2017

Trust in Biya is gone, so too is confidence in his appointees ¹

Etoudi is propagating the idea that the various designated mediators sent to Southern Cameroons have failed and that there is an urgent need for the presence of the 83 year old Cameroonian dictator-the man widely believed to have plunged the nation into its present state of confused identity. The pro Yaounde politicians are insinuating that Paul Biya’s presence could be an effective solution for things to return to normal in the South West and North West regions. It is not true. What is true is that Biya has lost his chance among the greats.

The failure of dialogue and negotiations cannot be blamed on the Anglophone leaders but on Biya’s pattern of governance. Biya is not only tactless but very reckless and too full of himself. The Anglophone crisis has eventually exposed him. We of this publication can now say loudly and clearly that Biya is a political disaster that has been around for the last 34 years. While the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium has been consistently consistent with their demands and actions, Biya and his entire CPDM crime syndicate have been caught committing the same errors or falling into spectacular new ones.

To be sure, even primary school pupils of British Southern Cameroons including those of La Republique du Cameroun have come to the conclusion that there is just no one to challenge the Consortium. So, tribalism has made Paul Biya to end as a prominent and successful failure. Schools in the South West and North West have not resumed as articulated by a certain Ghogomu Mingo and the anti Anglophone Minister of Higher Education, Jacques Fame Ndongo. Minister Atanga Njie is hiding!! So too are all CPDM political actors from the defunct South West and North West regions. Justice Ayah Paul is seeking for notice. However, it is evident; schools will only open their doors if the Anglophone problem is resolved.

Given the current situation, no glimmer of hope is envisaged for a return to normal in the coming days if Biya does not step aside or personally engage the new generation of Anglophone leaders. Reviewing of government strategy will change nothing. British Southern Cameroonians have had enough of this Francophone bad faith and marginalization. The Prime Minister and Head of Government could not do anything, cabinet ministers, Senators, MPs and Mayors either. Jean Kueté, the Secretary General of the Central Committee of the ruling CPDM party was almost lynched in Bamenda after an unsuccessful attempt to hold a political meeting.

A frustrated Biya has come to understand that his 34 years as head of state has been because of the goodwill of the Cameroonian people not the army or the gendarmerie. The regime is now aware that the North West/ South West Divide tactics is a thing of the past. Yaoundé is also well informed that the cast of the men called to lead the talks were unpopular citizens in their respective constituencies. The pronouncements that came out of some cabinet ministers namely, Laurent Esso, Fame Ndongo, Atanga Njie and Issa Tchiroma Bakary made the situation moved from bad to worse.

The Yaoundé regime underestimated the Consortium and described them using a battery of adjectives. But our teachers, lawyers, Okada men, business community, Anglophone Roman Catholic Bishops including some right thinking CPDM political elites are now reading from the same script. To God be the Glory. To Biya’s greatest surprise, the Consortium has become so powerful to the extent that if the Anglophone leaders decide to request the release of Chief Inoni and Fonjindam-they will get it done in one second!! We of this group are appealing to the Consortium not to forget the Wum detainees. It was in Wum in Menchum Division where it all started. This is strength you get when you involve the common man in any political struggle. We of the Cameroon Concord News Group are proud to surrender our loyalty to The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium.

Contrary to what many are thinking today that the only one able to solve the Anglophone Problem in Cameroon is the President of the Republic. We believe that Biya will only be among the Francophone representatives in the presence of the United Nations and African Union envoys to map out the way forward for the two territories. Trust in Biya is gone, so too is confidence in his appointees. Only a neutral third body can mediate between us and them.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Editor-in-Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group

11, January 2017

Biya meets with Chinese ambassador ⁰

Paul Biya’s media men and women have revealed that the President of China, Xi JINPING has expressed his country’s determination to reinforce ties with Cameroon in 2017. The presidential website reported that the message was disclosed to the 83 year old dictator through the Chinese Ambassador to Cameroon, Wei Wenshua, on Wednesday 11 January 2017, at the Unity Palace.

The Chinese are not interested in human rights, so Ambassador Wei Wenshua extended New Year wishes to the Right Royal President and lauded Cameroon’s “remarkable progress” in 2016. The Chinese Diplomat said the complexities of current international trends are strong indicators for Cameroon and China to strengthen a sustainable bilateral relation. He announced the imminent arrival of the Chinese Minister of Culture in Cameroon, accompanied by a group of Chinese artists; who will perform at the Yaoundé Congress Centre.

In 2015, China was Cameroon’s first trade partner, while the latter was the second largest beneficiary of Chinese aid in Africa; FCFA 1,430 billion.

11, January 2017

Consortium, Roman Catholic Bishops hold “conclave” on the Southern Cameroons crisis ¹

The 2017 annual Episcopal Conference of the Bishops of Cameroon that started on Sunday January 8 in the Pastoral Centre of the Diocese of Mamfe has held a private session grouping the Roman Catholic Bishops and the leaders of The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium.

