Cameroon’s government has ordered thousands of villagers to leave their homes in the Anglophone Southwest region as it deploys troops to root out armed separatists who have vowed to loosen President Paul Biya’s long grip on power.

The deployment marks an escalation of Biya’s year-long crackdown on peaceful protests in the English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions that has killed dozens of civilians and forced thousands to flee their homes in fear of reprisals.

Now, the government is using force to confront an insurgency that has sprung up alongside the civil unrest.

The separatists have killed at least eight soldiers and policemen over the past month as part of their campaign to break from the capital Yaounde in Francophone Cameroon and form a separate state called Ambazonia.

Authorities of the Manyu Division in the Southwest on Dec. 1 gave the order to evacuate 16 villages across the region. They warned that anyone deciding to stay “will be treated as accomplices or perpetrators of ongoing criminal occurrences.”

Motorbikes, a preferred mode of transport for separatist attackers, were ordered off the roads between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m.

“People ran helter skelter when they saw the statement,” said Agbor Valery, a lawyer in Mamfe, which is near some of the evacuated villages. He said people were afraid of being rounded up and put in jail, as has happened since September in other areas of the English-speaking part of the country. “If you go to the villages, everyone has fled. Only the old people stayed. The streets are quiet. It is highly militarized. At night, you hear gunfire.”

Valery said he saw hundreds of troops and truck loads of military equipment arrive in Mamfe on Sunday that were then deployed to the surrounding villages.

Reuters was unable to independently verify his account but two military sources in the city of Bamenda in Northwest region confirmed that additional security forces have been deployed in the English-speaking regions.

Problems for Biya

The separatist movement compounds problems for 84-year-old Biya, who has ruled Cameroon since 1982 and plans to stand for another term next year. The economy has slowed sharply since 2014, while attacks in the Far North region by Islamist militant group Boko Haram have strained the military.

The fall last month of Zimbabwe’s leader Robert Mugabe after decades in power highlights the potential vulnerability of Africa’s long serving rulers amid a growing grassroots push for strict term limits for presidents.

Last week Biya vowed to flush out secessionists, whom he called “criminals.” Defense minister Joseph Beti Assomo said on Monday the new deployment would “prevent terrorists from harming others.”

Violence has spiraled since last year when government forces crushed peaceful protests by Anglophone teachers and lawyers protesting their perceived marginalization by the French-speaking majority.

The heavy-handed government response fuelled support for the separatist movement, which has existed on the fringes of Cameroonian politics for decades.

The response has also forced thousands out of their homes.

More than 5,000 have fled Anglophone Cameroon across the border to Nigeria since Oct. 1, the United Nations said. Nigeria is also English-speaking.

The U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) said it is making preparations for up to 40,000 refugees.

“Go home to where?”

Refugees’ stories have been slow to emerge because of government-imposed internet outages that have blocked messaging and social media sites like Facebook and Whatsapp. But they are beginning to shed light on what new refugees will likely face.

Abia David told Reuters that he left Bamenda in Northwest Cameroon on Oct. 27 amid widespread arrests in the town. He heard from friends that the police were coming to arrest him because he is a member of an opposition political group.

To escape Bamenda, and avoid its increasingly crowded jail, he cycled 16 kilometers into the countryside to the head of a bush road. From there he walked some 100 km (62 miles) alone north through a series of remote villages towards Nigeria.

“There was no time to carry food. I had one change of clothes but I lost that.”

He slept on strangers’ floors and arrived in Nigeria a week later, where he fell ill with malaria. He said NGOs on the border had estimated an extra 1,000-odd people had arrived since the weekend.

The UNHCR is offering provisions like mosquito nets and is helping refugees find housing. So far there is no central camp for refugees and they rely on the hospitality of Nigerians for room and board.

For David, it beats going home. Asked if he planned to return, he said: “Go home to where? Go home to be killed? To go to jail without trial? I can only go back once this is resolved.”

