News

22, April 2018

Do not send refugees back to the violence they fled from, UN agency urges Cameroon ⁰

Despite warnings, Nigerian refugees and asylum-seekers who fled Boko Haram violence continue to be returned from Cameroon, the United Nations refugee agency has said, underscoring the need to accord international protection to those in need.

“We appeal once again to the authorities in Cameroon to refrain from further forced returns and to ensure protection to those fleeing insecurity and persecution in Nigeria, in accordance with Cameroon’s national and international obligations,” the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a statement.

Since the beginning of 2018, 385 Nigerians refugees and asylum-seekers have been forcibly returned from Cameroon – the majority of them last month, including 160 on 10 April and a further 118 a week later.

In total, the UN agency has registered some 87,600 Nigerian refugees in the country.

“The forced returns are in violation of the principle of no forced returns or non-refoulement. They are also a significant setback to progress previously achieved by Cameroon in granting asylum to Nigerian civilians fleeing Boko Haram violence,” said UNHCR.

In the statement, UNHCR also noted that it recognized legitimate national security concerns of States affected by the Boko Haram crisis, and stressed that it is important that refugee protection and national security are not seen as being incompatible.

“Properly functioning screening, registration and asylum systems help safeguard host country security,” it said, reiterating its support to the Government of Cameroon to ensure that all those seeking international protection have access to efficient screening and registration procedures, as well as appropriate reception arrangements.

Source: UN

22, April 2018

Biya Regime Cracks Down on Social Media Leaks ⁰

Sixteen government employees have been detained in Cameroon for allegedly leaking official documents on social media since the start of the year.

In an increasingly common phenomenon, the texts of President Paul Biya’s two most recent nationwide addresses were circulating before he even delivered them.

And in March, a confidential presidential memo began circulating on the country’s social media sites. The memo instructed security agencies to restrict travel for about two dozen senior state workers accused of stealing state funds.

Three police officers are now behind bars awaiting trial in connection with that leak.

In April, another confidential presidential order surfaced online. This one increased the allowances of soldiers deployed to the turbulent English-speaking regions. Two defense ministry staffers were called up for questioning.

Rights groups have long criticized Cameroon and other African governments, for being overly opaque.

Cameroon-born analyst Tem Fuh Mbuh, with the Dakar-based Open Society Initiative for West Africa, said the crackdown is part of a broader campaign against dissent.

“It is not only about those who are leaking official information, but there has been [a] systematic crackdown against all those who try to dissent in Cameroon,” he said. “So it’s a very alarming situation, and civic space in Cameroon has been closing very considerably in the last few years.”

Mbuh said this is particularly concerning ahead of the country’s elections in the later part of 2018.

Transparency vs. stability

Often, the response from African governments is that transparency must take a back seat to stability.

In March, Cameroon’s Prime Minister Philomen Yang said leaking sensitive official documents threatens both the Biya administration and national security. His office declined VOA’s request for an interview.

Lawyers for state employees detained over alleged leaks declined to comment to VOA as the cases are ongoing.

But at a documentation center in Yaounde, VOA found several government workers either printing or typing documents from their offices. They say they lacked the necessary computer equipment or had run short of ink.

Information technology specialist, Peter Suife, said state workers need education on dealing with sensitive information electronically.

“You have government offices that have computers, the operators of these computers don’t know how to probably store some documents in their files,” he said. “When they type, they take the key to a documentation center for printing. After printing, they are supposed to cancel what they have printed in that documentation, rather than allow it in the machine. Tomorrow, you see the documents already on streets before the state ever makes a statement.”

The law in Cameroon says government employees must protect classified and confidential materials. Failure to do so could lead to dismissal, as well as penalties ranging from a $10 (5000 CFA) fine to as much as one year’s imprisonment.

Source: VOA

22, April 2018

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Mine blast kills two French Cameroon soldiers in Eyumojock ⁰

Two Cameroonian soldiers died and four were seriously injured on Friday after a mine exploded in an anglophone region hit by violence between separatists and the government. “A Cameroonian army vehicle went over a mine” in Eyumojock, a town in an English-speaking part of the southwest, a security source told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The source said the blast close to the Nigerian border caused “two deaths and four serious injuries”. Eyumojock lies between Mamfe, the main town of the Manyu, and Ekok “in an epicentre of violence in the southwestern Anglophone region,” the source added.

Since late 2017, anglophone separatists have killed 30 members of the security forces, according to an AFP count based on official statements and including the two deaths on Friday. Other observers in Yaounde believe the toll is higher. Northwest and southwest Cameroon are home to the English-speaking inhabitants of Cameroon, who make up 20% of the population.

Separatist ambitions have long simmered in the two minority anglophone regions in the west of the country, where people complain of being marginalised by the French-speaking elite. The deep socio-political crisis has gradually turned into a low-intensity armed conflict in recent months.

