Headline News

5, January 2017

Nigeria: 3 female bombers killed in a crowded market ⁰

Pro-government anti-terror fighters in Nigeria have managed to kill three radicalized girls before they could detonate their explosive vests in a crowded market in the country’s northeastern province of Adamawa, officials say.

The incident occurred on Wednesday when civilian fighters spotted the three girls and became suspicious that they were wearing explosive vests as the three were trying to pass a checkpoint in a village near the town of Madagali, said local council chairman Yusuf Muhammad Gulak. He said the girls ignored the fighters’ commands to stop and began running, prompting fire from the forces.

According to Gulak, the girl in the lead was shot first, and her explosives were activated as a result. The blast killed her and another one of the would-be terrorists. The third girl was also gunned down as she tried to escape the scene. Officials blamed the Takfiri Boko Haram terrorist group for the attempted attack.

In recent months, army troops and civilian fighters in Nigeria have managed to foil many bomb attacks involving terrorists wearing explosive vests before the assailants were able to reach heavily-populated targets and detonate their bombs of their own accord.

Last month, however, two women, with the Boko Haram, killed 57 people and injured 177, including 120 children, after they detonated their explosive vests at a bustling market at Madagali, some 20 kilometers from the Wednesday shootings scene. Boko Haram later claimed responsibility for the massacre. On December 24, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, who came to power in 2015 with a pledge to eradicate Boko Haram, announced that the army had “crushed” the terror group a day earlier by retaking its last key bastion, deep inside the thick Sambisa Forest in the northeastern province of Borno.

Boko Haram terrorists started their reign of terror in 2009 with the aim of toppling the Nigerian government. In their heyday in early 2015, they managed to control an area in the country’s northeast as vast as Belgium, but they lost most of that territory over the last year as the Nigerian government, along with troops from some affected neighboring countries such as Chad and Cameroon, launched a joint military campaign to eradicate the militant group. The group, whose name means “Western education is forbidden,” has pledged allegiance to Daesh, a Takfiri terrorist group mainly active in Iraq and Syria. Boko Haram terrorists have so far killed more than 20,000 people and forced over 2.7 million others from their homes.

Presstv

5, January 2017

CPDM malicious plot to stifle the ghost town operations uncovered ²

The government is reportedly doing everything to destroy the present Anglophone nationalism. Information has filtered that following a meeting that held in Yaoundé on Monday the 2nd of January, the the regime developed strategies which were handed down to highly placed Anglophone political elites. The vicious arrangements include:

That all the political elites, Senators, MPs ,and Mayors of the ruling CPDM should jointly sign press releases and make public to their people asking them to denounce strike and go back to school on Monday.
That instructions be given to all administrative authorities in the Anglophone regions to hold meetings latest Friday the 5th and send reports on the same day. Main agenda is to tell all education stake holders to get back to school on Monday.
To use the media on Monday to cover schools reopening and show to the world that there is no Anglophone problem.
Money allocated for this exercise are as follows:
a) Governors of the South West and North West regions= 30.000,000 frs
b) S.D.Os = 100.000,000 FRS each.
c) D.Os = 150.000,000 FRS each.

That these amounts should be used as follows:

Governors to use theirs for proper supervision of their respective regions
SDOs to call meetings and ensure entrainment, transport to participants and tips to local media men and women.
DOs to also call meetings and ensure entertainment, transport to participants and tips to local media gurus. Pay some money to some teachers, popular parents, traditional authorities and other Southern Cameroonians who will accept to denounce the strike on radio and television.

We gathered that a huge Francophone reward awaits constituencies and sub constituencies that will succeed to stifle the Southern Cameroons ghost town operation. Many of the Anglophone political elites have been promised appointments and promotions.

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

5, January 2017

Gunmen have killed 2 peacekeepers in the Central African Republic ⁰

Gunmen have killed two Moroccan peacekeepers with a UN mission in the southeast of the Central African Republic (CAR). MINUSCA, or the Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic, said in a statement on Wednesday that the peacekeepers were attacked while they were escorting fuel trucks on Tuesday afternoon about 60 kilometers west of the town of Obo.

MINUSCA said two other peacekeepers were injured in the attack. The attackers “fled into the bush.” Parfait Onanga-Anyanga, the head of MINUSCA, denounced the attack, saying, “No claim can justify individuals directing their grievances against peacekeepers whose presence on CAR soil is only aimed at helping the country emerge from the cycle of violence.”

In March 2013, the Central African Republic toppled into chaos when then President Francois Bozize was ousted by the mainly Seleka rebel alliance and was replaced by Michel Am-Nondokro Djotodia, the first Muslim to hold the presidency in the generally-Christian nation.

The coup, however, caused a series of deadly retaliatory attacks between the Seleka rebels and the Christian militia known as anti-balaka, who reacted by engaging in large-scale attacks against the minority Muslims. Some 13,000 peacekeepers have been deployed to the country by the UN as part of MINUSCA. Civilians, however, say it does not do enough to protect them against scores of armed groups.