Source: VOA

Thousands of people are fleeing villages in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon less than a week after President Paul Biya declared war against Anglophone separatist groups. Fleeing villagers complain troops are engaging in rape, killings, and harassment, but the military says they are out to defend the population.

The number of people traveling along the Kumba Mamfe Road in the English-speaking southwest region of Cameroon has drastically dropped. It is along this road that goods from Nigeria are brought into Cameroon and vice versa.

Thirty-two-year-old merchant Takem Ethel said she and her peers suspended business trips between Cameroon and Nigeria after President Biya declared war on separatist groups.

“The numbers of checkpoints are just unbearable,” said Ethel. “Since the president announced that he was fighting against terrorists, it is as if he removed his hungry lions called the military from their den. Those who want to be killed can travel. I still have my life ahead, so I will not move.”

Ongoing violence

Violence in the towns of Mamfe and Eyumojock last week claimed the lives of at least six soldiers and a police officer.

Eyumojock is also the hometown of Julius Ayuk Tabe, the man who said he is the first president of Ambazonia, the state the separatists say they have created.

The government of Cameroon says many fighters were being trained there and across the border in Nigeria. Residents say most youths have escaped to the bushes to flee the heavy presence of the military.

Nyeke George Likiye, an independent analyst in southwestern Cameroon, said he has written to the national government to complain about the troops.

“They are doing their job in excess proportions,” said Likiye. “There are some arrests, some unreasonable arrests that are being done, people are being tortured, people are being beaten. This is not correct.”

Military denials

General Melingui Noma, one of Cameroon’s highest-ranking military officers, denied the southwest has been militarized or that soldiers are committing atrocities. The general said he is aware of alleged excesses but insisted the military is there to protect the population.

“We know that if we want to overcome this crisis, we have to make sure the population is with us,” he said. “How can you go and embarrass and harass people whom you want to take information from? If they cannot give us the correct information, if they cannot tell us the truth of what is happening in the field, you will see that the population will then turn and follow those secessionists.”

Schools have been closed in most of the English-speaking northwest and southwest since November of last year, when lawyers and teachers called for a strike to stop what they believed was the overbearing use of the French language. Violence erupted when separatists joined in and started asking for complete independence.

President Biya has said he is not open to any negotiation on the form of the state and that Cameroon is one country.

Source: VOA

Cameroon and Nigerian troops yesterday clashed at Otu, Cameroon’s last village on the border with Nigeria. Our sources in Otu reported that youthful, sex-starved and alcohol-inflamed Cameroonian forces crossed over into Nigeria and arrested some three Nigerians and brought them to the Cameroonian side where they are being charged with terrorism and murder of Cameroonian security forces.

Our source adds that when news of the arrest was reported to Nigerian border guards, they approached Cameroonian forces that were on patrol and demanded the immediate release of their fellow citizens. The incident has strained relations between Cameroon Defense forces in the region and the Nigerian border guards who view the crossing of the border by Cameroonian forces as a violation of international law and borders.

Meanwhile, Nigerians on the Otu border are threatening to join the fight as their fellow brothers have been arrested and taken to Cameroon. It should be recalled that there is no clear border between Cameroon and Nigeria in Otu and it is easy for any visitor to miss his way into the other country without knowing that they are in another country. The communities in Manyu Division of Cameroon speak the same languages with Nigerian communities along the border with the same accent, especially the Anyang and Ejagham communities that are on both sides of the border.

It should also be noted that over the last week, following a declaration by the government of Cameroon that it would be carrying out military operations along the border region, trade between the two countries has stalled, as Cameroonians living in those border villages have simply crossed over to Nigeria to avoid incurring the government’s wrath. Cameroon government operations have been prompted by a spate of attacks and killings of Cameroon Defense Forces by Ambazonian Defense Forces (ADF) who are fighting for the total liberation of Southern Cameroons.

