Karou Modou lived a happy life tilling her garden and rearing animals in her native Cherif-Moussari village at the foot of Mandara Mountains along the Cameroon-Nigeria border.

The 42-year-old mother of eight says her garden was all she had to provide and educate her children. But things changed in 2015.

Boko Haram terrorists attacked her village seven years ago, butchered her father and gunned down her son before abducting one of her daughters. The attackers, she says also burnt her harvest and went away with animals. In fear, Modou joined other villagers to flee for her dear life.

“It was difficult,” she remembers.

She narrates a laborious journey to safety passing through other villages like Nguetchewe and Koza before eventually finding solace in Zamai, 62km from Maroua, the Far North regional capital, joining other Cameroonian families who were also forcibly uprooted from their homes by the insurgency and were struggling to rebuild their lives in IDP sites.

Attacks on civilians

The Boko Haram insurgency began in Nigeria in 2009 before spreading across the Lake Chad basin countries, including Cameroon. They rapidly stepped up attacks on civilians in towns and villages, exacerbating security fears for a region that was already prone to banditry and trafficking.

According to an April 2021 UN report, the Boko Haram war in northern Cameroon has caused a major humanitarian crisis, with over 322,000 people displaced from their homes.

Of the displaced, Zamai is hosting nearly 4,000 in five sites, official figures showed.

Modou says integration and survival were an uphill task for her and the rest of the family members.

WFP initiative

The World Food Programme (WFP) has been helping the women rebuild their old livelihoods through an initiative Food Assistance For Assets Creation. It enables households to not only rely on WFP-donated food rations in the short term but also trains communities to support growing food and trade of produce between communities, according to Miguel Nzegang, WFP programme associate for Resilience and Livelihood Activities.

The UN Agency says it has created a water pond in the arid area to support agriculture and livestock activities and improve food security, secured land for community farms and erected a 150 metric ton capacity storage house for the community.

Nzegang told The EastAfrican that the project cannot take care of everyone in the community as a result of insufficient funding.

“Our biggest challenge is limited funding. For now, we are only able to reach 2,000 beneficiaries whereas the population of Zamai is over 30,000,” he said.

“We target the most vulnerable because we cannot reach out to everybody due to insufficient funding” he said.

“We need to provide them with full access to resources and opportunities so they can be effective contributors to food security and nutrition and efficient business and economic actors,” added Princess Sarah Zeid of Jordan, the WFP senior special adviser on Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition, after visiting the camp on November 2, 2022.

Hope turned into nightmare

Not everyone has been lucky like Modou though. Ali Aisha, 21, arrived at the IDP settlement more than a year ago but is still looking for bearing. She had been living with her uncle and schooling in neighbouring Borno State of Nigeria – the epicentre.

When she returned to Cameroon, her hope for a better life turned into nightmare. In 2019, they attacked her village, killing the men and kidnapped the women. The women are still missing.

“After fleeing, we just kept walking, wandering in the forest,” she explained, saying a military truck on patrol later rescued them. She hopes staying at the camp will help her get opportunities to train and be self-reliant.

Source: The East African

The Vice President of the Ambazonia Interim Government has underlined the need for intensive and productive dialog among all Southern Cameroons restoration groups in order to address ongoing differences in the struggle and respond to the challenges facing Southern Cameroonians.

Dabney Yerima made the comments in a meeting with members of the Ambazonia war cabinet on Tuesday.

The exiled Southern Cameroons leader also hailed all Amba fighters in Ground Zero and Ground One for their continued sacrifices, stating that the history of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia will never forget them.

The Ambazonia war cabinet members also exchanged viewpoints on the latest developments in Ground Zero and the plight of all Southern Cameroons detainees including Ambazonia refugees in neighboring Nigeria.

Dabney Yerima stressed that the Ambazonia Interim Government will continue to play a pivotal role in the struggle and that the Interim Government is keen to continue consultations and close coordination with every Southern Cameroons front line figure.

