Some judges of the Supreme Court of Cameroun have openly protested the arrest of Lord Justice Ayah Paul Abine by secret service agents loyal to the 83 year-old dictator, Paul Biya. According to the judges, Ayah’s arrest occurred in violation of article 629 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

The Supreme Court judges pointed out that the nation is now being run like a banana republic. The leaders of the judiciary also indicated via a Yaoundé based tabloid that the legal provision to which a judge of the Supreme Court or a magistrate of the judicial order is liable to be charged with an offense has been violated.

The Judges revealed that for any arrest to be carried out, the competent Attorney-General must submit an application to the President of the Supreme Court who has to appoint a magistrate responsible for examining the case and three others, with a rank at least equal to that of the defendant, with a view to the eventual judgment of the case.

Lord Justice Paul Ayah Abine was arrested last Saturday at his home by six armed men and taken to the Secretary of State for Defense (SED) where he remains detained. The executive branch of the government reportedly wrote a letter to the President of the Supreme Court claiming that Ayah Paul was involved in politics as leader of the People’s Action Party. The Cameroonian judges have however made it abundantly clear that this part of his life cannot justify the form of his arrest.

“He was arrested because he expressed his opinions. But when he was appointed to the Supreme Court, they knew who he was, what political ideas he had! Why pretend today to be surprised by his political struggle? “Said a Judge. For them, the arrest of Paul Ayah Abine shows them that no one is safe.

By Sonne Peter

The famous American computer scientist exiled in Russia for making public information classified as “top-secrets” by the CIA  has denounced the shutting down of Internet services in the Anglophone part of Cameroon.

The former CIA employee, tweeted that “this is a form of repression, against which we must mobilize and fight, # keepItOn # BringBackOurInternet,” he wrote. The reaction of the famous American computer scientist, Edward Joseph Snowden, provoked an avalanche of comments on the web.

After this unexpected support from the American, many Cameroonians close to English cyber activists, changed their profile with the hashtag, # BringBackOurInternet #. The Francophone dominated government of the 83 year-old dictator Paul Biya cut Internet in the regions of South West and North West in a bid to stifle the growing Anglophone nationalism and demands for a Southern Cameroons state.

By Chi Prudence Asong

The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium is reportedly drafting a document that will push for a UN resolution slamming the Biya Francophone regime for systematic unlawful killings of Southern Cameroonians since 2016. Our correspondent in Paris has gotten intelligence that some Southern Cameroonian legal practitioners will be meeting a group of French lawyers this coming week in a bid to begin legal proceedings against the Yaoundé government.

Cameroon Intelligence Report gathered that the resolution and the proceedings will include travel bans on senior government and military officials of La Republique du Cameroun. Inside sources say the group of French and Southern Cameroons advocates will be targeting the Director of the Civil Cabinet at the Presidency of the Republic, Martin Belinga Eboutou, the Minister of Higher Education, Jacques Fame Ndongo, Minister Atanga Nji, Prime Minister Philemon Yang and General Rene Meka.

We understand that some Anglophone lawyers based in the US have been contacted to join the team in Paris. The lawyers are expected to pressure France and the European Union to charge the Francophone regime with excessive and intentional force without justification against Southern Cameroons civilians including against Anglophone lawyers, journalists, activists and peaceful protesters.

Cases of deliberate fatal shooting of individuals who posed no imminent danger to life are being assembled by the group.  Southern Cameroons has become so uninhabitable that many of its residents are migrating to French Cameroun and some to neighboring Nigeria.

Culled from Cameroon Inteligence Report

Cardinal Christian Tumi has called on the ruling CPDM government to listen to all shades of opinion in the ongoing Anglophone crisis.  The 86 year old former Archbishop of Douala now retired made the declaration as guest on Radio France International on Tuesday, January 24, 2017.   The renowned Prelate believes that everyone has something to say.

