News

29, June 2017

Troubled trial of Ambazonia leaders in Yaounde postponed ⁰

The trial of the leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society has again been postponed to the 27th of July 2017. The Francophone military tribunal in Yaoundé opened the legal process on the 13th of February, and in May, the defense requested the provisional release of the accused.

The President Biya teleguided court rejected the application on the 8th of June and for the eighth time running, Dr. Fontem Neba, Dr. Barrister Felix Nkongho Agbor and Mancho Bibixy have seen their trial postponed to the 27th of July.

The Anglophone leaders including 25 others, whose arrests have raised a wave of indignation in the country and at the international level, are prosecuted for acts of terrorism, hostility against the fatherland, secession, revolution, insurrection, outrage against the President of the Republic, outrage against organized bodies and public officials, group rebellion, civil war and propagation of false news.

By Rita Akana
Cameroon Concord News

29, June 2017

Russia to respond ‘in proportion’ to US strike on Syria ⁰

Russia has said it will react “in proportion” to any US military actions against Syria on the pretense of preventing a chemical attack. “We will react with dignity, in proportion to the real situation that may take place,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday during a press conference.

Lavrov added that he hoped the US would not use its intelligence assessments concerning the Syrian government’s alleged intentions to further provoke the country. “I expect that our partners in the region – American, European – will also have an open and comprehensible approach aimed at de-escalation through normalization of the humanitarian situation,” he added.

Earlier in the day, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov cautioned the US against any unilateral action in Syria. He further added that Syrian army troops pose no threat to US forces, and that the US attacks on the Syrian armed forces are provocative in nature.

On Monday, US Press Secretary Sean Spicer claimed that the US had “identified potential preparations” for an attack “that would likely result in the mass murder of civilians, including innocent children.”

He added that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian military would “pay a heavy price” if they went ahead with the alleged plan. The Pentagon claims that it has seen activities linked with chemical weapons at Shayrat airfield in Homs province that was hit by American missiles in April.

Different foreign-backed terrorist groups have been wreaking havoc in Syria since 2011. Over the past few months, Syrian forces have made sweeping gains against Takfiri elements, who have lately increased their acts of violence across the country following a series of defeats on the ground.

Source: Presstv

29, June 2017

Biya meets Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs ⁰

Zhang Ming, Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs has held very intensive and productive talks with the Cameroonian dictator, President Biya. Both men met at the Unity Palace on Wednesday the 28th of June 2017.

After the meeting with the Head of State, Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Ming said he was delighted with the friendly and excellent cooperation ties that exist between Cameroon and China. Thus, his two-day visit is another step aimed at solidifying these ties, especially in the economic sector.

President Paul BIYA’s next visit to China was also highlighted during the discussions. The 84 year old Cameroonian leader received an invitation from his Chinese counterpart, President Xi Jinping on the 11th of January 2017. The Chinese official was accompanied by the Chinese Ambassador to Cameroon, Wei Wenshua.

Source: PRC

28, June 2017

Cameroon repatriates 887 Nigerian refugees ⁰

About 887 Nigerian refugees from Cameroon on Tuesday arrived in Banki, Borno State following a request from the Cameroonian government to Nigeria to facilitate their return. Hanson Tamfu, the External Relations Officer, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR, Nigeria, made this known in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja.

Mr. Tamfu said that the request was prompted by fear and suspicions of the Cameroonian authorities that among the refugees might include some elements of Boko Haram. “The returnees arrived in six trucks sent by Nigerian authorities following the meeting with the governor of the far north region of Cameroon on June 19.

“During the meeting, Nigeria was requested to cause the return of refugees, which the Cameroonian authority suspects may also compromise some elements of Boko Haram whose activities have increased tremendously in recent times. “Consequently, the Borno State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) on June 26 dispatched the buses to transport the refugees,’’ Tamfu said.

Mr. Tamfu said that the latest group of returnees comprises 233 females, 187 males, 236 girls, and 231 boys who were living in host communities in Kolofata, a far north region of Cameroon. He said it was reported that most of them do not have much in terms of personal effects but a few items in plastic sacks while some returned completely empty handed.

Mr. Tamfu said that UNHCR responded immediately by providing wet feeding, adding that it also would contact the National Emergency Management Agency and the Borno SEMA to continue with food provision. He said that more returnees had indicated interest to leave Minawowa Camp in Cameroon, adding that they were anxious to return following the media reports about improved security back home.

He said they were also eager to return on hearing the government’s decision to distribute food to all the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Borno. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the official registered returnees from Cameroon through Banki now stood at 19,257.