The separatists, who are fighting for independence, have asked Yaounde and military personnel to leave their territory, calling them “occupation forces”. For three months, armed separatist groups have ramped up violence against the police, kidnapped civil servants and clashed with the army.

As the crisis grows, new separatist groups have appeared, posing on social networks with weapons and a flag of “Ambazonia”, the name of the state they want to create. Cameroonians swept up in the conflict are facing a humanitarian crisis, according to aid groups, as they struggle to reach people in remote areas that have become virtually off-limits.

Source: AFP

21, April 2018

UN alarmed by continuing forced returns of Nigerians by Cameroon ⁰

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is today expressing its alarm at continuing forced returns to Nigeria of refugees and asylum-seekers from Cameroon’s Far North Region.

Despite UNHCR’s advocacy efforts and engagement with the authorities, 385 Nigerians have been forcibly returned from Cameroon since the beginning of 2018. The majority of them were returned during the last month.

More specifically, on 10 April, 160 Nigerian refugees and asylum-seekers were forcibly returned to Nigeria’s Borno state – an area whose residents continue to face risks. They had been seeking refuge in Cameroon’s Waza district since 2014.

On 17 April, an additional 118 asylum-seekers were forcibly returned to Borno state. They had arrived in Cameroon only two days earlier, having fled violence by Boko Haram.

The forced returns are in violation of the principle of no forced returns or non-refoulement. They are also a significant setback to progress previously achieved by Cameroon in granting asylum to Nigerian civilians fleeing Boko Haram violence in Borno State.

UNHCR appeals once again to the authorities in Cameroon to refrain from further forced returns and to ensure protection to those fleeing insecurity and persecution in Nigeria, in accordance with Cameroon’s national and international obligations. In total, UNHCR has registered some 87,600 Nigerian refugees in the country.

While recognizing the legitimate national security concerns of States affected by the Boko Haram crisis, it is important that refugee protection and national security are not seen as being incompatible. Properly functioning screening, registration and asylum systems help safeguard host country security.

UNHCR reiterates its support to the government of Cameroon to ensure that all those seeking international protection have access to efficient screening and registration procedures, as well as appropriate reception arrangements.

Source: UNHCR.org

20, April 2018

Villages Burn as Cameroon Troops Clash With Separatists ⁰

In Cameroon, officials say eight villages in the English-speaking northwest have been torched and hundreds of residents have fled amid clashes this week between security forces and separatist rebels.

Terence Fukah, a 33-year-old pig farmer, told VOA he fled his village of Ajin on Tuesday as the military responded to an attack by armed men.

“It was around five o’clock in the morning. I saw dead people lying down. I had to cross on top of them and run for my dear life,” Fukah said.

“I don’t even know where my children are. I don’t even know where my wife is. I don’t know how the pigs are doing, how many have died. I don’t know if my own house has been burned. I am crying, crying for the government to do something.”

The military says armed separatist rebels torched at least eight villages in northwest Cameroon; however, residents told VOA the fires were set by the military after the attackers had fled.

“We heard gunshots. We did not know exactly what to do. Everybody was running up and down,” said Thomas Tuboh, a maize farmer from the village of Anyajua. “It was the burning that made us to know our lives were at stake, so I decided to run away from Anyajua. When the military people invaded the area, the bridges were blocked and they decided to put them down with flames.”

He said his village is now nearly completely deserted.

“You see it is a farming area that helps the whole division and the region at large. I don’t know how we are going to cope if this persists,” Tuboh said.

General Agha Robinson, who is commanding troops in the northwest region, said his soldiers were not responsible for the burning.

The crisis began in November 2016 with a strike by Anglophone lawyers and teachers, who were demanding reforms to address what they say is the marginalization of the country’s English-speaking minority by French-speakers.

The situation spiraled into all-out conflict as separatists demanded independence for the two English-speaking regions.

Thirty-eight members of the military and hundreds of rebels have been killed in the fighting, according to Cameroon’s ministry of defense. The U.N. refugee agency says tens of thousands of people have fled their homes, with at least 20,000 crossing over to neighboring Nigeria in search of safety.

There appears to be little hope for dialogue. Separatists say they will not budge on secession. Meanwhile, Cameroon has refused to release dozens of detained separatist leaders, and President Paul Biya says he will entertain no talks that threaten national unity.

Source: VOA

20, April 2018

London: Chris Anu condemns attacks on Southern Cameroons civilians ⁰

The Communication Secretary of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, Hon. Chris Anu, today used his first appearance before Southern Cameroonians in the UK to condemn every act of terror against Ambazonian civilians by French Cameroun army soldiers.

