News

24, January 2017

Technical failure blamed for deadly helicopter crash in the Far North region ¹

The Cameroon military has made public the final assessment of the helicopter crash in the Far North region late on Sunday. Cameroon Intelligence Report gathered that all four occupants – one brigadier-general, one colonel and two lieutenants – were killed in the accident that occurred at Madide, a village about 9 km from Bogo, Diamaré, Far North region.

A statement from the government confirmed our earlier report that it was a technical breakdown that caused the crash. The hypothesis of a Boko Haram attack has also been ruled out by the Yaounde regime. The officers were returning from a mission to supervise their troops on the ground, who are engaged against the Nigerian Islamist sect Boko Haram at the time of the crash.

The bodies of the four victims, namely Brigadier General Jacob Kodji, Commander of the 4th Inter-Armed Military Region, Colonel Kameni Alphonse, Commander of the 4th Gendarmerie Region, Lieutenant Chinda Brice, Helicopter Pilot and Lieutenant Ngrassou Souloukna Basile, a copilot engineer, have all been placed at the morgue of the military hospital in Maroua and will be transported to base 101 in Yaoundé.

Culled from Cameroon Intelligence Report

24, January 2017

Southern Cameroonians snub Biya, says only Consortium has legitimate authority ²

The civil disobedience campaign launched by the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium has entered its fourth day today Tuesday the 24^th 2017. Southern Cameroonians are observing the ghost town in all localities in the Northwest and South West regions, where Internet services have been disconnected by La Republique du Cameroun since last Tuesday.

Our cream of reporters all over Southern Cameroons from Akwaya right down to Kumbo and from Isangele to Wum in Menchum say schools remained closed and no one is visible either in the streets or in the offices. Commercial activity remained strongly paralyzed same as yesterday.

The interim leaders of the “Consortium” are expected to address Southern Cameroonians soonest and to extend the ghost town operation to other sectors that will hit the Francophone regime in Yaounde. Day-by-day, the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo government is losing its grip on Southern Cameroons territory. We have been reliably informed that the Francophones intend to begin trial of Anglophone leaders today in Yaounde.

On Monday, the so-called government had invited teachers, parents, students and pupils to resume classes. The Francophone authorities reassured the population that their security would be guaranteed. Some pro Biya political elites and traditional leaders were involved to convince parents to accompany their children to school. On public radio, journalists announced the resumption of classes in several schools, particularly in bilingual and francophone schools. However, it is evidently clear that West Cameroonians have gotten enough from the Francophone political elites.

Culled from Cameroon Intelligence Report

24, January 2017

Arrest of Lord Justice Ayah: Biya regime says judge did not honor a summon ⁰

The Francophone government has claimed that Lord Justice Ayah Paul Abine who also moonlights as President of the People’s Action Party (PAP) did not honor a summon from a judge who asked him to report to the Secretariat of Defense on 20th of January 2017.

The Supreme Court judge was arrested on Saturday January 21st at his home in Yaoundé and ferried by six armed men to the SED where he is still detained. The Francophone regime in Yaounde say Lord Justice Ayah is a chartered member of the Southern Cameroon National Council (SCNC), an organization now banned by the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralization.

Paul Ayah Abine was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2014. Before this appointment, persistent information declared him as the leader of the SCNC. After being a Member of Parliament under the banner of the ruling CPDM crime syndicate from the Manyu constituency in the South West region in 2002, he resigned from the party in 2011. He created PAP and was a candidate for the last presidential election.

Within the CPDM, Paul Ayah is noted for his strong positions, usually rowing against the guidelines of the party’s hierarchy. In 2008 he opposed the constitutional revision that allowed President Paul Biya to run indefinitely in the presidential elections. In June 2006, he was one of the MPs who asked for an investigation into corruption against a cabinet minister, the late Augustin Frederic Kodock, who was then in charge of the Department of Agriculture.

