Ottawa announced last month that it has been leading discussions between the government of Cameroon and separatist groups, which have been in a conflict that has violently escalated in recent years. After the announcement, the Cameroonian government stated it was not working with an external mediator. Previous attempts by Switzerland and the Vatican to bring about peace talks in Cameroon have failed.

“Peace processes are always messy and take time, and this is a conflict that has been going for 40 years,” stated Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly. Canada was seen as an ideal interlocutor because its Constitution accommodates both anglophone and francophone traditions, it has no colonial-era baggage or significant economic interest in the country, and it has long-standing diplomatic ties to Cameroon.

The crisis in the North-West and South-West regions began in late 2016, when Cameroonian security forces were accused of using excessive force against peaceful demonstrators, led by teachers and lawyers who were protesting the perceived marginalization of the country’s minority anglophone education and legal systems. Dialogue between the government, teachers and lawyers at the early stages of the crisis failed. The crisis escalated when separatist fighters used violence, restricting access to education, and put pressure on the government for political recognition and independence for the English-speaking regions. A Major National Dialogue in 2019 was greeted by many as a great first step, but it wasn’t enough. The use of military means to combat the separatist fighters has only escalated the violence, with civilians caught in the middle.

The UN estimates that the violence since the protests began has claimed more than 6,000 lives and has kept 600,000 children out of school. At least 800,000 people have fled their homes and are internally displaced or refugees in other countries. Attacks by armed separatist groups on students, teachers and schools in Cameroon’s North-West and South-West regions since 2017 have had an enormous impact on children’s education. This devastating reality has made the children of Cameroon more vulnerable to abuse, exploitation and violence.

The advocacy network Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict estimates that less than 18 per cent of peace agreements globally have included child-protection provisions. To end the cycles of violence we need to be able to ensure children’s issues and rights are not only embedded in peace agreements, but also become integrated into the entire peace mediation process. This would allow for unique opportunities to shape a joint vision for the future of a conflict-affected country.

Canada and Cameroon both have an opportunity to reinforce commitments to the protection of children. In 2018, Cameroon endorsed the international Safe Schools Declaration, which Canada has also endorsed, and the Vancouver Principles on Peacekeeping and the Prevention of the Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers, which Canada spearheaded. These commitments focus on the importance of protecting children from violence and ensuring access to education.

Unfortunately, for the children of Cameroon, this conflict in the North-West and South-West regions is not the only concerning exposure to violence that exists. Boko Haram, in the Grand North region bordering with Nigeria, has been accused of recruiting and using children in violence since 2014. Exposing children to violence can increase the likelihood that they will engage in violent behaviour in the future. Preventing recruitment and use in the first place is therefore paramount to breaking cycles of violence.

While national-led peace processes are critical, lessons from other contexts and best practices are essential. International calls for dialogue between the separatist groups in Cameroon and government authorities need to take place. If the leaders of all sides involved fail to prioritize the protection of children in the peace process, this will have a negative impact on future generations.

The children of Cameroon deserve the opportunities we all wish for our children, to live in peace and harmony so that they may reach their full potential. Now that we are in Black History Month, it is important to recall the wisdom of Martin Luther King, who said, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands in times of challenge and controversy.” Let us stand collectively for children, peace and security in Cameroon, Canada and everywhere.

Culled from Globe and Mail

Jean Pierre Amougou Belinga and a young journalist he recently promoted to General Manager of his privately-owned television channel, Vision 4 were arrested at their respective homes shortly after 6am on Monday, February 6, 2023.

Cameroon Intelligence Report understands the mafia boss of the press group ANECDOTE Jean Pierre Amougou Belinga was auditioned in the premises of the Secretariat of State for Defense (SED) in the night of Thursday, February 2, 2023 in Yaoundé, before images of him touring one of his fraudulent financial establishments “Vison finances” were released Friday morning. An activity organized in order to deny his arrest.

This time around Jean Pierre Amougou Belinga is no longer free to move. He was arrested this morning, as well as his closest collaborator and trusted man, Bruno Bidjang.

Cameroon Intelligence Report has evidence that Jean Pierre Amougou Belinga teleguided the barbaric murder of journalist and whistleblower Martinez Zogo. The late host of the program “Embouteillages” had been very critical against alleged corruptors and embezzlers of public funds.

