Members of the diplomatic corps in Cameroon on Wednesday urged President Paul Biya to settle the ongoing conflict in the two English-speaking regions of Northwest and Southwest of the country through “inclusive dialogue.”

“The diplomatic corps counts on your wisdom to offer a peaceful and lasting solution to the current crisis in the Northwest and Southwest regions of the country,” Paul Patrick Biffot, Gabonese ambassador to Cameroon and head of the diplomatic corps in Cameroon said.

Biffot made the remarks when talking with Biya during a traditional ceremony at the presidency to wish the president happy new year.

“Open and inclusive dialogue and dedicated role of the civil society and the implementation of the recommendations of the National Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism and Multi-culturalism will be in our view an important element of such a process.” Biffot added.

He praised the president for liberating some 289 Anglophone detainees and expressing willingness to accelerate the decentralization process but insisted that “more needs to be done”.

“We take this opportunity to plead for the improved access of humanitarian actors to Northwest and Southwest regions. We stand ready to accompany your country to achieve lasting stability and peace and to support the reforms you may wish to implement,” Biffot said.

During his end-of-year speech to the nation, President Biya said he was ready to continue dialogue with “people of goodwill” in the troubled regions but warned that armed separatists unwilling to drop their arms will be “neutralized.”

Anglophone armed separatists fighting to secede from Francophone-majority Cameroon and create a new nation called “Ambazonia” have been clashing with government forces since November 2017.

Source: Xinhuanet

Southern Cameroonians while commemorating the abduction of 12 of their nationals on January 5, 2018 have called for the unconditional release of all their abducted citizens. They made the call in a peaceful protest and one million Twitter tweets in their various countries, stating that the activists were arrested over one year ago.

In a statement to LEADERSHIP signed by Nfor James Abinda in Anambra state, it stated that January 5 2018- January 5 2019 is a year already since the abduction of Southern Camerouns Pro independence activists. He said “those abducted by alleged Nigerian secret security and deported, in violation of the international law of non-refoulement include Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe,  Dr Cornelius Kwanga Barr. Shufai Blaise Berinyuy,  Tassang Wilfred, Dr Kimeng Henry, Dr Nfor Ngala Nfor,  Dr Fidelis Ndeh Che,Dr Ogork Ntui,  Professor Awasum Augustine,  Barr. Eyambe Elias and Dr Ojong Okongork.

He recalled that amidst world outcries, the deportees were held incommunicado for 9 months before making their first public appearance at the Yaounde military court in December 2018. “Some of their conditions include the unconditional release of all Southern Cameroonians held in prisons, withdrawal of French Cameroon military and civil administrators from Southern Cameroons, and a neutral ground for negotiations in the presence of a third party notably the UN, USA, UK among others”.

Their next court appearance in the military court is scheduled for January 10th 2019. Given insight to the crises in Cameroun since 2016, Abinda said “The silence of the United Nations(UN) the African Union (AU), the Economic Community of West  African States (ECOWAS) and the powers that be, to ensure the rights of the people of the British Southern Cameroons is respected is what gradually degenerated into the crisis happening in Cameroon since 2016.”

He maintained that in the wake of all these experiences, Southern Cameroonians, have continued to pursue diplomacy and legal action for the UN resolution 1608 of 1961 that granted their independence be respected. Abinda added that since November 2017, there has been continuous influx of Southern Cameroons refugees into Nigeria, with the figure now standing at over 150,000 though the number registered under the UNHCR is still far below 50,000. “They are found in about 14 refugee settlements in Cross River, Benue and Taraba, Ogun, Lagos, Nassarawa, state and Abuja. More keep coming into Nigeria as the war that was declared by Paul Biya on November 30th 2017 continues with worsened Humanitarian situations’ He  further revealed  that the Interim Government of Southern Cameroons with the appellation “The Federal Republic of Ambazonia” had extended a hand for the negotiations to end the war.

