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

At least three people were killed in two attacks by suspected members of terror group Boko Haram on Friday night and Saturday morning in Cameroon’s Far North region.

According to a member of the local vigilance committee, the first incursion occurred late Friday night in the Mayo-Moskota sub-division bordering Nigeria, when suspected Boko Haram members broke into the locality of Zeneme and killed two persons.

A second incursion into the same sub-division resulted in the death of a resident of the locality of Kerawa-Mafa. The Far North of Cameroon has seen a resurgence of terrorist violence in recent days towards the end of the year.

Early last week, three civilians were killed in two Boko Haram attacks in this troubled region. The Biya Francophone regime withdrew soldiers from the Boko Haram invested region and deployed them to Southern Cameroons. Cameroon government forces have reportedly killed hundreds of Southern Cameroons ever since the Anglophone uprising started last year.

A Cameroonian reporter with Radio France International, Ahmed Abba, was Friday released from jail after 29 months in detention, his lawyer said. “Ahmed Abba left Yaounde prison around 9:15 pm (Friday). He has been with me since his release, he is doing well,” Charles Tchoungang told AFP.

RFI editorial staff confirmed his release. A military tribunal in April sentenced Abba to 10 years in prison and fined him the equivalent of about 85,000 euros ($100,000) for “laundering the proceeds of terrorist acts” and “failure to denounce acts of terrorism”.

On appeal, the military court in Yaounde on Thursday aquitted him on the first charge and upheld the second, handing him a 24-month sentence. He was released Friday having already been held for 29 months.

Abba leaving jail

Abba, who had been reporting out of the troubled north of Cameroon, a region repeatedly targeted by Boko Haram, was arrested in July 2015 in the far northern town of Maroua.

The Hausa language RFI correspondent was suspected of collaborating with the jihadist group and not passing on information to the authorities.

His trial had been postponed 18 times and his appeal was also postponed several times in recent months. On Thursday evening, the management of RFI said it was “relieved at the prospect of this imminent release allowed by the Cameroonian court”.

Stressing the “emptiness of the charges” against him, RFI said “Ahmed Abba has only done his job as a journalist”.

Source: AFP

Several villages are said to have been set ablaze in Cameroon’s English speaking southwestern town of Mamfe after armed separatists attacked military installations and killed four soldiers. The Cameroon government says it has seized three of the armed separatists’ training camps.

Cameroon communication minister and government spokesperson Issa Tchiroma says for the past two weeks, military and armed separatist groups have been involved in bloody conflicts in the English speaking southwestern town of Mamfe on the border with Nigeria.

“Several suspects have been arrested, large quantities of war and hunting weapons as well as hundreds of military ammunition and uniforms have also been seized,” Tchiroma said. “One of those attacks has unfortunately claimed the lives of four of our gendarmes who were cold bloodedly killed this Monday December 18 in Kembong, Eyumojock sub division in Manyu division.”

Thchiroma refused to give the number of armed separatists killed by security forces in ensuing clashes, but disclosed that at least three border villages that hosted training camps for the fighters had been liberated.

Villagers say there has been an unprecedented harsh crackdown by the military, which also used helicopters to fire on civilians.

Kembong resident Victor Arrey Ndip says his village and two others have been completely destroyed by the fighting and many people are dying.

“They have bumped three villages so every body should be very careful with what is happening on the ground now,” Ndip said. “As I am telling you, people are dying in their numbers in Mamfe.”

Mamfe is a town in Manyu, an administrative area on Cameroon’s border with Nigeria where Cameroon says some of the fighters are trained. It has a vast expanse of forests, which the government says favors guerilla warfare with hit and run tactics from armed separatists.

The violence has pushed thousands of Cameroonians across the border to Nigeria since early October, when the separatists said they had declared their independence.

Schools have been closed in most of the English speaking northwest and southwest regions since November last year, when lawyers and teachers protested the overuse of French in the bilingual country. Violence erupted when separatists joined and called for complete independence.

