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

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