Cameroonians fleeing an increasingly bloody separatist conflict have received little aid as humanitarian agencies struggle to access the area, the United Nations said Tuesday.

More than 200,000 people have fled their homes in the volatile western regions since late last year, in addition to at least 21,000 who have fled into Nigeria, said the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The regions have been gripped by violence since protests by the mainly Francophone country’s Anglophone minority morphed into a secessionist movement last year.

There were no humanitarian agencies in the area before the insurgency, and bad roads, travel restrictions and unpredictable attacks have made it difficult for them to go in, said Modibo Traore, the head of OCHA in Cameroon.

Most of the people who have fled clashes are hiding in the woods, he said. Some have bullet wounds but are afraid to venture into urban areas for medical care.

“The people living in the forest are asking for more assistance, saying that conditions are very difficult,” Traore told Reuters.

“They are sleeping in the open space … in the middle of the rainy season. Many people couldn’t take anything with them.”

OCHA released an emergency response plan in May calling for $15 million to provide food, shelter and other necessities to the displaced, but has received no donations so far, he said.

Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres began to set up mobile clinics this month in the southwest region, it said in a statement. The people it treated were lacking adequate shelter, drinking water and food, it said.

Cameroonian authorities could not immediately be reached for comment. The government published its own humanitarian assistance plan last month, and it was not clear whether aid delivery had begun.

“Because media access … is very limited, we don’t have a full grasp of the kind of suffering that people are actually going through,” said Elizabeth Mpimbaza, a spokeswoman for the U.N. refugee agency in Nigeria.

Those who fled across the border have also received little humanitarian aid, and are surviving because poor local communities are sharing what they have, Mpimbaza said.

Analysts fear violence could increase ahead of an October election in which President Paul Biya is aiming to extend his 36-year rule.

“I am very worried about the situation,” said Traore of OCHA. “Unfortunately, we are not expecting any improvement anytime soon.”

Source: VOA

At least three policemen, including a superintendent, have been killed in fighting between English-speaking separatists and security forces in western Cameroon, local sources said on Tuesday.

The violence, which continued on Tuesday, marks a bloody escalation in a campaign to gain independence for two English-speaking regions from the rest of the French-speaking country.

A local official in Buea, the capital of Southwest Region, said, “two police were killed yesterday [Monday] on the southern part of the city by terrorists.”

A policeman was also kidnapped “and we have no news of him,” the source said. A hospital source gave a higher toll, saying five police and a civilian had died on Monday, and another civilian had been wounded.

On Sunday, a police superintendent in Kumba, a town on the main road out of Buea towards Mamfe, was “slain in cold blood by armed men suspected to be anglophone secessionists,” the official said.

“He was having a drink at home when they killed him,” the source said. The report was confirmed by a local resident.

Separatists in the English-speaking Southwest and Northwest Regions want to break free of the rest of the country, after long protesting at perceived neglect by Cameroon’s francophone rulers.

The campaign began in 2016 with demands for greater autonomy, but radicalised as the authorities refused to make concessions.

After the separatists issued a symbolic declaration of independence last October 1, the authorities responded with a crackdown, and acts of violence and arson attacks on schools are now almost daily occurrences.

According to a government report last month, separatists had killed 74 soldiers and seven police since late 2017 while more than 100 civilians had died “over the past 12 months”.

The United Nations says 160 000 people have been internally displaced and 20 000 have sought refuge in neighbouring Nigeria.

Violence continued on Tuesday in the wake of President Paul Biya’s announcement on Monday before of a presidential election nationwide on October 7.

Biya, at 85 Africa’s longest-serving president, has not made his intentions known. But the main opposition Social Democratic Front (SDF), traditionally associated with the anglophone regions, has designated a candidate, Joshua Osih.

The presence of a large English-speaking minority in Cameroon originates in the colonial period. The former German colony was divided between Britain and France after World War I.

The French colony gained independence in 1960, becoming Cameroon. The following year, the British-ruled Southern Cameroons were amalgamated into it, giving rise to the Northwest and Southwest regions.

Source: AFP

Congolese President Joseph Kabila has put off a planned visit this week by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and refused to see U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, who diplomats said had also separately planned to visit Kinshasa.