By Sama Ernest

24, January 2017

Biya signs Bilingual decree amid tension and ghost town ⁰

The 83 year-old dictator signed a decree yesterday creating what his Francophone regime calls the National Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism. For the first time in his 34 years in power, a presidential decree was made public in both English and French. The decree is in line with an empty promise, the national chairman of the ruling CPDM made on the 31^st of December 2016.

Biya stated that the commission will have 15 members who will have to report to him every 6 months. With pressure mounting on Yaounde over the Anglophone problem, the General Manager of the Cameroon Radio and Television, Charles Ndongo spent time analyzing the decree which the leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society have dismissed as a non event.

Ghost town operations will continue today Tuesday the 24^th of January throughout Southern Cameroons territory. The plan by Government for school to resume in the North West and South West regions has failed to yield positive outcome after both regions observed the fourth ghost town since last January 9, 2017

The minister of Secondary Education, Jean Ernest Massena Ngale Bibehe on behalf of Prime Minister had signed a release calling on all students and pupils to go to school come Monday which is already the third week in Second term. The release also urged parents to send their children to school. The government went as far as sending communiqués to be read several times in churches and used the State Media as major tool of propagating their views.

But the observation Monday in towns like Kumbo, Bamenda, Buea, Limbe, Tiko, and Kumba among others indicated that ghost town was successful in spite the arrest of trade Union leaders. Schools remained closed, vehicles were off streets and shops remained permanently shut down. Few Francophone students could be seen in bilingual schools in Buea but classes were not effective.

The governors of the North West and South West regions who had programmed an inspection tour in some schools cancelled their trips because of the ghost town owing to the fact that no student was on campus. The government is battling for school to resume before February 11 which could be an embarrassment for the 34 year old regime.

CAMCORDNEWS/CIN

23, January 2017

Panic in Yaounde as Southern Cameroons ghost town records 100 per cent success ¹

Day 1 of the three-day ghost town campaign in Southern Cameroons has recorded a 100 per cent success, thanks to the disconnection of internet and other social media which greatly angered West Cameroonians. The interim leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society have reportedly lauded the response to the civil disobedience calls. A highly placed Francophone government official was heard murmuring privately at the Prime Minister’s office earlier today that the CPDM government did not expect the civil disobedience action of this week to be that successful.

Cameroon Intelligence Report senior political commentator emphasized that the protest action is succeeding because of the Southern Cameroon youth’s determination and use of the social media. Thirty-seven thousand West Cameroonians listened to a live broadcast by Mark Bara and Ivo Tapang on Face Book. The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society has managed to attract a large response among even Francophone citizens in Daoula and Yaounde who are now clamoring for President Biya to step down for real dialogue to begin. Today’s success has motivated even militants of the ruling CPDM crime syndicate to participate in further steps against the tyrannical regime that has ruined the country.

Last week, the so-called Minister of Secondary Education issued a statement for schools to resume in British Southern Cameroons. The call was ignored as all academic institutions in Southern Cameroons remain closed. The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium has said that the civil disobedience campaign will hold tomorrow Tuesday the 24^th of January 2017. All measures taken by the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo government to stifle the Anglophone revolution have been counter-productive. The shutting down of internet services and electricity supply has completely destroyed economic activities in Southern Cameroons with soldiers begging for food and water from the civilian population. The state daily newspaper, Cameroon Tribune attempted with a montage of photos to deceive international public opinion that schools have started in West Cameroon.

Francophone security officers have detained hundreds of Southern Cameroons activists including Barrister Agbor Nkongho Felix and Dr. Neba Fontem of the Consortium. The Yaounde regime has also arrested Lord Justice Ayah Paul Abine of the Supreme Court of Cameroon in order to prevent Southern Cameroonians from publicly protesting against La Republique du Cameroun. Amnesty International and the African Human Rights Commission have both released a call for urgent action regarding the rapes, extra judicial killings and incommunicado detention of Southern Cameroons leaders.