It is worth noting that most Cameroonians living along the border region have dual nationality and most use the Nigerian Naira for trade purposes, as the Nigerian side of the border is more developed and it is a lot easier to trade with Nigeria due to fewer administrative bottlenecks. However, the Ekok- Mfum border that used to be as busy as a bee hive has become a ghost town. Though it is open and there is some calm, there are very few cars plying the road as Cameroon Defense forces are making it hard for businesspeople to ply their trade. The aggressive checks on the Cameroonian side have prompted many local business people to suspend their operations.

Similarly, in Kembong, a major town in the Eyumojock Sub-Division in Manyu Division, there were reports of clashes between the military and ADF forces and sympathizers. Our sources in Kembong report that two military officers were killed and many injured in a shootout that lasted hours. Cameroon Concord News Group is yet to independently verify these allegations, but there is mounting tension in the region as army soldiers, most of whom are Francophones, are harassing and humiliating the local population.

It should also be recalled that after a few days of operations in Manyu Division, pictures and vidoes containing government atrocities in the border region have begun emerging. According to a video aired by the Southern Cameroons Broadcasting Corporation, residents of Agborkem German, Nsanarakati, Ekang, Out, Mbakem and Nsanakang who have fled to Nigeria have been telling their tales of agony.

The villagers, many of whom are today in Nigeria as refugees, were rushed out of their homes following a press release by the Manyu SDO, Joseph Oum II, advising residents of certain villages to leave their villages and seek refuge in unknown destinations, failure of which they would be considered as terrorists and would incur the government’s wrath . The panic that followed the publication of the press release resulted in many residents of those villages to end up in Nigeria as refugees.

For those who did not leave, theirs has been the kingdom of terror, as many of them have been arrested and taken to unknown destinations. Our sources in Mamfe say many of those arrested have been brought to Mamfe and the jails are already overflowing. Our sources who spoke on condition of unanimity said that there were plans to transport some of the detainees to other cities in the South West Region, adding that many of the detainees were carrying scars of torture and starvation. They added that some of those arrested were already being branded as terrorists even when they were never caught in the act, as the fighting in Manyu Division is a guerrilla warfare and the fighters are using hit-and-run tactics to achieve their goals.

According to Mr. Abang Agbor of Nsanakang, a village along the cross river that serves as a boundary between Cameroon and Nigeria,  who left his village out of fear and who is currently in a refugee camp in Nigeria,  Cameroon defense forces had vandalized homes and made away with whatever money they could come by. He added that some of the alcohol-inflamed soldiers even undressed women and men and put them in the same location.

In Agborkem German, soldiers undressed women and men and asked them to make love in public and when the men effected erections; their penises were hit with batons.In the same video, women related harrowing stories of what they had lived over the last three days. Many have been sexually abused and their money confiscated by hungry and sex-starved soldiers.

While the government is telling the world that it is conducting its operations in line with international standards, the stories of those who have escaped the brutality of government troops is in sharp contrast with what the government is selling. Many people in the border regions and those who are seeking asylum in Nigeria are calling for an international investigation to clearly establish the facts. From every indication, this story will not be going away anytime soon. The anger and pain of the people of Manyu Division is palpable. It will take a long time for the government to give the people of Manyu a sense of belonging to a country called Cameroon. The brutality with which it has conducted its operations has left the local population with a lot of anger. Many are looking forward to the day Southern Cameroons will be independent. Their minds are made up. The government has a huge and challenging job of winning hearts and minds in this part of the country if it really wants to make Cameroon one and indivisible.

The Southern Cameroons crisis has already lasted for 13 months and from every indication, there are still many scenes. Addressing this issue will surely require international efforts, as many Southern Cameroonians are determined to walk away from Cameroon; a country they claim holds out no hope for them. With Nigerian and Cameroonian troops already clashing, there are chances that this conflict will soon be regionalized and even internationalized, especially with the flow of hordes of refugees into Nigeria.

By Kingley  Betek in Agborkem Waterfall in Nigeria

US President Donald Trump is perhaps the world’s most famous Twitter user, but the most popular post of 2017 was from… Barack Obama.

Three tweets by the former US leader made it onto Twitter’s Top 10 list of retweeted messages for this year but there were none from Trump despite his prolific use of the platform.

