Jean Pierre Amougou Belinga the main suspect in the murder of whistleblower journalist Martinez Zogo, his hit man lieutenant colonel Justin Danwe and twenty other persons who have been in custody for more than a week at the Secretariat of State for Defense were on Tuesday transported in two security vehicles like common criminals and presented before judges at the Yaoundé Military Court located at the Ngoa Ekelle district in the nation’s capital.

Amougou Belinga and his gang were ferried in very old National Gendarmerie Toyota pickups in a move described by many political commentators in Yaoundé as the end of the preliminary investigation into the journalist Martinez Zogo affair.

Cameroon Concord News Group understands that the custody in SED was extended three times in compliance with the law. This week, it became mandatory to remove the suspects from SED.

Commenting on the happenings in Yaoundé, Cameroon Concord News Nelly Epupa opined that it is now up to the Military Court to issue new detention warrants for Amougou Belinga and his killer squad or to extend their stay in SED pending further investigation.

By Rita Akana with additional editing from Nelly Epupa

The Global Think Tank for Africa has once more put smiles on the faces of pupils in Mamfe following the donation of didactic materials to pupils who have been displaced due to the socio-political crisis in the country’s twoEnglish-speaking regions.

On Friday, February 10, 2023, the organization through the inspectorate of basic education in Mamfe donated didactic materials to some 50 internally displaced children drawn from 10 schools in mamfe.

This is the 4th batch of pupils to benefit from the largesse of the Global Think Tank for Africa, a Canada-based not-for-profit organization.

So far, some 250 IDPs have benefited from this humanitarian assistance and the project is on going as planned and it will be extended to villages close to Mamfe town where the fighting has stopped.

On behalf of the children, the Inspector of Basic Education for Mamfe, Mr. Herman Taku Arreyngang, extended his great appreciation and called on other external elites of Manyu Division to follow the example of the Global Think Tank.

Speaking over the phone from Abidjan, Ivory Coast, the Executive Director of the Global Think Tank for Africa, Dr. Joachim Arrey, said that education was the foundational key to a child’s success and that it was important to help Africa’s future leaders to have that foundation so that they can acquire the skills and knowledge which will enable them to play their future leadership role.

“There is no better way of helping our children than by granting them the knowledge and skills they will need in future, Dr. Arrey said.

“No society will be ready for the future if its future leaders are not educated. While education alone will not grant the children the knowledge and leadership skills they will need tomorrow, it will however open their eyes and will grand them the foundation they need to live in a society which is increasingly a knowledge-based society,” he stressed.

He thanked the inspector of basic education and his team members who have been working tirelessly to help the children cope with the stress of leaving their natural environment.

“The teachers in Mamfe are really doing a good job. It is not easy to work in a war zone where the most vulnerable of our society are being threatened for going to school. I don’t know how to thank the authorities of basic education in Mamfe for their selfless services to our desperate children. May the Lord grant them more energy so that they can continue to do the great job they are doing,” Dr. Arrey said.

Asked about the program, Dr. Arrey said his organization would continue to support the IDPs for as long as the crisis continues.

By Thomas Ashu Atem

Edith Kah Walla was at the front of a crowd of students that welcomed Cameroon’s new president Paul Biya on a tour of the United States in 1984, full of hope that the young leader would bring stability and democracy, and end corruption.

Four decades on, Biya, now the world’s oldest leader, turns 90 on Monday. When he cuts a large cake, as he usually does on his birthday, Kah Walla, who was one of Biya’s challengers in the 2011 presidential election, will not be celebrating.

Her support for Biya evaporated over the years as economic progress stalled, dissenting voices were silenced, and the oil-producing country of 27 million people became split by a separatist uprising that has killed thousands, and Boko Haram attacks in the north.

At 90, Biya should spend his days playing with his grandchildren, she said.

“We live in a violent, brutal dictatorship. Over the past 40 years it has gotten more and more violent and brutal,” said Kah Walla, now a civil society activist. “These 40 years are a huge setback for Cameroon.”

