Cameroon’s military has killed at least 30 separatists in two days of intense fighting in the turbulent English-speaking North West region, a military spokesman said Wednesday.

The military freed people held by separatists during its two-day operation, military spokesman Col. Didier Badjeck said Wednesday. Fighting was intense in the Mayo Binka area near Nkambe, he said. While no soldiers have been killed, he said the death toll for armed separatists may increase, as fighters escape into the bush.

In a separate incident, the mayor of Nwa, a local council in the same region, was found dead Wednesday and he is believed to have been killed by separatists, said Emmanuel Bunyui, the mayor of the nearby town of Ndu. Many mayors in English-speaking regions have been targeted by armed separatists demanding an independent English-speaking state, which they call Ambazonia.

“When we hoist the Cameroon flag in the council premises, we are targeted by the armed men who insist that we should instead display their blue and white flag,” Bunyui said.

These incidents have highlighted the separatist unrest in Cameroon, which began in 2016, when English-speaking teachers and lawyers in the northwest and southwest staged demonstrations calling for reforms, criticizing what they called the marginalization of the Anglophone population, which accounts for about one-fifth of the country’s 25 million people.

Violence increased after factions of separatists armed themselves following a government clampdown on protests in 2017. Armed separatists have vowed to destabilize the regions and hundreds of civilians have been killed and dozens of schools have been burned and teachers threatened.

In the past year, more than 1,200 people including separatists, police, military and gendarmes have been killed in the fighting, according to military spokesman Badjeck.

Recently 79 students and three staff were kidnapped from a school by suspected separatists, and they have all now been released.

More than 100 civilians have escaped the violence and fled to the capital, Yaounde.

“I am just going to nowhere. I am afraid,” said Kenneth Kongyu, 19, who joined 75 other people who walked 60 kilometers (37 miles) for two days to escape violence in Ndu, Bunyui’s town. “When they come to the market, they shoot from every angle.”

Tatah Oscar, 17, said he is a former fighter. He said many young Cameroonians are joining the separatists because their families have been killed by military “so they don’t have somebody to count on again … I am pleading on the government to try and solve the problem so that we the youths we can go back to school.”

Col. Badjeck, however, said “Most of the time the terrorists operate and hide among civilians and the world has an impression that civilians are being killed, but our military is professional.”

In November last year, Cameroonian President Paul Biya declared the crisis a war. Biya was re-elected to his seventh term in October, although few votes were cast in war-torn Anglophone regions.

Politicians have repeatedly called on Biya to initiate dialogue to stem the violence. The 85-year-old president, who has ruled Cameroon since 1982, has repeatedly stated that Cameroon is one and indivisible and that he is not ready to negotiate.

The conflict poses a serious challenge for Cameroon, a close U.S. security ally in combating extremism and a new member of the U.N. Human Rights Council. The United Nations have condemned both the Cameroon military and separatists for using unnecessary and excessive force and Amnesty International criticized the “horrific escalation of violence” in English-speaking regions.

Nearly a quarter-million more people have fled the ongoing violence, many leaving their homes on foot with their belongings teetering on their heads.

AP

Cameroon’s restive English-speaking regions are emptying out after renewed military raids on separatist strongholds left at least 30 people dead in two days. The renewed fighting comes barely a week after President Paul Biya, during his inauguration ceremony, warned rebels to drop their guns or be killed. Thousands of fleeing civilians are arriving in Yaounde.

Nso and Wimbum people, from the English-speaking northwest region of Cameroon, sing and dance to welcome some of the thousands of people who fled fighting in their villages.

Nineteen-year-old businessman Kenneth Kongyu says he fled in a group of 75 as the military clashed with Anglophone separatists who want to form an independent state they call “Ambazonia.”

“So when we arrived in Berr, we saw about 300 people there. They were even asking me, where am I going let them join me? I said I am just going to nowhere,” he said. “I am afraid, they are killing people every day, both the Ambazonia fighters and the military. When they come to the market, they shoot from every angle.”

Cameroon’s military spokesperson Colonel Didier Badjeck on Wednesday said the death toll from clashes the last few days had increased to more than 30, all of them separatists.

Ambazonian Defense Force spokesman Ivo Tapang told Reuters news agency only two separatist fighters died while their forces killed 13 government troops.

Seventeen-year-old Oscar Tatah says he is a former separatist fighter. He says he was nearly killed when the military attacked their training camp of 80 young fighters in Nkambe.

“Some are joining because they have killed their family members, their father, maybe their mother or their father or their brothers. So, they don’t have somebody to count on again. That is the reason why some are joining. I am pleading on the government to try and solve the problem so that we, the youths, we can go back to school,” said Tatah.