President Paul Biya has made it clear that he will not negotiate on separation, saying the country is indivisible. When the separatists started attacking military positions, he declared war on them, describing the separatists as terrorists.

Source: VOA

The Cameroon government spokesman and Minister of Communication, Issa Tchiroma Bakary has reacted to the invasion of Kembong village by militants loyal to the Southern Cameroons struggle and reportedly confirmed that 4 gendarmerie officers lost their lives.

Report had it that Ambazonian militia stormed the gendarme post in Kembong village in Eyumojock Sub Division and were resisted by some troops deployed from Mamfe the chief town in Manyu Division.

The regime in Yaoundé had first dismissed the news as fictitious when it was reported by Cameroon Concord News. The Francophone dominated armed forces failed to track down the assailants and fired shots indiscriminately.

Cameroon Concord News can now reveal that 6 Cameroonian soldiers  were killed, 6 riffles  were seized by the Southern Cameroons militants and a pickup  4×4 hilux  truck was damaged along  the Mfuni road that  left  some of the passengers  seriously  wounded.

The people of Kembong suffered casualties with the most pathetic being the burning down of the home of the late UNDP parliamentarian Chief Alfred Besong by government soldiers. The Cameroon government troops also set fire on the only hotel in kembong including five other buildings.  A new brand Siena car was destroyed and a civilian shot on the leg.   The villagers have all escaped to the forest and kembong is now a ghost village.

By Judith Fon in Kembong

Militants seeking independence for Cameroon’s English-speaking regions killed four gendarmes on Monday, the government said, as disputes with the Francophone-dominated government degenerate into open warfare.

Several separatists were killed by security forces in ensuing clashes, the government spokesman said.

Repression by President Paul Biya’s government against what began as peaceful protests a year ago by Anglophone activists over perceived social and economic marginalization has bolstered support for armed militants demanding a full break with Yaounde.

The separatists have launched a series of deadly raids on government police and soldiers in recent weeks, leading authorities to escalate a crackdown that has killed dozens of civilians.

Issa Tchiroma Bakary, Cameroon’s government spokesman, said the separatists had killed four gendarmes earlier Monday in the village of Kembong in Southwest region’s Manyu Division.

“The assailants, ensnared by the measures put in place by our defense and security forces, are now reduced to sporadic attacks carried out by hidden faces and using perfidy,” Tchiroma said.

A representative for the separatists could not be immediately reached for comment.

Manyu, with its dense equatorial forests along the Nigerian border, has become the center of the insurgency from which the separatists have launched a series of attacks on security forces in villages.

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

The violence there has fueled a mounting refugee crisis. At least 7,500 people have crossed into Nigeria since Oct. 1, when the secessionists declared an independent state called Ambazonia, and the U.N. refugee agency says it is bracing itself for as many as 40,000.

Cameroon’s linguistic divide harks back to the end of World War I, when the German colony of Kamerun was carved up between allied French and British victors.

The English-speaking regions joined the French-speaking Republic of Cameroon the year after its independence in 1960. French speakers have dominated the country’s politics since.

Tensions have long simmered but the recent violence is the most serious to date and has emerged as a threat to Biya’s 35-year rule. The 84-year-old is expected to seek a new term in an election next year.

Source: VOA

Women and children have disappeared in large numbers as the entire Dadi village was wiped out by the Francophone dominated Cameroon government armed forces. It was a larger scale campaign that involved three military helicopters and three task forces that swept into the village of Dadi immediately after President Biya declared war on the Anglophone communities in Cameroon.

Our military informant said that a French- supplied Hawker Hunter aircraft was used to drop grenades sending up large clouds of white smoke. No life   is exiting  in Dadi   village  in Akwaya  Sub division widely believe  to the stronghold  of the ADF force  as revealed in  a video  broadcast on social  media by the ADF leader, Cho Ayaba.