Source: Premium Times

28, June 2017

Battle for Syria: President Assad visits Russian-run air base in Latakia ⁰

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has paid a visit to a Russian-run air base in the country’s western coastal province of Latakia, from which Russian fighter jets conduct airstrikes against Daesh terrorists and foreign-sponsored Takfiri militants.

The Syrian leader inspected a single-seat, twin-engine and super-maneuverable Sukhoi SU-35 fighter jet as well as armored vehicles at Hmeimim base southeast of the provincial capital city of Latakia on Tuesday, and met with a number of Russian military commanders there, Syria’s official news agency SANA reported.

Chief of Russia’s General Staff Valery Gerasimov accompanied Assad during the visit. “The Syrian people will not forget the support of their Russian brothers,” Assad wrote in the base visitors’ book, AFP reported.
Russian Defense Ministry issues a statement noting that during the visit, Assad and Gerasimov had held talks at the base on “coordination between Syrian government forces and Russia’s air force”.

Source: Presstv

27, June 2017

US Congressmen calls for probe into the Anglophone Crisis ⁰

Some members of the US Congress have written a strongly worded letter to the US States Department demanding a probe into the Anglophone crisis which they say is deteriorating at catastrophic rapidity in Cameroon, reports Cameroon Info.Net.

The letter signed by Congress men in Maryland Anthony G. Brown and Jarsie Raskin to the US Secretary of State, Rex W. Tillerson indicates that since late 2016 the Cameroon government has been persecuting Anglophones who form a minority of the population with about 100 arrests. In the opening statements, they called on the US State Department to take appropriate actions to solve the issue.

It partially reads, “As you know unrest has increased in Cameroon since late 2016, when thousands of members of the country’s Anglophones community began demonstrating in opposition to policy changes that have further marginalized the community.” They insisted on a prompt action saying that they are worried with the over 13,000 Marylanders born in Cameroon.

Source: Cameroon Info.Net

27, June 2017

Russia successfully test-fires sub-launched ICBM across Eurasia ⁰

The Russian military says it has successfully test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) from a nuclear-powered submarine in the Barents Sea near Norway. “The strategic Borey-class nuclear submarine, Yuri Dolgoruky, has successfully fired the Bulava intercontinental ballistic missile from a designated area in the Barents Sea to the Kura Missile Test Range in Kamchatka (Peninsula)” in the Far East, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Monday.

“The launch was made from an underwater position in accordance with the combat training plan,” said the statement, adding that “the ICBM units completed the full flight program and successfully hit the targets in the range.”
With an estimated range of 9,300 kilometers (about 5,770 miles), the Bulava missile must have traveled at least 4,600 kilometers across nearly the whole Asian part of Russia to hit its target. The Yuri Dolgoruky is a fourth-generation Borey-class nuclear submarine serving with the Russian Northern Fleet.

This type of submarines can carry up to 16 intercontinental sea-based Bulava missiles. They are planned to be the basis for Russia’s strategic naval nuclear forces in the future. Russia has two more such subs, while another five are in development and estimated to be in active service by 2020.

Source: Presstv

27, June 2017

Multiple bomb attacks kill 16 in northeastern Nigeria ⁰

The Nigerian police say multiple bomb attacks have claimed the lives of at least 16 people and wounded more than a dozen others in the country’s troubled northeast. Police said on Monday that seven bomb attacks were carried out by suspected members of the Boko Haram Takfiri terrorist group in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state.

The explosions occurred at the University of Maiduguri and in the Jere area of the city on Sunday evening and Monday morning. Borno police sources noted that a male bomber killed a security guard after entering the university late on Sunday.

Around an hour later, four female bombers killed eight people on the outskirts of the city in Zannari community, in the Gwange district of Jere local government authority after detonating devices in residential buildings. Two female bombers were the only people to die in two blasts at the university on Monday morning.

Damian Chukwu, Borno police commissioner, confirmed that at least 16 people had been killed in the latest wave of violence hitting the region. “In all, 16 persons, including the bombers, died in the multiple explosions while 13 persons were injured,” he said. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the latest attacks but they bear the hallmark of the Boko Haram Takfiri terrorist group, as it in the past employed radicalized females on multiple occasions to conduct bombing attacks against people or army troops.

In recent weeks, a number of bomb attacks by suspected members of the Boko Haram militant group have taken place in the capital of Borno state and its environs. The attacks include blasts that killed 12 people on June 19 and a June 7 raid, which left 14 dead in the Jiddari Polo area of Maiduguri.