Elvis Tardze, a community leader from Nkambe, notes police often suspect displaced people of being separatist supporters and search their houses.

“People need to continuously cluster together, sensitizing each person or each member of each group or community to do the right thing and doing the right thing is to respect the law and follow the norms. They should avoid being exposed to circumstances. They should be law-abiding,” he said.

During his inauguration on November 6, President Paul Biya told fighters to drop their guns or be killed. He promised to pardon those who stopped fighting.

Political analyst Gabriel Suh says the rebels are showing no signs of surrendering. He says Cameroon may be in for carnage if Biya does not negotiate with the separatists, whose leaders live in exile.

“Why can the government not invite those in the diaspora to come to the negotiating table where there is no intimidation? They can talk one to one, ask them what they need, what they want and what they do not want. We should dialogue amicably,” said Suh.

Some political leaders have called on Biya to initiate dialogue with the separatists. But Biya — who has ruled Cameroon for 36 years — has refused any talks on Cameroon becoming a divided state.

Cameroon, a former French colony, has been troubled by unrest since separatists in two English-speaking regions in 2016 said they wished to form a new country.

Biya declared war on them, calling them terrorists for attacks that killed government troops.

In January, Cameroon extradited from Nigeria the self-proclaimed leader of Ambazonia, Ayuk Tabe Julius, along with 47 of his supporters.

Since then, separatists have been attacking schools, killing and kidnapping teachers, students, and workers to make the English-speaking regions ungovernable.

Culled from the VOA

We live in fear and are traumatised by the fighting in Bamenda. This once peaceful and lively city in Cameroon has become a battleground between government forces and rebels demanding an independent state for the central African nation’s English-speaking minority.

More than half the city’s population of about 400,000 have fled their homes in the last few months, either to safer neighbourhoods or to mainly French-speaking towns and cities unaffected by the conflict.

Protests over the increasing use of French in courts and schools in Cameroon’s English-speaking heartlands, the North-West and South-West regions, morphed into violence in 2017.

A security force crackdown led to some English-speaking civilians taking up arms against the government, led by the French-speaking President Paul Biya.

‘Shot for smoking marijuana’

Now, the sound of gunfire has become familiar, even to two-year-olds, as has the sight of abandoned corpses on the streets of Bamenda, the city with the biggest English-speaking population in Cameroon.

The government says the separatists are “terrorists” who are causing widespread destruction

The image of four boys shot dead by troops just 200m (656ft) from my home has stuck with me.

They were ordinary boys in my neighbourhood who, unfortunately, were caught smoking marijuana, an activity the security forces associate with separatist fighters.

‘Lots of kidnappings’

The security forces are also suspicious of teenagers with dreadlocks or those who look unkempt. It is assumed they have come to the city after receiving military training in the bush.

Even stout men like me arouse suspicion – the logic of the security forces is that if you are well-built, the chances of you being a fighter are greater.

And many parents beg their teenage sons to stop wearing red bandanas or a combination of red and black clothes because the security forces could mistake them for separatist fighters. The colours are associated with the rebels.

Armed groups have sprouted in Bamenda and neighbouring towns. Some of them are made up of separatist fighters, while others are criminal gangs which have exploited the instability.

It is not always clear who is behind attacks, but there are lots of kidnappings of schoolchildren, politicians and other high-profile personalities who, in most cases, are released after a ransom is paid.

Students ‘sneak into schools’

In the latest kidnapping, 80 school pupils, their principal and a teacher were freed after being seized from their school about a week ago.

Separatist fighters denied involvement, but the government blamed them for the abductions.

Tens of thousands of children have been sent by their parents to schools in safer cities and towns.

Separatists have ordered the closure of all schools until the government agrees to hold a referendum on whether the mainly English-speaking regions should become independent.

The security forces have been unable to provide security at schools

A few schools have remained open, but attendance has fallen sharply. In schools where there were around 8,000 pupils there are now 700.

The few brave children who still go to school do so surreptitiously. They do not wear uniforms, and stroll down roads as if they are going to the market before sneaking into classrooms.

Last month, an American missionary and a university professor were also killed in the space of three days in Bamenda.

The main mortuary is often full, mostly with the corpses of civilians caught up in the fighting between the separatists and the military.

No neighbourhood is safe, and I cannot remember the last time I visited my friends. It is as though we have been caged. Sometimes, we are forced to stay at home for days because of battles on the streets.

Cameroon – still divided along colonial lines:

Africa’s borders were “carved up” up by colonial powers

• Colonised by Germany in 1884
• British and French troops force Germans to leave in 1916
• Cameroon is split three years later – 80% goes to the French and 20% to the British
• French-run Cameroon becomes independent in 1960
• Following a referendum, the (British) Southern Cameroons join Cameroon, while Northern Cameroons join English-speaking Nigeria

 Cameroon’s descent towards civil war

We are on edge all the time. I recall returning home from the gym at around 17:45 one day. People were running helter-skelter.

I was perplexed. “Probably there’s a gun battle ahead of me,” I thought, as I advanced cautiously towards the source of the disturbance.

The commotion grew as I approached Nkwen Market, a hotspot in Bamenda. There was a huge traffic jam and I could see people frantically fleeing the streets.

I knew I was taking a risk but had no option other than to go through the market to get home.

Markets in Bamenda remain busy during the day

I learnt later that the regional governor had changed the time of the curfew. It was no longer from 21:00 to 05:00 but from 18:00 to 06:00.

There was no prior warning, so people were rushing to get home, fearing that they would be shot by the security forces if they were still on the streets at 18:00.

‘Roads cut off’

The curfew is intended to restrict the activities of separatist fighters, who take advantage of the darkness to carry out attacks on the security forces.

The conflict has destroyed Bamenda’s nightlife. Some of the city’s off-licences and nightclubs – which were famed to be among the best in Cameroon – have closed down. Others have relocated to French-speaking cities.

The insecurity is even worse in Kumbo, the largest city in the North-West after Bamenda. The two cities – about 110km (70 miles) apart – have been cut off from each other. Separatist fighters are said to have destroyed a bridge, and have also strewn the road with felled trees and large rocks.

Kumbo gets its supplies from Bamenda and my relatives there tell me that its markets have been shut for more than three weeks following fighting between the security forces and separatists.

‘Working days changed’

The separatists also impose what they call “ghost towns”. They are typically observed on Mondays when nothing functions – markets, courts and offices are shut, and vehicles remain parked.

A road damaged by fighting in Bamenda has made it difficult for rubbish to be collected

Many companies have therefore made Saturday a working day to compensate for the lost Monday, but sometimes the separatists order a shutdown for the entire week.

The situation is even worse in small towns like Bafut, Bali, Batibo, Bambui, and Bambili where fierce battles break out, forcing civilians to escape into the bush.

Hundreds of people – civilians, separatists and soldiers – have been killed and about 436,000 have been displaced in the North-West and South-West, with fears that the number will rise as fighting escalates.

I, myself, am under pressure from my family to leave – if not for my sake then for my children’s.

I have resisted the pressure so far, hoping that the government and secessionists make a peace deal so that our lives can return to normal.

Culled from the BBC

At least 15 people have been killed in a new bout of fighting between Cameroon army troops and separatist rebels, the two sides said on Tuesday, in a rise in violence since President Paul Biya won a seventh term in power in October.

The conflict between Anglophone separatists, who want to create an independent state called Ambazonia, and government forces has killed more than 400 people in western Cameroon since last year and has emerged as Biya’s greatest security problem in nearly four decades of rule.

The two sides often provide conflicting accounts of the fighting, but both have reported heavier casualties in recent weeks, with dozens killed.

Twenty-three separatists have been killed in clashes with government troops since Nov. 10 near the town of Nkambe in Cameroon’s English-speaking Northwest region, while another six have been killed in nearby Ndu, Army representative Didier Badjeck said.

Ivo Tapang, spokesman for the Ambazonian Defence Force, one of the main Anglophone secessionist militias, confirmed that fighting had occurred in Nkambe, but disputed Badjeck’s account.

He said ADF troops had encircled a government army truck near Nkambe after it was overturned by a roadside bomb on Saturday.

“Two of our fighters were killed and we killed 13 of them,” he said.

The fighting follows clashes on Oct. 23 that killed at least 10 and up to 30 combatants, according to differing accounts from the two sides that could not be independently verified.

Separatist militias launched an insurrection last year against the predominantly Francophone central government after authorities violently repressed peaceful protests against perceived marginalisation of the English-speaking minority.

The army has burned villages and killed unarmed civilians, residents have told Reuters, forcing thousands to flee to French-speaking regions or neighbouring Nigeria.

Threats by the separatists disrupted voting in Cameroon’s two Anglophone regions during the Oct. 7 election, which Biya won in a landslide to extend his 36-year rule.

The linguistic divide harks back to the end of World War One, when the League of Nations divided the former German colony of Kamerun between the allied French and British victors.

Source: Reuters

Nearly 80 children who were kidnapped by armed assailants from a school in northwestern Cameroon have been released by their abductors and are being reunited with their parents.

But it remains unclear who the kidnappers were and why the children were taken. The government has blamed the abductions on separatists, who in turn say the government is responsible.

The students, kidnapped Sunday night from a Presbyterian school in the northwestern city of Bamenda, were released at another school 12 miles away, The Guardian reports, noting that it’s also unclear how they were transported given a curfew that was in effect at night.

A principal and a teacher who were abducted along with the children are still being held, Reuters reported.

“They look tired and psychologically tortured,” Fonki Samuel Forba, moderator of Cameroon’s Presbyterian Church, told The Associated Press.

Forba asked the parents of children at the boarding school to take them home, as their safety could not be guaranteed.

“It is unfortunate we have to close the school and send home 700 children,” he told the AP. “Their security is not assured by the state and armed groups constantly attack and kidnap them.”

The school suffered a separate kidnapping incident on Oct. 31 in which 11 students were taken and later released, according to the Guardian.

Cameroon has a majority of French speakers, with a significant minority of English speakers in the country’s western portion. Originally colonized by Germany, the country was split into English and French portions following World War I, and both French and English are official languages of Cameroon.

Tensions have been growing in the country since late 2016, as initially peaceful protests by the Anglophone minority over perceived marginalization turned into a secessionist movement in northwestern and southwestern Cameroon, in opposition to the Francophone-dominated government.

Hundreds of people have been killed in the country as the separatist movement has taken hold, and the government has put down any efforts to secede.

The country’s 85-year-old, French-speaking president, Paul Biya, was inaugurated into his seventh term on Tuesday. In an address, he promised to increase decentralization: “Measures will be taken as soon as possible to broaden the powers of local authorities in order to provide them with the means for greater autonomy. Bilingualism and multiculturalism will continue to be promoted by the commission set up to that end.”

Biya asked people in the Anglophone regions to “lend all possible support to the action of the authorities aimed at restoring peace. They know, better than anyone, what their life would be like under the yoke of extremists who have been spreading terror and desolation in their regions for some months now.”

On Tuesday, the U.S. State Department condemned the kidnapping and expressed concern over what it deemed the “burgeoning Anglophone Crisis.”

“We urge an immediate halt to the indiscriminate targeting of civilians and burning of houses by Cameroonian government forces and to attacks perpetrated by both Anglophone separatists against security forces and civilians,” the department said in a statement from spokesperson Heather Nauert. “The systematic intimidation based on ethnic and religious affiliation, including in Yaoundé and Douala, must stop.”

An American missionary was killed inside his car in Bamenda last week when he apparently was caught in crossfire.

Source: National Public Radio

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The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons.  The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers.    However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization.  It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

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Cameroon’s Communications Minister Bakary Tchiroma said on Wednesday that “all 79 students have been released.”

He confirmed the news to AFP, without providing details of the circumstances under which they were set free.

The children, along with the school principle and driver, had been abducted by assailants who entered the Presbyterian Secondary School in Bamenda and took them away on a school bus on Monday.

An army spokesman had blamed separatists for the kidnapping, while a separatist spokesman had denied involvement in the incident. He had accused the government of having kidnapped the kids to discredit the rebels.

AFP said it had seen a six-minute video — which could not be independently verified — in which 11 boys, apparently aged above 15, are seen giving their identity and name of the school in English.

The boys were also seen saying that they were kidnapped by the “Amba Boys,” a name used for Anglophone separatists in the region.

A minister of the Presbyterian Church, Samuel Finke, who earlier said that he had been mediating with the kidnappers for the children’s release, also confirmed their release on Wednesday.

He said that another 11 schoolchildren had been kidnapped by the same armed group on October 31 but that the school had quietly paid a ransom of $4,400 for their release.

UN calls for the children’s release

Also on Tuesday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for the children’s “immediate release and return to their homes and families.”

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Guterres also renewed his appeal for an end to the crisis in the restive regions.

“There can be no justification for these crimes against civilians, particularly minors,” Guterres said via his spokesperson.

Violence in the separatist regions has been on the rise recently. The armed separatists have gunned down government troops and police, imposed curfews, and closed schools as part of their rebellion against the government, which has in response launched a massive crackdown on them.

Guterres renewed his call for a peaceful solution to the crisis and offered UN help to broker dialog.

Some non-governmental groups say at least 400 people have been killed in the violence.

Now that you are here

The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons.  The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers.    However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization.  It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

Bank transaction: Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Banking IBAN: GB51 BARC 2049 1103 9130 15

Swift BIC BARC GB22XX

SORT CODE 20-49-11, ACCOUNT NUMBER – 03913015 Barclay PLC, UK

The Board looks forward to hearing from the readers.

Signed by the Group Chairman on behalf of the Board of Directors

Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Email: soteragbawebai@gmail.com