Addressing 100s of Southern Cameroonians gathered in London for a protest march during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, Chris Anu said the world expected from the Commonwealth a clear stance and firm answers regarding the atrocities of the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime as well as with regard to respect for human rights.

Addressing the Southern Cameroons public, Mr Anu called for generous donations to the struggle saying if Ambazonians get tired of giving; French Cameroun troops will eventually exterminate everyone in the territory.

Chris Anu said French Cameroun orchestrated presidential, parliamentary and municipal elections will not hold in Southern Cameroons. Earlier before the protest march, Chris Anu told the BBC that there will be no negotiations until the Interim Head of State, Sisisku Ayuk Tabe and all those arrested due to the Southern Cameroons uprising gain their freedom.

“We are still suffering from the unjust curfew, siege and killings against our people,” said Chris Anu. He also addressed the members of the Southern Cameroons UK governing body who were present in London.

Cameroon Intelligence Report understands the US and the European Union have been seeking to delay presidential elections in Cameroon due to the crisis in Southern Cameroons, in the hope of winning Ambazonian agreement to accept President Biya’s Greek Gift of a Minister of Territorial Administration and Secondary Education.

By Soter Agbaw-Ebai with files from Sesekou Ashu Isong in London

20, April 2018

Syria hands unexploded US cruise missiles to Russia ⁰

Syria has handed over to Russia two unexploded cruise missiles it discovered in the aftermath of the recent attack by the United States, Britain and France, Syrian sources say.

“Two cruise missiles that did not detonate during the US missile strike on Syria overnight on April 14 were found by the Syrian military. Both are in rather good condition. These missiles were handed over to Russian officer the day before yesterday (April 17),” a source in the Syrian Defense Ministry told Russia’s TASS news agency on Thursday.

The Syrian military sent the missiles over on board a plane on Wednesday, the source added. The Russian Defense Ministry had yet to confirm the report.

On April 14, US President Donald Trump along with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, and British Prime Minister Theresa May authorized a joint missile attack against alleged chemical weapons manufacturing sites inside Syria.

The attack, carried out in response to what the US and its allies insisted was a chemical attack by the Syrian government, saw 105 cruise missiles being fired at targets in Damascus and Homs.

It was not clear whether the discovered missiles were American Tomahawks or Scalp/Storm Shadow, codenames for a cruise missile jointly developed by France and the UK.

However, there is a good chance that the missiles were fired by the US military as the UK and France only fired 20 missiles collectively.

Days before the attack, Trump had warned Russia, a key supporter of Damascus in the war against foreign-backed militants, that it should get ready to shoot down “nice and new and smart” US missiles over Syria.

Despite claims by the US military that all missiles hit their targets, the Russian defense ministry said after the attack that 71 missiles were intercepted by Syria’s air defense, which relies on Russian equipment.

This is while none of the missiles landed in Tartus and Hmeymim, where Russian missile defense systems, namely the advanced S-400 system, were deployed to protect Russian bases. Russia did not use its own systems to intercept the missiles.

Trump pressed ahead with his plans to attack despite a decision by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to send a fact-finding mission to the alleged chemical attack in Syria’s Douma upon requests from Moscow and Damascus.

The Russian center for the reconciliation of conflicting parties examined Douma on April 9, two days before the purported gas attack, to find no traces of chemical weapons.

Source: Presstv

19, April 2018

Southern Cameroons War: Gov’t forces responsible for civilian deaths in Manyu ⁰

Forces loyal to the Biya regime in Yaoundé and the Rapid Intervention Battalion including a special security outfit fighting the Ambazonian self-defense groups have reportedly killed several civilians in the Manyu County. Our correspondent in the Upper Bayang Sub constituency in Manyu on Thursday confirmed that many civilians lost their lives when they were fired at by Cameroon government forces in Kendem village.

We gathered that during the Kendem attack, the soldiers were able to call for reinforcement from Bamenda which led to the exchange of gunfire between the military and the militants. The regime in Yaoundé has developed a diabolic harsh ploy claiming that there exists an exaggerated speculation on military operations in Manyu involving government troops and suspected Southern Cameroons militants.

A highly placed military official in Mamfe who spoke to our undercover reporter hinted that many soldiers are paying the supreme price for a senseless war declared by the 85 year old President Biya. A rescue team supported by a detachment from the Bamenda mechanized division was dispatched to Eyumojock yesterday to locate and support government troops battling Ambazonian militants.

The onetime beautiful village of Kendem has been deserted. Government forces have mounted a gendarmerie check point near Chief Ako Stanley’s palace. Cameroon Concord News has also gotten information that the Eyumojock attack casualties were heavy.

