The Ambazonia Interim Government has strongly condemned the brutal attack of the Biya Francophone regime on Batibo in the North West and the killing of innocent Southern Cameroons civilians including women and children, saying the people of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia and Southern Cameroons Self Defense groups have the right to respond to any French Cameroun terrorist moves.

“It is the right of all Southern Cameroons resistance groups to act and defend the homeland in the face of the aggression and terrorist moves of the Biya French Cameroun regime,” Vice President Dabney Yerima said on Thursday.

The Southern Cameroons exiled leader added that the French Cameroun regime’s new wave of military operations across the Southern Cameroons remains a criminal, adventurous and provocative move.

Vice President Dabney Yerima emphasized that the Biya and his Beti Ewondo criminal gang in Yaounde will sooner or later shoulder full responsibility for the crime and the consequences of its aggression on the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

Dabney Yerima urged the UN, the European Union and international organizations such as the Commonwealth to fulfill their legal, moral and human responsibility to defend the oppressed Ambazonian people and condemn the French Cameroun regime’s terrorist moves.

Yerima furthered that the international community should also take measures to stop the continuation of such crimes by the Yaoundé regime, which is the main factor behind instability and insecurity in the two Cameroons.

By Isong Asu with files from Chi Prudence Asong

Cameroon’s Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute said Thursday that peace and stability are gradually returning to the country’s Anglophone regions of Northwest and Southwest that have been ravaged by over five years of armed separatist conflict.

“Schools in most of our towns and main suburbs have gone operational. We have also observed so many cultural jamborees. Fresh vegetables, fresh groundnuts and other food products from the Northwest which had completely disappeared from the market have returned. This clearly shows that many of the farmers in those regions are beginning to feel more comfortable, more confident in going to their farms,” Ngute said in the capital Yaoundé during a meeting to evaluate strides made since a national dialogue was held in 2019 to find solutions to the conflict.

He said economic activities have resumed, many of the major roads were now passable and separatist fighters were dropping their arms to join disarmament and reintegration centers in the regions.

“This shows that life is steadily returning to normalcy and we must together work to consolidate this,” Ngute added.

Separatist fighters have been clashing with government forces since 2017 in a bid to create an independent nation in the two English-speaking regions.

Source: Xinhuanet

A homemade bomb was detonated in the Central Market area of Douala Aug. 4. There have been reports of injuries, but authorities have not yet confirmed the exact number. The blast comes two days after security officials issued warnings of a possible attack. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Heightened security is likely around the site of the blast over the coming hours. Authorities may seek to close roads as they continue their investigation, resulting in localized transport and business disruptions.

Source: Crisis24

At least three militants of the Boko Haram group were killed early Thursday after they attempted to attack a military outpost in Cameroon’s Far North region, according to local and security sources.

The attack took place in Nguetchewe locality of the region.

The heavily armed militants ambushed and attacked troops and after several hours, troops repelled them killing three on the spot, an army officer in the region who asked not to be named told Xinhua.

The military was pursuing the rest of the assailants, the officer said.

Boko Haram has killed over 2,000 people since it launched offensives in the region in 2004, according to security reports and local NGOs.

Source: Xinhuanet

Cameroon and the United Nations Children’s Fund on Wednesday launched a maiden program to promote positive parenting in the Central African nation.

The “Positive Parenting Program” was imperative after evidence showed that parents are failing in their duty to raise their children responsibly, said Marie-Therese Abena Ondoa, Cameroonian minister of Women’s Empowerment and the Family.

“Parents have lost track of their role and responsibility in bringing up children. Drug consumption, child labor, juvenile delinquency, proliferation of sex tape clearly shows the negligence of parents in guiding children. Instead, they have abandoned the upbringing of their children to housemaids and babysitters,” Ondoa said during the launch of the program in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon, regretting that social media influencers who preach immorality and obscenity are negatively impacting children.

“There is (a) need for the effective presence of parents in the life of children. We want a Cameroon where children are raised the right way,” Ondoa said.

The program will guide parents on the best methods of raising their children and promote a range of behaviors that can help foster responsive and responsible parenting, officials said.

Source: Xinhuanet

Latvia’s Interior Ministry is planning to propose amendments to immigration rules to toughen checks on Cameroonian citizens entering the country.

In recent years, the Latvian Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, has been receiving an increasing number of long-term visa applications from citizens of Cameroon. The number of visa denials to Cameroonian citizens increased especially steeply in 2021 – from the 36 visa requests denied last year 33 requests were denied to citizens of Cameroon. Representatives of the embassy and the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also note that the Cameroonian applicants often submit documents with visible signs of forgery.