Source: Leadership.ng

Cameroon army said on Sunday it had killed two armed separatist commanders in Southwest, one of the war-torn English-speaking regions of the country.

“The ‘general Obi’, whose group terrorized the populations of the localities of Mamfe, Okoyong, Bachuo Ntai, Bachuo Akaegbe, and Nchemba was neutralized early morning of January 6, 2019,” the army said in a statement.

The operation conducted by Cameroon elite force, Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR), also neutralized “general Eyong”, one of the separatist commanders, according to the army.

“Their camp was destroyed and some weapons recovered or destroyed,” the army said. Locals interviewed by Xinhua said “several” other separatist fighters and government forces were killed during the attack.

The army raids came about a week after Cameroon President Paul Biya warned during end-of-year address to the nation that the armed separatists would be “neutralized” if they did not drop their weapons and “follow the right track.”

Clashes between government forces and armed separatist groups has been going on since November 2017 after the separatists declared the independence of a nation called “Ambazonia” in the two English-speaking regions of Northwest and Southwest.

According to the United Nations, more than 430,000 Cameroonians have been displaced internally and at least 30,000 others have fled to neighboring Nigeria since the conflict started.

Xinhuanet

Nigeria’s foremost human rights lawyer Femi Falana SAN has dragged the government of Cameroon to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Banjul, The Gambia over the impending trial of 47 asylum seekers and naturalised Nigerians.

The lawyer wants the commission’s urgent intervention to end “the ongoing human rights violations of the applicants who were forcibly returned to Cameroon by the Nigerian authorities.” Falana is asking “the Chairperson and the Bureau to urgently hold an extra-ordinary session of the African Commission to address the illegal and unfair return of 47 refugees and asylum seekers, and the continuing violations of the rights of the returnees by the government of Cameroon.

“We also urge the Chairperson of the Commission to speak out strongly and condemn the unfair treatment of the returnees by the government of Cameroon, and request the government to immediately release them from unlawful detention.”

The petition read in part: “Cameroon has ratified the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. At the request of the Government of Cameroon the Nigerian authorities illegally and unfairly returned 47 refugees and asylum seekers to Cameroon on Friday, January 26, 2018. The returnees are mostly leaders of the people of Southern Cameroon and who have been living in Nigeria with their families for years.”

“Some of them have been granted political asylum while others were asylum seekers in Nigeria. On Saturday, 7th January 2018, the Applicants assembled to meet in Abuja to discuss the problems being encountered by several Cameroonian asylum seekers in Nigeria but before the commencement of the meeting security personnel from Nigeria arrested the Applicants and took them to an underground detention centre in a military barracks in Abuja.”

“While the Applicants were detained in Nigeria, they were denied access to their family members, friends, lawyers and doctors. However, the representative of the United Nations Commissioner for Refugees was allowed to visit the Applicants.”

“When the Applicants’ lawyers received information of the plan to deport them to Cameroon, they rushed to the Federal High Court in Abuja to stop the illegal plan. The Applicants also reached out to the Comptroller-General of Immigration, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the office of the United Nations Commissioner for Refugees in Nigeria.”

“As soon as the Office of the United Nations Commissioner for Refugees in Nigeria confirmed the information it dispatched a letter to the government of Nigeria pointing out that Nigeria has a legal obligation under international law not to deport the detained Cameroonians.”

“But in a demonstration of reckless impunity, the government of Cameroon pressured the Nigerian authorities to hand over the refugees. They were handed over to the Cameroonian security forces who forcefully took them away from Nigeria on Friday, January 26, 2018.”

“On account of the illegality of the deportation, the government of Nigeria could not announce that the refugees had been expelled from Nigeria but the Government of Cameroon decided to celebrate the deportation and threatened to prosecute the deportees for terrorism. We submitted a letter to the Office of the High Commissioner of Cameroon to Nigeria in Abuja to request for access to the Applicants who are currently held incommunicado in Cameroon. The request has to date not been granted by Cameroon.”