Kabila, who succeeded his assassinated father Laurent in 2001, was busy organizing Dec. 23 elections and had to postpone a visit by Guterres and African Union Commission chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat, said Congolese government spokesman Lambert Mende.

“As for Nikki Haley I don’t see why and how the president’s refusal to see her has created so much controversy. Nikki Haley … was already in DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) and she met President Kabila,” Mende said.

Haley met privately with Kabila for 90 minutes in Kinshasa in October, warning him that “a relationship with the United States is dependent on how he acts going forward.” Diplomats said she had planned to visit again this week.

The U.S. mission to the United Nations was not immediately available for comment on Haley’s trip.

“Is it the case that in all African countries in the middle of the electoral process these same visitors come to verify if the preparations are going in the right direction? If yes, they are also welcome in our country,” Mende said.

Kabila’s ‘cat and mouse’ game with elections

Kabila was required by the constitution to step down in December 2016 but the election to replace him has been repeatedly delayed.

Since then, security forces have killed dozens of anti-Kabila protesters while surging militia violence has raised the specter of a repeat of civil wars around the turn of the century that cost millions of lives.

Term limits prevent Kabila from running for office again, but he has refused to publicly commit to leaving office and some of his supporters have recently floated a legal rationale that would allow him to stand again.

Candidates are due to register for the presidential election between July 25 and Aug. 8.

U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said there had been not been any “firm plans” for Guterres to visit Kinshasa. “If and when he’s ready to go there, we’ll let you know,” Haq told reporters on Monday.

Guterres is currently in Ethiopia at the African Union and diplomats said he had planned to visit Democratic Republic of Congo this week. The United Nation’s largest and most expensive peacekeeping mission, known as MONUSCO, is in the country, where some 18,000 U.N. troops and police are deployed.

The Congolese foreign ministry said in a statement that Guterres and Faki “remain welcome in Kinshasa at a date to be agreed on jointly.

REUTERS

Nine members of Tunisia’s security forces were killed on Sunday in an attack in the west of the country close to the border with Algeria, state news agency TAP reported.

Militants present in rural parts of Tunisia occasionally target security forces, but Sunday’s toll was the highest since 2015, a year in which extremist militants carried out three major attacks.

The police unit from Gar Dimaou in the region of Jendouba was ambushed during a regular patrol, TAP reported.

“The terrorist attackers threw a grenade at the first security car and there were confrontations with firearms,” the report cited a security source as saying.

One of the Arab world’s most secular nations, Tunisia became a target for militants after being hailed as a beacon of democratic change with an uprising against autocrat Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011.

Some militants operate in remote areas near the border with Algeria, which has been fighting the remnants of a major extremist insurgency in the 1990s.

Two of the attacks in 2015 were against tourists, the first at a museum in Tunis and the second on a beach in Sousse. The third targeted presidential guards in the capital, killing 12.

All three attacks were claimed by Daesh.

Tourism, after collapsing, has since gradually recovered.

The government has maintained a state of emergency, allowing it greater powers in its attempts to dismantle militant networks.

(Source: Reuters)

18 Anglophones were transferred yesterday from Buea Central Prison to Kondengui Prison, Yaounde. These 18 detainees are currently detained in ‘Kosovo’, a section of Kondengui maximum security prison.

They have been kept in tight chains and were brutally tortured last night by prison guards who repeatedly called them Ambazonians. This prompted a strike action in prison by other Anglophone inmates today. One of them has a decaying wound; another is suffering with a broken arm.

As a result of pressure and the strike action by other Anglophone inmates, the prison registrar said, orders from hierarchy demanded him to keep the detainees in chains for observation.

This is a repeated pattern of treatment upon Southern Cameroonians and alleged separatists, none of their rights are respected, presumption of innocence seems not to exist and authorities act with impunity.

List of 18 Anglophones transferred to Kondengui maximum security prison, Yaounde on July 2, 2018.

14 were transferred from Buea central prison to Kondengui, Yaounde and 4 were transferred from SED to Kondengui.