Nigeria’s state security agency said on Friday it had foiled plans to detonate explosives in four northern cities – Maiduguri, Kano, Sokoto and Kaduna – during celebrations of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. In December 2016, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, who came to power in 2015 with a pledge to eradicate Boko Haram, announced that the army had “crushed” the terror group a day earlier by retaking its last key bastion, deep inside the thick Sambisa Forest in Borno.

The group has, however, resorted to sporadic shooting and bombing attacks in the northeast of the African country, spreading panic among the local residents. Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is forbidden,” has claimed responsibility for a number of deadly terror attacks in Nigeria since the beginning of their militancy in 2009, which has so far claimed the lives of at least 20,000 people and made more than 2.7 million displaced.

The United Nations has warned that areas affected by Boko Haram face a humanitarian crisis. Back in February 2016, four nations of the Lake Chad Basin – Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria -launched a campaign, together with a contingent from Benin, to confront the threat from Boko Haram in the region.

Source: Presstv

25, June 2017

Southern Cameroon Crisis: Chief Charles Taku break silence to rubbish utterly ridiculous claims by Dr. Tikum Mbah Azonga ⁰

Permit me to add a few critical comments on the opinion of my friend Tikum Mbah Azonga. I regret the paucity of critical thought in his commentary on this matter. First he seems to have borrowed his title that suggests a North West/South West divide from contemporary political discourse. As the title suggests, his opinion cannot be construed as academic or intellectual. The premise on which Tikum has premised his opinion falls within the the ideological construct of the wider politics of ethnicity that the offspring of Louis Aujoulat have successfully relied on to emasculate, control and eternalise power in the French vassal state of La Republique du Cameroun. In his analysis therefore, Tikum Mbah Azonga conflates the migration patterns that brought persons from the hinterlands of the Southern Cameroons to the coastal areas. This cannot be characterized as a South West/North West problem because the migration trend did not see the people from the grasslands move to Mamfe area, the Bangwa and Mundani areas, the Kumba, Bakossi and obviously Ndian areas as such.

These people indeed joined the migration towards the coastal areas of Victoria and Kumba. Pointing to this and inciting all Southern Westerners to construe this as an entirely South West problem is an unacceptable misjudgment. The migration towards these areas were not always voluntary from inception. History has it that the Germans forcefully drafted people from the hinterlands to work in the plantations in the coastal areas. Hundreds of Bangwa youths were taken to the plantations by Gustav Conrad and never returned leading to the Bangwa /German war in which the Germans committed a genocide against the Bangwa people and looted prized statures and artifacts among them the Bangwa Queen and the Bangwa King on display in a Museum in Paris presently and estimated to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. It is unfortunate that the desperate and indiscriminate celebration of the politics of ethnicity has led to the looting and torching of the property of the same Bangwa people in Kombone, Marumba and some locations in Meme led then by a former anti- settler/anti-Bangwa former Government Delegate of the then Kumba Urban Council.

I personally intervened through a law suit to force the individual to compensate Bangwa people whose property and cars he destroyed in Kumba. Thanks to the late Barrister A. T Enaw, he accepted responsibility and paid for the damage he caused to these people for being Bangwa and settling in Kumba. The farmers in Marumba, Kombone and other locations were never compensated. The land holding of the migrant population pursuant to the Land and Native Rights Ordinance that was applicable in the Southern Cameroons, granted them land on term leases, usufructory land rights and other patterns of land holdings which left title and ownership of the lands to the natives. Till date the land holding ” two parties” farming system practiced in some rural farming communities is inspired by the Land and Native Rights Ordinance. The people lived peacefully in the communities into which they migrated and settled without any tensions or problems until La Republique abolished the Land and Native Rights Ordinance and replaced with the Cameroon Land Ordinance. Over night the natives learned that their native lands had become ” national lands” and that occupiers could hence apply to the land consultative boards presided over by mainly Francophone District Officers for land certificates. This was and has been the source of conflict targeting not just migrants from other parts of the Southern Cameroons but all migrant communities.

