The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has granted Asylum Seeker Status to fourteen Cameroonian individuals who were held in St Kitts and Nevis after being rescued at sea in March 2023.

According to the Ministry of National Security, the UNHCR granted this to Cameroonian people on June 8, 2023. As defined by the UNHCR, an asylum seeker is “someone whose request for sanctuary has yet to be processed.”

According to the Ministry, in addition to being safeguarded against forced repatriation to their home country, Cameroonian nationals are entitled to ongoing humanitarian treatment while their asylum applications to UNHCR are being considered.

The Government of St. Kitts and Nevis will continue to work closely with UNHCR to offer basic humanitarian services to Cameroon people.

The formal Asylum Seeker Certificates were hand-delivered to Cameroonian nationals at noon on June 10, 2023, and the extended humanitarian provisions agreed to by the government were also clearly stated to them.

The government’s decision to release them from custody and relocate them to an apartment complex in order to increase their comfort and autonomy is one such consideration. This agreement will last for 90 days while their asylum applications are processed.

In response, Cameroonian nationals expressed the following three demands and announced that their hunger strike, which began on June 9, 2023, would continue until they were met:

They would like to have a United Nations identification card.

They desire to communicate with the US Embassy or the US Congress.

They want to be relocated to their Cameroonian friends and family in Texas, where they claim they are legally protected.

According to the Ministry of National Security, it was informed to the Cameroonian nationals that these demands are beyond the scope and jurisdiction of the Government of St Kitts and Nevis, with the exception of giving access to contact with the US Embassy. In this regard, they have been given the necessary email addresses, phone numbers, and the physical address of the US Embassy in Barbados.

The Government of St. Kitts and Nevis will be revisiting its asylum legislation and procedures in the near future, as the government has stated that it cannot and will not allow illegal migration in the future. As a sovereign nation, the Government of St Kitts and Nevis is emphatic that the country will not become a safe haven for human traffickers and people who enter the country illegally.

Source: St Vincent Times

The Ambazonia Interim Government (IG) has lashed out at the Biya French Cameroun regime’s massive deployment of Francophone army soldiers in Southern Cameroons, insisting that it will not hinder the Federal Republic of Ambazonia’s resolve to gain complete and total independence.

Vice President Dabney Yerima declared in remarks on Saturday that Amba fighters ambushed a French Cameroun gendarmerie convoy at Mbessi and killed a serviceman identified as Ajoliva Akembe who moonlighted as Brigade Commander of the French Cameroun operated Mile 4-Nkwen Gendarmerie Brigade.

Yerima observed that Southern Cameroonians would never leave their homeland despite the cruel military deployments by the French Cameroun occupying regime in Yaoundé.

Army deployments into Southern Cameroons by the Biya French Cameroun regime have been on the rise recently, leading to the killing, injuring and detention of several Ambazonians.

Vice President Dabney Yerima further emphasized that Yaoundé has expanded its marginalization policy of retiring several highly placed Southern Cameroonians in the Francophone dominated Cameroonian public service including the military.

By Isong Asu with files from Chi Prudence Asong

At the start of June, Cameroonian President Paul Biya ordered the nation’s army to hold an emergency meeting to address a recent resurgence in cross-border attacks by Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) (gazettengr.com, June 1). ISWAP, for example, claimed attacks in Gassama, Amchide, and Fotokol in the Far North Region of Cameroon in March. The first ISWAP attack was on the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNTJF), which includes Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria (and Benin, though it does not fight against ISWAP). The latter two attacks, by contrast, targeted the Cameroonian army.

In April and May, ISWAP attacks in northern Cameroon continued. On May 31, ISWAP claimed the killing of two police officers as well as the theft of their weapons. On May 13, ISWAP claimed it had attacked an army base, causing the soldiers there to abandon their positions and flee. Other attacks, such as one on May 11 in Mora, Cameroon, have been thwarted by the MNJTF. In another case, an ISWAP courier was arrested on a camel in N’guigmi, Niger, leading to the MNJTF’s uncovering of several hideouts around Monguno, Nigeria. Notwithstanding the several successful raids, most recent attacks in Cameroon have been relatively small-scale. This compares to previous years, where dozens of Cameroonian as well as Chadian, Nigérien, and Nigerian soldiers have been killed on the shores of Lake Chad.