HANDPICKED IN 1982

Biya has repeatedly defended his record in the past and says that the government has made strides to return peace to the minority English-speaking regions where separatists are trying to form their own state.

He touts his Vision 2035 plan as a blueprint to boost development over the next 12 years.

Biya was born in Mvomeka’a, a village in the southern equatorial forest, in 1933, the year prohibition ended in the United States and Adolf Hitler became Chancellor in Germany.

After studying in Paris, he returned to Cameroon in 1962 as a top civil servant and quickly rose to become the Prime Minister in 1975. He was hand-picked as successor after the country’s first post-independence president Ahmadou Ahidjdo decided to resign suddenly in November 1982.

In Africa, only President Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea has ruled longer.

Millions still support Biya, although international observers have raised doubts about the fairness of elections that he routinely wins with ease. He spends long stretches in comfortable European hotels with his wife Chantal, frustrating many at home who believe the country’s crises require closer attention.

In 2020, he was not seen in public for weeks, prompting speculation that he had died of COVID-19.

Biya has ruled with openness and tolerance, said former minister Elvis Ngolle Ngolle. Old age, he said, has its advantages.

“The more you add up the age, the wiser you become – the more experienced, tolerant, logical you become,” Ngolle said.

AGE OLD WOES

Popular journalist and whistleblower Paul Chouta disagrees. Chouta, an outspoken critic of Biya, has been repeatedly beaten and tortured in recent years. He lives in fear: just the sound of his floorboards creaking sends him into a panic.

On March 9 last year, unknown assailants bundled him into the back of a car and drove him to an isolated spot near Yaounde airport. They beat him with stones and batons and left him for dead, he said.

Chouta is one of several reporters who have been beaten or killed. Two journalists were killed in the last month, prompting condemnation from the United Nations.

“If he (Biya) loves Cameroonians, let him fix things and go. The woes are deep,” Chouta told Reuters.

It is not only well-known reporters who are wary.

Kouam Yves, a motorcycle taxi driver, last week stood at a newspaper stand discussing the news headlines with colleagues. He struggles to make a living and is critical of Biya and what he describes as rampant corruption. But he paused as he spoke, worried about who might be listening.

“I can’t celebrate the Head of State’s birthday. For more than 20 years, I have not seen anything which we have executed in this country that went well like in other countries,” he said.

Source: Reuters

The mystery of who killed Brian Fombor, a young man stabbed to death by unknown assailants on June 2020 in the Omnisport district in Yaoundé while in the company of his girlfriend, Ivana Essomba suspected of being the mistress of Jean Pierre Amougou Belinga took a new twist this week when investigators announced they have summoned Ernest Obama, Jean Pierre Amougou Belinga’s right-hand man at the time of the murder.

Cameroon Intelligence Report understands that investigators are trying to untangle the skein to know the role that Ernest Obama would have played in this tragic case.

Ivana Essomba seen here on photo attached to this report became on December 2022, the wife of Bruno Bidjang a young journalist Amougou Belinga recently appointed as General Manager of his privately-owned television channel, Vision 4.

Senior security officials in Yaoundé have hinted Cameroon Intelligence Report that Brian Fombor’s alleged killers were part of a Vision 4 group led by Ernest Obama.

Ernest Obama who now moonlights as spokesperson for the Cameroon Football Federation is wanted in SED after a tip-off following the arrest of Belinga Amougou the owner of the L’Anecdote media group and Raymond Thomas Etoundi Nsoe, a retired colonel and former commander of the presidential guard.

The Francophone mafia boss and business tycoon including his top aide Bruno Bidjang are still being questioned. But Cameroon Intelligence Report has some intelligence that would suggest they have knowledge, perhaps some culpability on the murder of Brian Fombor.

Our Yaoundé city reporter said there was a high probability that Ernest Obama, an anti Anglophone extremist was the masked man who teleguided the murder of Brian Fombor.

Amougou Belinga, Paul Atanga Nji and Laurent Esso have been in the business of killing for decades and it is evidently clear that this time around state security apparatus appear to have done a poor job of protecting this CPDM gang.  

