At least 14 people from the African nation of Cameroon were rescued from waters in the eastern Caribbean early Tuesday after their boat capsized, but three people were dead and 13 others missing, authorities in St. Kitts said.

The group had departed Antigua early Tuesday aboard a boat carrying 32 passengers that apparently was en route to the U.S. Virgin Islands when it sank near the island of St. Kitts, Anthony Comrie, head of the St. Kitts-Nevis Defence Force, said at a news conference. He said the group had been staying on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, but left there a week ago for Antigua.

“My government has been making every effort to be helpful to these brothers and sisters from Africa who were marooned on Antigua, including by granting them residence and the opportunity to work,” Antigua Prime Minister Gaston Browne said.

He said the Cameroonians apparently arrived in Antigua as tourists but intended to migrate to other countries. Browne said his administration has contacted the U.N. High Commission for Refugees and the International Organization for Migration for counsel on how to treat the survivors as refugees, adding that they are welcome in Antigua.

Cameroon has been rocked by conflict since English-speaking separatists in the Central African country launched a rebellion in 2017. More than 3,300 people have died in the conflict, which has displaced more than 750,000 others, according to the United Nations.

The boat was stolen in Antigua, and 16 people aboard it were rescued, including two Antiguans, Comrie said. The nationalities of those who died or missing were unknown, officials said.

Browne said authorities would investigate what he called an “unlawful and dreadful affair,” including the involvement of local residents.

“All of the facts surrounding today’s calamity are not yet known,” he said.

The boat sank about 40 miles northwest of Antigua for unknown reasons, Col. Telbert Benjamin, chief of defense for Antigua and Barbuda’s Defense Force, told the government’s media outlet.

“The vessel went down in relatively deep water, and so recovery … might be a bit of a challenge,” Benjamin said.

Source: AP

Three people are now known to have died from the boat tragedy off St Kitts early Tuesday morning. They are all believed to have been from countries in Africa.

A vessel sank between Antigua and St Kitts this morning, with reports indicating that 15 Cameroonians are missing and one person has died.

Government officials have confirmed that Cameroonians living in Antigua and Barbuda were the majority of individuals on board the vessel, with only half of the 30 passengers being rescued.

The Africans were reportedly trying to get to St Thomas.

Colonel Telbert Benjamin, the Chief of Antigua and Barbuda Defence Force, has confirmed that the boat capsized 40 miles northwest of Antigua, and a search operation is currently underway to locate the missing passengers.

The ABDF Coast Guard is collaborating with its St Kitts and Nevis counterparts, as well as the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre from Martinique.

The ABDF has also deployed its fixed-wing aircraft, Alpha One, to aid in the search effort. Col. Benjamin stated that several details are still being ascertained, including the destination of the vessel.

Most of the Cameroonians arrived in Antigua and Barbuda several months ago on a chartered flight and have been stranded.

They claimed that they were promised a connecting flight to the United States and have no intention of returning to their violent-stricken country.

Source: Antiguanews

Cameroon is plunged under water every rainy season. Greenpeace Africa is calling on the government to put in place an effective disaster risk management plan.

The return of the rains this August has caused several floods in three regions of Cameroon (Littoral, Far North and Adamaoua). Faced with this situation, which seems to be getting worse over the years, the Cameroonian government’s responses do not seem to be accurate.

On Monday night (August 21, 2021), a heavy rain fell in the city of Ngaoundéré (Adamaoua Region) causing flooding, with several material damages. The far north region is not left out, since the beginning of August 2021, cases of flooding are recorded in several departments of the region. The case of the city of Douala is symptomatic of this ongoing situation. The consequences are sometimes very heavy, including loss of life. These floods that are becoming recurrent in Cameroon as in several other countries of the world are one of the strong signs that climate change is a reality and require urgent action from leaders.

Ranece Jovial Ndjeudja, Campaigner at Greenpeace Africa, says, “We need to attack the root of the problem. The floods we are experiencing today are the result of little to no foresight on the part of the government.” 

In 2020 alone, nearly 160,000 people were affected by flooding in the far north of Cameroon, a region already heavily impacted by the exactions of the Boko Haram sect and which like the rest of the world had to deal with the COVID 19 pandemic.