Zogo was kidnapped on January 17, 2023, and then found dead on Sunday, January 22, 2023. A joint gendarmerie-police investigation ordered by President Biya has already led to the arrest of some twenty suspects.

By Rita Akana

Divisional Commissioner Léopold Maxime Eko Eko, head of the General Directorate of External Research (DGRE), the Cameroonian counterintelligence service, had his presence requested at the State Secretariat for Defence on 1 February.

According to sources close to the investigation, Léopold Maxime Eko Eko has been summoned for questioning in connection with the assassination of journalist Martinez Zogo, whose body was discovered on the morning of 22 January, following that of Lieutenant-Colonel Justin Danwe, Director of Operations of the Direction générale de la recherche extérieure (DGRE), who is believed to have orchestrated Zogo’s kidnapping, custody, torture, and murder. Eko Eko’s arrest is the first significant step towards an investigation that has been slow to develop.

Use of force methods

It has long been believed that the authorities may have had something to do with the murder. On 27 January, Secretary General of the Presidency, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, ordered that the investigation be opened, causing hope to abound.

Before his August 2010 appointment as head of the DGRE, Eko Eko was Director of General Intelligence at the Délégation générale à la sûreté nationale, DGSN, (General Delegation for National Security). Already a police commissioner with a Doctorate in Information and Communication Sciences from l’université Paris-Est, Eko Eko has long been a supporter of treating perceived enemies of the state with force, as was the case with the disappearance of Guérandi Mbara’s as revealed in 2014 by us; Mbara being one of the masterminds of the 6 April 1984 coup d’état.

Mbara was kidnapped in Bulgaria, repatriated to Cameroon, and delivered into the hands of the DGRE, never to be seen nor heard from again.

According to our sources, Eko Eko has been temporarily replaced by Deputy Director General Monkouop Mouminou, Divisional Commissioner.

Source: Africa Report

Cameroon says separatists have killed and abducted villagers in the troubled South-West region in retaliation after the military this week killed a rebel leader and three of his men. The military blamed the self-declared general, nicknamed Transporter, for several atrocities, which the rebels deny.

Videos of improvised bombs exploding was shared on social media platforms, including Facebook and WhatsApp, by Cameroon separatist groups.

The separatists have been fighting since 2017 to carve out an English-speaking state from majority French-speaking Cameroon.

In one video, a man identifies himself as Sagon Jaguar, leader of the separatist group called the Ambazonia Restoration Forces, in Bamessing village in Cameroon’s English-speaking North-West region. He says the bombs fighters planted destroyed five military jeeps belonging to Cameroon government troops.

The military confirmed that fighters resumed the use of such bombs in several English-speaking towns and villages, including Bamessing, Oku, Kumbo, Nkambe and Kom this week, and says several civilians have been killed or abducted with their property torched. Officials added that military vehicles were destroyed and some troops were wounded but gave no details.

Cameroon said fighters resumed attacks after government troops on Tuesday killed Ayuk Ndifon Defcam, a self-proclaimed rebel leader known as “General Transporter.” Government troops said he was neutralized alongside his assistant and two collaborators in Wame, a village in Meme, an English-speaking administrative unit in Cameroon’s South-West region.

Chamberlin Ntou’ ou Ndong, the highest-ranking government official in Meme visited Kumba on Friday to encourage civilians to denounce suspected fighters hiding in towns and villages. He said fighters who are avenging the killing of Transporter will be killed by the military if they do not lay down their weapons and surrender.

Ndong told VOA the notorious self-proclaimed general Transporter committed many crimes against civilians, including abductions, rape, and the massacre of seven school children in the English-speaking southwestern town of Kumba on October 24, 2020. He said Transporter, who escaped and was hiding in the creeks around the Gulf of Guinea, returned to Konye village near Kumba and was planning attacks on public edifices and military installations when government troops surprised him and three of his fighters.

Ndong said the military seized weapons from the rebels and freed several people who were held hostage by the fighters. The military said Transporter was the leader of several hundred fighters hiding in the bush.

In December, Cameroon’s military said no major separatist attack had been reported within six weeks, an indication that peace is returning to the regions where 3,500 people have been killed in five years.

The United Nations says 750,000 have been displaced by the fighting.

Source: VOA

The UN Security Council should now push the Francophone Cameroun authorities to conduct a thorough and independent investigation into the killing of journalist Jean Jacques Ola Bébé, who also moonlighted as a priest of the Catholic Orthodox Church, originally from Lekié Division like the late Martinez Zogo, a journalist who was kidnapped and tortured to death two weeks ago in Yaoundé.

