Paul Biya has reportedly ordered the so-called Anglophone CPDM political elites to brave the bad roads to Southern Cameroons and lure parents to send their children to school.  The Francophone government recently changed its track and arrested the leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium in a move that was aimed at sending the revolution underground.

Francophone schools in both the South West and the North West regions have been accorded military surveillance and security guarantees to open their doors this coming Monday.  The Biya Francophone regime has shut down internet services in Southern Cameroons as a strategy to stifle the communication department of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium.

Senior Anglophone leaders including the Roman Catholic Bishops of Southern Cameroons are currently being bullied by the secret service. Southern Cameroons’s economy that revolves around farming and remittance from the Diaspora is completely grounded following the closure of all internet services in British Southern Cameroons.

Anglophone lawmakers many of whom were handpicked by the political elites at the time are presently helpless in the face of the killings, rape and torture going on in West Cameroon. The militarization of the entire Southern Cameroons territory by troops from La Republique du Cameroun has prompted West Cameroonians to be more anxious about security and the outlook for a transitioning economy.

 In a sign of change, one of the Southern Cameroon’s most powerful religious figures, the Synod Clerk of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon has called for the resistance to continue. Some traditional leaders have backed the Consortium and are calling for foreign intervention.

“There’s a line in the sand that has to be drawn,” revealed a prominent Anglophone elite based in Buea in the South West region.  The Consortium is urging Southern Cameroonians not to send their children to school and to respect the civil disobedience campaign which begins on Monday the 23^rd of January.

The African Union has expressed concerns through its human rights commission on the situation in Southern Cameroons.  In a statement released late last night, the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium called on those in the Diaspora to make at least a phone call to their family members back home not to allow their kids to go to school.

By Rita Akana in Buea

Since Tuesday January 17, 2017 the English speaking regions of Cameroon partitioned by the Francophone regime as North West and South West have been cut off from the internet world. Internet connection was shut down late Tuesday shortly after the government arrested the main leaders of the now outlawed Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium.

Businesses have been grounded in both regions. Several Money transfer agencies are unable to operate, banks are inactive and mobile telephone operators who deal with internet have had their businesses closed. The leaders of the Consortium have announced a continuation of the civil disobedience campaign beginning on Monday the 23^rd of January. The seat of the Consortium has also been moved to an unnamed European country and Southern Cameroonians have been called to listen to the Consortium.

The ghost town operation starting next week will be staged every Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Schools will remain closed and Anglophone parents have been cautioned not to end their children to school. The Consortium is aware that the Yaoundé regime has ordered Francophone schools in Southern Cameroons to open their doors this coming Monday.

Cameroon Intelligence Report gathered that the Consortium considers the Yaounde position as an act of provocation. The interim leaders of the Consortium have announced that they are discussing plans with the Southern Cameroons business community to develop a strategy for a complete and total boycott of  CAMTEL, MTN, ORANGE and NEXTTEL.

The shutting down of internet was intended to make communication difficult for locals of these two regions who have been using the internet as fast means of disseminating information to one another. Denizens see this as a failure by these companies to risk their businesses by forgetting the Customer King philosophy and allegedly working with the government.

Culled from Cameroon Intelligence Report

Justice Ayah Paul Abine released a statement via his Face Book page detailing an arrest attempt made on his person in Yaounde yesterday the 19th of January 2017. The Judge of the Supreme Court of Cameroon is reportedly wanted by the Francophone regime for his pro Anglophone stance and support for the civil disobedience campaign. Contrary to what was announced late yesterday, the Anglophone Judge will appear before a Francophone army colonel today Friday the 20th 2017. Attached to this report is the Justice Ayah Statement:

ARREST ATTEMPT: UNPERTURBED

A worker of the Supreme Court rushed into the office some 90 minutes ago to inform Ayah Paul Abine that some persons were asking to know the location of his residence. The man said he had replied that Ayah was either in a hotel or at Buea… The informant had hardly finished talking when two persons smashed into Ayah’s office. They required Ayah to sign that he had received a summons (“convocation”) to appear before a colonel at the gendarmerie (SED) at once or get arrested…

Ayah told them that, by law, he could only be served through his departmental head. After lengthy exchanges, including telephone calls by the persons in question, it was settled that Ayah would report to the gendarmerie tomorrow, January 20 at 11 AM.