Greenpeace Africa calls on the government of Cameroon to take its responsibilities and reconsider its international commitments in terms of risk management and natural disasters, protection of people and the fight against climate change. “We note that, for cities like Douala and Yaoundé, the outflow of rivers from their beds is partly linked to the clogging of drains by plastic bottles. Where are we with the ban on the use of non-biodegradable plastic packaging decided in 2014?  It is clear that its implementation was limited to the first weeks of the signing of the decree!”, says Ranèce Jovial Ndjeudja. 

It is more than urgent for Cameroon to ensure the implementation of the measures in its contingency plan. It is also important to put in place adaptation measures in order to prevent disasters related to the changing climate but also to protect people and their property, and thus remain consistent with its international commitments in the fight against climate change.

The Ambazonia Interim Government has said that all Southern Cameroons restoration movements including Ambazonian resistance groups will keep up their confrontation against the French Cameroun regime until the complete liberation of the Ambazonia homeland from Yaoundé’s occupation.

Dabney Yerima, Vice President of the Ambazonia Interim Government made the remarks on Thursday during a zoom meeting with Ground Zero commanders, the Interim Government reported.

The exiled Southern Cameroons leader, however, affirmed that the Ambazonian people all over the world would always be united while confronting the French Cameroun occupation until there would be no place for the invaders in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

“All Southern Cameroons fronts are united throughout Ground Zero,” Yerima said, describing Buea as the arrowhead of the ongoing struggle against the occupying French Cameroun regime.

By Chi Prudence Asong

The Appeal Court in Yaoundé has rejected Francophone businessman, Amougou Belinga lawyer’s request to release him.

Court extended detention of Jean Pierre Amougou Belinga, who is held on charges of murdering journalist Martinez Zogo.

Amougou Beliga is being charged with murder of the much respected journalist and whistleblower Martinez Zogo.

The prosecution indicated that the suspect took advantage of his connection to the security apparatus of the state and killed the radio host.

The CEO of the press group l’Anecdote left Kondengui prison in Yaoundé this Thursday, March 23, 2023 for the Court of Appeal hoping he was going to get a provisional release but the request was rejected.

The hearing lasted a couple of minutes and the Court of Appeal announced the postponement of the case to April.

The disgraced Jean Pierre Amougou Belinga was remanded in custody on Saturday, March 4, 2023 by the Military Court in Yaoundé for “complicity in torture by aiding and abetting” in the case of Martinez Zogo, the whistleblower journalist kidnapped on January 17, 2023 before being murdered shortly after.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Four Cameroon government soldiers were killed and several others, including two civilians, were injured by a highway bomb in Amchide and Sabon Gari in the Far North region, where Boko Haram militants are active, military told Cameroon Intelligence Report Wednesday.

We gathered that a BIR patrol vehicle hit a mine on the main road linking Amchide and Sabon Gari. A bike rider and one resident were also caught in the blast.

“Four soldiers died in the explosion and many others were badly injured while two civilians were also injured,” our source said.

Cameroon government military leadership in the Far North region accused Boko Haram militants of planting the bomb.

Yaoundé did not immediately respond to a request for official comment.

Boko Haram has launched several attacks in and around the Far North region, targeting troops loyal to the Biya Francophone regime.

By Nelly Epupa with files from Rita Akana

Dawn breaks in Cameroon’s economic hub, the seething metropolis of Douala, and a crowd gathers at the water spigots by the Guinness brewery in the run-down district of Bassa.

They fill up jerrycans and canisters from the only dependable local source of water — a borehole installed by the brewery itself in the absence of a reliable state supplier.

People load up car trunks, motorcycle taxi luggage racks or else balance containers on their heads.

The hole is one of a huge number of privately-owned wells which dip into the water table in this region of four million people.

But lack of regulation has led to chaos, raising questions as to whether the precious resource can be sustained or remain drinkable.

Overconsumption and pollution of the planet’s limited supplies of freshwater lie at the core of a three-day UN Water Conference opening in New York on Wednesday.

Boreholes everywhere

Cameroon’s water problems are clearly big, according to anecdotal evidence, but there are few figures to give statistical depth.

The government says the public water utility Camwater serves a “majority” of households — but does not offer figures, or even an estimate.

