Headline News

12, December 2016

Kumbo: Troops open fire on civilians ⁰

Cameroon Concord News has learnt that the army has opened fired into a crowd of peaceful protesters in Kumbo, in Bui Division. The crowd refused to disperse after an anti-La Republique demonstration was held.

The demonstrators took to the streets in several important places including on college campuses across Kumbo condemning the killing of their son by troops loyal to the Yaounde regime in Bameda.

A huge crowd of protesters assembled downtown early this morning chanting pro secessionist slogans. Troops have blocked the entrances and exit from Kumbo. The protest has been mostly peaceful.

By Fru James in Kumbo

12, December 2016

Syria: Full liberation of Aleppo only steps away ⁰

Syrian forces have reclaimed a major district in southeastern Aleppo as they push deeper into the last remaining militant-held parts of the northwestern city. “The army is now in full control of Sheikh Saeed,” Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the UK-based so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP early Monday. The army has been in control of Aleppo’s western half. Less than a month ago, it started a wholesale push to drive the militants out of their stronghold in the city’s eastern side, making great strides in the process.

The gain, Abdel Rahman said, has put the army in control of 90 percent of eastern Aleppo. On Friday, however, the Russian Defense Ministry said that the forces had wrested back 93 percent of the eastern sector. Russia has been lending airpower to the counter-terror push in Syria since last September. The militants have been carrying out indiscriminate attacks against western Aleppo amid the government’s drive to restore its control over the city, the monitor has reported.

According to the group, some 10,000 more civilians have fled Aleppo’s militant-held parts to areas controlled by the government during the past 24 hours. The Russian Defense Ministry, however, put the number at over 13,300 in a statement on Monday. Since the start of the Aleppo battle, some 130,000 people have managed to reach government-controlled parts, the Observatory added. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, 728 militants have laid down their weapons over the past 24 hours and relocated to western Aleppo.

In recent days, Daesh, the most brutal of the terror groups operating in Syria since 2014, has resurfaced in the ancient city of Palmyra in the west-central province of Homs. The group was driven out of the city back in March after holding it for some 10 months. Recently, it mobilized more than 4,000 terrorists, according to the official Syrian Arab News Agency, re-entering the city of Palmyra amid fierce clashes with the army. Homs Governor Talal Barazi has described the Daesh inroad as a “desperate” reaction to the government’s recent victories.

Reports on Sunday morning indicated that Daesh attempts to re-enter Palmyra had been reversed, but various sources said later in the day that they had managed to force their way back into the city. The militants then went door to door, looking for any remaining forces loyal to the Syrian government, opposition activists in the city said. The Observatory claims Daesh has managed to advance in the city’s western and southwestern areas.

Presstv

12, December 2016

Ghost town operations to begin today in Southern Cameroons ⁰

Teachers and Lawyers consortium have declared that the strike is no more a Lawyer or Teachers strike but one that should involve all the peoples of Southern Cameroons. Unconfirmed sources have hinted Cameroon Concord News that the consortium of teachers and lawyers are now calling on all Anglophones to join the strike action.

A spokesman for the Anglophone lawyers and teachers consortium was quoted as saying that “the army of La Republique du Cameroun can kill us but they cannot kill our spirits.” Our reporters in Bamenda and Buea are yet to confirm the correctness of this latest development in the Anglophone uprising.

However, a very flippant but reliable source in Buea revealed at the time of writing this report that a return to the ghost town operation is likely possible as the lawyers and teachers have called on the transporters unions, taxis drivers, students and the business community to stay at home beginning today Monday the 12 of December 2016.

Anglophones have been cautioned not to go against the decision by the consortium. In a statement made public recently in Bamenda and Buea, the teachers and the lawyers noted that anyone going against the ghost town directives will be tracked, declared an enemy of the struggle and severely dealt with.

By Sama Ernest

11, December 2016

France 24 reporter arrested in Bamenda ⁰

Zigoto Tchaya, a journalist with the Paris based international news network, France 24 has been arrested in Bamenda by plain cloth police officers. Cameroon Concord News gathered that Zigoto was picked up immediately after he conducted an interview with Barrister Bobga on the happenings in British Southern Cameroons.