Presstv

4, January 2017

Anglophone Problem: Press release by North West CPDM elites addressing the wrong audience ³

Communiqué by the North West Elite, Senators and Members of National Assembly reechoing their call for peace and resumption of schools in the North West and South West Regions. (Published under our entertainment icon)

“Mindful of the Head State’s New Year Message to the Nation on 31st December, 2016;

Mindful of his strong condemnation of all acts of violence regardless of their sources and their perpetrators and his resolve to draw conclusions from the ongoing enquiries on all the allegations of the recent violence carried out in the North West and South West Regions;

Considering his reassurances that “all voices that spoke have been heard and most of the substantive issues cannot be overlooked because of their pertinence” and his resolve to find lasting solutions to all the problems posed through peaceful dialogue;

Mindful of his appeal urging the various parties concerned to participate without any bias in the various discussions and engage in frank dialogue within the framework of the two Ad Hoc Committees created to look into the Anglophone teachers’ and lawyers’ grievances;

Considering the Head of State’s unwavering determination to continue the building of a united, inclusive and bilingual nation, embarked upon by all Cameroonians without exception, a legacy bequeathed by our founding fathers and national heroes;

Considering the Head of State’s reaffirmation that the Cameroonian experience is unique in Africa and can be perfected as we listen to each other and remain open to constructive ideas within the framework of the laws and regulations in force in our country;

Considering the announcement by the Head of State to go the extra mile and put in place a National Entity tasked with proposing solutions aimed at maintaining peace, consolidating our country’s unity and strengthening our resolve and our day-to-day experiences of LIVING TOGETHER;

Mindful of the Head of State’s strong resolve to ensure that all Cameroonians live in peace, unity and harmony in ONE united and INDIVISIBLE Nation, Cameroon.

We, the North West Elite, Senators and Members of the National Assembly, pursuant to our communiqué of 4th December 2016 hereby:

Appeal for schools to reopen in the North West and South West Regions come January 9, 2017 and for peace and harmony to continue to reign in the two Regions;

Appeal to all teachers, teachers’ syndicates, school proprietors, parents, the civil society, politicians, traders, economic operators, taxi men, motorbike riders, students, pupils and all citizens of good will, to ensure that schools effectively resume in the North West and South West Regions to save our children the already jeopardized school year and hence ensure their future;
Reiterate our total support for peace, stability and tranquility in our Regions;

Reaffirm our unflinching support for a One, United, Bilingual and Indivisible fatherland, Cameroon; and Pledge our unflinching support to His Excellency President Paul Biya as he continues to find lasting solutions to all our challenges in view of consolidating our National Unity.”

Done in Yaoundé, on Tuesday, 3rd January 2017

Signed:

Atanga Nji Paul, Mbah Acha née Rose Fomundam, Fuh Calistus Gentry, Doh Jerome Penbaga, Shey Jones Yembe, Enyih Atogho, Abety Peter, Awanga Zacharias, Emma Eno Lafon, Dingha Ignatius B., Nji Fidelis, Njingum Musa, Fon Chafah Isaac, Doh Anderson, Roselyne Mutia, Melo Uphie Chinje, Fru Angwafor, Sammy Chumbow, Tan Paul, Baye Francis, Gabsa Wilfred, Nwa

4, January 2017

Southern Cameroons to begin ghost town operations soonest ⁰

The leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium, CACSC, have signed an important document declaring the beginning of ghost town operations on Monday the 9^th of January in British Southern Cameroons.

In a statement jointly signed by the President Barrister Agbor Felix Nkongho, Dr Fontem Neba of SYNES University of Buea and Wilfred Tassang of Cameroon Teachers Trade Union, the Anglophone leaders appealed to all Southern Cameroonians residing in the North West and South West regions to see themselves as one person and stage a ghost town operation to counter what they termed governments attitude to undermine the will of the Anglophone people and to get schools start without solving the problems raised by Anglophone teachers and the Common Law Lawyers.

Said the leaders “We must stand together and continue our peaceful resistance until the demands of the Lawyers and teachers tabled relating to our existence have been satisfactorily addressed.”

The Consortium observed that all teachers, lawyers, taxi drivers, commercial bike riders, business operators and all Southern Cameroons citizens should stay at home on Monday January 9, 2017. The leaders have demanded a total shut down of schools, markets and businesses. They have also requested Southern Cameroonians to stay away from street marches, public demonstrations and avoid any confrontation with the forces of law and order including the army.

The decision was made public some few minutes after some political elites from the North West and South West regions in a joint press release called on Anglophone parents to send their children to school on Monday January 9, 2017.

Culled from Cameroon Intelligence Report

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

Vice Chancellor of the University of Bamenda hosting anti Anglophone meeting ⁰

We have gotten intelligence that there is a meeting presently going on in the University of Bamenda grouping all heads of government establishments, directors and top management called by the Vice Chancellor of the university under the instructions of the most anti Anglophone cabinet minister ever, Fame Ndongo.

The so called minister for Higher Education has reportedly given standing orders to the Anglophone heads that they should diverse a method to call off the strike and students should resume classes. (This story is developing and was culled from a sister publication Cameroon Intelligence Report)

4, January 2017

New UN Secretary General says he is not a miracle maker ⁰

The new United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has warned that he is not a “miracle maker” and that the global body faces “very challenging times.” Guterres made the remark on Tuesday before starting his first official day of work at the UN headquarters in New York after succeeding Ban Ki-moon as secretary general on January 1.

“I think it is useful to say there are no miracles…I am sure I am not a miracle maker,” he said. He went on to underscore the large number of complex crises around the world the United Nations must deal with, adding that the world body should have no “illusions” over the “challenging times” it faces.

“We see everywhere in the world conflicts that multiply and are interlinked and have triggered this new phenomenon of global terrorism,” he added. Guterres stressed that despite easing the sufferings of some people, “we still fail in the prevention of conflicts and conflict resolution.”

He went on to add that there is a large amount of resistance around the world and a large amount of skepticism over the UN’s role. “We need to be able to recognize our shortcomings, our failures…get rid of the straightjacket of bureaucracy,” he added. “The only way we can achieve our goals is to really work together as a team and serve the values enshrined in the Charter and that unite humanity.”

Guterres was elected for the post by the UN General Assembly for a five-year term on October 13 last year. He was the prime minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002, and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees from June 2005 to December 2015. In his first message as the UN chief, Guterres called on all people across the globe to put “peace” above all else. “Let us resolve to put peace first,” he said.

Presstv

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