Vice President Dabney Yerima noted that the Interim Government attaches great significance to the Big Rubbergun Gun Project but donations from the diaspora has been very slow because of the nasty happenings in the USA.

By Chi Prudence Asong

The head of the Ambazonia Intelligence Service in Ground Zero held a telephone conversation with the Vice President of the Ambazonia Interim Government Dabney Yerima late on Tuesday. The two discussed the situation in Southern Cameroons, including Bemenda and the presence of Bayelsa armed militants from Nigeria in Pamol Lobe and Mamfe in Manyu Division.

Following the meeting, the exiled Southern Cameroons leader told the Southern Cameroons Broadcasting Corporation that they discussed the reasons leading up to the recent 40 years celebration of the French Cameroun dictator in Ambazonia territory and the humanitarian situation in Menchum, Bui and Ndian.

Yerima pointed out that he told the Ambazonia Intel Chief that Southern Cameroonians will never accept the continuation of the 1961 status quo. He warned that the Ambazonia resistance groups might agree to take action against all French Cameroun military installations in Southern Cameroons. But he did not say when and where it could start.

Sending a strong message to Yaoundé, Yerima said he would sit with all Southern Cameroons factions to discuss counter measures and the fate of all Southern Cameroons detainees who are still being held by the Biya French Cameroun regime in harsh conditions, including solitary confinement and detention with neither charge nor trial.

When asked if Ambazonian resistance groups failed when they allowed the CPDM Biya celebration to go on in Southern Cameroons without ghost towns operations, Dabney Yerima answered: “Our struggle is not only to end the fake union with La Republique du Cameroun, but also to let our people see the Southern Cameroonians who are helping the Francophone regime in its genocidal campaign in our homeland. When we get to Buea, they will pay dearly for their actions.”

By Chi Prudence Asong

A top German official gave a strong speech on the need for Germany to reckon with its abusive colonial past in Cameroon, a German colony between 1884 and 1919, and other former German colonies.

Katja Keul, minister of state at the German Federal Foreign Office, stated that “In Germany, we either played down or ignored the colonial period for far too long. As a society, as a government, and also as the Federal Foreign Office. … Let me put this quite bluntly: European colonialism was an unjust system.”

During her visit to Cameroon from October 30, 2022 to November 2, Keul paid tribute to Rudolf Douala Manga Bell, a Douala king and resistance leader against Germany’s colony in Cameroon. In 1914, the German colonial administration sentenced the king to death in a trial that violated due process, even at the time.

Keul said that “Colonialism led to unimaginable suffering. It destroyed the lives of many people in Africa. King Rudolf Manga Bell was one of them.”

Keul also discussed with Cameroon’s Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute the prospects of returning artifacts that were removed from Cameroon during the colonial era.

She committed the German government “to face up to this chapter of our history and to put an end to the shortcomings in coming to grips with it.”

Keul’s speech comes on the heels of Germany’s refusal in September to renegotiate a reparation deal related to the atrocities, now recognized by Germany as genocide, committed against the Herero and Nama peoples during Germany’s colonization of Namibia between 1885 and 1919. The “reconciliation agreement” was deemed a failure by, among others, colonial historians and representatives of the Herero and Nama, in part because the latter were not recognized as official partners during negotiations between the German and Namibian governments.

Studies have shown that Germany is grappling with structural racism within its institutions, such as the police, healthcare provision, and public employment services.

If the German government is serious about reckoning with its colonial past, it should reconsider its approach on reparations and examine how its colonial past affects racism in Germany today. The EU requires Germany to adopt a National Action Plan on Racism; adopting one addressing racism rooted in colonialism would be an important step.

Culled from Human Rights Watch

Cameroon’s ruling party supporters are celebrating their hero’s forty years in power although there is nothing positive to show for Mr. Biya’s long stay in power.

