A new autopsy conducted on a Cameroon bishop, who died under mysterious circumstances last month, is contradicting the findings of previous autopsies, which indicate the prelate died of foul play instead of suicide by drowning.
The body of Bishop Jean-Marie Benoît Bala of the diocese of Bafia had been recovered June 2 by authorities from the Sanaga river and examined by teams of doctors from local medical colleges on June 2 and again on June 22. The examinations by these doctors, one of which had been appointed by the national bishops’ conference, found no water in the bishop’s lungs, ruling out suicide but did find signs of torture on his body.

In opposition to these findings, results from the latest autopsy conducted by two doctors working for the International Police Organization (INTERPOL) were released Tuesday via statement by Cameroon’s attorney general’s office. The statement asserts that “drowning is the most probable cause of death of the bishop.” The statement adds, “After an in-depth examination, no trace of violence was found on the body of the deceased.”
Early news reports had speculated that his death may have been the result of suicide. Subsequent autopsies disproved this theory as no water was found in the lungs and the body showed signs of violence.

The National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon issued a statement June 13, affirming the bishop was brutally murdered. “We, the bishops of Cameroon, are convinced that Bp. Jean Marie Benoît Bala did not commit suicide; he was brutally murdered. This is one more murder and one too many,” they declared. In their statement, the bishops listed a number of Church leaders from Cameroon, who had died under mysterious circumstances and called upon local authorities to protect them and bring criminals to justice.

Friends and relatives of Bishop Balla are rejecting the findings of this recent autopsy, owing to the fact signs of severe mutilation on the bishop’s body had been previously reported by local Cameroon press. Information has now filtered that the authorities gave the two European doctors the body of another man to examine.

Local media had reported that Bishop Balla intended to reveal the government’s alleged participation in the death of Abbé Armel Djama, rector of the Minor Seminary in Bafia. The priest’s dead body was found at the end of May in his room at the seminary located in the bishop’s diocese.

Meanwhile, a childhood friend of Bishop Balla, Pr. Vincent Sosthene Fouda, president of the Cameroon Movement for Social Democracy and a presidential election candidate, had his Face book account suspended Wednesday after he published a video, disclosing information related to the bishop’s alleged assassination.

Fouda is accusing Belinga Eboutou, Director of the Civil Cabinet at the Presidency of the Republic, of sponsoring the alleged murder of the bishop. Fouda attests that Eboutou escorted Bp. Bala out of his bishop’s residence on the night of May 29, which was the last time the bishop was seen alive. Fouda testified in the video that Eboutou called Bp. Bala that night at 11:47 p.m. saying, “Monseigneur, I am at your gate.” He then alleges that Eboutou took Bishop Balla to his home where he tortured him.

The Biya Francophone regime has voted into law a Common Law Section within the Judicial Chamber of the Supreme Court. The bill was adopted in the Senate on the 4th of July 2017 in two readings. The controversial and anti Anglophone Minister of State in charge of Justice, Laurent Esso said that the project would make the Cameroonian law uniform.

The creation of the Common Law Section within the Judicial Chamber of the Supreme Court was defended in Parliament by Minister Laurent Esso. The bill was passed by the Senators on second reading. Senator Sonken, who asked for clarification on the bill, questioned the raison d’être behind the killing of innocent Southern Cameroonians and arresting hundreds in order to accept a project such as the Common Law Section in the Supreme Court.

Laurent Esso reportedly with too much blood in his hands remained defiant and said that the establishment of the Common Law Section within the Supreme Court was not made to resolve the problems raised in the context of the Anglophone crisis. He arrogantly observed that it is rather a section that is part of the reform process instituted by the President of the Republic in 2015.

Esso dabbled in a typical Francophone pattern and noted that “This bill addresses concerns that may become real problems tomorrow. It is not an adjustment of Anglophone law or Francophone law but a standardization of Cameroonian law.”

By Sama Ernest
Cameroon Concord News

Since the beginning of the war against the Nigerian Islamic sect, the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime has not spent a single franc on programs aimed at improving morale within the Cameroonian military, which is currently shouldering two major combat deployments in the Central Africa Republic and Boko Haram.

The regime’s recruitment policy of mainly Francophones into the army over the years may have been largely fruitless, as more that 70% of soldiers across all branches remain pessimistic about their future in the Cameroon army. For decades, only Southern Cameroon news tabloids have consistently reported on supposedly declining Cameroon military morale, even before the wars against Boko Haram and in Bangui.

In the past, flagging morale may have been attributable to factors like repeated Bakassi or Cambodia deployments. But in 2014 a sister publication, Cameroon Intelligence Report suggested a financial cause for flagging morale. In 2016, 89 percent of active-duty troops serving with the Rapid Intervention Battalion that was miraculously created to help the regime in Gabon rated their pay and allowances as poor.

The Biya regime claimed to have increased military pay in 2016, but soldiers returning from the Central Africa Republic had to stage a demonstration before their money was made available to them. Few soldiers believe their situation will improve under this present Biya administration as 70 percent of our servicemen and women combating Boko Haram expect quality of life under military employment to decrease further in the future.

Pay and benefits aren’t the only cause of pessimism in the ranks. Some in the military worry that the Cameroonian armed forces aren’t being adequately led into the future, and declining morale could signal a general lack of confidence in the Commander-in-Chief and the military’s leadership.

According to Cameroon Intelligence Report, only 15 percent of soldiers think that the Biya leadership have their best interests at heart. Correspondingly, suicide attacks in the Mayo-Sava Division in the Far-North region are increasing at an alarming proportion. There are no more days without suicide bombings in the border villages of Nigeria including Kolofata, Tokombéré and Mora which are the key cities in the Mayo-Sava constituency.

Security sources had earlier announced that the Nigerian Islamic sect, Boko Haram has been militarily weakened. However, the terror group recently paid allegiance to the Organization of Islamic state and is now called the Province of the Islamic State in West Africa. There are conflicting reports that Boko Haram is visibly struggling for its survival.

The group has multiplied attacks against Cameroon army positions and defied the numerous non state policing institutions established by the Biya regime. More than twenty attacks including incursions into Cameroonian territory and suicide bombings were recorded in June alone- the most recent being that of yesterday in Homaka, precisely 1 km from Mora.

The army placed the provisional record of yesterday’s terrorist act attributed to Boko Haram at 4 dead and many wounded. The incident was preceded by the attack on a Cameroonian military post. At the end of last week, 7 suicide bombings were recorded within 24 hours in the cities of Mayo-Sava.

All these are happening under the watchful eyes of a regime that has detained 33 of its own soldiers over unpaid bonuses. Our reporter in Maroua hinted that morale in the army is slowly but surely fading away.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai
Cameroon Concord News Group