Considering Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has underscored the necessity to step up checks on Russian citizens arriving in Latvia to assess potential risks to national security and public order.

In 2021, Latvian visas were issued to 11,087 citizens of Russia. Another 1,446 visas were issued to from January 1, 2022 to February 24, 2022, and 910 visas were issued from February 25 to June 17, 2022.

Because of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, Latvian diplomatic and consular missions in foreign countries have temporarily stopped accepting visa applications from Russian citizens. Latvia issues visas to Russian citizens only in exceptional cases on humanitarian considerations in cases involving threats to life or security. Such exceptions are mainly applied to family members of Latvian and EU citizens, as well as in cases of a grave illness or death of a relative. Estonia, Lithuania, Poland and the Czech Republic have taken a similar approach.

The Interior Ministry indicates that Belarus has been supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, letting Russian armed forces to use Belarusian territory for preparing and launching attacks on Ukraine. Meanwhile, cooperation between Russian and Belarusian intelligence and security services has been close for a long time already as they have been collaborating on joint operations and involving Russian and Belarusian citizens in their espionage activities.

Considering the above, the Interior Ministry has drafted proposals to amend the Regulation Regarding States for the Citizens of which in Issuing a Visa or a Residence Permit an Additional Assessment shall be Performed by adding Belarus and Cameroon to the list of countries whose citizens are subject to additional checks.

The ministry also proposes additional assessment of any Russian citizens (regardless of their place of residence or birth) seeking Latvian visas or residence permits.

The draft amendments have been submitted to the Ministries of Finance, Justice and Foreign Affairs. After they are approved by the ministries, the draft amendments will be put before the government.

Source: The Baltic Times

Four people were killed on Tuesday in a road accident in Cameroon’s Centre region where the capital, Yaoundé is located, according to local police.

Police said in a statement that the tragedy happened along the Obala-Batchenga highway.

The accident occurred after a truck collided head-on with a bus carrying workers of a company, a police officer told Xinhua by phone.

Several others were injured and rushed to the hospital to receive medical treatment, the officer who preferred not to be named said.

According to the police, fatal accidents are common in Cameroon due to reckless driving, dangerous overtaking, drunk driving, and poor state of road.

The Ministry of Transport estimates that 1,500 people die in road accidents each year in the central African nation.

Source: Xinhuanet

The streets of the Batibo district in Southern Cameroons were deserted Tuesday following three days of clashes between government forces and Amba fighters. Both sides say they inflicted significant losses on the other, while witnesses report seeing the bodies of troops, rebel fighters and civilians.

Civilians said an uneasy calm reigned in the Batibo district, located in the Northwest region.

Primary school teacher Emmanuel Mbah said very few civilians could be seen walking the streets of Batibo on Tuesday morning.

“People cannot go to their farms, shops are sealed, markets are sealed and traders are running away for their safety. Houses are burnt down and the population suffers, so the fighting between the military and the separatists are causing much havoc to the population,” he said.

Speaking by the messaging app WhatsApp, Mbah said several dozen Cameroon government troops have been searching homes in Batibo and arresting people suspected of collaborating with separatist fighters.

The Cameroon military said Tuesday that 17 separatist fighters were killed in three days of fighting in Batibo.

The military said an additional 18 fighters were captured in Bambui, Batibo and Noni, all towns in the Northwest region. The military also said it destroyed or seized weapons, locally made explosive devices and several dozen motorcycles used by the separatists to attack government troops.

Culled from VOA

The Minister Delegate at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ananga Messina née Beyene Clémentine Antoinette is no more.

She died in Yaoundé today after a brief illness.

Cameroon Concord News sources say the cause of death was lung and heart –related.

She is the third member of the Dion Ngute led government in the space of two years to leave the corrupt political arena for the world beyond.

Her demise follows those of Adoum Gargoum and Alim Hayatou.

She was appointed Minister Delegate at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in June 2009.

The engineer had worked in the Ministry for 23 years before her appointment. She holds a Diploma in Economic Management.

By Rita Akana

The Francophone dominated army have killed two Ambazonian commanders and arrested seven other suspected Southern Cameroons fighters in Tubah subdivision, North West.

Cameroon Concord News gathered that “General Rasta” and “Colonel John” were killed when the pro Yaoundé army soldiers launched an offensive in the locality late on Sunday.

“General Rasta” was the leader of a Southern Cameroons Self Defense group in the locality that was responsible for the killing of several Francophone troops deployed to Southern Cameroons.

By Fon Lawrence