23, November 2018
Revealed: Yaoundé arrested more Southern Cameroonians after October 7 presidential polls 0
The Biya regime reportedly arrested several Southern Cameroonians in the cities of Douala and Yaounde in what seems to be part of a widened crackdown on English speaking Cameroonians after the rigged presidential elections. Biya’s kinsmen in both the army and the gendarmerie have said that the individuals were planning attacks deep inside French Cameroun territory.
Cameroon Intelligence Report gathered from a police source in Douala that many of the Southern Cameroonians are being detained after calling for a boycott of the October 7 polls in Anglophone Cameroon and took to the streets celebrating when Prof Maurice Kamto declared himself winner of the elections. A sea of bloggers have also been arrested for posting what the regime in Yaoundé described as fake news on the behaviour of the ruling CPDM candidate. At the Obili neighbourhood in Yaounde, some 4 Southern Cameroons teenagers were arrested for destroying CPDM campaign posters. The 4 recently rejected the charges.
Meanwhile, the military tribunal in Yaounde held a secret session late yesterday in a bid to sentence the leader of the Ambazonian nation, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and members of his cabinet who were abducted and forcefully repatriated from Abuja, Nigeria to Cameroon. The Southern Cameroons Interim Head of State and some of his close aides have been moved to the Kondengui High Security prison.
The legitimacy of Mr. Paul Biya’s 7th term has been widely questioned by the international community. Yaoundé has banned all opposition rallies and militarised opposition strong holds in French Cameroun. The Roman Catholic Archbishop of the Douala Diocese, Samuel Kleda pointed out last week that the Biya administration failed to provide conditions for fair and free voting and that the results were arranged even before the elections that took place in a repressive political environment.
Earlier on, a Yaoundé High court sentenced Bibixy Mancho, including several Southern Cameroons activists in what Amnesty International called a “travesty of justice.” Bibixy Mancho who headed the coffin revolution was arrested in Bamenda. The International Crisis Group including many Human rights groups have frequently said cases against Southern Cameroons activists in French Cameroun courts fail to meet the basic standards of fair trials.
Thousands of Ambazonians protesters have held numerous demonstrations in Southern Cameroons on an almost daily basis ever since a popular uprising began to end French Cameroun control of the territory. They are demanding that the United Nations recognise the Federal Republic of Ambazonia as an independent state with headquarters in Buea representing all Southern Cameroonians.
Biya and the Francophone dominated army have gone to great lengths to clamp down on any sign of dissent. Scores of people have lost their lives and hundreds of others sustained injuries or got arrested in a widespread French Cameroun regime crackdown.
By Sama Ernest and Rita Akana in Yaounde
24, November 2018
Battle for Ambazonia: “The situation in Nkambe, Bali, Kembong, Ekok and Wum is very volatile” 0
The French and the United States governments including the Roman Catholic Church should pressure President Biya and his small group of Francophone political elites to stop the war in Southern Cameroons, says an academic and chairman of the Manyu Global Forum Seseskou Dr. Peter Ako adding that the situation in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia is now deplorable.
In a telephone conversation with our senior political man, Soter Agbaw-Ebai late yesterday, Sesekou Dr Ako Peter revealed that the Ambazonian Interim Government (IG) and the Ambazonia Security Council (ASC) were developing a new self defense strategy that will be implemented on Ground Zero soon. He showered praises on the Lebialem Dragons and hinted that there was an urgent need for the IG to order a tactical withdrawal of Restoration Forces in Bali, Batibo including parts of Menchum and Mezam until the new ASC policy goes operational.
“The situation in Nkambe, Bali, Kembong, Ekok and Wum is very volatile. This is nothing new. The French Cameroun government is carrying out raids in these localities in a very brutal manner. I think there is an urgent need for a kind of tactical withdrawal of Restoration Forces. I have endorsed that already in Eyumojock and Akwaya sub constituencies in the Manyu County,” said Sesekou Dr Ako Peter.
“I am not allowed to comment on self defense issues particularly with people of the press. But I want to assure Southern Cameroonians that an inquiry took place on the happenings in Nkambe that was ordered by Acting President Ikome Sako which established the use of helicopters and machine guns by French Cameroun security forces,” Sesekou Dr Ako Peter told Cameroon Concord News Group.
The former MECA USA Chairman also observed that “Whilst the French Cameroun regime is calling these genocidal campaigns a war against separatists, the killing of innocent Southern Cameroons civilians including Christian Missionaries should be condemned internationally and there should be pressure put on the French Cameroun regime to dialogue with the Ambazonian Interim Government.”
By Chi Prudence Asong with files from Soter Agbaw-Ebai