Trump was, however, the elected leader most tweeted about, Twitter said.

A tweet racking up the most “likes,” about 4.6 million as of Tuesday, came from Obama’s personal Twitter account on the day of a deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The tweet showed a photo of a racially diverse group of children looking out a window at Obama as he smiled back, and bore a quote from Nelson Mandela.

The same Twitter post was the second most re-tweeted of the year, behind a tweet from a teenager trying to win a year’s supply of chicken nuggets from fast food chain Wendy’s.

(Source: AFP)

Cameroon Intelligence Report has written a strongly worded letter bearing evidence of genocide in the French Cameroun state-sponsored campaign of violence against Southern Cameroonians to the interim President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. The publication recently compiled images of atrocities committed in Ambazonia by soldiers loyal to the Biya Francophone regime in Yaoundé.

In a letter addressed to the interim Head of State, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, CIR noted that “No one, not even the Secretary General of the United Nations can rule out elements of mass killings in Southern Cameroons.”

President Ayuk Tabe was informed that none of the more than forty thousand Ambazonians who have fled the brutal atrocities by French Cameroun state forces headed by General Elokobi Daniel Njock into neighboring Nigeria should be returned to Southern Cameroons unless there was robust international monitoring on the ground.

The Biya 35 year-old regime has failed to address evident marginalization and discriminatory Francophone character in the day-to-day running of the country that target Southern Cameroonians. Meanwhile, the interim government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia has called for unity among Southern Cameroonians in the face of the French Cameroun onslaught.

Sisiku Ayuk Tabe urged Ambazonian Diaspora to keep the pressure on the French Cameroun government, insisting that La Republique’s government forces were continuing to commit crimes against humanity on a daily basis in the Manyu State.

An aide to President Ayuk Tabe told Cameroon Concord News that “The world must now stand up and send a clear message to Mr. Paul Biya and his regime and the French Cameroun military that their abhorrent treatment of Southern Cameroonians must end immediately, and that perpetrators will not enjoy impunity.”

The French Cameroun army has launched a series of brutal crackdowns on the Southern Cameroons community ever since the Anglophone revolution started last year. Soldiers have been raping, killing, and torturing the Anglophone minority. Since intensifying in November by the 84 year-old French Cameroun leader, the crackdown has forced more than four thousands Manyus to flee to neighboring Nigeria.

By Chi Prudence Asong

Images of civilians fleeing government’s rampaging soldiers in Akwaya and Eyumojock sub-divisions in the South West Region of Cameroon have begun emerging, as many Manyu citizens flee into neighboring Nigeria to seek refuge. Women and children could be seen running for their lives, with many carrying their luggage on their heads. The arriving refugees have been speaking of the terror that the Cameroon military has unleashed on its own people, especially as it is reported that four more army soldiers have been killed in the village of Babong in Eyumojock sub-division. According to our source, the killings occurred yesterday in the evening and this has sent government troops in the region on a rampage.

The government of Cameroon has dispatched thousands of well-armed troops into several Manyu villages, ostensibly to track down secessionists whom the government considers as terrorists, following the slaughtering of some six army soldiers last week. However, many people we spoke to said more than 200 army soldiers had been sent to an early grave by some armed groups which have been using hit-and-run tactics. They allege that many of those committing the atrocities are not Cameroonians and are mercenaries who have been hired to undertake such a dangerous mission.

Residents of Manyu Division have questioned the rationale behind the government’s retaliatory military action when it understands that the criminals are not necessarily people living in the villages in which the Yaoundé government has sent its troops. It should be recalled that many military trucks have been sent to Manyu Division following a declaration of war by the country’s president on Anglophone secessionists who have been calling for the total liberation of the once British trust territory. The soldiers have been deployed in villages such as Otu, Agborkem German, Esaghem, Nsanarakati and Eshobi to “mop up” the villages of the so-called “terrorists”.