France 24 is yet to confirm the arrest but what we do know from our sources in Bamenda is that the journalist was taken to the national gendermarie headquarters in Bamenda and was later on transferred to an unknown destination.

By Chi Prudence Asong

11, December 2016

Nigeria: Scores dead in church collapse ⁰

A church collapse in southern Nigeria has taken the lives of a large number of worshipers who had gathered there for a service. Medical officials have so far confirmed 160 people dead, predicting that the final death toll could be much higher. Rescue operations are still underway to find potential survivors. Hundreds of people were inside the church in Uyo in Akwa Ibom state when metal girders crashed onto worshipers and the corrugated iron roof caved in.

The church was under construction and workers had to finish the job hastily for the service. The government is now set to launch an inquiry to find out if anyone compromised building standards. The state governor Udom Emmanuel was attending the ceremony in the church when the incident happened, but he was able to escape.

In a statement, he described the collapse as “an unfortunate incident” and said he “shared in the agony of the moment.” President Muhammadu Buhari has also offered his condolences. “I asked the Governor to convey to the people of Akwa Ibom the deep sorrow felt by me, and by the entire country, over this tragedy,” he said.

The president added, “I pray that the souls of the deceased will rest in peace, and that the injured will experience quick recovery.” Incidents as such are fairly common in Nigeria owing to the corruption of contractors and the use of substandard materials. Some are said to even bribe inspectors to ignore the risks. In 2014, 116 people lost their lives when a multi-story guesthouse of a church collapsed in Lagos, the country’s largest city.

Presstv

10, December 2016

Gambia: President Yahya Jammeh rejects presidential poll a week after conceding defeat ⁰

Gambia’s long-time President Yahya Jammeh has rejected the results of the country’s recent presidential election a week after conceding defeat to his rival. “I hereby reject the results in totality,” Jammeh said in a televised address late Friday, insisting that investigations since the December 1 poll have revealed a number of voting irregularities, which he described as unacceptable. “Let me repeat: I will not accept the results based on what has happened,” added Jammeh, who has ruled the West African country for more than 22 years.

During the address, the Gambian ruler further underlined that some figures in the election results had been transposed and that voter turnout had been suppressed. “Our investigations reveal that in some cases voters were told that the opposition has already won and that there was no need for them to vote and, out of anger, some of them returned home,” Jammeh said.

The remarks came just a week after he was shown on state television calling opposition candidate Adama Barrow and cheerfully wishing him the best. “You are the elected president of The Gambia, and I wish you all the best,” Jammeh said to Barrow at the time, adding, “I have no ill will.” The striking turnaround is expected to incite indignation among the opposition as well as a large number of Gambians living in exile abroad. This is while in the week since Jammeh conceded defeat, dozens of political prisoners had already been set free on bail.

It remains to be seen whether the small African country of only 1.9 million people would tolerate Jammeh’s renewed rule. Following news reports about his defeat last week, Gambians reportedly took to the streets – singing, dancing and shouting “Freedom!” Western governments have been especially critical of Jammeh’s rule in Gambia pointing to his directives to quit the commonwealth of former British colonies and the Western-led International Criminal Court (ICC). In quitting the Commonwealth in 2013, Jammeh described the organization as a “neo-colonial institution.” He also announced in October that Gambia would leave the ICC, which he dismissed as the “International Caucasian Court.”

Presstv

10, December 2016

Cardinal Tumi condemns Philemon Yang, says there is an Anglophone problem ²

Cardinal Christian Tumi has reacted publicly to the crisis that is shaking the English-speaking regions of Cameroon. In an interview on Radio Balafon, a Douala-based radio station the prelate said that there is indeed an Anglophone problem in Cameroon. The former Archbishop of Garoua and Douala believes it is possible that those who govern us unconsciously may not know that there is an Anglophone problem. He recounted to illustrate his anecdote about the former French leader Charles de Gaulle who reportedly questioned his Cameroon interlocutor: “English for what?”

Christian Tumi argued that the fate of Anglophones in Cameroon has changed. Said the prelate “Since then, we have tried to erase what is Anglo-Saxon unconsciously. I continue to say unconsciously.” The retired Cardinal added that Ni John Fru Ndi would have led Cameroon in 1992 if he was a francophone. “You know very well what happened in 1992. Many Cameroonians are now convinced that the winner of the elections in 1992 was an anglophone: Fru Ndi. And many are convinced that if Fru Ndi was francophone he would be President of Cameroon at least since 1992. True or false I do not know.