The Amougou Belinga-Martinez Zogo affair is extremely sensitive, with news of more arrests emerging.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Five employees of Cameroon’s main public agro-industrial group have died after their truck was attacked in the English-speaking west of the country plagued by separatist unrest, the company said Saturday.

“Unidentified armed men attacked a truck carrying workers” on Friday in Mondoni, about 30 kilometres (20 miles)  north-west of the economic capital Douala, Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC) managing director Franklin Ngoni Njie said in a statement.

Five employees, including a woman, died and a further 44 were injured, one seriously, according to CDC, one of Cameroon’s largest employers specialising in rubber, banana and palm oil processing.

No motives were given for the ambush which state broadcaster CRTV reported was “suspected of being separatist fighters”.

Cameroon’s primarily English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions have been gripped by conflict since separatists declared independence in 2017 after decades of grievances over perceived discrimination by the francophone majority.

President Paul Biya, who has ruled the central African nation with an iron fist for 40 years, has resisted calls for wider autonomy and responded with a crackdown.

The conflict in the former French colony has claimed more than 6,000 lives and forced more than one million people to flee their homes, according to the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank.

Civilians have suffered abuses committed by both sides, NGOs and the United Nations say.

Eighty-percent of Cameroon’s population of 24 million is French-speaking.

The presence of the large Anglophone minority is a legacy of the colonial era.

Source: AFP

The South West Regional Customs headed by   the Chief of sector, Mongue Nyamsi Daniel, on Thursday February 9, 2023 doled out food stuff and financial assistance to Save the Children Alliance orphanage in Limbe.

The items comprised two bags of rice, two cartons of cooking oil, two bags of salt with an envelope pregnant with cash.

Speaking during the event, the Southwest Chief of sector for Customs, Mongue Nyamsi Daniel, said that the donation was in line with the 40th edition of the celebration of the International Customs Day which is commemorated worldwide every January 26, and was celetrated on the theme:  ‘Nurturing the next generation: Promoting a culture of knowledge-sharing and professional pride in customs.

The South West Customs boss explained that due to security constraints in the North West and South West Regions, the event had been scheduled for February 8-10.

Mongue Nyamsi added that activities started with sports on Wednesday, February 8, 2023.  On Thursday February 9, there were internal meetings with Customs transporters and the event ended on Friday 10 with internal meeting with Customs staff. A gala night is expected to close the evening.

“World Customs Day was initiated by the World Customs Organization (W.C.O.) in 1983. This day celebrates all the customs officials and agencies which toil day in and day out to ensure effective world trade management,” the sector chief said.

“Customs officials ensure smooth functioning of trade operations across international borders and put people at the very center of the transformation process,” Mr. Mongue Nyamsi explained.

For his part, the Coordinator of Save the Children Alliance,  Ivann Ngale, said that “We are so happy that these children are getting a touch of the government’s feeling within their premises through South West Customs. Thank you so much for this unprecedented visit which I know it was led by the heart.”

He also said that, they empowered the children with entrepreneurial skills to produce hair oil, vaseline among others

“God should take you to ministerial positions with your colleagues. With such hearts you people are helping.  The Cameroon Government should give you people more responsibility to enable you reach out to more under-privileged children in our society,” Ngale Ivann prayed.

By Cecilia Manjang

The Vice President of the Ambazonia Interim Government, denouncing the murder of General Transporter of Greater Meme Area recently by French Cameroun army soldiers says the crisis-stricken Biya French Cameroun regime is doomed to degenerate and decay.

In a press statement released on Thursday, Comrade Dabney Yerima said the vexatious measures by the occupying Francophone troops against Southern Cameroons Self Defense groups will fail to avert its imminent collapse.

“For a 40-year-old criminal regime beset with an array of domestic crises including the assassination of two journalists and two prominent lawyers in a week and facing a Southern Cameroons uprising on multiple fronts, vexatious moves against Ambazonia Revolutionary Guards will be of no avail,” Vice President Dabney Yerima stated.

