The President of the National Episcopal Council, NEC, Archbishop Samuel Kleda has ended a tour of Southern Cameroons reportedly ordered by the 84 year dictator, President Biya. The head of the Douala Archdiocese met with the Roman Catholic Bishops of Southern Cameroons including stakeholders in the education sector of the Catholic Church. Cameroun Info.Net reported that Archbishop Kleda’s ‘seductive’ tour was aimed at watering down the tension within Catholic Bishops and Christians in the region after a recent court summon.

Archbishop Kleda held talks with the Bishops of Mamfe, Kumba, Buea and Bamenda where he proposed a Francophone way forward to end the Anglophone crisis.  He was accompanied on his Biya mission by Mgr Abraham Kome, Bishop of Bafang and the Head of the Sub commission for Justice and Peace,  Fr Jervis Kebbei, vice Secretary General of the National Episcopal Conference, acting as notary and translator.

Kleda was told by the Anglophone Bishops that public schools were also paralyzed as a result of the Anglophone uprising. The Man of God admitted that he met the leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium during the January National Episcopal Conference, NEC meeting in Mamfe. But still did not condemn their arrest or called for their immediate release. The Francophone Bishop read from the same CPDM script and pleaded with the Anglophone Bishops to put an end to hatred, suspicion civil disobedience, as well as intimidation.

Archbishop Kleda said true peace, which is fullness of life, is built on solidarity and fraternity. He also affirmed that the Cameroonian Bishops have asked the state to respect the rights of all Cameroonians and apply the 1996 constitution on decentralization. Archbishop Samuel Kleda pointed out that the court action against the Anglophone bishops could create new problems.

It is vital to include in this report that by travelling with a translator, the Archbishop of Douala justified calls for an independent state of Southern Cameroons. Archbishop Kleda and his other Francophone Bishops refused to issue a declaration in Mamfe against the rapes, killings and extra judicial killings going on in Southern Cameroons. Cameroon Concord News understands ghost town operations will resume tomorrow Monday the 8^th of May 2017 in all villages, towns and cities in West Cameroon.

By Rita Akana

Just five days after the 20^th edition of the University Games that held in Bamenda from the 22^nd to the 29^th of April, 2017, the infrastructure constructed by Francophone companies worth billions of FCFA have started crumbling.  The Tribune which hosted all the official ceremonies presided over by Jacques Fame Ndongo, the anti Anglophone Minister of Higher Education during the recent 2017 University Games at the Bambili Campus has collapsed. A part of the freshly constructed metal framework has been lying on the steps for three days running.

The Francophone political elites who attended the games must have been lucky that the grand stand did not fell during the games. The affected area is precisely under the platform where people took shelter when it rained during the Games. A senior Southern Cameroonian serving the Biya Francophone regime observed that the collapse was the result of the bad work that has been done on the infrastructure of the Games.

Cameroon Concord News gathered that everything was done in a hurry in a bid to counter the ghost town operations currently going on in Southern Cameroons.  According to a source within the Commission which was in charge of organizing the 20th University Games, the government released 3 billion CFA for the construction of infrastructure at the Bambili Campus in Bamenda, where the Games were held for the first time. Ghost towns will return on Monday in both the Bamenda and Buea provinces of Southern Cameroons.

By Sama Ernest

Some news reporters grouped under the National Union of Cameroon Journalists, SNJC converged in Buea and demanded the immediate release of all Southern Cameroon journalists arrested during the current Anglophone uprising.

They marched through the streets of Buea from the University junction to Miss Bright Inn brandishing placards which called on the Francophone government to stop harassing journalists. Others held banners with messages calling for the release of some six Anglophone journalists arrested this year.

The World Press Freedom Day commemoration in the Southern Cameroon was observed under strict and firm instructions that journalists should appear in black, signifying the stifling of Press Freedom. Kum Leonard, President of SNJC revealed that Southern Cameroon journalists were now in hiding and some like Tina Nene Nganda have fled the country.