1) TATI ERIC NGU

2) HARRIS BOSEME

3) NKWETATO ROBERT

4) IKOE CLINTON

5) ACHA IVO ABEN

6) JOHN MARINUS NDENGE

7) OBEN FRANKLINE TABOT

8) EYONG CHARLES

9) EFFIA GIDEON

10) ORDEMA FRANCIS

11) AGBOR TAKU JOSEPH

12) AWU GREGORY ASHU

13) TANYI ROBERT TATAW

14) JONG ORLANDUS

15) NJEYA JUKIUS BAWE

16) KUM NESTOR

17) AYUKEM FRANKLIN

18) FONJONG ARMSTRONG

By Barrister Agbor Nkongho

CENTRE for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa

Cameroonian refugees have received relief materials consisting of rice, salt, tin tomatoes, detergent, maggie seasoning, cooking oil and toiletries worth thousands of naira from a non Governmental Organisation, Rhema Care Integrated Development Centre.

Speaking after the donation at the weekend in Ekpuk Community, Mkpat Enin Local government Area, Mr Eric Shu, Chief Executive Officer, Rhema Care Integrated Development Centre, said the organisation was moved by the plight of refugees in the camp.

Noting that the relief materials would go a long way to improve the living condition of the refugees, Shut added that the donation was in line with the objectives of the NGO to render assistance to the poor and vulnerable ones, as well as transform deprived communities in Africa.

He said the Centre was also involved in establishing projects like borehole, shelter and construction of schools to enable deprived persons feel accepted in the community.

“Rhema Care has been working in Nigeria with the poor and vulnerable population in various areas in Nigeria.

“When we heard of the refugees situation in Nigeria, with Cameroonians coming in, we felt that this is our area of operation. So, we initiated an intervention; Akwa Ibom is one of those areas we are intervening.

“Even when the National commission for refugees and United Nation have registered the refugees in Akwa Ibom, not all were registered.

“Apart from the relief materials, we are also looking at the areas of water, sanitation and hygiene for this community. We believe that we would be able to rehabilitate the borehole that has been completely blocked; there is also the issue of shelter and education, ” he said.

He commended the indigenes of Ekpuk community for their hospitality towards the refugees, and appealed that they should not relent in their humanitarian gesture.

Also speaking, the National Coordinator, Bakassi IDPs in Akwa Ibom Mr Aston Joseph, said the political unrest in Cameroon led many Cameroonians to migrate into Nigeria.

Advising the refugees to be law abiding, maintain the peace and unity which has been in existence in the state, before their arrival, Joseph said, “Since October 2017, there had been a serious political unrest in Cameroon, that made many Cameroonians to migrate into Nigeria and some of them are Nigerians who were born and brought up in Cameroon.”

The Chairman of the Ekpuk community, Mr Sunday Mboso, commended Rhema Care Integrated Development Centre,  for their kind gesture in providing assistance to the refugees.

“I want to thank Rhema Care Integrated Development Centre for helping the people. it is not an easy task and God will continue to bless you people.

“I also want to assure you that the refugees will always be accepted and protected in the community,” he said.

In their appreciation, Miss Epolle Njume, one of the leaders in the camp and a beneficiary, thanked the organisation for the assistance rendered to them.

She appealed to other NGOs and philanthropic organisations to emulate the Rhema Centre and provide youths in the camp with skills to empower them to be self-reliance.

“I am so delighted, but we still have other challenges like where to sleep, food, as well as lack of medical assistance. We are also pleading that the State Government and other agencies help us by training us to acquire skills that will enable us take care of ourselves,” she said.

Culled from Oracle News

The Federal Government says it will commence the voluntary repatriation of over 91,000 Nigerian refugees from Cameroon in July. Hajiya Sadiya Farouk, the Federal Commissioner, National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons, disclosed this on June 20 at the occasion commemorating the 2018 World Refugees Day in Abuja. She said that the Federal Government, Cameroon and UNHCR had signed a Tripartite Agreement in March 2, 2017, which inaugurated the Tripartite Commission with an advanced Technical Working Group to ensure the modality for their return.

According to her, the Technical Working Group has concluded concrete operational modalities and support measures, including setting the timetable and procedures to ensure the safe, dignified, voluntary return and sustainable reintegration of Nigerian refugees from Cameroon.