“Decline and disintegration are inherent in the nature of the bogus Biya French Cameroun regime” Vice President Yerima furthered.

The Yaoundé criminal regime’s aggression in rural areas of Southern Cameroons has assumed alarming proportions recently with a spate of military raids and targeted attacks resulting in the cold-blooded killing of a number of young Southern Cameroonians in Akwaya, Menchum, Meme and Bui.

The Biya Francophone regime regularly carries out raids on various towns and villages in Southern Cameroons on the pretext of detaining what it calls “separatists fighters”. These raids usually trigger violent confrontations with armed Southern Cameroons Self Defense Groups.

Dabney Yerima in the communiqué condemned the brutal aggression of French Cameroun soldiers against Southern Cameroons women in rural areas in Ndian, Kupe Muanenguba and Mezam after a report by the Ambazonian Intelligence Services said that girls were assaulted and beaten violently.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

IPI, the global network for independent journalism, welcomes apparent preliminary progress in the police investigation into last month’s murder of Cameroon journalist Martinez Zogo. IPI urges authorities to pursue the investigation to its full conclusion and hold all culprits responsible according to the law.

Martinez Zogo, the director general of radio Amplitude FM, a privately owned media house based in Yaounde, the capital city of Cameroon, was a popular journalist and host of the radio program ‘’Embouteillage’’. He reported on government malpractice, the embezzlement of public funds, and corruption.

On January 17, 2023, Martinez Zogo was abducted by unknown individuals in Yaounde. Several days later, on January 22, his body was found with signs of torture, as IPI previously reported. His abduction and assassination triggered national and international outrage and condemnation. IPI and other press freedom groups have called for a speedy and thorough investigation.

On February 2, 2023, the minister of state and secretary general of the Presidency of the Republic of Cameroon, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, issued a press release announcing the arrest of several suspects. At least 20 individuals are reported to have been arrested or interrogated, including several with high public profiles in the country’s security services.

Among the highest profile individuals arrested is Léopold Maxime Eko Eko, who heads Cameroon’s General Directorate for External Intelligence (DGRE).

On February 6, 2023, authorities arrested another powerful figure, the business tycoon Jean Pierre Amougou Belinga, who is said to have connections to high-ranking public officials and ministers. According to reports, Jean Pierre Amougou Belinga is strongly suspected of involvement in the kidnapping, torture, and killing of Zogo. Belinga is also the owner of the L’Anecdote media group in Cameroon. Two other powerful people, journalist Bruno Bidjang, the director general of Anecdote media group, and Raymond Thomas Etoundi Nsoe, a retired colonel and former commander of the presidential guard, are also suspected of involvement in the assassination and were arrested in Yaounde on the same day.

“IPI welcomes these signs of apparent progress in the investigation into the horrific murder of Martinez Zogo in Cameroon”, IPI Deputy Director Scott Griffen said. “However, these initial arrests and interrogations of suspects are only a first step on the path to justice. Cameroonian law enforcement must deliver on this initial progress and ensure that all those involved in this crime – including the masterminds, regardless of their position or prominence – are held to account.”

“We will be closely following this investigation, and call on the authorities to ensure sufficient transparency as the investigation moves forward in order to maintain its credibility. The world’s eyes are on Cameroon to firmly defeat impunity in this case.”

We are deeply concerned about the safety of journalists in Cameroon following the killing of a second journalist in the country in two weeks.

Jean-Jacques Ola Bebe, a radio presenter and Orthodox priest, was found dead on 2 February near his home in the Mimboman district of the capital Yaoundé, apparently shot dead by unknown assailants. His killing came 11 days after Arsene Salomon Mbami Zogo, popularly known as Martinez Zogo, a prominent journalist and manager of privately-owned Amplitude FM, was found dead five days after he had been abducted outside a gendarmerie station in Yaoundé.

Both Ola Bebe and Martinez Zogo were outspoken voices against corruption, using their platforms on radio to denounce cases of alleged misappropriation of public funds. Ola Bebe was at the forefront in calling for justice and accountability for the murder of Zogo, his close associate.