Returning to the crisis in recent weeks in the North-West and South-West, Christian Tumi noted that it is not well managed. “The Archbishop of Bamenda told me that the Prime Minister had received them. And he told me that he thought they were willing to sacrifice all day to thoroughly discuss this problem. The Prime Minister received the leaders of the religious denominations for about thirty minutes. He told me that he said, “This is what we should not do, that’s what we have to do.” It is not dialogue. In dialogue one must assume that the other can have the truth that saves. We must listen to it and have what I would call intellectual honesty and accept the truth, whatever its origin. Whether it comes from the opposition or the people who are on strike, you have to be open. Not coming as an authority.”

The Cardinal criticized the fact that Philemon Yang received during his first mission to Bamenda the groups affected by the crisis on an individual basis. The Cardinal would have liked to see the Prime Minister received those who went on strike, talk to them, and listen to their grievances.

By Sama Ernest with files from CIN

9, December 2016

Fresh fighting in Congo-Brazzaville between government forces and Ninja Nsiloulou rebels ⁰

Fresh fighting in the Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, between government forces and rebels has forced thousands of people to flee their homes. The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) warned on Friday that fighting in the southeast of the country had displaced an estimated 13,000 people. “We are afraid some 13,000 displaced people soon may not have enough to eat,” UNHCR spokesman William Spindler told reporters in Geneva, Switzerland. People in the area are “also having trouble getting health care and education because so many state-employed medics and teachers have fled,” he added.

Spindler said that the uptick in violence in recent weeks between the Ninja Nsiloulou rebels and government forces has included an attack on a military vehicle in the southeastern district of Mindouli that killed two people. The rebels, who fought two civil wars against the government in the 1990s, were seen as having been mostly disbanded after agreeing to a peace accord in 2003. However, sporadic clashes between the two sides have continued ever since.

In October, at least 14 people, including children, were killed in an attack on a train in Mindouli. The assault was blamed on the Ninja rebels. The situation in Congo-Brazzaville had been tense since a constitutional referendum in October 2015 removed a two-term limit on the presidency, allowing the 72-year-old leader to run in the 2016 election.

The rebels are led by a Protestant pastor named Frederic Bintsamou, who his followers call the Prophet. Bintsamou came out in favor of opposition presidential candidate Guy-Brice Parfait Kolelas in elections in March 2016. However, the opposition candidate lost to longtime leader Denis Sassou Nguesso. Sassou Nguesso won re-election in the first round of voting, receiving 60 percent of the votes. The opposition claimed the election was a sham.

Presstv

9, December 2016

Francophone army kills 5 in Kumba ⁰

The Francophone army has killed at least five Southern Cameroonians in Kumba, the chief city in Meme Division in the South West region. The Anglophone freedom fighters were killed today Friday during a protest. Government forces have sealed the city and are currently carrying out what eye witnesses have described as a massacre.

Several other people have been seriously injured in a shootout between the troops and civilians armed with catapults. The Francophone elite forces involved in the operation are performing a precursor operation aimed at getting rid of all forms of Anglophone resistance in the South West region. Our reporter in Kumba has confirmed that two bodies have been identified at the Kumba General Hospital.

By Sonne Peter

9, December 2016

Anglophone Problem: Violence begets violence ⁰

The violence that was served to residents of Bamenda on Thursday, December 9, 2016, following demonstrations in the North West regional capital should not be part of the country’s history if the culture of dialogue and tolerance had been sown in the collective psyche. The negotiating table was also designed for Cameroonians and the country’s government should be promoting this culture that has served other people and stood the test of time. The demonstrations that were started by lawyers were designed to be peaceful until the forces of law and order came to sow disorder. Many lawyers were brutalized and this has drawn the ire and flak of many Anglophones who now hold that the government is not interested in addressing their issues in a peaceful manner. Yesterday’s killings in Bamenda constitute irrefutable proof of the government’s arrogance and determination to push the country into the abyss of violent conflict.