But when the colonel explained that Ayah would have to make a statement, Ayah explained that he would report only by way of courtesy and not to answer to accusation. So it is because, Ayah explained, any investigation about or against him as a serving magistrate must comply with Section 629 of the Criminal Procedure Code…

The Chairman of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium and Vice President of the Bar Association, Barrister Agbor Felix Nkongho have told a sea of Francophone army generals and judges from the military tribunal in Yaoundé that the international community will not turn a blind eye to the plight of British Southern Cameroonians. The Anglophone leader urged the United Nation, the European Union and the governments of the United States and Great Britain to unite in support of the persecuted minority in Cameroon.

Barrister Agbor Balla Felix made the remarks as he was being interrogated by highly placed Francophone military officials today in Yaoundé.  Balla Felix further condemned the Biya regime’s handling of the Anglophone problem observing that the Consortium has made genuine recommendations to Yaoundé over the matter. The Leader also censured the killings and massive arrest going on in Southern Cameroonians and called on Etoudi to focus on getting a swift solution to the crisis gripping West Cameroon.

We gathered that in the presence of Barrister Ben Muna, the Francophone interrogators attempted to put a charge on terrorism on the Leader including what they described as the Leader’s trade in hate speech. Barrister Agbor Balla Felix pointed out that West Cameroonians have been deprived of their inalienable right to citizenship while facing systematic discrimination, violence and hatred from the political elites of Francophone Cameroun.

British Southern Cameroonians are dying appalling deaths and the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime is not anywhere near to end its crackdown on the Anglophone community.  The Leader made a short submission at the tail-end of the interrogation stating that “West Cameroonians have suffered appalling deaths, and those that have lived through Francophone military atrocities have witnessed or endured unspeakable cruelty.”

Southern Cameroons is one of the most persecuted minorities in Africa. Tens of thousands of its citizens are asylum seekers in Europe, the US, Canada and the Middle East. The Francophone government has constantly denied full citizenship to the Anglophone Cameroonian and imposes some form of restrictions on their movement. For instance, the Republic of Cameroon has four international airports and none of them is located in the Anglophone zone. Hydro electricity power dams in the Anglophone region were shut down and the Anglophone communities now rely on power from dams in the Francophone areas.

Since 2016, the Francophone dominated army has carried out many operations in Southern Cameroons using air power that claimed the lives of many Southern Cameroonians. In recent days, there have been numerous reports of arbitrary killings, rapes and other atrocities against British Southern Cameroonians. Thousands have fled to neighboring Nigeria in the face of the crackdown.

By Chi Prudence Asong

The Chairman of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society and Vice President of the Bar Association, Barrister Felix Agbor Nkongho has said that a return to federalism is one of the solutions to the ongoing crisis in the Anglophone Regions of Cameroon.

On January 17, 2017, René Emmanuel Sadi, the Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralization (MINATD) signed a decree banning the activities of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium (CACSC) and the presidency of the republic ordered his arrest some few hours later.

Felix Agbor Nkongho hinted that “If you look at the memorandum of May 9, 2016, the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society used the words” federalism or nothing.” The Chairman of the Consortium also revealed to a French tabloid that the Consortium has no hidden agenda since the genesis of the crisis.

“Lawyers had addressed a memo to the Minister of Justice, the Prime Minister, the Senate and the National Assembly; you will see that federalism was there. So it’s not a hidden agenda as some people want to believe. The people in the Consortium are simply helping the state of Cameroon to survive. In other words, the debate among Anglophones is changing because of the government’s repressive actions.”

Reacting to his arrest in Buea, Chairman Agbor Balla said “No one wants to undermine the power of Yaoundé. It has never been said that Paul Biya has to leave. And then it’s not Paul Biya’s English problem. What is more, we have decided that no politician should be among the members of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium, so that no one can direct these claims towards their political agenda. The Anglophone problem is both real and legitimate.”

By Rita Akana