The celebrations are more explosive in the Northwest regional capital, Bamenda, where the ruling party, CPDM, was created.

But the irony in all the celebrations is that the man being feted, Paul Biya, is nowhere to be found.

Another irony of sorts is the fact that the celebration of incompetence has been taken to a different country, the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, which is so opposed to Mr. Biya’s dictatorial, incompetent and corrupt regime.

Mr. Biya, who came to power on a wave of popularity, has roundly disappointed Cameroonians with his dismal and appalling failure.

In 1982 when he took over, there was massive goodwill for Mr. Biya whom many thought was the right man to steer the country forward and in a different political direction, away from the brutality which characterized the first president’s rule.

But much to the dismay of those who had betted on Biya, he steered the country to even greater corruption, ferocious brutality and incompetence.

His regime has been characterized by arrogance and instead of listening to the people in order to understand the issues, he has always preferred the use of force, transforming the military into his personal toy which he unleashes on his political opponents even when uncalled for.

The 89-year-old Biya could not participate in his own celebrations because his demons have been at work since last week.

His enlarged prostate and heart seem to have connived to ensure that he does not go out to celebrate his own failure.

His right leg, which has made sure that he does not enjoy a good movement, went on a rebellion a few days ago and the desperate Biya has been crying like a baby.

Sources close to the presidential couple have informed the Cameroon Concord News that walking has become a chore to a man who loves walking around.

He now spends most of his time in his bedroom where he is reflecting on his fate after he transitions to the world beyond.

Mr. Biya will be remembered as a man who had a golden opportunity to change the unfortunate fate of his people but decided to squander the opportunity by adopting the wrong governance approaches. 

By Rita Akana

Nine health workers have been kidnapped from a government-run hospital in Cameroon’s restive northwest, one of two regions where armed separatists have been fighting government troops to create a breakaway state, the local mayor said on Friday.

Acha Kennedy Ngu, mayor of the town of Batibo where the kidnapping took place, said the health workers were abducted on Thursday and were still being held. Ngu did not give further details as he was not in town when it happened, he said.

The attackers’ identity and motives were unknown.

A spokesperson for the Ambazonia Governing Council, whose armed wing – Ambazonia Defense Forces – is the main armed separatist group operating in the area, denied responsibility for the abduction.

Medical workers have been frequently targeted since Cameroon’s Anglophone crisis turned violent in 2017. Thousands of people have been killed in the fighting, with atrocities committed on both sides.

The conflict stems from perceived marginalisation of Cameroon’s Anglophone community by the French-speaking majority in the central African state.

Source: Reuters

Ambazonia fighters attacked a gendarmerie post in Foumbot, Noun Division in the West region late on Thursday, injuring two officials and triggering a gun battle.

“As per initial reports, Anglophone separatists have attacked the Foumbot post. Two special officers are injured” the Gendarmerie Legion Commander said in a security correspondence to the National Gendarmerie Headquarters in Yaoundé.

The legion commander added that Southern Cameroons fighters were running short of logistics and are now targeting security posts in French Cameroun settlements to refuel in arms and ammunition.

The commander of the Western Gendarmerie Legion also revealed that the attack on the Foumbot post was carried out by a group led by Amba Commander She Joseph.

Cameroon government defense and security forces in the Noun Division have been placed on high alert, and vigilance has increased in the town.

It should be recalled that the West region borders the North West and that Amba fighters made an incursion into Noun Division last June and attacked the gendarmerie post at Njitapon, killing five gendarmes and taking their weapons and ammunition. In Bamboutos Division, Amba attacks are also common.

By Fon Lawrence

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has delivered an advanced cardiac and trauma life-support ambulance in Cross River State, Nigeria, to support refugees from Cameroon in the state.

It also donated one pick-up vehicle to the state government to enhance the security of the host community and refugees in the Ogoja local government area of the state. 200 vaccine carrier boxes were also donated to complement the initial 50 distributed directly to primary health care centres in the southern Nigerian state.