Speaking to some of those fleeing government-organized violence, it is clear that the military has a scheme to eradicate all young men found in those villages. They explain that the terror that was unleashed on them on October 1, 2017, has been reduced to a dress rehearsal by current violent military actions undertaken by the Yaoundé government.

Over the last two days, more than 10,000 Cameroonians have arrived the Nigerian state of Cross River where they are being treated as refugees. Many of the children show signs of fatigue and illness after having covered more than 20 kilometers just to make it to Nigeria. Many of the refugees say they have not eaten and slept for days as their objective was to reach Nigeria which they consider as a safer place.

Speaking to a 40-year-old Akwaya resident who elected unanimity, he said the United Nations needed to step in to preempt government actions that are designed to cleanse the region of young active men. He said an ethnic cleansing was playing out in that part of the country and that if the international community did not step in, the world would be shocked by the scale of destruction and killings. He added that many young men had left the region, with some living in the forest to ensure they were not arrested as any arrests might only send them to an early grave.

The 40-year-old Akwaya resident urged the international community not to be deceived by any stories the government could be telling. He advised the international community to conduct investigations into government actions in the region, stressing that there were clear cases of human rights violations and crimes against humanity. He questioned the government’s military action, saying that “what could really justify the terrorizing of children and women if the government did not have a scheme to commit ethnic cleansing?”

He underscored that he would not return to his native Akwaya until the international community provided the necessary assurances. He intimated that many of the children who were still left in those villages did not know where their parents were as many had fled for their dear lives. He said he was not sure those kids would be able to take care of themselves as many were less than six-years-old.

He regretted that the military operation that was driving Manyu residents from their homes was being led by General Elokobi Daniel Njock, a son of the region. He called on him to put himself in their place, adding that those military actions would surely not achieve their goals, as violence only begets violence.

It should also be stressed that residents of Eyumojock sub-division in Manyu Division have also reported several cases of abuse by army soldiers who have been deployed in villages around Eyumojock town. They allege that women whose husbands have fled into the forest and into Nigeria to seek refuge are being brutalized, with many carrying physical scars of violence. Some have been seen carrying swollen faces while many are too scared to talk. Our call to Chief Ita of Eyumojock has not yet been returned and we would continue calling until we get through to him.

It should be recalled that a press release by the Senior Divisional Officer for Manyu, Oum II Joseph, last Friday sowed panic, causing many men to cross over into Nigeria or seek refuge in the dense equatorial forest. Although the South West Region’s Governor had said on Saturday that the said press release was fake, many Manyu Citizens who are used to government tactics knew that it was a strategy to deceive them. The villagers understand that the government has been hurt and the killing of army soldiers was a humiliation to the beleaguered government.

Our sources have also advised that the military is seizing all cell phones to ensure that no pictures make their way out of the region. The government holds that this action will help to suppress the people of this region once and for all. However, our military sources have promised to help, as they are not comfortable with the operation that is clearly designed to stamp out opposition against the aging Yaoundé government that has left Cameroonians in abject poverty.

It should also be noted that many human rights groups have been banned from operating in the region and many local journalists have been arrested and jailed for covering any government action relating to this operation. However, it is being rumored that though the International Crisis Group and Amnesty International have been proscribed in Cameroon, some of their members are operating on the ground and will be able to bring out the eerie tales of the government’s misadventure in a region that is determined to frustrate all its efforts to impose its own version of peace in the region.

The Anglophone crisis that has rocked Cameroon over the last twelve months has entered a critical phase. According to many analysts, Cameroon is sliding into a civil war and only international efforts can check this unfortunate situation, as secessionists are determined to carry their action to a logical conclusion.

With hordes of refugees heading to Nigeria, it is obvious that international community will become aware of the scale of destruction and murder that is taking place in Southern Cameroons, especially in Manyu Division that is the birthplace of Anglophone activism.  With the anger and frustration of having been marginalized and chased out of their country, these young men will surely constitute a strong pool of willing fighters if they lay their hands on weapons. Instead of fighting secession which is an idea with appeasement, the government has decided to kill an idea with missiles and this is unfortunately not producing the desired results. The government has failed to understand that in cases like this, appeasement is better than brute force. As the population gets terrorized, it becomes very hard for the government to obtain reliable intelligence on how to track the people the soldiers are looking for. No security system in the world has ever done a great job without the participation of the civilian population.