We can now reveal that it was an extermination campaign on one of the most thickly populated Boki villages in Manyu Division and those who attempted to escape were shot from helicopters. “Dead bodies can be seen everywhere” noted our source.

An aide to the Manyu army commander who spoke to our undercover reporter said that some of villagers suspected of having prepared the bullet proof charm were captured and transported via helicopter to the army camp in Besongabang and ferried by car to a Gerdarmarie brigade in Mamfe. Since then, they have never been heard again.

By Judith Fon

Cameroon Concord News has been informed of a major attack in Kembong village in Eyumojock Sub Division. Our source say unknown gunmen men believe to be serving with the Ambazonia Defense Force reportedly staged an operation in the densely populated village killing  4 Cameroon government soldiers.

Our Mamfe correspondent has not been able to establish the correctness of this developing story. What we do know is that there was an attack on the Ebinsi check point that was repealed by government forces.

Gun shots were also heard throughout the night in Ayukaba village. At the time of filing this report, trucks loaded with military personnel were heading to Kembong from Mamfe.  Our cream of reporters headed by Judith Fon is keeping a watchful eye on the happenings in Eyumojock and we will keep you posted as we get the news.

Mamfe the chief town in Manyu division has witnessed sporadic fighting between unknown gunmen believe to be members of the Ambazonian Defense Force and the Cameroonian army.  Over the past week, several events have unfolded that has caused panic and generated a massive exodus from the area.

Tuesday 12th of December 4.3am:   Fire ravaged the Mamfe Main Market and 16 stores were completely damage.  The cause of the fire has not been established though the trader’s union is blaming the use of poor quality cables during the electrification process of the market. More than 20 businessmen and women have been rendered bankrupt loosing an estimated sum of approximately 50millions owing to the fact that most of them had stock their shops for the festive period. Cameroon Concord News understands the destruction should have been minimized if drivers were allowed to circulate early in the mornings by the military.

Thursday the 14^th of December 8.30: Unidentified gunmen attacked Cameroon soldiers on patrol. There was heavy exchange of artillery fire that claimed the lives of 7 civilians including 2 Malians and a Nigerian. The foreigners were killed at Tanjong Street far from the place of confrontation. The foreign nationals had gone to eat in a restaurant in Tanjong Street where they were reportedly shot by troops parading in pickup truck. The soldiers refused to identify the others and the 7 victims were buried in a mass grave behind the old council building.

Sunday the 17 of December 11 am: A majority of the Mamfe inhabitants have now yielded to the Senior Division Officer’s press release that urged them to   relocate to safer zones.  The people of Egbekaw have all moved out of their homeland. Manyus have moved to different towns and cities in Southern Cameroons. Bike riders have all left and the streets of Mamfe are empty. Consequently, schools have all been force to shut down.

The army launched a 3-day-attack on the Mamfe business community dealing in petrol commonly referred to as funge. A petrol dealer hinted Cameroon Concord News that fuel worth 30 million FCFA was destroyed.

By Judith Fon in Mamfe

Colonel Didier Badjeck, head of the communications department in the Ministry of Defense has said that the Cameroon army is winning the war in Southern Cameroons. The Cameroon military spokesman also added that the fighting on the ground is going in favour of the defense and security forces.

Didier Badjeck pointed out that on the 14^th of December 2017; the Cameroon army routed a gang of Ambazonian militants who attempted to destroy a military boat on the river Manyu. Colonel Badjeck informed the nation that a number of soldiers and police officers have so far been killed in the war in Manyu. He however did not make public any figures.  According to the Cameroon military spokesperson, the army now controls the South West and North West regions.

He was speaking on state radio on a program known as “Honeur et Fedelite” yesterday Saturday December 16, 2017 which is a production of the Ministry of Defense.

Colonel Badjeck likened the war in Manyu to that against the Nigerian Islamic sect, Boko Haram in the Far North region. He however concluded that the Cameroonian army has disabled the members of the sect Boko Haram and will do same for the Southern Cameroons armed militants.

By Rita Akana