In the evening of February 2, 2023, unidentified attackers shot and killed Jean Jacques Ola Bébé near his home in Mimboman.   According to sources, the 41 year old communicator who had worked with several media houses in Yaoundé was shot dead by Cameroon government agents.

Journalist Jean Jacques Ola was found in the next morning with gunshot wounds to his chest and head.

A highly placed Cameroon government security official contacted by chief political correspondent Chi Prudence Asong, alleged that unspecified government security forces had killed Jean Jacques Ola Bébé. Cameroon Intelligence Report correspondent in Yaoundé also cited anonymous sources saying that they believed Cameroon government security forces were responsible for the killing.

Conflicting reports on the arrest and subsequent release of media tycoon Amougou Belinga and unanswered questions about the killing of journalists Martinez Zogo and Jean Jacques Ola Bébé both from the Lekié constituency is sending a message of fear to the broader media community in Cameroon, and is entrenching impunity in attacks on the press.

It is evidently clear that these killings are linked to the succession battle currently going on deep within the ruling Beti Ewondo clans on who to take over from the ailing President Biya who will be 90 this month.

The International Community must ensure that investigations into Zogo and Ola killings and their motives are swift and credible, make their findings public, and hold those responsible to account.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has learned that many Cameroonian intelligence officers have been arrested in connection with journalist Martinez Zogo’s murder, and that a suspect who has confessed to participating in the murder has even said that it was Cameroon’s justice minister who ordered it.

More than 20 members of Cameroon’s General Directorate for External Investigations (DGRE) have been arrested in the capital in the past few days in connection with the murder of Martinez Zogo, whose mutilated body was found on 22 January. The shocking statements they have made to investigators have coincided with a political battle to succeed President Paul Biya, who will be 90 in a few days, and even attempts to destabilise the government.

Yesterday evening, DGRE boss Léopold Maxime Eko Eko, who is among those who have been arrested, was still denying that he was aware of the plan to silence Zogo, who was Radio Amplitude FM’s presenter.

But his deputy, special operations director Justin Danwe, has provided a shocking statement. In confessions that he hand-wrote during his interrogation, and which RSF has seen, he provides a detailed account of the gruesome operation to silence Zogo and he emerges as the head of the unit that carried it out. Lt. Col. Danwe recognises his involvement and says he told his superior. His account shows that Zogo’s murder was a state crime.

He provides a detailed description of how Zogo was followed for a week, in order to establish the pattern of his movements, until his abduction on the evening of 17 January by DRGE members including Danwe, who was the one in charge. Zogo was reportedly taken to a building under construction that belongs to Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga, a powerful businessman who Zogo had accused of embezzlement.

According to Danwe’s confession, Belinga himself then beat Zogo in the basement of his building and telephoned justice minister Laurent Esso, to whom he is close, to ask him what Zogo’s fate should be. Esso, who is one of the most powerful members of the government, allegedly responded that Belinga should “finish the job” to avoid a repetition of the case of Paul Chouta, a journalist who was beaten last year by a mysterious group of assailants who were never unidentified. They left Chouta for dead at the roadside but he ended up surviving.

According to Danwe’s statement, Belinga was not present when “the job was finished,” a task that Danwe acknowledges having carried out himself together with his men. According to the information that RSF has obtained from a medical source, Zogo’s body was badly mutilated. Fingers were cut off, his arms and legs were broken in several places, and a steel rod was rammed into his anus.

The investigation, which is being led by a mixed commission of gendarmes and police officers and is being carried out on President Biya’s orders, has clearly made extraordinary progress in the past few days. How much further will it go? RSF has been told that other important persons, including several other ministers close to Belinga, could have been informed in advance of the plan to kill Zogo and could even have been involved.

The outcome of the investigations remains very uncertain as the affair’s ramifications reach up to the highest level of the state while the political environment is described by several local sources as verging on insurrectionary.

For a while last night, it was being reported that Belinga had been arrested, but he finally made an appearance at one of his companies this morning, displaying an extraordinary degree of calm given the accusations being made against him.

RSF has tried several times to reach the justice minister, without success.

Cameroon is ranked 118th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2022 World Press Freedom Index.

Culled from RSF