Appeals have been made to competent authorities to make sure that rights of journalists are respected in Cameroon. Celebrations marking WPFD in Fako ended in Limbe with the participation of the loud sounding nothing Peter Essoka, President of the National Communication Council. The event was organized by the UN information center for Central Africa.

Source: CIN

Southern Cameroon lawyers did not respect the call from the so-called President of the Bar Association of Cameroon Jackson Francis Ngnie Kamga to put an end to their strike action on Tuesday, May 2. In Bamenda and Buea the courts remained empty and work has not resumed. The Anglophone lawyers had warned Barrister Kamga to stay clear of Southern Cameroon matters and to ask his Francophone political elites to release with immediate effect the detained leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium currently being tried for terrorism and incitement to secession.

The Southern Cameroon lawyers said they were astonished to see the Bar President called for an end to the strike, but not for the release of the detainees, including the leader of the Consortium, Agbor Bala. Lawyers are at the forefront of the Southern Cameroon uprising and all the legal minds have opined that the way justice is done in Southern Cameroons is not consistent with the Common Law anglophones inherited from the British.

The Southern Cameroon lawyers also demanded that at the level of the Supreme Court, a section for Anglophones should be instituted to listen to appeals coming from the jurisdictions of the Northwest and the Southwest. In English, they call it the “Common Law Bench at the Supreme Court.”  The Biya Francophone Government has announced several fake measures to satisfy these demands and none have been rightfully implemented.

By Fru James

Cameroon Concord News

French speaking Cameroonians joined the International Community and commemorated the International Labour Day on the 1st May 2017. Commemorative activities held under the theme, “Securing Decent Work for Sustainable Social Economic Development.”

The major highlight of the day was their usual march past organized in the regions. Also on the program was the award of labour medals to so-called meritorious workers.  Activities in Yaounde the nation’s capital were chaired by the Minister of Labour and Social Security, Gregoire Owona, while those at the regional headquarters were supervised by the Biya appointed Governors.

Some regional Governors called on the workers to be committed to hard work. In the Mezam Division in Southern Cameroons, some 16 pro CPDM workers received medals. The economic metropolis of Douala recorded the participation of a 150 enterprises.

In Mbalmayo and Mfou in the Centre Region, workers were exhorted to be punctual, assiduous and duty conscious. Over in Ngaoundere, the workers’ trade union presented complaints including the review of their salary schemes. It was also an intriguing celebration in Ngaoundere as camels and donkeys took part in the march past. In all, the celebration of the 2017 International Labour Day was remarkable in French Cameroon whose political elites control the nation.

CRTV

A soldier serving with the Rapid Intervention Battalion, BIR has stabbed two women to death in Douala. Military sources revealed that the serviceman carried out the evil act on the night of April 27^th to the 28^th at Ndogpassi, a popular district in Douala, the economic metropolis.

According to Cameroon Concord News sources, the soldier who recently returned from a mission to Limbe in Southern Cameroons killed his first victim inside a hotel room and then alarmed by the cries of her girlfriend, the second girl reportedly pregnant and working at the Inn, rushed into the room and was violently stabbed.

After the death of the pregnant lady, a chain of solidarity was set in motion by medics who had arrived the scene to obtain the separation of the fetus from her mother’s body. The operation was successful and was done in the presence of some judicial authorities in Douala including a State Counsel. The Francophone army has not yet reacted on this nasty and malicious act of one of its elements.

By Eyong Johnson

A dozen of Boko Haram fighters were killed during a heavy gun battle in the Kolofata district in the Mayo-Sava Division, the Far-North region.   The militants of the Nigerian Islamic sect armed with war rifle and on motorcycles attacked the village of Ndaba located at a border crossing in Nigeria forcing people to flee.

Cameroon Concord News gathered that the Cameroonian army under the banner of the Joint Multinational Force, whose first sector is stationed at Mora, reacted decisively. According to our source, some 12 assailants were killed and 6 elements of the Rapid Intervention Batallion, BIR were wounded by bullets- one seriously.