“Nigeria has no extradition treaty with Cameroon. Hence, the deportation was carried out outside the ambit of the extradition laws of Nigeria and Cameroon and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.”

“In removing the Applicants from Nigeria, the government of Cameroon breached the human rights of the Applicants to enter Nigeria, reside, seek and obtain asylum guaranteed by Article 12 (3) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The government of Cameroon also breached article 12 (4) of the African Charter, which provides that every individual shall have the right, when persecuted to seek and obtain asylum in other countries in accordance with the laws of those countries and international conventions.”

“Apart from the violation of the African Charter, the government of Cameroon breached its legal obligations under the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1969 Organization of African Unity Convention on Refugees and which have guaranteed the rights of refugees and asylum seekers in Nigeria to protection.”

“The Applicants are the leaders of the movement agitating for the creation of the Republic of Ambazonia from Cameroon. In 2002, the Applicants filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja to determine whether the people of Southern Cameroon were not entitled to self-determination within their clearly defined territory separate from the Republic of Cameroon. The government of Nigeria decided to settle the case out of court.”

“By a consent judgment delivered by the Court on March 5, 2002, the government of Nigeria agreed to file a suit at the International Court of Justice to have a judicial confirmation of the human right of the people of Southern Cameroon to self-determination. The government of Nigeria also undertook to take other measures as may be necessary to place the case of the people of Southern Cameroon for self-determination before the United Nations General Assembly and other international organizations.”

“The Applicants are not soldiers, but civilians. Even though they are not military men, the government of Cameroon has decided to try them before a military tribunal. The military tribunal to try the Applicants has since been constituted by the government of Cameroon.”

“Upon the arrival of the Applicants in Cameroon and without any investigation whatsoever, the government of Cameroon announced that they would be tried for terrorism. The Applicants have been detained illegally from January –November, 2018.”

“The Applicants have since been arraigned for terrorism before a military tribunal specially constituted for the purpose of persecuting them even though they have never engaged in terrorist activities in Cameroon.”

“The trial of the Applicants is scheduled to commence in Cameroon on January 10, 2019 whereas their lawyers who are based in Nigeria have been denied access to them and the opportunity to defend them.”

“It is the case of the Applicants that they had left Cameroon with their families and have been living in Nigeria where that had applied for asylum. Thus, by removing them from Nigeria the government of Cameroon has separated the Applicants from their family members who have been left behind in Nigeria.”

Source: NAN

The Cameroon government army has repeatedly claimed that its war in Southern Cameroons is simply against Ambazonian separatists and that it has been so careful in who it targets in its military operations. The Yaoundé regime military’s assertion is a stunning underestimation of the true human cost of French Cameroun 2-year-old war against the English speaking minority. A 6-month-long investigation by the Cameroon Concord News Group has found that Cameroon government soldiers are killing civilians in Southern Cameroons at a rate 20 times higher than its military spokesperson is admitting.

From Dadi to Batibo and from Menji to Weh including Belo, Munyenge, Kwa Kwa, Bekora and many other areas where the French Cameroun army had carried out raids against targets ostensibly linked to the Ambazonian Restoration Forces, we found that the Biya regime did not even reported how many civilians had died in the shootings.

The Cameroon army is yet to acknowledge the killing of even one Southern Cameroons civilian. Several innocent civilians killed by Francophone army soldiers weren’t counted among the deaths in a document that was made public by Defense Minister Joseph Beti Assomo.

This raises many troubling issues about the war currently going on in Southern Cameroons.  The Cameroon government army is also greatly underreporting the number of military casualties. That also raises questions about how many soldiers the Ambazonian fighters might be killing in Southern Cameroons. Cameroon Concord News gathered from civilians and local leaders that killing of Southern Cameroons civilians by the French Cameroun army is serving as a push for Ambazonia Restoration Forces recruitment.