Reacting to the crisis that has rocked the Anglophone regions of the country over the last two months and the shutting down of internet services including the arrest of several Southern Cameroons leaders , the Cardinal said he was trying to understand both sides of the divide.

“I am trying to understand what is happening because I spent nearly thirty years of my life as priest and bishop in French-speaking Cameroon and I am from Anglophone Cameroon. I try to understand both sides. It is now young people, who have not yet become aware of reunification and have started to protest about working conditions, the conditions for living together, and they want us to go back to where we were at the beginning of reunification. That is federalism. The central power no longer wants this. So this is where we are and there is tension.”

The Roman Catholic Cardinal told RFI that the appointment of Francophone judges who do not have a mastery of the English language and who render their judgment in French is an indication that Common Law is not applied in Cameroon. The man of God pointed out that in his native constituency of Bui, the prefect, the sub-prefect and the first deputy are all Francophones, in a region that 99% of the population speak only English. The Retired Cardinal also noted that there are Francophone university lecturers who teach in the Anglo-Saxon Universities of Buea and Bamenda without having mastery of English. “There is need to reform the education system.’

Cardinal Tumi said the decision to outlaw the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium was ill advised. “Too bad. I am against any ban. Everyone has something to say, listen to them. There is no one who loves this country more than others. Even if others prefer federalism, let’s talk about it, to see what is best for everyone. When we repress, it is not a solution. We must try to convince them including those that have gone to the extreme to demand complete separation. There will always be extremists. But the majority of Anglophones want us to go back to where we were, that is, to federalism. They do not want separation, not at all.”

The Cardinal dismissed claims made by the Minister of Communication Issa Tchiroma Bakary observing that federalism is not division of a country. “The current system is showing its faults, with regard to corruption everywhere and we are seeing examples in the world where federated states are progressing well. There has to be dialogue because Anglophones are also Cameroonians. With violence, nothing is built, nothing at all.”

By Rita Akana with files from CIN

The two interim leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium, CACSC, have rejected the National Commission to promote Bilingualism created by presidential decree saying it is an attempt to rubbish the integrity and legitimacy of “ongoing winning West Cameroon Struggle”

The interim leaders, Tapang Ivo Tanku and Mark Bara said, “By every logical implication, the decree is of bad faith. It is a lame walk to promote equality in the use of English and French languages and showcase the numerous cultures he seeks to present to his commission.”

According to a release of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium which has gone viral on social media, the problem of an Anglophone has never been language but marginalization in areas like ENAM, ENS, EMIA, ENSET, CUSS and recently CENAJES in Bamenda where only two Anglophones were admitted in 132 candidates.

To the leaders, creating another Commission will just add to numerous others which have never worked, they cited CONAC which according to them has been a wasted body because even those who have embezzled are promoted the next day. They also said until the banned Consortium leaders are released ghost town will continue till February 23, 2017.

Cameroun Info.Net

The Cameroon military has made public the final assessment of the helicopter crash in the Far North region late on Sunday.  Cameroon Intelligence Report gathered that all four occupants – one brigadier-general, one colonel and two lieutenants – were killed in the accident that occurred at Madide, a village about 9 km from Bogo, Diamaré, Far North region.

A statement from the government confirmed our earlier report that it was a technical breakdown that caused the crash. The hypothesis of a Boko Haram attack has also been ruled out by the Yaounde regime. The officers were returning from a mission to supervise their troops on the ground, who are engaged against the Nigerian Islamist sect Boko Haram at the time of the crash.

The bodies of the four victims, namely Brigadier General Jacob Kodji, Commander of the 4th Inter-Armed Military Region, Colonel Kameni Alphonse, Commander of the 4th Gendarmerie Region, Lieutenant Chinda Brice, Helicopter Pilot and Lieutenant Ngrassou Souloukna Basile, a copilot engineer, have all been placed at the morgue of the military hospital in Maroua and will be transported to base 101 in Yaoundé.

Culled from Cameroon Intelligence Report