While ordinary, armless and peaceful Anglophones are simply calling for their leaders to listen to them, the government which is supposed to be leading from the front seems to be looking for an excuse to mow down its own citizens and Bamenda did serve yesterday as a training ground for the military to put into practice its own killing skills. Such violence does not create proper room for meaningful dialogue. Taking down your own citizens only makes matters worse. Violence, regardless of the form, only begets violence. If demonstrations by Anglophones are not considered legal, what could have justified the CPDM march that was supposed to take place in Bamenda? Just a few days ago, SDF parliamentarians were blocked in a hotel in Buea just because they wanted to demonstrate their support for the striking Anglophone Cameroonians. If the SDF march in support of angry Anglophone teachers and lawyers was not right, why did CPDM stalwarts think their own march in Bamenda would be considered right and appropriate by a people who feel frustrated and marginalized? Does this not look like a double standard? Why should there be different strokes for different folks? When will the government and ruling party understand that tricks of the past cannot really produce the same results in a new era?

In a genuine democracy, it is normal for frustrated citizens to make their angst known to their leaders without resorting to violence. But when government officials seem to live in an Ivory tower, it becomes challenging for dialogue to actually take place. When will Cameroon government officials come down from their pseudo pedestal of superiority to have frank and meaningful discussions with the people they government? This is not the attitude to develop when running a country with different linguistic blocs and multiple tribes. It is preposterous to hold that unity and peace will always prevail and that weapons will always intimidate the people. Differences of opinion will always exist in such societies, but it is incumbent upon the government to play its role as a stabilizing force. Cameroonians, especially those of Anglophone extraction, sincerely think that there is no true and reliable partner on the other side for them to have real discussions on those issues that have made the union feel and smell like a very bad marriage. In their view, it is hard to achieve anything in their country without taking to the streets. They point to the creation of more universities in 1993 in the country and this only happened after long and painful demonstrations wherein some of their compatriots were killed by the people who weresupposed to protect. Multiparty politics was birthed in bloodshed in Cameroon and the memories of the past are still very fresh. The country is still littered with victims of this period. The psychological and physical scars are still there and the people, especially North-westerners, will surely not forget those bad and ugly days. Such examples only come to strengthen the argument that citizens of this country cannot achieve anything without bloodshed. Some even assert that even the government comes to the negotiating table, it ends up speaking from both sides of its mouth. Isn’t it time for the government to clean up its own act?

Like their Francophone counterparts, Anglophones simply want the government to lend an ear to their cry. They are slowly running out of tears and blood seems to be replacing tears. The need for dialogue is not new in Cameroon. Even in the days of the country’s first president, Anglophones always called for dialogue, although the cries fell on deaf ears and their marginalization and assimilation gathered full momentum when the country’s first president yielded power to the current president.

In a letter to President Ahmadou Ahidjo in 1964, Prof. Bernard Fonlon said that “A traveler on the road stops from time to time to look back and see the ground he has covered; merchants close shops at intervals to take stock; users of machines are bound to service and overhaul them now and again. Thus it is the most natural of things for the people engaged in an enterprise such as this to halt, once in a while, to see how much ground has been covered, to draw up their balance sheet, to service or overhaul, if need be, the machinery of the State.” This implies that both Anglophones and Francophones should come to the table to assess the state of their union. It also implies that Anglophones have been crying for a very long time and the government be it the current or the past one has been totally indifferent to their sorry plight.

Prof. Fonlon like current Anglophones had called for genuine dialogue. He summed up the Anglophone spirit of dialogue in the following words, calling on the government not to view an assessment of the union as a challenge. “We shall call upon you, therefore, brothers and co-builders, to hear us with sympathetic understanding. As I have said, again and again, we are not making this appeal in a fault finding spirit. We are making it because of our love for this country, because of our faith in its destiny, because of our concern for this welfare and prestige. We make it because we are mindful of the solemn words of practical wisdom addressed to all builders in the Sermon on the Mount.”

Cameroon political authorities should lend an ear to their people. Dialogue is the answer. Violence has never addressed any issues. Violence only begets violence. Government authorities can spare this beautiful nation the scourge of war if they embrace dialogue and peaceful resolution of conflicts. Provocations, regardless of the form, only cause problems to escalate.

Dr Joachim Arrey

Cameroon Concord News Group