“All things being equal,” she said, “the voluntary repatriation should commence in July 2018.” She further said that Nigeria is presently hosting 1960 urban refugees, 809 Asylum seekers persons from Africa, Middle East, Asia and Europe respectively.

Jose Antonio-Canhandula, Country Representative, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Nigeria, said that Nigeria has more Internally Displaced Persons than refugees in the country.

He urged all humanitarian partners to find durable solutions to put an end to human want, stating that human beings should not be eternally dependent on humanitarian assistance.

Halima Ahmed, Commissioner for Finance, ECOWAS Commission, said that addressing the plight of refugees, IDPs and other vulnerable groups were part of the major concern of ECOWAS commission.

Ahmed said: “The ECOWAS Commission is committed to preventing causes of displacement through our various political and diplomatic processes as well as mitigating and alleviating the suffering of our displaced populations in the ECOWAS space. She added that In responding to these situations, the ECOWAS Commission has provided assistance in food and financial aid to displaced populations in the North East of Nigeria.

Source: NTA News

Zimbabwea’s Emmerson Mnangagwa has reportedly said that a group linked to former first lady Grace Mugabe could be behind an explosion that rocked a stadium where he addressed his Zanu-PF supporters on Saturday.

The blast came as Zimbabwe prepared to hold its first post-Mugabe presidential election on July 30, with 75-year-old Mnangagwa and 40-year-old Nelson Chamisa, the leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, the main contenders.

Authorities gave no details of what had caused the explosion at Mnangagwa’s first rally in Bulawayo, an opposition stronghold where the ruling ZANU-PF has not won in national elections since 2000.

According to BBC, Mnangagwa said he suspected that a group called the Generation 40 (G40), which supported Grace for presidency, was responsible for the explosion.

Mnangagwa further said that investigations were still under way and those behind the attack will soon be apprehended.

Mr Mnangagwa described wife to Mugabe as someone who has in the past directly insulted him

“On what basis would I trust someone who was used by a cabal to say things that had no basis?” he asked.

Despite the apparent attempt on his life, Mr Mnangagwa said there would be no countrywide security clampdown and elections scheduled for next month would go ahead in a free and fair manner.

Zimbabwe was stable and that foreign investors should not worry, he said.

Source: Africa News

Following the crisis in Southern Cameroons, the Cross River State is currently playing host to over 21, 000 refugees.

The representative of the Federal Commissioner, National Commission for Migrants, Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons, Mr. Ayasanya Akintunde said this in Ikom as the world celebrated the 2018 World Refugee Day, with the theme “We Stand with the Refugees”.

He said millions of people are displaced from their country due to conflicts and other factors and “Nigeria is playing host to about 21, 000 refugees from neighboring Cameroon Republic.”

Akintunde expressed the hope that “the crisis will be resolved timely to enable the refugees return home”, while urging their host communities to continue to give them support in the spirit of humanity.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) Field Officer, Mr. Muhammed Nasry said the agency is doing everything within its powers to provide succour for the refugees, migrants and asylum seekers,

He said the world refugee day is a time to recognize the humanity of refugees and called for positive actions from stakeholders that can alleviate their plight.

Muhammed stated that, “getting laws and policies right is vital, but it is local people that are on the frontline when refugees arrive and whose welcome makes the difference between rejection and inclusion, between despair and hope and between being left behind and building a future”.

On his part, Head of Ikom Local Government Administration, Mr. Julius Adie, the Divisional Immigration Officer (DIO), Amor Austine, the Judge of the High Court, Justice Obojor Ogar told the refugees to be law abiding and to feel free to explore all available channels of communication to register their complaints and assured the Cameroonian refugees of adequate security and protection.

Representative of the refugees, Mr. Tabe Karim urged the United Nations to step in fully to resolve the problem in Cameroon to enable them return home and continue their normal lives.

Culled from The Guardian

Seven Islamist militants surrendered to Algerian authorities on Wednesday near the North African country’s border with Mali, the defence ministry said.

Security forces recovered arms including six Kalashnikov assault rifles, the ministry said in a statement.

Violence has declined in Algeria since the 1990s, when a conflict between the state and Islamist insurgents killed an estimated 200,000 people.

Reuters