The government stands to gain if it seeks to win hearts and minds during this operation. The Anglophone problem has been playing out for over a year now, with the government taking only cosmetic measures. A strike that started with lawyers and teachers was allowed to quickly degenerate into calls for federalism that was promptly rejected by the government, with the country’s president, Paul Biya, stating that the form of the state could not be discussed. This has put him in a tight spot and, today, he does not know how to eat the giant humble pie he had made for himself. Anglophones are not backing down. The deployment of troops across the region is not synonymous with a return to the old days. The country has been caught up in unprecedented turbulence and this is taking a toll on the fragile economy. The few resources that could have been used to reboot the economy are now being used to run a war that is doomed to failure as it is guerrilla warfare and the secessionists’ hit-and-run tactics are bringing humiliation to the government, as its soldiers continue to bite the dust.

The solution to the Anglophone problem is at the negotiating table. The government has to swallow its pride and accept that there is no return to the status quo ante. Cameroon will never be the same again and instead of killing and maiming ordinary citizens, it is time to meet Anglophones halfway so that the new republic’s future can be discussed. It is unfortunate that Cameroon is ending up with a dictator’s legacy – a civil war.

By Kingley Betek in Cross River State of Nigeria

Christian militiamen killed a Mauritanian UN peacekeeper in an attack on a camp for displaced people in a Central African Republic diamond-mining town on Monday, the United Nations mission there said.

Fighters armed with AK-47s and makeshift weapons also wounded one Zambian and two Mauritanian peacekeepers during the 90-minute gunfight at the police checkpoint in the town of Bria, the UN added.

The country has been driven by sectarian conflict since 2013 when Seleka rebels ousted President Francois Bozize. That triggered a backlash by Christian anti-balaka fighters.

As many as 100 people died in Bria in June during a day of clashes between rival factions. The area is coveted by militia for its surrounding diamond mines. It also hosts tens of thousands of people displaced by the conflict.

Even with 13,000 troops, the UN mission has struggled to restore order to a country the size of France and has lost 14 peacekeepers in attacks this year alone.

(Source: Reuters)

French Cameroun Minister of State in charge of Defense, Beti Assomo has told the Francophone dominated National Assembly in Yaoundé that the people of French Cameroun will soon be seeing a massive deployment of troops to Southern Cameroons.  Beti Assomo made the declaration yesterday, Monday the 4^th of December 2017 during a presentation in front of the members of the Finance and Budget Committee.

“You will soon see with your eyes, how our military will be set up to occupy the Anglophone regions of the country” noted Minister Beti Assomo to MPs who had actually gathered in the Chamber to discuss and adopt the draft law on the ratification of the Air Transport Agreement between Cameroon and Saudi Arabia and the draft on the ratification of the Arms Trade Treaty.

On this occasion, Joseph Beti Assomo (to use his three names) informed the so-called French Cameroun elected representatives that on very high instruction from the Head of State and Commander-in-Chief, he will soon deployed French Cameroun Special Forces to the English-speaking regions.

The French Cameroun army however began an operation deep inside the Southern Cameroons territory on Monday that has claimed the lives of hundreds of innocent civilians including women and children. In the village of Kembong last week, French Cameroun troops broke into homes, arrested dozens of Ambazonians. The soldiers also confiscated huge sums of money on lame and ridiculous reasons that the Anglophone citizens were financing the Southern Cameroons struggle.

Cameroon Concord News sources in the Manyu State hinted that many Southern Cameroonians have been transported to Yaoundé and detained in deplorable centers.  French Cameroun media houses reported that the plenary session of the National Assembly that lasted several hours, is the first that was held in serenity due to the absence Anglophone parliamentarians from the SDF.

By Sama Ernest