Present were all the Bishops of Cameroon and top on the agenda was discussions on the Papal encyclical Amoris Lettitia which deals with the new marriage law of the Catholic Church. After the official opening ceremony on Monday attended by the Mayor of Mamfe, John Ayuk Takunchong and the administration of Manyu Division, the Bishops and other invited Roman Catholic couples from various dioceses where schooled on the documents by experts for two days.

According to the program, the Bishops were to go into a conclave as from today the 11th. This conclave drew the attention of all Cameroonians specially the members of the Consortium who were invited by the Bishops. The highly expected closed door meeting lasted for over 4 hours with no official declaration made public.

Cameroon Intelligence Report staff man revealed that the Anglophone leaders left the conclave visibly satisfied. The President, Barrister Agbor Balla, the Secretary Dr Niba Fontem and the Right Hon. Wilfred Tassang refused to make any meaningful comments to the press. The nation is waiting for the final declaration of the Bishops Conference that will provide an insight and stands of the Bishops of Cameroon on the ongoing crisis in southern Cameroon. The annual Cameroon Bishops forum ends on the 14th of January.

By Bruno Difand Tarh in Mamfe for CIR

11, January 2017

Breaking: The Consortium is meeting with the Roman Catholic Bishops in Mamfe ⁰

The members of the Consortium are presently holding talks with the Roman Catholic Bishops in Mamfe, the chief town in Manyu Division. We understand the meeting is now on a coffee break.

11, January 2017

Nigeria: Oil and gas workers on strike over payment ⁰

Nigerian oil and gas workers have staged a walkout, claiming that they have not received payment. The industrial action on Tuesday affected at least 12 flow, compressor and pumping stations in the southern state of Delta. Workers said a closure of facilities was also possible in the coming hours.

All facilities affected were operated by Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), a subsidiary of the state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). The strike could seriously affect Nigeria’s already battered oil production. The sector has been suffering from back-to-back attacks by militants of the Delta region.

Reports said the continued strike could also hit supplies to the Utorogu natural gas plant, one of the biggest in Nigeria. That could mean power shortages for domestic use. Worker representatives said they had informed NPDC officials of the action last week. They said they would not go back to work until their demands are met.

Nigeria, one of the leading oil producers in Africa, has lost nearly a third of its oil production over the past years, mainly due to militant attacks in Delta region. The militants want a fair share of oil income for the impoverished region, something the government has resisted in light of the slump in the global oil prices in the past few years. Abuja has managed to reach ceasefires with militants, but sporadic attacks have continued.

Nigeria has also been battling militants of the Takfiri group Boko Haram in its northern regions, further draining its oil-driven finances. Rampant corruption in the military and state institutions has seriously hampered government efforts for shoring up the economy.

Presstv

11, January 2017

War on terror: Cameroon loses 3 servicemen ⁰

Three Cameroonian soldiers have been killed in an operation that resulted in the destruction of Boko Haram training camps in Goshe. The three young soldiers left the military academy in 2014 and were sent to the front in Goshe against the Nigerian Islamic sect Boko Haram.

The three soldiers are: GODWE Fulbert, a second-class soldier of the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR) mortally wounded by an improvised explosive device during a search of a suspicious house on the 2^nd of January 2017, Abessolo Biloa Aimé Prosper and Ngondi Boris Parfait, also from the Rapid Intervention Battalion who fell under enemy bullets.

The Cameroon government spokesman, Issa Tchiroma revealed that the army has destroyed several factories used by Boko Haram to manufacture explosives. Cameroon military sources say the operation will continue under the banner of the Joint Multinational Force.

By Sama Ernest

11, January 2017

Francophone SDO shuts down private radio station in Bamenda ⁰

The Francophone Senior Divisional Officer for Mezam in the North West Region, Songa Pierre accompanied by his close collaborators sealed the doors of a Bamenda based popular radio station, Hot Cocoa FM 94.0. The seal which took place around 4: 30PM on Tuesday the 10^th of January 2017 indicated that the decision is a temporal suspension of the radio from going on air due to what they described as unethical practice in the morning program called the ‘Biggest Breakfast Show’ BBS anchored by Kiven Brenda and Mbaku Jude.

According to the regional order brandished on the seal letter, the interactive program has been helping to fuel the existing crisis in Bamenda. The Presenters revealed that they received several calls from anonymous callers after last Fridays edition threatening that the station will be closed down. The program did not go on air on Monday and Tuesday. At the time of closure the Pidgin News presented by Peter Tebid Chai was going on. Technicians and Journalists were asked to move out before the seal.

The Station Manager Gideon Taka, who recently took over from Omar Songwe, has reported the matter to the President of the National Communication Council, Peter Essoka. However journalists of Hot Cocoa Radio who also work for Horizon Television which shares the same building with the Radio have been going in and out of the premises since Horizon television was not sealed.