Not far from Bassa, in the PK12 district, two machines are hammering away on a corner of land wedged between buildings, making the ground shake.

Boring into the ground to reach the aquifer requires copious amounts of lubricant, in the form of water pumped in by teams at the surface and a chemical additive called Polyfor.

Care has to be taken to avoid polluting the supply, said Serge Diffo, who runs the small drilling company, Hydyam.

But, he said, “you see septic tanks right next to boreholes in residential blocks.”

Wells drilled for individual use do not need any prior authorisation, a practice that verges on heresy in typical urban planning.

Hygiene fear

“Every person, in line with what he can afford, simply drills one or more wells without bothering to pay attention to anyone,” said Firmin Bon, a professor of hydrology at Maroua University.

A borehole typically costs at least a million CFA francs (around $1,600) in a country where the minimum wage is 36,000 francs.

“The density can come close to 100 boreholes per square kilometre (250 per square mile),” said Bon.

“They are sometimes in contact with sources of pollution, latrines and sewage.”

He predicted, at best, a rise in cases of gastroenteritis or, at worst, cholera — and, in the long term, cancer.

In the nearby but better-off valley of Logbessou, villas are fitted out as far as the eye can see with water tanks in the form of massive but unsightly black, grey or blue plastic water butts which store water from boreholes.

A study published by the Pan African Medical Journal found that in 2018, two-thirds of households in Doula’s fifth district were consuming water drawn from boreholes. Half of the households were more than a 15-minute walk from a source.

The country’s deputy minister for water, Hamadou Youssoufa, described the situation in Douala as “a concern,” and blamed it on runaway urban development and a population explosion.

He said the ministry was carrying out a study into the hygiene of the boreholes, which “will be useful for requiring consumers to uphold the standards.”

Skepticism

President Paul Biya, Cameroon’s iron-fisted ruler for the past four decades, acknowledged in his New Year’s address that the water problem in Douala was one of his “main concerns.”

He said the government had been asked to launch a “mega-project” this year to supply drinking water to the city and its environs.

But Francois Songue, a 75-year-old pensioner, has grown tired of such promises over the years.

“In my part of town you have to wait for water from Camwater until two in the morning — and it doesn’t come!

“I’ve travelled more than 10 kilometres here to get drinking water for my wife, my children and myself,” he said as he stood in line at the Guinness site.

Jodelle Foguem, a young housewife, said she trusted the water that came from the brewery’s taps.

“The water is not drinkable in our parts of town. We prefer to come and get it here,” she said.

Source: AFP

In Cameroon, one of the most popular radio talk shows is Embouteillage, aired on the private radio station Amplitude FM, whose anchor was Mbani Zogo Arsène Salomon, better known as Martinez Zogo or “Le Maestro”.

On 17 January, reports started trickling in of Zogo’s kidnapping. He was missing for five days before his naked body was discovered on the outskirts of the capital Yaoundé.

Rene Emmanuel Sadi, Cameroon’s communications minister, said Zogo’s corpse showed signs of torture. Autopsy results provided by his family show the extent of his injuries, including a broken leg and missing fingers.

Zogo had a reputation as an outspoken critic of private and public sector malfeasance. At the time of his death he was investigating business tycoon and media guru Jean Pierre Amougou Belinga.

In one of his last broadcasts, Zogo claimed to have incriminating evidence detailing how Belinga and his allies in the government had allegedly syphoned billions of CFA francs from the state’s coffers. This was not the first time that Zogo had upset powerful people. He had previously been suspended from the air and imprisoned as a result of his critical comments.

Another journalist, Samuel Wazizi, was arrested and detained in August 2019 for criticising the government’s handling of a separatist revolt in the country’s English-speaking northwest and southwest regions. He was later reported to have died in custody, but his family has yet to see his body.

“Press freedom in Cameroon is controversial,” said Charlie Aimé Tchouemou, editor-in-chief of Amplitude FM.

President Paul Biya set up a commission to investigate the murder. According to the secretary general at the presidency, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, it has led to some arrests and many others are still being sought. Their identities have not been made public.

