The South West Elites Association, European chapter has distanced itself from the recent Buea declaration orchestrated by former Prime Minister and Head of Government, Peter Mafany Musonge. A meeting of SWELA Europe that held recently in Dublin, Ireland refuted growing allegations that South Westerners are stooges of the Biya Francophone government who have been paid to guarantee Francophone political elites continued marginalization of Southern Cameroonians.

“Some people say the South West elites are the mouthpiece and stooges of the Biya government. But SWELA came into existence not because it likes any regime but it is because the forum likes the country.” The Secretary General of SWELA Europe, Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai who also moonlights as the Chairman of the Cameroon Concord News Group pointed out that the academics and political elites of the South West started as VIKUMA- meaning Victoria-Kumba-Mamfe and then to SWELA. “We came out on our own, not on the platform of Mr. Biya and we have not been paid for doing that.”

Speaking during the Dublin forum, the Secretary General did observe that the founding fathers of VIKUMA and later SWELA never antagonized the ruling government be it CNU or CPDM nor sought favours from it. SWELA’s main concern, he went on, was to protect the interest of the South West people and playing down anything that may divide or bring disaffection in the country.

The leadership of SWELA Europe revealed that there were communication gaps between the public and the Musonge minority CPDM following including the demands of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium. The Secretary General of SWELA Europe therefore advised that SWELA should serve as a unifying factor between the Biya government and the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium.

“I think there is a serious communication breakdown between CPDM elites and the South West Elites Association. Peter Mafany Musonge cannot claim to be the prophetic voice of the South West people than Bishop Emeritus Francis Lysinge of the Mamfe Diocese. Both the CPDM elites and the South West Elites Association should listen to the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium.” Concluded the SWELA Europe Secretary General.

By Diamond Ebs Esoh in Dublin

The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium has released a detail assessment of today’s ghost town operation in West Cameroon. In a press statement made public by the interim leaders, Mark Bareta and Tapang Ivo, the Consortium announced that Southern Cameroonians responded to the call and isolated the Biya Francophone regime.

The interim leaders said the provocation and political statement issued by the Francophone government via the Indomitable Lions of Cameroun were just a ploy for Biya and his Musonge gang to buy time. Bareta and Tapang observed that the footballers never stood when Anglophones were maimed and killed by French speaking soldiers.

The interim leaders added that the communiqué from some teachers calling off the strike action was an indication that the Francophone political elites were unwilling to concede to the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium proposals for institutional changes to usher in genuine federalism and democracy.

Bareta and Tapang pointed out that all what the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime was bent on doing was to bring back the North West/South West divide tactics which has failed woefully. The interim leaders noted that the people of Southern Cameroons are indeed in charge and the struggle continues.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

As many as 70 West Cameroonians were arrested yesterday Sunday the 5^th of February 2017 in Bamenda and Buea by plain cloth police officers deployed from French Cameroun as part of an ongoing protest calling on the Biya administration to accept a return to the 1961 federal structure which would deliver fairness and put an end to the marginalization of Anglophone Cameroonians.

An estimated 4 million Southern Cameroonians have signed up to hold sit-ins and commit other acts of civil disobedience as demanded by the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium until all demands made by the body are met by the Francophone political elites. A majority of Southern Cameroonians boycotted the final match of the Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON as a sign of protest and solidarity with all those raped and killed including the many hundreds now in detention centers in French speaking Cameroun. Our chief intelligence officer has revealed that over 700 Southern Cameroonians have so far been arrested.

The Biya Francophone regime issued a political statement at the end of the AFCON final which saw Cameroon beating Egypt by 2 goals to 1 in Libreville Gabon. The Cameroonian footballers were ordered to wear jerseys bearing the message “Forever Cameroon” reportedly seen in West Cameroon as a sign of bad faith and incessant provocation.

The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium has announced a massive ghost town protest beginning today Monday, the 6^th of February and the supreme Anglophone body says, the civil disobedience campaign will be intensified to stifle 11 of February nationwide celebration.  Academic establishments remain closed in West Cameroon despite numerous vicious attempts to get them running again by the Francophone government.

Yaoundé has blatantly refused to dialogue and is currently carrying out a form of ethnic cleansing in Southern Cameroons. Recently, senior political elites from the South West region encouraged the semi Bantus and Bantu tribes to launch attacks against the Tikars of the North West region. The group that was led by former Prime Minister Peter Mafany Musonge made a mockery of themselves by trying to trivialize the Southern Cameroons revolution.

Also joining the protest are both Francophone and Southern Cameroons indigenous business community leaders whose businesses have been paralyzed ever since the Biya regime shut down internet services in the Anglophone regions.  Both the Roman Catholic and the Presbyterian Churches in Cameroon have joined in calling on the Francophone dominated government to stop the extra judicial killings and arbitrary arrest going on and proceed with genuine dialogue to resolve the matter.

Meanwhile, some renowned Francophone political commentators have opined that at 83, President Biya is no more physically and mentally fit to run the country. They emphasize what they say are the political and economic benefits to Cameroon as a nation, if there were to be real dialogue with the leadership of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium.

Tension is reportedly mounting and there are already calls for an armed struggle as the Biya Francophone administration remains undecided whether to approve dialogue with the leadership of Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium.  The interim leaders of the Consortium were quoted as saying that “This is the first real Southern Cameroons ghost town of this scale against marginalization in ages.”