Cameroun Info.Net

11, January 2017

There are reasons why the Consortium should snub Garga Haman Adji ⁰

Cameroon Concord News is calling on the leaders of the Consortium not to hold any talks with the so-called special envoy of President Paul Biya, Garga Haman Adji. Garga pretends to be a nationalist but carries with him anti Anglophone sentiments. Such an expired Francophone politician should never in the first place be designated to break the deadlock in the ongoing crisis rocking the two English speaking regions.

His trip to Bamenda on Tuesday January 10, 2017 remains a primitive and cheap design by the 83 year old Right Royal President to continue to snub Southern Cameroonians. We understand, Garga Haman met with members of the Consortium in a briefing before heading to the governor’s office where he held talks with his Francophone brother, Adolphe LELE L’AFRIQUE.

Even though nothing filtered out of the two briefings, Garga Haman reportedly sounded positive to some media gurus and observed that all will be well. For those who do not know, Garga Haman resigned from the Biya regime as Minister of State Control and declared his support for Ni John Fru Ndi in the presidential elections of 1992.

Gargo told the world that his decision was because Fru Ndi had a 2 year transition program. Intelligence later revealed that Garga had mustered a group of Nordists to flush out Fru Ndi and take power back to the North. At Yaounde Hilton Hotel, when Fru Ndi and the Union for Change could no longer be an item in 1994, Garga Haman held a press conference and insulted every Anglophone personality including Ni John Fru Ndi.

How could a man whose house in Yaounde was attacked by CPDM militia in 1992 after the proclamation of the presidential election and whose cars were burnt and could only transport his children to school using a car that was given to him by an Anglophone, the late Dr Ben AgborBessong demonstrated such a frightful and unloving attitude towards Anglophones? We can now reveal that Garga Haman belongs to that generation of Francophones who see Anglophones as second class citizens.

His visit is also to make a mockery of Prime Minister Yang Philemon efforts and to inform the international community that the PM and his Director of Cabinet failed to solve the on-going Southern Cameroons crisis. His nomination as the President Biya’s special envoy came shortly after the head of State’s end of year message to the Nation on December 31, 2016. What we of Cameroon Concord News are saying is simply that the Southern Cameroons Problem is not a CPDM/SDF kind of affair. It cannot be resolved by appointing a South Westerner as Prime Minister as the regime is planning to do. The problems cannot be solved by sending highly placed civil servants and Francophone government officials to Southern Cameroons.

The late Amadou Ahidjo met with a teacher and a lawyer in Foumban to agree on reunification matters, Biya should travel to Buea or Bamenda and meet with that teacher and that lawyer of the Consortium and seek a way forward. It is no longer an issue of Head of State and common teachers and obscure lawyers!! It is that Southern Cameroonians have handed over leadership of their territory to the Consortium and whosoever is going by that name La Republique du Cameroun and who genuinely wants a One and Indivisible Cameroon, should and must speak to The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium.

Several meetings with the Anglophone Leaders and the Ad hoc Committee have ended in a deadlock. The Garga Mission to us is a waste of Anglophone time. Barrister Agbor Felix Nkongho, President of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium, CACSC, told the media that they are ready for dialogue but insisted that the remaining 20 youths be released. It is not yet clear whether the Consortium will agree to dialogue with Garga Haman Adji. We of Cameroon Concord News think that the Southern Cameroons Problem is bigger than any Francophone personality and that only Paul Biya should head any meaningful dialogue.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Editor-in-Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group

10, January 2017

South West pro Biya comedians holding emergency meeting in Buea ¹

Following the successful civil disobedience campaign staged by the leaders of the Southern Cameroons consortium on the 9th of January 2017 during which it resolved to extend the strike action until Anglophone demands are met, an emergency meeting of all political elites of the South West region is currently holding in Buea under the direct supervision of the former Prime Minister and Grand Chancellor of the National Orders, Peter Mafany Musonge.

Cameroon Concord News learnt that Musonge who himself was humiliated by the Francophone regime during his time as Prime Minister and Head of Government opened the session expressing regrets that schools have definitely not resumed in West Cameroons. A source in the meeting quoted the Grand Chancellor and Senator as observing that the scenario in British Southern Cameroons was shameful, disgusting and disgraceful to the Yaounde regime and by extrapolation, the South West political elites.

Our informant also revealed at the time of filing this report that some of the CPDM officials in the forum have not been allowed to speak. The Musonge meeting is a vain attempt to the South West to counter the all powerful and truthful Consortium. Our senior political correspondent in the South West who confirmed the arrival of the pro Biya comedians in Buea late today, opined that the so-called South West CPDM leaders are taking the last kicks of a dying horse. With Biya already releasing Southern Cameroons political detainees, it is evidently clear that Yaounde is about to open direct talks with members of the Consortium widely believed to have legitimate authority in Southern Cameroons.

By Chi Prudence Asong in Buea

10, January 2017

Anglophone detainees being received by North West governor ¹

Southern Cameroons detainees released late last night in Yaounde have arrived Bamenda, the capital of the North West region. The freedom fighters were welcomed home by the Francophone governor. The whereabouts of many are still not known.