The Biya war keeps killing Southern Cameroon civilians

The Cameroon military has a civilian casualty’s problem. For example, even the names of the American and Kenyan missionaries killed by government troops did not appear on Minister Beti Assomo’s list.  Yet, Francophone government officials acknowledge, they take the necessary precautions to ensure civilians aren’t casualties of the Ambazonia war — even though they are.

Despite claims that Yaoundé has a well organized army; it still cannot stop killing noncombatants because the French Cameroun leadership chooses to fight the Ambazonian restoration forces deep inside towns and villages and not in their assembly areas in the bushes. It is inevitable that civilians have become collateral damage.

By Chi Prudence Asong

Our chief intelligence officer in the Lebialem County  has admitted that French Cameroun troops did not kill a senior Red Dragons Commander, Lekeaka Oliver known popularly as “Field Marshall” during an helicopter gun battle that the Biya CPDM crime syndicate made a talking point for success in the two-year war in Southern Cameroons.

Ambazonian Communications Secretary, Hon. Chris Anu told Southern Cameroonians recently that the Field Marshal is alive and leading military operations in the Lebialem County and even beyond. Our sources deep within the Cameroon government military also observed that the Francophone leadership was not able to confirm that Field Marshal was killed, although the army announced through its propaganda web site that Field Marshal was dead. The same web site had reported some years ago that the Cameroon army had killed Abubakar Sheku the Boko Haram leader.

Earlier intelligence from members of the Minister Tasong family led Yaoundé to believe Field Marshal had been killed. The Cameroon government army has intentionally avoided walking back its high-profile assessment of the fighting in the Lebialem County. The army said in a recent communiqué addressed to President Biya that it is targeting Red Dragons assembly areas in Lebialem.

Colonel Badjeck who also moonlights as the Cameroon army spokesperson has avoided questions on the killing of Field Marshal. We understand the modus operandi of the Red Dragons is much more complicated and provides for many ministers of war.

The Francophone dominated army, along with its corrupt leaders noted recently that the killing of the Field Marshal had dealt a significant blow to the Red Dragons. People in the know in Yaoundé have also openly opined that the army had intentionally withheld information indicating that it had not actually killed Lekeaka Oliver.

A newly announced reinforcement of French Cameroun troops to areas in Manyu near General Elokobi Njock’s village, to be used as a staging ground for attacks on Lebialem, will arrive relatively quickly, CIR has been informed.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from Sama Ernest and Rita Akana

The convoy of the Governor of the North West region came under attack late last night as he was returning from church service, security sources have said.

At least one soldier was injured in the course of the attack but security forces succeeded to ferry the Governor safely home.

Sources say Adolphe Lele LAfrique’s convoy was attacked at 19h15 local time as he was returning from the Catholic Church Mulang where he had just attended cross over service.

Over 20 Ambazonia separatist fighters had erected barricades on the road which prompted a shootout before they retreated to their hideouts.

Police Inspector Fossi Frankline was the only member of the security forces injured in the course of the attack while it is difficult to determine if there were casualties on the part of the armed separatists.

Journal du Cameroun

Cameroon’s President Paul Biya said he will instruct the army to “neutralize the separatist groups” in the central African nation’s English-speaking regions if they refuse to participate in the government’s disarmament program.

“If my appeal to warmongers to lay down their weapons remains unheeded, the defense and security forces will be instructed to neutralize them,” Biya said in his New Year’s address to the nation broadcast on state TV CRTV on Monday. “I am very sensitive to their worries about their safety and their aspirations for a return to calm and normal social life.”

The conflict has left at least 400 people dead since it began two years ago. Biya started his seventh term in office last month with a call to the separatist groups to end the bloody insurgency while promising greater autonomy for the Anglophone Southwestern and Northwestern regions.

The only country in Africa with both English and French as official languages, Cameroon was split after World War I into a French-run zone and a smaller British-controlled area. They were unified in 1961, but the English-speaking minority, about a fifth of the population, has complained of marginalization for decades.

Source: Bloomberg.com