ISWAP is apparently seeking to pilfer supplies from northern Cameroonian villages in order to replenish stocks in advance of the rainy season—as well as possibly punish civilians for not paying taxes to the group. ISWAP’s claimed attacks and history of operating in northern Cameroon indicate that the group was responsible for many, if not all, of the recent attacks. Meanwhile, the late Abubakar Shekau’s faction—which considers itself part of Islamic State (IS), but is not recognized as such—has also been taxing civilians around Lake Chad, including in northern Cameroon. This was the case both before and after Shekau’s death in an ISWAP-led operation. It is, therefore, possible that Shekau’s loyalists are also conducting some attacks in northern Cameroon, in addition to ISWAP. Shekau’s successor, Bakura, is also pushing the faction’s forces further south from Lake Chad towards Sambisa Forest, which straddles the Nigeria-Cameroon border. This forest was Shekau’s base, but was largely taken over by ISWAP since his death.

The Cameroonian military is being forced into action not only because of ISWAP’s targeting of its soldiers in these disruptive, albeit relatively small-scale, attacks, but also because of the resulting severe economic disruption. Thousands of villagers have been forced to flee their homes due to the looting of markets and farms, sometimes losing hundreds of cows to theft. Indeed, these “pilfering attacks” were a hallmark of the late Shekau, although since his death many of his former loyalists have since reintegrated into ISWAP. These militants may now be employing similar tactics under the ISWAP banner.

Whether ISWAP or the late Shekau’s fighters are behind the incursions into Cameroon, the Cameroonian army’s response may lead to further “retaliatory” attacks by the two groups. Historically, the jihadists have escalated attacks against Nigeria’s neighbors when those countries’ armies increase the tempo of their counter-insurgency efforts. Therefore, despite a lull in attacks around Lake Chad since 2021, it is possible that the area will once again became a major battleground in the conflict going forward.

Source: Jamestown.org

Two separatist commanders surrendered to the Cameroonian army in the country’s restive Anglophone region of Northwest Wednesday, according to the army and local officials.

The militant commanders known as Felix Kibam, alias “general show,” and Benard Kuh, alias “Oga Landlord,” handed themselves over to the gendarmerie in the Fundong locality of the region early Wednesday.

The National Gendarmerie said they were “safe” and “being taken care of.”

Since the beginning of this year, several senior leaders of separatist forces have given up fighting with the government.

In May, 18 separatist fighters surrendered at a blow in Southwest, one of the restive Anglophone regions.

There has been fighting between government forces and separatist fighters in Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions of Northwest and Southwest since 2017 after separatists made a bid to create an independent nation in the regions.

Source: Xinhuanet

The Public Investment Budget (BIP) in Cameroon was executed at 74.56% in 2021, according to the National Committee for Monitoring the Physical and Financial Execution of Public Investment. Compared to 2021, when the rate was 74.99%, this makes a decline of 0.43 pts.

While the execution stagnates, the commitment (contracting) rate for these projects has improved significantly, rising from 81.41% in 2021 to 92.07% in 2022, an increase of more than 10 points. The Committee attributes the slow execution rate to several factors, including delayed project development, abandoned sites due to payment issues, sluggish implementation of jointly-financed projects, inadequate ownership of implementation procedures, and the security crisis in certain regions.

By region, the North and Adamaoua have the highest execution rates, at 91.5% and 87.8% respectively. Despite the security crisis in the Anglophone regions, the execution rate in the Northwest was 87.86%, compared with 73.6% in the Southwest. The worst performer in terms of physical execution remains the Central region, with a rate of 65.76% of project executed by the end of 2022.

Source: Business in Cameroon

Journalists in Cameroon say the government’s indefinite shutdown of a radio station and suspension of four reporters is a sign of a growing crackdown on the country’s news media. The government says it is trying to stop the spread of hate speech, while journalists say officials want to retaliate against criticism of President Paul Biya.

Bruno Bidjang, host of the popular program on Vision 4 TV called “Club d’Elite” has said on his program that he will continue exercising his profession to the best of his ability without fear.

However, Cameroon’s National Communication Council, an organ created by the government to regulate the media, imposed a one-month suspension on Bidjang for hosting guests who the government says used hateful language on his program.