The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium is the most active West Cameroon group since its members began their public campaign against the government’s oppressive policies in several Anglophone towns last year. Wilfred Tassang has also lauded the response to the ghost town calls and observed that a “continuation of the policy will bring about even better results.”

The situation in the country would have been much better if the government would have listened to the voice of reason and allowed its policies and attitudes to be reviewed, instead of underestimating and ridiculing any Southern Cameroons leader. The government’s future and the unity of Cameroon are now put to the test. It will have to base its options on the broad rejection of the people of Southern Cameroons of its devastating policies.

By Rita Akana

23, January 2017

Gambia: Former President Jammeh ‘emptied coffers’ before leaving ⁰

The Gambia’s former president Yahya Jammeh, who caused a political crisis in the African country before finally going into exile, has emptied the government’s treasury, plundering millions of dollars in his final weeks in power, says an aide to the country’s new president.

“Over two weeks, over 500 million dalasi (11 million dollars) were withdrawn” by Jammeh, Mai Fatty, an aide to President Adama Barrow, said in the Sengalese capital Dakar on Monday. “As we take over, the government of The Gambia is in financial distress… The coffers are largely empty,” he told reporters.

Long-time ruler Jammeh flew out of The Gambia on Saturday and headed for Equatorial Guinea, where he is expected to settle with his family. Before deciding to leave, he pushed the country to the brink of war by refusing to concede defeat in the presidential election held in December last year. The subsequent political crisis drew in mediators from regional countries, some of which were coping with crises of their own.

Those regional mediating countries also formed up a military force to force Jammeh out of power if he did not step down voluntarily. Jammeh clung to power even for some two days after his mandate expired despite the threat of the use of force but ultimately decided to go into exile. He had been in power since a coup in 1994.

A woman celebrates after hearing about the departure of former Gambian leader Yahya Jammeh, in Banjul, January 21, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

The West African military force entered The Gambia on Sunday to provide security and allow Barrow, who has been staying in neighboring Senegal, to return to The Gambia, whose own military had sided with Jammeh. Barrow is eager to return “as soon as possible,” said his aide, warning that “the state of security in The Gambia is still fragile.”

According to Fatty, President Barrow wants the deployed West African military force to remain in The Gambia for the time being. “We want their mandate to be extended,” Fatty said, explaining that Barrow was waiting for personal assurances of loyalty from national security forces.

He said that after the full transfer of power, the new administration’s first priority will be to ensure the safe return of tens of thousands of people who have fled the country in recent weeks fearing a violent escalation.

Presstv

23, January 2017

Anglophone Problem: Journalists defy CPDM censorship ¹

The National Union of Cameroon Journalists has condemned The decision of the National Council For Media Communication On The Anglophone Problem. In an outing on January 21, 2017 Denis Nkwebo, the Unions National President enjoined all Journalists in Cameroon to disregard the decision by Peter Essoka who is the regulators President.

Denis Nkwebo writes “On 20 January 2017, the President of the National Communication Council (NCC), Peter Essoka, read a statement on CRTV, warning the media about how they deal with current events in Regions of the North-West and South-West.”

Among other things, the communiqué prohibits the media from addressing issues related to federalism and secession. The outing of the president of the NCC intervenes after several measures of restriction of the freedoms, in particular the suspension of the Internet in the Northwest and the Southwest.

The National Union of Journalists of Cameroon, (SNJC) calls on all media and Journalists to disregard the injunctions of Mr. Essoka Peter, once again condemning the cynicism of the NCC, to consider the injunctions as null and void and of no effect.

The SNJC invites the Cameroon media and Journalists to give a fair and equitable echo to all the opinions expressed by Cameroonian citizens on the issues of federalism and secession. The SNJC notes that the NCC and its President are no longer hiding to defend and implement the censorship imposed by the regime that subsidizes them.

The SNJC reserves the right to retaliate against Peter Essoka, the NCC and the government they serve.

SNJC asks the Fédipresse and the other media promoters to clarify their positions on the professional existence and legitimacy of the NCC.

Done at Douala on 21 January 2017 Denis Nkwebo President of the SNJC.

Cameroun Info.Net

23, January 2017

Maroua: Brigadier General Jacob Kodji and Colonel Kameni killed in helicopter crash ⁰

Brigadier General Jacob Kodji, Commander of the 4th inter-armed military region and Colonel Kameni, Commander of the 4th gendarmerie region, died Sunday in an helicopter crash in the Far North region.

General Jacob Kodji who graduated from the Yaounde military academy in 1983, was promoted on August the 13th, 2015 by the Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed forces, the 83 year old Paul Biya. He was later on installed by the then Minister for Defense, Edgard Alain Mebe Ngo’o as the head of the 4th Joint Military Region (4th RMIA) on the 17^th of August 2015, in Maroua.

Cameroon Intelligence Report understands the late General Jacob Kodji was already acting as the commander of the 4th military region in Maroua, before being confirmed in his appointment as Brigadier General on 13 August, cumulatively with his duties as commander of Operation Emergence.

General Jacob Kodji was a native of Mogodé in Mayo-Tsanaga, a border town with the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Elected among a multitude of colonels in the Region, he was the youngest of all the Cameroon army Generals.

Culled from CIR

22, January 2017

Consortium leaders to appear in court on Tuesday ⁰

The leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium including 49 other Anglophone activists will appear in the Yaounde military tribunal on Tuesday the 24th of January 2017, Cameroon Concord News has learnt.

We also gathered that the leaders will be represented by Barristers Ben and Akere Muna, two renowned Anglophone lawyers. Our source also hinted that Wilfred Tassang will hold talks with the Secretary General of the African Union inside the American embassy in Yaounde.

The Consortium announced earlier today that Southern Cameroonians should observe the civil disobedience campaign for tomorrow and Tuesday and also that all schools in West Cameroon should remain closed indefinitely.

By Sama Ernest

22, January 2017

Southern Cameroons ghost town to target schools and internet companies ¹

Southern Cameroonians will begin a campaign of civil disobedience against the government of La Republique du Cameroun and direct action against internet companies and mobile telephone providers on Monday, to demand an end to the epidemic of rapes, extra judicial killings and the release of all prominent Anglophone leaders arrested in Buea and Bamenda.

The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society, a group formed in the wake of serious marginalization of Anglophones said they would “no longer stand by and watch Francophone political elites treat Southern Cameroonians like slaves.” The leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium which has more than 3000 operation managers in West Cameroon said all academic institutions in Southern Cameroons will remain closed until all Anglophone demands are met by the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime. The ghost town operation will be staged for a one month period.

The Anglophone leaders say they are prepared to get arrested in their fight against injustice, discrimination and destruction of the Anglo-Saxon heritage including the Common Law and the educational system. Mark Bara and Ivo Tapang who are helping to lead the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society ’s direct action campaign, which kicks off on Monday, said CACSC would go much further by paralyzing not only school activities, but other sectors such as transport and business.

As well as directly targeting Francophone administrative power in Southern Cameroons, the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium will also go after any Anglophone so-called political elite who attempts to work against the interest of West Cameroonians in the struggle. “We are going to be targeting people who are working to sabotage the Southern Cameroons revolution”, noted an operations manager in Ekok at the borders with Nigeria.

On Monday, the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium has asked Southern Cameroonians to stay at home for a kind of “die-in” and avoid any confrontation with troops that have been deployed from French Cameroun. Both the Ministers of Secondary Education and Telecommunication have opined that shutting down internet services in British Southern Cameroons comes right and has worked to the CPDM government’s advantage. However, new findings have revealed that the government action on internet services has recruited more followers for the Consortium and many Southern Cameroonians now believe in secession.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from Rita Akana, Sama Ernest