We are keeping a watchful eye on today’s ghost town operations and we will bring to you all the latest developments as we have it.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Former political commentator with the Cameroon radio and television, Lawrence EyongEchaw has broken the silence he maintained ever since the Anglophone uprising started in 2016. Larry Eyong who also moonlighted as the Shadow Minister of Communication for the Social Democratic Front posted on his Face Book page an endorsement of the leadership of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium. In this soul-searching write-up, Larry argues that there are no anointed ones and that some people need to get over themselves:

For nearly a quarter century, the restoration of the independence of Southern Cameroons has been spearheaded by, a desultory consternation of mutually antagonistic, and self –serving organizations, with larger-than-life leaders, who are more concerned with undercutting one another, than creating the synergy for the realization of the goal of liberating the people.

Paradoxically, the upstarts leading the rival liberation movements, operate in the same monolithic political culture that they condemn in the leader of “La Republique du Cameroun”, with each leaders, perpetuating himself as, “Leader of the People of the Southern Cameroons’, like Kim Il Sung, in North Korea, and Moi Tse Tung in China.

Like Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, each believes that because he make so much sacrifice for the liberation struggle, he has carte blanche to run roughshod against the participatory democratic principles that we cherish and want to restore in the Southern Cameroons.

Early in the life of the movement in the Diaspora-which has become the spear of the nation- there was an existentialist debate, about whether to support fugitives of “La Republique du Cameroun” who were seeking asylum in the United States, or to allow these fugitives to swim or drown by their own devices.

Ironically, the decision to extend our support to the fugitives, created the financial wherewithal to support some of our leaders who were languishing in the dungeons of “La Republique du Cameroun’. But, in a classic case of, killing the goose that laid the golden egg, some of these leaders, out of egotism and the need to enhance their credibility in the eyes of the world, decided to substitute themselves for the immigration authorities of Western countries, by wanting to personally vet those who claimed to be fugitives of the struggle.

Fortunately, the laws of these countries afford the opportunity, for a case by case, evaluation of the factual basis of each émigré’s claim, resulting in the acceptance of a huge number of émigrés, who are now the backbone sustaining the struggle in the Diaspora, to the extent that the regime is suspending social media, and sending marksmen to the West, to physically eliminate some émigrés and scare others.

Yet, the self-proclaimed leaders of the Southern Cameroons Independence movement must remember that, but for the ingenuity of these compatriots who have settled in the West, and are able to make financial contributions to the struggle, they would not have audiences to deliver speeches and extol their exploits in the struggle.

The regime in Yaounde had become comfortable with the consternation of rabble-rousers who were rivaling each other, in claiming legitimacy in leading the liberation movement. This would generally enhance their negotiating position and increase their bribe offer with the Yaounde regime.

But when a new organization was borne with leadership that had the bona fides to leverage the momentum that had been created by the “coffin revolution” back home, the factional leaders of the Southern Cameroons resorted to a scorched earth policy of distraction, disorientation, division and doubt that was intended to result in desperation and despair in the people of the Southern Cameroons in the Diaspora.

Fortunately, Southern Cameroonians are able to see through these smokescreens and maintain their eyes on the prize. Outrageous and unfounded accusations have been levied against people who had a pioneering role in advocating for multi-party democracy in Cameroon, and spending time in the Kondengui maximum security prison, for being agents of the Yaoundé government.

The reality is that, some Southern Cameroonian leaders, who have developed a bunker –mentality are scared of new leadership with the wisdom and connections to take the struggle to greater heights. These Machiavellian machinations have already failed as the bulk of Southern Cameroonians have vowed to support the new leader, ready to put his ingenuity at the service of the people of the Southern Cameroons.

By Larry Eyong

The interim leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium have dismissed reports over state radio and television calling off the strike. The leaders say, the government succeeded in getting signatures of some insignificant members of one of the teachers’ trade unions and claimed that the Consortium had agreed to stop the strikes and the civil disobedience campaign. The leaders have announced a ghost town operation for Monday and maintained that all schools should remain closed.

Inside sources deep within the Consortium hinted our Buea undercover reporter that it is the people’s revolution and only the detained leaders have legitimate authority to call off the strikes. The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium is pushing for a highly publicized sit-in civil disobedience on the 11^th of February.  Approximately eight teachers met with CPDM agents from Yaoundé and traded their signatures for blood money.

The Consortium maintains that the Francophone government has been ineffective and biased because it is tied to Anglophone political elites who are not the genuine representatives of Southern Cameroonians. The leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium, who began the sit-in action in 2016, said that since no progress has been made schools will not resume until a proper agreement is reach between the Francophone political elites and the people of Southern Cameroons.

The interim leaders noted that they were pleased with the South West reaction against the Buea Musonge meeting that attempted to invoke the North West/South West Divide tactics.  Southern Cameroonians have held rallies in major cities in the West to generate support for the struggle and the West Cameroon cause, attracting thousands to the resistance.

Biya is reportedly feeling the pressure and is now taking the issue a lot more seriously. During a ceremony held in honour of the 4 senior army officials who died when their helicopter crashed in the Far North region, the 83 year-old leader appealed for unity.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai