A former mayor in Cameroon arrested in September 2014 for alleged complicity with Boko Haram was acquitted Thursday, a week after a Radio France International correspondent was released on terrorism charges. Moussa Ramat, the ex-mayor of Fotokol in Cameroon’s far north, was accused of supplying weapons to the jihadist group and assisting in the sale of looted goods from Boko Haram fighters.

His lawyer Eugene Balemaken told AFP the accusations “did not correspond to reality”. “He was therefore properly acquitted following the debates.” Sources said the former mayor regularly intervened before his arrest in several negotiations that resulted in the release of Boko Haram hostages.

Ramat could be released very soon, said Balemaken, who called the trial of his client as “unfair” because of his help with negotiations.

After serving 29 months in jail, RFI correspondent Ahmed Abba was acquitted on December 22 after being suspected of collaborating with Boko Haram and not passing on information to the authorities. He was released the following day.

Since 2014, when Cameroon began its fight against Boko Haram, the group has killed at least 2,000 soldiers and civilians and kidnapped 1,000 people in the country’s far north region, according to the International Crisis Group.

At least 20,000 people have been killed and more than 2.6 million displaced in the eight-year conflict, which has destroyed livelihoods and triggered a humanitarian crisis. About 1.8 million people live in camps or with relatives in Nigeria’s worst-affected states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa. Others have fled to Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

Source: AFP

The pro ruling CPDM party’s so-called National Anti-Corruption Commission (CONAC), – the body in charge of the fight against corruption in Cameroon has revealed that the nation suffered an estimated loss of 1246 billion FCFA in the last five years.

The CONAC report stated that a survey carried out at the general treasury in Buea, Southern Cameroons found fictitious payments of court fees amounting to 7,956 billion FCFA from January 2011 to June 2016.

In Bertoua, the chief city in the East region fraudulent payments were valued at CFAF 1.699 billion in the general treasury from January 2014 to July 2016.

Last year, CONAC said it registered 2,402 reports of corruption as against 3,268 in 2015 from all the 10 regions.  The fake anti corruption body stated that areas were corruption is rife includes land disputes, public procurement and management of resources allocated to organizations.

CONAC also pointed out that Cameroonian custom officers are among the most corrupt civil servants in Cameroon. It cited in its findings the case of the customs official who owns 13 villas, a five-storey building, 10 registered land, five 30-ton trucks, and five Toyota cars, 28-seat coaster, two 18-seater coaches, a fleet of high-end personal vehicles …

Source: Cameroon Intelligence Report

Two mass graves containing dozens of bodies have been found in Mamfe, a local human rights activist hinted Cameroon Concord News today Thursday the 28^th of December 2017, adding they appeared to belong to people who had been killed by Cameroon government forces operating in Manyu Division ever since President declared war against the people of Southern Cameroons.

The mass graves were discovered behind the old council office in Mamfe, the chief town in the Manyu constituency. Our Manyu Bureau Chief reported that one of them contained 10 bodies belonging to young people from Eshobi, Egbekaw, Besongabang and Dadi including five other villages.

They had been forced out of the Mamfe prison immediately after the attack on the gendarmerie post in Egbekaw by Cameroon government troops, according to a local human rights activist.  The number and identity of the bodies in the other mass grave was not yet known. A Mamfe Rural Council Official who spoke to us but sued for anonymity confirmed that two mass graves had been found, but declined to give more details.

Passersby found the mass graves after noticing a smell and insects there, the Council officer said. The victims belong to the Manyu ethnic group which the Yaounde regime accuses of supporting the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

Dozens of armed Southern Cameroons militants have remained active in Manyu confronting the Francophone dominated army.

By Judith Fon in Mamfe

18 Cameroonian hostages have been released by the elements of the 31st Mechanized Infantry Division of the Cameroon army.

They were detained between the localities of Gamba (North) and Mbé   in the Adamaoua, two neighboring areas in the north of Cameroon where arm robbery and attacks on the motorway are rife.

During the operation that led to their release, four of the hostages were wounded and were evacuated to the Norwegian hospital in N’gaoundere. Among the hostages are traders, farmers and cattle dealers.

By Rita Akana

A soldier from the Rapid Intervention Battalion (Bir) – an elite unit of the Cameroonian army – was killed on Monday in Egbekaw following an attack attributed to Southern Cameroons Defense Force. The death of the soldier has been confirmed by the military authorities in Manyu Division. The attack has also been claimed by an Ambazonia militia group with ties to the SCNC.

Southern Cameroons armed attacks against Cameroon government forces are now spreading all over the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. Not far from the border with Nigeria, specifically in Toko, 3 other soldiers were wounded. After October 1, 2017, the date of the symbolic proclamation of independence, at least 89 Cameroonian soldiers have been killed in attacks claimed by Anglophone militants.

By Sama Ernest

Gendarmerie elements supported by soldiers from the Rapid Intervention Battalion unit have arrested Constable Takem Wamba suspected of having shot his colleague and two other people, including a young lady presented as his girlfriend. The carnage took place in Douala on December 24, 2017.

Constable Takem was arrested in Soa, a small town located less than 20 km from Yaoundé precisely in the Mefou and Afamba Division in the Central Region, where he had taken refuge. The alleged murderer had time to commit his crime and moved from Douala to Soa in Yaoundé- a distance of more than 250 km.

Mr. Takem Wamba travelled between Douala and Yaoundé with a pistol, including a Kalashnikov and other ammunition on a motorway riddled with mixed road checks of police and gendarmes. The suspect will be presented to a judge on Thursday.

By Sama Ernest

This Christmas, both Christians and Muslims are praying for peace to return to Cameroon. Until a few years ago, the country never experienced serious violence or unrest; but, the Boko Haram insurgency in the north, the spillover of violence from the Central African Republic and the turmoil in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions have made life difficult for many.

Thirty youths representing churches and mosques are roaming the streets of Cameroon’s capital, urging everyone to pray that peace returns to the trouble spots of this central African state.

Among the singers is Bertrand Bayaga of the Full Gospel mission. He says he does not want more bloodshed in Cameroon.

Bayaga says he is praying for the government to be tactful and tolerant in finding solutions to all problems, because he does not want the country that their forefathers shed their blood for, to achieve its independence and unity, to be divided.

A nationwide prayer campaign was organized by pastor Jean Libom Li Likeng of the evangelical church of Cameroon.

The pastor says he organized the prayers to call on God to urgently come to the help of the Cameroon nation. He says through the massive participation and prayer he witnessed, he is satisfied that the country’s elite and people of God have understood that God is calling them to contribute in bringing peace to Cameroon.

Peace under attack

FILE – Christians breaking fast wtih Muslims at a mosque in Yaounde.

At the Yaounde central mosque, Imam Oumarou Issa says he is respecting the call for prayer because peace is under attack.

“Every one of us must apply the command of the almighty God to live in peace, in harmony with the other people everywhere,” he said. “We are and we must be, all of us, without any distinction, ambassadors of peace.”

Cameroon had not experienced any major challenges for decades. In the past few years, however, it has been enveloped by the bloody Boko Haram insurgency in the north, incursions from armed groups based in the C.A.R. and calls for secession from two English-speaking regions where many feel ignored by the country’s French-speaking majority.

FILE – A still image taken from a video shot on Oct. 1, 2017, shows protesters waving Ambazonian flags in front of a road block in the English-speaking city of Bamenda, Cameroon.

Peter Ndzelen, who attended Christmas Day services at the Yaounde cathedral, says he especially hopes the government will engage in sincere dialogue with the secessionists.

“It is good to bring people together, [for them to] express your [their] minds, bring the advantages and disadvantages of one system [of government] or the other and you talk and agree. It is not a taboo. Do not think that the person who is claiming independence or anything is somebody who cannot even change his mind or sit at the table and talk,” he said.

Cameroon is due to hold parliamentary and presidential elections in 2018, with longtime President Paul Biya expected to seek a seventh term.

Source: VOA

Of the 238.910 billion CFA francs accorded the Ministry of Defense during the recent controversial budgetary session of the National Assembly, 124.212 billion CFA francs will be spent on military hardware to combat the Southern Cameroon Defense Force.

Defense Minister, Jospeh Beti Assomo made the revelation and pointed out that Yaoundé intends to beef up Cameroon armed forces logistical, human, technical and operational aspects to “preserve the territorial integrity of the nation and ensure the safety of citizens and their property”.

“The goal is to win the war in the South West and North West regions” noted Mr. Beti Assomo. The Francophone member of government indicated that “no part of the South West and North West will be neglected and it is the question of providing appropriate answers to these two poles of insecurity in Anglophone Cameroon”.

Culled from Cameroon Intelligence Report

The body of the Chief of Nyang village in Akwaya Sub Division gruesomely murdered a week ago by a militant group with ties to the Southern Cameroons Defense Force has not been found. Cameroon Concord News gathered that Chief Abang Ashu had conspired with Cameroon government forces and betrayed some of the youth in his village. The pro CPDM traditional ruler was also feeding the Cameroon army with information regarding the activities of his subjects.

A source  confirmed  to our Manyu bureau chief  that on the faithful  day the  late Chief  Abang  Ashu  had compiled a list of  names of some youths  and was  heading  to Mamfe  the chief  town  in Manyu  Division to make a report to the troops stationed in Egbekaw. The angry young men caught him in Mukoyor inside Eshobi village en route to Mamfe.

He was beaten, legs chopped off and later tied on a bike and dragged to death in Mukoyor. His remains were taken to unknown destination by the Ambazonian militants. Cameroon government soldiers have been deployed to search the area for over a week now.

We understand the family of the late Chief made preparations for his burial and dug a grave inside his residence at Mile One in Mamfe and people have been keeping wake. But government troops have still not located his body in the Akwaya forest. Some have suggested his body may have been wrapped in plastic and dumped in the Manyu river.

By Judith Fon in Mamfe

A Cameroon military plane that had on board two colonels returning from an observation mission in the National Park in Benoue has crashed.  The incident occurred on Saturday, December 23, 2017 at Ngong some fifty kilometres from Garoua the chief city in the North region.

A sister publication, Cameroon Info.Net quoted military sources within the Garoua Air Base 301 that the Tetras-type ULM aircraft, registered TJ-XDA, crashed while on a mission in support of the 31st Mechanized Infantry Division (BRIM).

The plane was carrying two senior Cameroon military officials namely Colonel Tchouasseu Serge (deputy commander of Garoua Air Base 301) and Colonel Mbezele Dieudonné.  The two valiant officers came out safe and sound. Cameroon Concord News was reliably informed that an engine stopped in full flight prompting the two officers to force an emergency landing.

Returning from a reconnaissance mission against Boko Haram, a Cameroonian army helicopter crashed on the 22^nd of January 2017 at Bogo, Diamarét Division.  Four Cameroonian officers including Brigadier General Jacob Kodji, Commander of the Joint Military Region No. 4, were killed in the crash.

By Sama Ernest