The NCC said Bidjang was warned several times, but he continued inviting such guests on the program.

The council this week also imposed suspensions on a radio station and three other media practitioners for broadcasting offensive or hateful content.

NCC President Joe Chebongkeng Kalabubse said these journalists and media outlets propagated hate speech and xenophobic language.

“We have noticed that we can nip the problem in the bud by encouraging journalists to be more professional,” Kalabubse said. “We want to encourage journalists to be as professional as possible. We will not hesitate to sanction them if they falter.”

Kalabubse said he has informed Cameroon’s minister of territorial administration, Paul Atanga Nji, to make sure that journalists who do not respect the order are punished, and media organizations that continue to broadcast are permanently closed.

Nji said he has instructed police and local government officials to force the journalists to respect the sanctions.

“The media men should know that they have the moral obligation to comply by respecting these decisions taken for the common good,” Nji said. “Because if we are in a state of law and we don’t respect the laws of the republic, then we are walking towards a jungle, and Cameroon is not a jungle. We should use liberty of expression to construct and not to destroy. So, I want to tell the media men that they have the obligation to comply. If they don’t comply, we will accompany them to comply by force.”

But journalists in Cameroon say they are victims of increasing oppression. They say the government clamps down on media that hold contrary opinions to state actions.

The Cameroon Journalists Trade Union said the NCC was set up by Biya to defend his interests and crack down on journalists who oppose his rule.

The trade union said senior state functionaries and military officials who are accused of corrupt practices ask the NCC to suspend reporters — a charge the NCC denies.

The government said hate speech propagated through the media has become rampant since the disputed 2018 presidential election.

In addition, some French-speaking host communities accuse English speakers displaced by the separatist conflict in the west of being separatist fighters or sympathizers.

Cameroon’s minister of territorial administration said local media that do not stop guests in debate programs from asking communities to rise against one another will be punished. Journalists who anchor such programs will also be punished, the government said, though it has not outlined any punishment.

Cameroon has more than 600 newspapers, about 200 radio stations and 60 TV networks, yet producing independent and critical reporting is still challenging, according to Reporters Without Borders.

In its 2023 World Press Freedom Index, the organization said Cameroon is one of Africa’s most dangerous countries for journalists, since they operate in a hostile and precarious environment.

Source: VOA

At least one soldier has been killed after militants of the terror group Boko Haram attacked a military outpost in Cameroon’s Far North Region, according to local and security sources.

The attack took place overnight Sunday in the Kerawa locality of the region that hosts a military outpost.

The militants ambushed and attacked the outpost, which had six soldiers of Cameroon’s elite force, Rapid Intervention Battalion, a military source in the region said.

“They were surprised. The terrorists tiptoed and surprised them. The death toll could be more,” the source said.

It was the fifth time the terror group attacked an army outpost in the region in the past two weeks, according to security reports.

Source: Xinhuanet

The Tunisian coastguard on Friday recovered the body of a young child thought to have drowned at sea when two vessels carrying migrants sank in the Mediterranean, a journalist working with news agency said.

The child’s body, dressed in a pink jumpsuit and grey woollen cap, was discovered during a patrol off the coast of Sfax, Tunisia’s second city, according to the journalist who was accompanying the coastguard.

The child was likely from Cameroon, as more than 200 Cameroonians had been rescued in the last two days, the coastguard undertaking the operation said.

The child’s mother was believed to have been one of the people missing after the sinking of two boats earlier in the week, they added.

The Cameroonian embassy in Tunis was nonetheless unable to confirm this information when contacted.

Local court spokesman Faouzi Masmoudi meanwhile said that two boats carrying migrants from sub-Saharan Africa sank off Sfax’s coast on Wednesday.

Six people died and 39 were rescued from the first boat, while 12 people from the second boat were rescued and 41 others are missing, he said.

Tunisia, whose coastline is less than 150 kilometres from the Italian island of Lampedusa, has long been a favoured launching point for migrants attempting the perilous sea journey from North Africa to Europe.

The flow of migrants from Tunisia has intensified since President Kais Saied made a fiery speech on February 21 claiming illegal immigration was a demographic threat to Tunisia.

Source: AFP