In January, at least three other Cameroonian journalists reported that they had received credible threats from unidentified people.

The Cameroonian authorities must take all necessary measures to create an enabling environment for journalists to work without fear of reprisal, and to uphold the right to freedom of expression as guaranteed in international human rights law, and also set out in Cameroon’s Constitution. A free, independent, and diverse media environment is vital in ensuring citizens are informed and can hold public institutions to account.

We note that President Biya has ordered investigations into Martinez Zogo’s killing, and certain arrests have been made. We call on the authorities to ensure that Ola Bebe’s killing is also independently, effectively, and impartially investigated and that those found to be responsible for these killings, at all levels, are held to account.

Ottawa announced last month that it has been leading discussions between the government of Cameroon and separatist groups, which have been in a conflict that has violently escalated in recent years. After the announcement, the Cameroonian government stated it was not working with an external mediator. Previous attempts by Switzerland and the Vatican to bring about peace talks in Cameroon have failed.

“Peace processes are always messy and take time, and this is a conflict that has been going for 40 years,” stated Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly. Canada was seen as an ideal interlocutor because its Constitution accommodates both anglophone and francophone traditions, it has no colonial-era baggage or significant economic interest in the country, and it has long-standing diplomatic ties to Cameroon.

The crisis in the North-West and South-West regions began in late 2016, when Cameroonian security forces were accused of using excessive force against peaceful demonstrators, led by teachers and lawyers who were protesting the perceived marginalization of the country’s minority anglophone education and legal systems. Dialogue between the government, teachers and lawyers at the early stages of the crisis failed. The crisis escalated when separatist fighters used violence, restricting access to education, and put pressure on the government for political recognition and independence for the English-speaking regions. A Major National Dialogue in 2019 was greeted by many as a great first step, but it wasn’t enough. The use of military means to combat the separatist fighters has only escalated the violence, with civilians caught in the middle.

The UN estimates that the violence since the protests began has claimed more than 6,000 lives and has kept 600,000 children out of school. At least 800,000 people have fled their homes and are internally displaced or refugees in other countries. Attacks by armed separatist groups on students, teachers and schools in Cameroon’s North-West and South-West regions since 2017 have had an enormous impact on children’s education. This devastating reality has made the children of Cameroon more vulnerable to abuse, exploitation and violence.

The advocacy network Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict estimates that less than 18 per cent of peace agreements globally have included child-protection provisions. To end the cycles of violence we need to be able to ensure children’s issues and rights are not only embedded in peace agreements, but also become integrated into the entire peace mediation process. This would allow for unique opportunities to shape a joint vision for the future of a conflict-affected country.

Canada and Cameroon both have an opportunity to reinforce commitments to the protection of children. In 2018, Cameroon endorsed the international Safe Schools Declaration, which Canada has also endorsed, and the Vancouver Principles on Peacekeeping and the Prevention of the Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers, which Canada spearheaded. These commitments focus on the importance of protecting children from violence and ensuring access to education.

Unfortunately, for the children of Cameroon, this conflict in the North-West and South-West regions is not the only concerning exposure to violence that exists. Boko Haram, in the Grand North region bordering with Nigeria, has been accused of recruiting and using children in violence since 2014. Exposing children to violence can increase the likelihood that they will engage in violent behaviour in the future. Preventing recruitment and use in the first place is therefore paramount to breaking cycles of violence.

While national-led peace processes are critical, lessons from other contexts and best practices are essential. International calls for dialogue between the separatist groups in Cameroon and government authorities need to take place. If the leaders of all sides involved fail to prioritize the protection of children in the peace process, this will have a negative impact on future generations.

The children of Cameroon deserve the opportunities we all wish for our children, to live in peace and harmony so that they may reach their full potential. Now that we are in Black History Month, it is important to recall the wisdom of Martin Luther King, who said, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands in times of challenge and controversy.” Let us stand collectively for children, peace and security in Cameroon, Canada and everywhere.

Culled from Globe and Mail