This item is still developing

By Judith Fon

Cameroon Concord News Group

18, April 2018

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Massive Anti-Biya Outpouring Expected in London ⁰

Hundreds of Southern Cameroons protesters from all over Europe and the UK are heading to London for a massive demonstration on Friday against a possible President Biya presence in the Commonwealth heads of government meeting and to show solidarity with the Ambazonian freedom fighters back home. In a global outpouring of anti-Biya sentiment, London and the East Midlands including Belgium and France are expected to record the biggest turnout.

In UK, at least a thousand people will join London city’s biggest Southern Cameroons demonstration ever, Metropolitan Police have said. Organizers are anticipating a sellout crowd with banners exposing the genocide currently going on in Southern Cameroons.

Anti-French Cameroun demonstrators are also expected to pack the streets north of the United Nations headquarters in New York as the situation in Southern Cameroons continues to deteriorate. Echoing the words of Martin Luther King III, the Communications Secretary of the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, Chris Anu told Cameroon Concord News that “Just because you have the biggest guns does not mean you must use it on innocent Southern Cameroonians.”

Hon. Chris Anu also noted that the time has come for the world to listen to Southern Cameroonians – and Southern Cameroonians are saying, `We want to stay as the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.’ Ambazonians have strongly endorsed the policy of their Interim Government and the widely acclaimed statements of Hon Chris Anu, that the preservation of the sanctity of human life must be a sacred commitment of all. In the light of this demonstrable policy which accords with the principles of international law and practices of civilized nations, Cameroon Concord News deems it necessary to once more highlight the history of international criminality on which French Cameroun was founded.

This distinguishing criminal policy clearly defines French Cameroun’s identity and markedly distinguishes it from the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. The perpetual distinction between the Federal Republic of Ambazonia and French Cameroun lies in the premium placed by Ambazonia on the protection of civilians not participating in French Cameroun’s genocide war against Ambazonia and French Cameroun’s policy of cowardly criminal annihilation of armless civilians. For example, while Ambazonia liberation forces arrested, interrogated and released, Professor Leke Tambo, Justice Martin Mbeng and other civilians, French Cameroun and its criminal collaborators like George Tabetando, kidnapped and executed in cold blood seven Ambazonia civilians in Kendem, Manyu County.

In another cowardly act, a very desperate French Cameroun regime faked the abduction of foreign citizens who were controlled, protected and given safe passage by well-disciplined Ambazonia forces hoping to use the blackmail to obtain an adverse European Union resolution against the Federal Republic of Ambazonia and its revolutionary war of liberation. This criminal government network of kidnappers for ransom in French Cameroun and the immediate ethnic inner cycle of the Buhari government in Nigeria masked in the fight against Boko Haram superintended by this network are well documented. The Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia has expressly outlawed the abduction of foreign nationals and has consistently condemned the abduction of its President and members of its Interim Government by the criminal network in Nigeria and French Cameroun. The plethora defining and distinctive irreconcilables between French Cameroun and the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, make life together in any form impossible.

One of the virtues of having a functional Interim Government is to enable the Federal Republic of Ambazonia to have a structured government to define, determine and direct our collective and individual actions in a manner that would clearly distinguish us from the brutal criminal enemy from which we have moved away. French Cameroun was built on the blood of its nationalists and citizens who sought true independence from the criminal French colonial empire of despair and death. For fifty-six years, the economy of the Southern Cameroons has been raped, looted, pillaged and devastated to sustain the economy of the French colonial vampire.

By Chi Prudence Asong and Soter Agbaw-Ebai in London

18, April 2018

Former US first lady Barbara Bush dies at 92 ⁰

Former US first lady Barbara Bush, the only woman to see her husband and son both sworn in as president, has died at the age of 92.

“A former First Lady of the United States of America and relentless proponent of family literacy, Barbara Pierce Bush passed away Tuesday, April 17, 2018 at the age of 92,” the Bush family said in a statement.

She was the wife of the 41st US president, George H.W. Bush, and mother of the 43rd, George W. Bush.

The former first lady was also the mother of Jeb Bush, who served as governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007 and unsuccessfully ran for the White House in 2016.

In this file photo taken on December 11, 2008 US President George W. Bush (R) shakes hands with his father, former President George H.W. Bush (L) before his mother, former First Lady Barbara Bush (C), after delivering the commencement address during the Texas A&M University graduation ceremony at Reed Arena in College Station, Texas. (Photo by AFP)

The Bush family had announced earlier in the week that the former US first lady was in failing health and had decided not to seek further medical treatment, focusing instead on “comfort care.”

She had been battling chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and congestive heart problems in recent years, according to some media reports.

The US first lady, from 1989 to 1993, was a fierce advocate of civil rights and went against many of her husband’s Republican Party supporters with her liberal views.

In a statement from the White House, US President Donald Trump said, “She will be long remembered for her strong devotion to country and family, both of which she served unfailingly well.”

Source: Presstv