For some unexplained reasons, persons including my good friend Tikum Mbah Azonga writing on this matter failed to mention that the proconsuls have benefited and are benefiting so much in the exercise of this power of so-called national land ownership to sell off or allocate prized land in the Southern Cameroons to citizens of La Republique. The land ordinance is one piece of colonial annexation laws by which our land has been sold or appropriated by the occupier. On this basis, the occupier has sold off ancestral lands of whole communities in Ndian, Manyu, Kupe Manegumba with the complicity of some local elites and Chiefs to a nebulous mafia palm plantation cooperation. The power elite that has been supporting the conflict against Southern Cameroonians went silent, and when they spoke, they supported it the land grab over the overwhelming opposition of their own people. Pamol would have been taken over by the French using one Christian Mure as a front but for the very courageous opposition led by Hon Ogork Ntui and a courageous Justice Paul Ayah then President of the High Court of Ndian. Lately a very courageous Police Superintendent Helen Esoka raised and alarm about criminal land deals in Fako Division in which colonial administrators illegally appropriated land and sold some to their kith and kin in La Republique depriving the Fako people of their ancestral lands and this ongoing thievery does not inspire any one writing on this subject. I gave an interview in the Post Newspaper last year in which I predicted that land administration and land grab in the Southern Cameroons was a time bomb waiting to explode. It is on the minds of the people in ignoring the so-called North West/ South West conflict brought to the fore every time the victims of colonial rule commence revolutionary action to free themselves from colonial rule.

When Helen Esoka denounced the land mafia in Fako at the risk of her life and job, we did not react. We allowed her suffer the result of her patriotic effrontery against a ruthless regime. But then one of the reasons why the citizenry of the Southern Cameroons have risen and taken their destiny into their hands arises from the rape of our economy, illegal land grab, indignities committed on our women and girls, the rape of our girls in the University of Buea which shocked and continues to shock our collective consciences, the state of collective imprisonment, cultural genocide and the suffocating corruption that has left otherwise competent people like Dr Tikum Mbah Azonga struggling to just be given the opportunity on the merit to serve their own people and community. The Southern Cameroons revolution will succeed and serve our people if we critically identify the problems we have faced under colonial rule and cultural genocide and collectively join our people to combat them. Our people at the grassroots are not in this revolution to celebrate slogans and misplaced epistles of distraction. They care about land ownership.

Simply put, who owns their ancestral land, and where can they get a redress to protect their ancestral land owning rights? La Republique’s corrupt administrators or their Chiefs and customary courts as ordained by the Land and Native Rights Ordinance? Who controls their local councils? Who controls the administration of their schools, colleges and universities? Who decides how and where they travel to within their territory? Which courts resolves their disputes? Who governs them? Who makes a day to day decision about their lives, who selects their leaders for them? Who governs them? How do they vote and when? We must therefore correctly identify, analyse and seek solutions to these revolution sustaining problems instead of pandering to the policies and agenda of our adversary. In a revolution, you either join the revolutionary train or left behind. Those who previously thought they can control the thought process of the citizenry in the Southern Cameroons should by now see how irrelevant they are.

Not even our Chiefs, the power elite, armies of oppression, corruption and mystical conjuring with halt the revolutionary train. It has taken off for good. Even in La Republique du Cameroun the people have learnt about the limit of brutish power. They are carefully studying the Southern Cameroons revolution and very soon, their adored and celebrated dictatorship will collapse on its own weight. In this situation therefore we should learn that there is always a sense of urgency and immediacy in the spirit and language of every revolution. No one should attempt to change the subject because prior to engaging the revolution, the people considered all the events that have occurred and are occurring in their lives. The subject my friend Tikum Mbah Azonga has chosen to introduce in to the discourse at this point in time is critically not on the peoples’ agenda. Atanga Nji and Mafany Musonge attempted to place it on the agenda and failed woefully

By Chief Charles A. Taku

24, June 2017

Far North Region: 2 young girl “suicide bombers” blow themselves up in Mora ⁰

Two suicide bombers died in Mora, in the Mayo-Sava Division on Friday morning during prayers in the Guirbala district, at the entrance to the city. The two suicide bombers blew themselves up by making two light casualties. Another kamikaze was killed in Kolofata, an important locality of Mayo-Sava.

Cameroon Concord News learnt that the kamikaze woman was shot by elements of the defense forces some few seconds before she set off her bomb. The missed attack followed that of June 22nd in Kolofata, where some 8 people were killed and 4 others seriously wounded in a double explosion.

Cameroon is facing a resurgence of attacks attributed to the Nigerian Islamic sect, Boko Haram, which has allegedly pledged allegiance to the Organization of the Islamic State and is now called the Province of the Islamic State in Africa.

The Nigerian sect, although militarily weakened by the Joint Multinational Force, continues to stage regular attacks deep inside the Lake Chad region. In its recent annual report on Central Africa, the UN, acknowledged that Boko Haram, “remains a threat to the countries of Lake Chad and their people”.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai
Cameroon Concord News