The Head of the UNHCR sub-office in Ogoja, Tesfaye Bekele, presented the vehicles to Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River in Calabar, the state capital. He explained that the donation was part of UNHCR’s way of showing gratitude to the state government for the hospitality granted to the Cameroonian refugees since they started entering the state for safety.

‘The UNHCR is implementing community projects through non-governmental organisation partners to strengthen basic services such as health, water, sanitation and education to benefit both refugees and host communities,’ Bekele said.

There are over 85,000 Cameroonian refugees in Nigeria at the moment, and Cross River is hosting over 50,000 refugees, majorly in eight local government areas in the state. Cameroon’s northwest and southwest regions have been rocked by violence after separatists declared the independence of ‘Ambazonia’.

The fighting between government security forces and armed groups, which has lingered since 2016, started when lawyers and teachers took to the streets of Buea and Bamenda to protest the domination of French in Anglophone courts and schools. The violence has caused about 6,000 deaths and a major humanitarian crisis, with almost 600,000 people internally displaced within the Anglophone and neighbouring regions, and over 77,000 forced to become refugees in Nigeria.

Source: UNHCR

Activists in Cameroon say there has been a 60% increase in people applying for the U.S. Diversity Visa Lottery, also known as the Green Card Lottery. Thousands of people have been lining up at internet cafes to apply for the program, citing a need to escape a poor economy and the country’s separatist conflict.

Twenty-nine-year-old teacher Getrude Tanlaka, who is among those entering the visa lottery at a cafe in Yaounde, says she is searching for better economic opportunities.

“I just want to get out. That is why I am playing the American lottery. My family has suffered a lot and this is the time for me to take care of them,” she said. “In Cameroon, I cannot do that. I work every day from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. and the remuneration is very discouraging, but in America it will be very easy. It is an opportunity to step out and change my life.”

Tanlaka says her mother also signed up for the lottery to increase the chances of them succeeding.

The Digital Rights Coalition, an alliance of civil society groups advocating for online rights and safety, says Cameroon’s estimated 200 cybercafes have seen a 60 percent increase in people applying for the visa lottery this year.

They say this follows a sharp dip in 2021 due to the high number of U.S. deaths from COVID-19. The State Department reports that entries to the American Visa Lottery program from Cameroon dropped to 151,000 last year — about half the number from the year before.

Now, says the coalition, many people are hoping to escape economic hardship caused by high inflation and a separatist conflict in western Cameroon, which has claimed at least 3,500 lives.

Akaba James, the coalition’s coordinator, says his organization is warning people to avoid scammers who charge money for unhelpful lottery advice.

“There are thousands of fake sites, fake people on YouTube providing advice about the DV lottery when they themselves have very little understanding of that process,” James said. “Ensure that wherever you play the lottery, you collect your receipt, and preserve it very well so that by the time the results are out, and you happen to win, then you can proceed with the filling of your visa application form, the DS 260, and then eventually getting your second notification letter and going for an interview and eventually paying your green card fee and traveling to the U.S.”

Police say some scammers have been arrested but are giving no details.

Meanwhile, some cybercafe owners have been charging illegal fees of between $2 and $7 for each electronic entry for the visa lottery.

Applications can be submitted for free at www.state.gov as recommended by the U.S. Department of State.

Jeffrey Presnell, vice consul at the U.S. embassy in Yaounde, said recently on local television channel STV that people enrolling for the Green Card Lottery must have at least a secondary education.

He also advised applicants to closely follow the rules spelled out on the document.

“Another common mistake that we see is that applicants do not include all of the members of their family. It is very sad because sometimes we see applicants that have won the lottery come and they are disqualified because they did not list all the members of their family. If you just have a fiancee, you should not list your partner on that application,” Presnell said.

He advises applicants to only list the names of legal spouses or children who live with them.

Source: VOA