Reporters Without Borders revealed the arrests of about 20 members of Cameroon’s General Directorate for External Investigation, including its boss, Maxime Eko Eko, and its special operations director, Justin Danwe. Belinga, who owns the newspaper L’Anecdote and the TV channel Vision 4, and his wife were also arrested.

‘Killed like a pig’

Zogo’s wife Diane has written a letter to Biya and other world leaders demanding justice and protection for her family. “My husband was killed like a pig, let justice take its course.” Zogo’s family has declined to receive his body until after the killers have been arraigned in court.

For close to a month before he was killed, Zogo had become increasingly aware that his life was in peril, but had vowed to expose those “killing” the state. His sister Moungou Crespence said he “used to tell us that he will die for his people”.

Zogo’s colleagues are hopeful that because the investigations were ordered by the president, his killers will be brought to justice. But the commission has an arduous task ahead of it, amid accusations that senior government officials were complicit in the murder.

On 4 March, the state prosecutor presented to some of the suspects the charges levelled against them, and placed them in pre-trial detention in the Kondengui maximum security prison in Yaoundé. The key detainees are Maxine Eko Eko, Justin Danwe and Jean Pierre Amougou Belinga. The charges range from kidnapping and torture to complicity in kidnapping and torture, but none of them has been charged with murder.

Since Zogo’s death, Equinoxe Television, a private TV station in Cameroon, has begun its 8pm show with a tribute to him.

Source: Mail/Guardian

The Biya Francophone dominated regime in Yaoundé has been accused of hiding following the flooding crisis across Buea and Limbe in Southern Cameroons.

In a recent statement made public by the Vice President of the Ambazonia Interim Government, Dabney Yerima branded the French Cameroun administration as an exploitative regime that goes hiding during emergencies in Southern Cameroons.

Vice President Dabney Yerima said in the press release that Southern Cameroonians should work flat out to help people in Ground Zero.

Here is the VP’s statement                                                                                                    

Fellow Ambazonians,

On the 17th of March 2023, torrential rains in our capital city of Buea, led to enormous destruction of lives and properties. We are in the darkest moments of our history as a people. We are often placed between the great impact of occasional occurrence of natural disasters and constant man-made-disasters like the genocidal actions and ethnic cleansing meted on us by Paul Biya’s savage regime. Our thoughts and prayers go to the bereaved families, the injured and those affected socially, economically, and psychologically. Together, we shall profoundly overcome these dark moments in our history.

Because of the governing French Cameroun government’s inability to engage in town planning and their corrupt political system, they allow our people to build in high-risk areas and those areas are now disaster zones. Internally displaced persons from the countryside are being disproportionately impacted. To this vicious French Cameroun regime, the lives and wellbeing of Ambazonians do not matter. The well-being of our people indeed matter and this is the time for all Ambazonians to rally in solidarity.  Those in Ground Zero need our support!

As we continue to work hard in our quest for a free Federal Republic of Ambazonia, we must also forge ahead with the creation of strong institutions which will serve and protect our interest during this fourth Industrial revolution which is changing the world rapidly.  Our vision for a new Ambazonia is huge. The Ambazonia of tomorrow will have smart cities, smart homes, solid transport infrastructures, effective disaster management mechanisms making sure that disasters will not occur again and even if they do, we will have an efficient disaster management department that will handle disasters by providing humanitarian aid to those affected.

We need each other more than ever before because for six decades we have been over exploited by French Cameroun and we must rise to take back our homeland and develop it.

I call on everyone to support the victims of the flood. The department of health and social services will work with others on the ground to provide support to victims of the flood in a manner that does not expose them to be targeted by French Cameroun military or government officials.

Comrade Dabney Yerima

Vice President Federal Republic of Ambazonia

Flooding and landslides impacted Buea and Limbe in the Southwest Region, overnight March 18/19. Damage to property and casualties have been reported. Multiple road routes have reportedly been flooded.

Further heavy rainfall, conducive to additional flooding and landslides, is forecast through March 19. Disruptions to electricity and telecommunications services are possible where significant flooding or landslides impact utility networks.

Floodwaters and debris flows may render some bridges and roadways impassable, impacting overland travel in and around affected areas. Ponding on road surfaces could cause hazardous driving conditions on regional highways. Authorities could temporarily close some low-lying routes that become inundated by floodwaters.

Sources: Crisis 24