More than thirty civilians were also wounded during the Boko Haram onslaught on Ndaba. A day before the attack on the Kolofata district, 4 members of the vigilance committee based in Achigachia died in clashes with Boko Haram terrorists who alleged allegiance to the organization of the Islamic state and is now called, Province of Islamic State in West Africa.

Early in the morning of Friday, a Kamikaze was killed and 1 civilian seriously wounded, in a suicide bombing in Tchakarmari. Sporadic fighting has been reported recently when the Yaounde authorities long announced that the army had weakened the group.

By Rita Akana

The hearing started today at 11:14am with the counsel for the civil parties presenting their memorandum of appearance after which they made an oral application for an adjournment to consult the case file- an application which the defense argued vigorously against by citing several provisions of the law to buttress their points.

The prosecution on the other hand declared their readiness to open their case by calling their witnesses. The prosecution had 17 witnesses to prove their case. Conspicuous among the counsel for the civil parties was the controversial Barrister Achu Julius Tabe Ngu.  An application for bail to be granted to Barrister Balla and Neba by the defense was argued vigorously by Barrister Karim Khan, one of the human right lawyers from the UK attending trial. He argued the application for more than an hour citing provisions of the constitution and international conventions and treaties duly signed and ratified by Cameroon notably the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights of 1966, the Bill of Rights and the African Charter on Humans and Peoples Right. He ended his submission by saying that “judges try cases but cases do try judges”.

Other former bar Presidents four in their numbers and other senior colleagues also argued the bail application.  After the lengthy arguments from the defense for the bail application, the prosecution requested for adjournment to reply to the application which was granted. The matter was thus adjourned to the 24^th of May at the instance of the prosecution.

Three Cameroon soldiers engaged on the front-line in the war against Boko Haram have fallen. The soldiers were victims of an explosion from an improvised explosive devise planted by the Nigerian Islamic sect.

The land mine hit their armored truck between the towns of Homeka and Bladole. Five other officers who were in the military vehicle were injured. Amongst the injured was the body guard of the Commander of the Regiment 1 of the Joint Multinational Task Force, Bouba Dobekreo.

The recent attacks come at a time when the Boko Haram terrorist group has been losing grounds though military sources consider it still very dangerous.

Cameroon’s Defense forces in conjunction with the Multinational Joint Task Force have pushed the terrorists out of the national territory and have destroyed their artillery. This explains why the terrorist group has resort to landmines and the use of children as suicide bombers. Vigilante groups have been very active assisting security forces in capturing suicide bombers who attempt to cause havoc in towns and cities in the Far North.

Source: CRTV

The Mayor of Buea Council Patrick EKEMA Esunge has described as ‘secessionists’ traders who close their shops on ghost town days in his municipality. Patrick Ekema made the pronouncement on Monday April 24, 2017 in Buea during a press briefing on the civil disobedience situation in Buea.

Angered by the fact that many shops have remained permanently closed despite a recent march against ghost towns organized by the ruling CPDM crime syndicate, Mayor Ekema, an agent of the Francophone political elites said he wish that Barrister Agbor Balla and Dr. Fontem be given the death penalty.

Patrick EKEMA Esunge said ghost towns have been less effective these days but that some ‘secessionists’ around Molyko are still adhering to the strike action orchestrated by the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium.

The mayor who has a harem of mistresses noted that areas like Buea town, Bongo Square are not in any way observing ghost town as shops were wide open on Monday and the Buea town Market was booming with traders and buyers present for their daily activities.

The mayor also renewed his scathing attacks on his predecessor, Senator Mbella Moki Charles accusing him of being tactless and reckless. Ekema observed that Mbella Moki should stay clear of Buea council issues. “He cannot talk on behalf of Buea Municipality today,” Patrick EKEMA said.

By Rita Akana with files from CIN